turd ferguson

March 3rd, 2015 at 8:57 PM ^

I don't know, the criticism of Hoke is all over the place these days.  I'm trying to remember which guys fans thought deserved more playing time.  Drake Johnson comes to mind, and he lost time early in the season to younger guys.  The same goes for Dennis Norfleet and would have gone for Desmond Morgan.  

I'm not sure the "didn't give young guys a shot" criticism is fair.  And it definitely wasn't responsible for Hoke's downfall.  You could make a case for poor handling of the QBs or shitty assistant coaches or lack of attitude/edge, but it definitely wasn't the upperclassmen first thing.

2manylincs

March 4th, 2015 at 1:29 AM ^

You bring up a very good point.
If hoke played too many upperclassmen, where does the argument about way too many burned redshirts come from?
We would all love to have redshirt years from thomas, morris, etc.
And who was passed over for a vet? Cole? Peppers? Canteen? Butt? Mone? Ross (i believe played as a true frosh)?
The worst burned redshirt i can think of besides thomas was stribling, who had everything but the ability to make the play as a freshman..
There are enough criticisms of hoke to go around a few times, but i dont think that favoring upperclassmen is one of them.

lilpenny1316

March 3rd, 2015 at 8:59 PM ^

I have no idea how good he looked in practice last year, but maybe he would've fared better.  He couldn't have done worse.  

Either way, the options were limited considering Bellomy showed no progress in all his years here.  At least some guys we could say regressed because we saw something good in their play at one time or another.

bronxblue

March 3rd, 2015 at 8:42 PM ^

What?  You mean to tell me that Gregg Henson's "insiders" might simply be copying-and-pasting information from other sites?!?

I kid (a bit), but yeah, nothing here is new.  You could find-replace with Hoke and Harbaugh and the QBs and publish the same thing from last year.

flashOverride

March 3rd, 2015 at 8:26 PM ^

I always take spring stuff with a grain of salt, but I like the part about practice tempo and who's impressing. Need playmakers at those spots. Disconcerting to hear about Morris, though. 

I Like Burgers

March 4th, 2015 at 11:04 AM ^

The NFTC camps and The Opening were all before he had mono, and he had all of the same accuaracy and touch issues at those camps.  I was at all of them and saw it first hand.  He started to drop then.  Getting mono didn't help, but he was recovered from that by the time he played and practiced at the Under Armour game, and had all of the same issues.  Maybe he improves his senior year if he doesn't get mono, but from what we've seen so far, I kind of doubt it.

1201SouthMain

March 4th, 2015 at 1:16 PM ^

to ignore it.  A story or two before he got here, not alarming.  A couple people saying same things his freshmen year, a bit of a concern.  Friend drives cab in A2.  I mention Morris and first thing he says, "kids a drunk.  i pick him up all the time wasted".  Ok, this isn't coincidence.  This is a problem! 

I don't expect to ever see Sugar Shane starting at Michigan.  Unfortunate.

bronxblue

March 3rd, 2015 at 8:39 PM ^

Basically everything we've been hearing.  Morris just seems broken by incompetent coaching, and who the heck knows what else.  

Every year I hear about how practices are "X" and how that is different than "Y" last year.  I think the hating on Hoke, especially now that he isn't here to defend himself, is becoming a bit excessive.  I would not be surprised if practices were slower and less intense than other programs', but I remember hearing the same thing about RR and how Hoke's practices were much more "physical".  So I'll take any discussions on that topic with a grain of salt.

I have yet to hear of a coach who comes into spring ball content with his team's conditioning. 

 

schreibee

March 3rd, 2015 at 10:53 PM ^

No that was Lloyd's regime at the end, and you forgot GrrAnimals...

Then people said RR was too mean and vulgar, and that plus his tempo drove players away...

Hoke re-introduced physicality, but the pace was too slow and the players lost the conditioning "edge"...

And now, like Goldilocks in the forest, we've found "just right"...

And happiness shall reign, but I'm afraid not for Shane.