Per Rivals - Devin may still enroll early
In the Weekly Recruiting Wrap, Josh devoted an entire section to the possibility of Devin graduating early from Inkster and enrolling in January at UM as becoming very real again.
The article mentioned that Inkster's principal is/has been talking with Pioneer's principal regarding the mid-year graduation process, who of course is familiar as he is Austin White's father and because Ricardo Miller is graduating early from Pioneer.
Here's hoping that all the hoops can be navigated and Devin is able to enroll in January!
December 18th, 2009 at 5:09 PM ^
He has no shot of starting if he doesn't enroll early you would think. I think his chances are pretty small even if he does but he at least has a shot. At the worst his presence really pushes Tate and they both get a lot better because of it.
December 18th, 2009 at 5:19 PM ^
If he can enroll early, I don't think he will overtake Forcier, but he might be able to make RR more comfortable with getting Denard on the field more in other positions to take advantage of his talent. I would really be excieted to see a package for Denard as an RB or slot with a lot of option passes thrown in. Putting two people in the backfield who can throw the ball at the same time would give RR a chance to do some more "pioneering."
It would be great to see RR influence the game in a major way not once but twice, especially if the second time happens in Ann Arbor.
December 18th, 2009 at 5:19 PM ^
I feel that after a wave of bad news, things are starting to change.
Can we beat KU tomorrow and continue this streak? Probably not, but it wouldn't exactly be day destroying news if we lost, either.
December 18th, 2009 at 5:38 PM ^
Always a plus to get these recruits in a semester early and start learning the system. Optimally, however, would prefer Tate to start and Devin to take a redshirt in 2010. This would space them 2 years apart in class. Then I would say open up the starting QB position for competition in 2011, or at the very least go the Leach/Tebow route or Boeckman/Pryor like year.
December 18th, 2009 at 5:44 PM ^
I agree with the whole "it's probably better to have Tate and Devin 2 years apart" argument.
The rest, however, I disagree with.
1) Both of your comparisons (UF and OSU) involved a TRUE freshman QB, not a redshirt.
2) Leach/Tebow was anything but a competition. Tebow came in to run the read option and the run-pass option. That was it.
3) Boeckman/Pryor was a little bit more of a competition, but still limited.
December 18th, 2009 at 5:59 PM ^
I agree that there are big differences in true freshman QB's and redshirt freshman QB's, so you got me there. And I agree with you that both of those schools had different situations than the ones we're looking at.
I was simply trying to compare that the incumbent quarterback, while probably(crossing our collective fingers that Devin is, as assumed, better than Tate) less physically gifted, was more capable of running the offense efficiently, yet the up and coming quarterback had much more potential and therefore was able to see the field.
December 18th, 2009 at 6:01 PM ^
I am guessing that you guys mean Leak and Tebow not Leach.
December 18th, 2009 at 5:53 PM ^
If he enrolls early we get to see him in the spring game!!!
December 18th, 2009 at 6:27 PM ^
I'm starting to feel like this board is Devin Gardner's Twitter account.
"Devin Gardner might enroll early."
"Devin Gardner is still a solid commitment."
"Devin Gardner just took a giant Taco Bell poop."
December 18th, 2009 at 6:44 PM ^
and this is why your not a cool kid. Its pewp. Poop is so 2000s......
December 18th, 2009 at 6:50 PM ^
Ok, I'm 30, but I still laughed at that last one. Does that mean something is wrong with me?
It's fitting that I've been watching 'Arrested Development' lately...
December 18th, 2009 at 8:01 PM ^
I'M FORTY!!
December 18th, 2009 at 9:31 PM ^
+1
You and I both earned that one.
December 19th, 2009 at 12:27 PM ^
I just report what I read.
December 18th, 2009 at 7:36 PM ^
I'm not sure why everyone wants to anoint Forcier with the starting job. He didn't exactly finish the season on the rise. Sure he can improve, but Gardener's style might be more conducive to starting as a freshman than Forcier's. If he can run the spread option, then I think we will see quite a bit of him next season.
December 18th, 2009 at 7:52 PM ^
I'm 94.7% sure that Rich Rodriguez does not want to start a guy who's never taken a college snap for the third consecutive year.
December 18th, 2009 at 8:21 PM ^
But are you sure he wouldn't want to substantially increase his playing time towards the end of the season, especially if it is clear that he will be the QB of the future by that point?
I think it is entirely possible that Forcier stops making so many dumb mistakes. No doubt he showed a lot of potential last season. Even in the OSU game he passed the ball relatively well minus the interceptions. But if he does not show improvement early in the season, I think there will be a lot of compelling reasons to give Gardener a try.
December 18th, 2009 at 8:58 PM ^
Well, of course. I'm not saying Forcier is guaranteed the position for all 12 (hopefully 13) games or the next three years. What I'm saying is that, barring injury, Forcier will most likely be our starting quarterback. Obviously, if he sucks and throws 30 interceptions, Rodriguez is going to give somebody else a chance.
December 18th, 2009 at 10:36 PM ^
I like those odds. 20-1 that DG starts out the season as our QB.
If we were talking "starting a game for us in 2010", I'd put DG's odds more like 5-1.
December 18th, 2009 at 8:16 PM ^
He was still quite good for a true freshman.
December 18th, 2009 at 7:47 PM ^
Wait, back up. Michael White, Pioneer principal=Austin White's father? I knew he lived in Livonia, and had kids in high school there, but this never occurred to me. . .
December 19th, 2009 at 11:48 AM ^
Agreed. I went to Pioneer back when White was a class Principal and new him pretty well, but hadn't put two and two together.
December 19th, 2009 at 12:17 PM ^
White wasn't a class principal, he came from Livonia directly to the principal's office in 2007.
December 19th, 2009 at 2:44 PM ^
Oh. Then I'm thinking of a different White.
December 18th, 2009 at 11:06 PM ^
Per Rich Rod, there will be open competition at the QB position. Tate should have an inside track but if Devin impresses enough, he could very well start at some point next year. He likely wont start from day 1 but by game 4/5 or so, the job could be his.
Devin is an extremely impressive physical specimen. Also very mature and he appears to be a very good decison maker. Standing 6'4" with the ability to both run and throw.... there is a reason why this guy is the #1 rated quarterback in the country. HE MAKES AN IMPRESSION. And he is a winner. I wouldn't put too much past the guy.... and would certainly caution against putting arbitrary limitations on what he can or can't do.
Anyway you look at it, having both of these guys to push each other can only be a good thing. Tate should get better with Gardner right on his heels. And if by chance Tate has his troubles, Gardner will likely be ready to take over. Its a win/win situation.
December 19th, 2009 at 11:53 AM ^
be awesome if he could
December 19th, 2009 at 1:08 PM ^
The first day of registration has passed, even for freshman. Students can still drop/add classes through the first week or so of January. Certainly the AD can pull some strings, but basically it is a little bit late to be thinking about enrolling for the winter term. There is also the complicating factor of meeting the graduation requirements of his high school. If his principal is just now investigating that, I would not bet on him enrolling early.
It would be great to get him in the system, working out with Barwis and learning the plays, but realistically his impact next season should be minimal and it's in his best interest to redshirt. If he plays a large roll as a freshman, then he is either realy damn good or this team is in really bad shape.
December 19th, 2009 at 5:01 PM ^
he never even got to touch the regular playbook last year. why is everyone so certain that once he has a year in the system he won't be able to pull off at least the basic variations on the zone read?
December 19th, 2009 at 5:12 PM ^
I'm sure his zone-read ability has a lot of potential improvement, but his arm is just terrible. Dude just has bad field vision and arm punts regularly. He is not a qb.
December 19th, 2009 at 5:23 PM ^
They are teh small.
Really small.
Like that guy with small hands in the Burger King commercial small.
Like one of Santa's elves small.
Like a baby's.
In fact, they look like little slices of caramel dipped apple. . . mmmmm.
Yeah, and people just think the other guys are better but still want Denard (and his deliciously tiny, child-like hands) to get the ball in space more so he can score eleventybillion touchdowns.
December 19th, 2009 at 5:46 PM ^
If we don't know already, we all should know by this point that Denard isn't going to be our starter in 2010. If he were ready to play QB, don't you think the coaches would have given him a shot at starting during our 1-7 run to end the season?
Some departing players have already hinted that they think Denard's future is playing a "Slash" type of role.
December 19th, 2009 at 7:16 PM ^
I hadn't heard this (last part, about departing players). Is this general knowledge, or just something you've heard from anonymous sources, or what?
December 19th, 2009 at 5:52 PM ^
Most of us apparently think that Denard is so physically gifted that we should have him on the field as much as possible. But DR apparently envisions himself as a QB. If RR and the staff can convince Denard to take a chance on a position change at some point, that could be really exciting - for Denard and the team. But it wont happen unless and until there is are two viable and healthy QBs.
Does anyone know of any other programs that have turned QBs into running backs, or slots as sophomores? Was Percy Harvin a QB before he went all world at Florida? I remember Bert Emmanuel became a WR in the pros, but I think he played QB throughout his time at Rice.
December 19th, 2009 at 6:50 PM ^
Does anyone know of any other programs that have turned QBs into running backs, or slots as sophomores?
As college sophomores? Not off the top of my head.
But there are a a hell of a lot of high school QBs that become running backs, slots, tight ends, safeties etc. once they reach college. Jeremy Gallon was a single wing QB in HS.
The best athlete on the team is often used as the QB even if they can't pass themselves out of a wet paper bag.
Rodriguez promised Denard a shot at QB, so far he's kept his word.
Drob may eventually "see the light" and switch, or something catastrophic could happen and we'd need him under center immediately.
December 20th, 2009 at 6:10 AM ^
There was an article on Rivals where some of the outgoing players basically said, "He needs to be on the field as a playmaker, not necessarily a quarterback."