Football Team Leadership
I feel very strongly that our basketball team this year is better from a skill standpoint over last year's team, but nobody has stepped up into a leadership role. The team is seriously missing CJ Lee and D. Merrit.
It's the 2010 football season and a do or die win for RichRod - Who steps up into leadership or "glue" positions? Our football team can't afford to be a bunch of skilled players with no leadership. Somebody needs to step up up and put the finishing touches on a stellar squad.
Who's it gonna be?
My picks, a mix of young and old:
Mike Martin
Obi Ezeh
Ricardo Miller
Tate Forcier
Troy Woolfolk
Who's it gonna be?
Obi Ezeh and Tate Forcier would be my picks, since I can't choose Kevin Porter and Chad Kolarik.
I see David Molk being a key leader.
I think Molk has too much of a goofy personality to be a leader. The few interviews I've seen of him are pretty entertaining. Great center, but leader? Not sure...
I dunno, playing on a torn ACL seems like strong leadership to me.
I don't want this to come off wrong, since I think Molk is the most pivotal member of the team, but that is stupidity, if anything, not leadership.
Your comment makes no sense whatsoever.
It's not impossible to do both. That's why it's called "stepping up".
Nader Furrha.
"The President" just screams leadership
No. He raps it.
I agree with Tate, Woolfork, and Ezeh but why Miller?
The kid did as much recruiting for the 2010 class as the coaching staff... and that is not a knock on the coaching staff. He stands out as a leader among the new recruits.
Spelling Troy's last name correctly will help in the future.
Welcome to MGoBoard.
it was a typo
I think the senior greg is the man!
I normally wouldn't go with a sophmore, but the offense is so young I'm going with Tate and Woolfolk for the defense.
I can watch that play over and over and over. If there ever was a highlight in last season that was it for me.
I have to agree with everyone on Forcier, however, I think Martin or Campbell steps up into the leadership roll this year.
My list would be Forcier, Molk, Woolfolk, Roh, and Martin
I agree with Tate and Molk for the offense (man, thinking through it, our O is really young). For the defense, I say Woolfolk, Martin, and RVB.
But I think the spirit is going to come from the receivers. Roundtree in particular. When he stole away that sure interception, in I think the Purdue game, he turned around the entire drive.
Tate is definitely the leader from a play calling standpoint, which is why the QB pretty much HAS to be a leader, but I think the offensive leader by energy and spirit, is going to be from the guys getting the ball and doing something with it.
When Henne was a freshman, Braylon was the lead, especially in the MSU game. Now I don't think Braylon ever had the maturity to make that a consistent thing, but I think the general youth of the team will mean a playmaker, and not the traditional signal callers on O and D, will become the leaders.
I don't really expect Obi to be starting by the end of the season. Outside of Woolfolk, the D-Line has the experience advantage, although as we know, it is a slim advantage.
I see Molk and Woolfolk being huge leaders.
The center position on the OL is always a prime spot for leadership, and especially with his effectiveness last year I think there should be a lot expected from him. With him I think we average about 10 more points per game honestly.
And then obviously Woolfolk since there will be a lot of inexperience and youth in the secondary. Does anyone else feel like this guy should be something like a redshirt sophomore instead of a true senior? Even though on any other Michigan team of the past 10 years he would have been a nickelback, in 2010 he'll be our "rock" of the secondary. Pretty sad but true.
For me, at least, I am thrilled to have Troy, son of Butch, stepping up to a senior leader for the Michigan Wolverines. He does his dad, his coaches, and every fan who wears the Maize and Blue proud.
So, yeah, Woolfolk would get my vote for defensive team leader.
I didn't mean for my post to come out so critically of Woolfolk. In my honest opinion, Woolfolk is a great role player on a defense without many "sure-thing" guys. Looking at last year, I would be more than happy to have a defense full of role players who simply got the job done. Woolfolk certainly did his job last year and I hope for the best from him, but Leon Hall or Donovan Warren he is not.
It'll be Molk and Woolfork. And hopefully the young guys will be able to get a little bit of experience to step into bigger leadership roles the next years.
I can't imagine a more poorly engineered eating utensil than the one mentioned here.
I'm not sure who will step up on defense to be the defensive team leader. I like Woolfolk and Martin to be leaders on defense. It would be great if Obi has a break out season and leads the defense!
I'm hoping Tate emerges. I'm also hoping that Big Will gets demonstrably vocal this year, too.
+1 for the Avatar only because of the winged helmet you creepy man
The entire offensive line is going to set the tone this year. They're going to be nasty, imo.
Craig Roh. From all the reports, he works harder than anyone and is extremely intelligent. He is young but on this team, a lot of key players are, so it's a wash.
Patrick Omameh. Because any hardworking two star on the cusp of starting as a sophomore while getting A's in engineering is a leader in my book.
I don't really foresee Forcier being a real "team leader" quite yet. He's still a young'n'. I think he has some good leadership qualities, but it's tough to have everyone follow you when you're only a true sophomore.
Speaking of experience, though, is it just me or does the senior class really lack impact players?
There are really only two CERTAIN starters (Woolfolk, Schilling). Then you have a few guys on the two-deep (Sagesse, Dorrestein, Banks, Ezeh, Mouton, Webb, Moundros). Then there are a bunch of guys who rarely play (Ferrara, Patterson, Rogers, Wright).
I do think that Ezeh, Mouton, Moundros, and Dorrestein will end up starting, but this is potentially a very weak outgoing class. The 2009 impact seniors were Brandon Graham, Carlos Brown, Steve Brown, Brandon Minor, Greg Mathews, David Moosman, and Mark Ortmann.
This will be three somewhat underwhelming senior classes in a row, unless we get a few pleasant surprises.
That we haven't had a good senior class since he's been here.
young leadership on the defense. I wanna see Jake Ryan, Demar Dorsey, and Justin Turner all make starting spots by the end of the year. I'm sick of seeing Obi take wrong steps, bad angles, and arm tackles. Just because you are a senior doesn't mean you are the best option for the team. Of course, projecting frosh and redshirt frosh to be really good in college is a tough thing to do. I would rather have playmakers out there that make mistakes, then firehydrants who make mistakes.
I'm getting sick of everyone bashing Obi. Just stop please.
Well we all know who the founder and leader of the NFZ will be.
O LET DO IT! O LET DO IT! WE BAWLIN' BOOOOY!
With this team being so young at almost every postion and the QB position being so important, Forcier has to take the reigns. You could tell this past year that he has natural leadership qualities, he was just to young to make a voice for himself yet.
Now with BG gone he should be one of those guys to step up and lead this team. I also like Molk and maybe even Mike Martin.
Martin brings great energy to that DL and he might surprise us this year.
We'll see though. I just want this season to start already!
I would say Tate Forcier and David Molk for the offense. The defense I would have to go with either Mike Martin, Ryan Van Bergen or Troy Woolfolk.
Tate wants nothing more than to be the leader. On the other hand, we NEED Mouton or Ezeh to be leaders in words and in actions.
It starts this month...
I completely forgot about RVB. His experience is going to be so valuable this year. I don't think he has enough speed to even compare to BG, but his motor is unbelievable and he'll be extremely valuable on this year's DL. Thankfully we have him until 2011.
Not to mention the presence of Sagesse and Banks on the DL. Those two seniors should get a lot more time this year and it will be so valuable for guys like Ash and Talbott who can now afford to RS.
It seems like a lot of people are mixing up skill and leadership. Being a good leader does not necessarily mean you have to be the best player, and vice versa. Also, age plays a big factor in this department. Think of when you played sports in high school, or college. A leader is someone the other players look up to and respect, not just somebody who plays hard.
the goddamn words right out of my mouth.
A leader is someone who tries to vocally and physically motivate his teammates. Someone who takes the time to teach younger guys certain parts of the game is also key in being a leader, too. I'm not sure that people can say our best players are necessarily going to do that.
But someone definitely has to step up.
I am hoping that Barwis finally comes out of his shell and shows us something.