Triple Threet

Submitted by blueheron on

Here's a Rivals update on Steven Threet:

http://collegefootball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1061288

These were my favorite parts:

* "I can throw the ball and do a lot of the things mentally, like reading the defense really well and get the offense in the right play if protection needs to be changed."

* Threet stayed on to direct the Wolverines' offense in 2008, but it soon became obvious he was a 6-foot-5, 228-pound square peg trying to fit in a round hole. [Editor's note: It didn't seem to me that he was any sort of peg.]

In a related article (http://collegefootball.rivals.com/content.asp?SID=1144&CID=1061286):

* Threet is a hard worker with a high football IQ. He is good with his feet and has an underrated arm. And of all the quarterbacks, Threet's skills may be best-suited for what will be an offense that has been tweaked by Mazzone.

* ASU wants to run a one-back, multiple-receiver set that will feature the quarterback taking abbreviated drops and delivering the ball in a short passing game. The pass will be emphasized over the run. "We think thick the quick passes and screens can act like a running game for us," Mazzone says. "And we expect our quarterback to hit a very percentage of his passes."

Good luck with that, Homes.

Tom Dienhart is a standard, unimaginative sports columnist who seems inclined to take most information he gets at face value. No surprise there. But, I am curious about Threet's ceiling as a QB. That position is famous for its late bloomers, so I suppose, with more reps, he could become (say) John Navarre. Discuss.

Tamburlaine

March 10th, 2010 at 10:38 AM ^

Who said he was Tom Freaking Brady? And don't COACHES work with a kid to change mechanics? Uh, paging Rod Smith...and the rest of the offensive guru geniuses allegedly on the UM staff right now...

If Tom Brady is your standard, well, I suppose you might find a good quarterback every 25 years or so. Good luck with that

And for the record: YOU sir, are no Shakespeare. I suggest you give up writing and posting from this moment on.

J. Lichty

March 10th, 2010 at 10:25 AM ^

Threet did overthrow receivers - true, but his short passing game was atrocious. He had little touch or accuracy. In fact, Sheridan actually showed much more aplomb in the short passing game.

I do think that he actually read the defenses fairly well, and by stating the above, I am not at all saying that he could not improve greatly - he was a rs freshman during the 2008 campaign. It is also true that his O-line was a sieve. Very tough circumstances to succeed.

I also have no problem with him leaving. He was a square peg in this offense. He never said anything bad about the program or the coaches. I will be rooting for him.

BlockM

March 10th, 2010 at 8:09 AM ^

I only occasionally questioned Threet's ability to know what he was supposed to do, but I frequently saw a lack of ability to actually do it. Hopefully he's asked to do things more in his skill set (and it appears he will) at ASU. Best of luck to him.

jg2112

March 10th, 2010 at 8:17 AM ^

Threet's problem was running an offense with 9 other new starters, and true freshmen at most of the skill positions (remember Odoms, McGuffie, Shaw, Koger)? Tell me how Mallett would have done behind the 2008 offensive line.

Threet's other problem was injuring his elbow, which was a direct result of him running the offense his coach asked him to that was directly antithetical to his style of play. I admire his tenacity.

He will be good to very good at Arizona State. I ultimately think he, Mallett, Tate, Denard and Devin will be in the NFL. In whole or in part, they are all Michigan players and they should be supported by Michigan fans.

Blazefire

March 10th, 2010 at 8:17 AM ^

I hope he has great success. I really do. If nothing else, he gave us one of the only highlights from the 2008 season.

Do you believe a lumbering giant can run like a gazelle? Well... okay, not quite a gazelle, but you get the point.

Rasmus

March 10th, 2010 at 8:38 AM ^

So no doubt if he gets the job he will be improved over what we saw in 2008. But I don't think his problems that year can be entirely blamed on not fitting into Rich's offense. Some of it was youth and inexperience. I also wonder about his accuracy and timing -- it seemed like there were moments (however rare) where he had good protection and an open receiver, but just missed the target.

That said, it would be great to see him do well. I'm rooting for him -- may Tate kick his ass in the Rose Bowl this season!

Magnus

March 10th, 2010 at 8:30 AM ^

I think judging Steve Threet by how he played in Rich Rodriguez's offense would be like judging Denard Robinson as a quarterback in a Mike Debord offense.

He has - and should have - a clean slate at ASU.

aaamichfan

March 10th, 2010 at 8:51 AM ^

Congrats to Threet on working his way into the starting position for ASU. As long as he isn't playing against Michigan, I wish him the best.

Blue Durham

March 10th, 2010 at 9:27 AM ^

young and inexperienced, in an offense that didn't suit him, had virtually no offensive line, and took a beating.

All of this after coming here to play under Carr, but ended up with RR as head coach with about as far different a system as imaginable.

And through it all he did not complain one bit, even after leaving.

I just don't think that merits snarky comments.

OHbornUMfan

March 10th, 2010 at 9:33 AM ^

There once was a quarterback at Michigan who played behind another pretty good quarterback. When our protagonist's senior year rolled around, there were many in the fan base who wanted him to continue as a backup. His arm was not strong enough, his precision not precise enough, to lead the team to glory. Many called from the young phenom with great physical tools and passion to start in his place. Better to get him on the field soon, and begin building his confidence since he would be leading us to hoist many glorious banners and glittering trophies in the future. Our hero was something of a late bloomer, who didn't compare very well on paper to the young stud behind him. if we had known that the damn Yankees would lure him away, some of us might not have clamored so loudly for Henson to replace Brady. While smart money would be placed against Threet's being the next Tom Brady, he's young enough that he might still be able to find a system in which he can have success. I wish him luck - he gave his best, despite working within a system not suited to his strengths.

jmblue

March 10th, 2010 at 10:24 AM ^

Hey, I wish the kid well and all, but drawing analogies to a future NFL Hall of Famer is a bit much.

A John Navarre comparison I could buy. I think his story is a little closer to Threet's - a modestly-hyped QB who unexpectedly was thrown into the starting lineup earlier than expected (if at all).

OHbornUMfan

March 10th, 2010 at 11:59 AM ^

Who was calling him a future NFL Hall of Famer? Not too many were even calling him a future NFL starter. As I said, smart money is against Threet seeing the level of success Brady has. My main point is that there is an extent to which we have zero idea what will happen in the future. I hope the kid does better than would be reasonably assumed based on information currently known.

Tater

March 10th, 2010 at 11:57 AM ^

Let's see: what do Brady and Threet have in common?

They both played QB at UM.

Both are fairly tall.

I think that's it. Threet's sidearm delivery means he can't throw over even a major college line, what alone an NFL line. He has no accuracy, nor does he have much velocity.

Comparing Threet to Brady is like comparing Rynearson Stadium to the Big House.

jimmymin

March 10th, 2010 at 9:49 AM ^

I'll never forget seeing him rumble down the field late during the Wisconsin game! You just knew the Wisconsin D was thinking, "there's no way he's keeping the ball." Suddenly Threet's in the open field and getting run down. In my mind, I'm repeating, "please HOLD ON TO THE BALL!"

Ahh.. the bright spots for us fans have been somewhat few and far between these past couple of years.

Here's hoping for marked improvement in 2010!

Looking forward to seeing how these young men perform on the field this year.

MaizeAndBlueManGroup

March 10th, 2010 at 10:29 AM ^

The only problem I see is that ASU wants him to run a short, quick passing game. IMO, one of his biggest problems was how long his release was. So, unless he took care of that, I'm not so sure how he's going to fare in a quick pass/screen offense.

los barcos

March 10th, 2010 at 11:10 AM ^

wait for threet to do really well so every mgoblog poster can shut up about how despicable he was. i hope mike williams and ezeh can do the same thing too.

Starko

March 10th, 2010 at 12:20 PM ^

I have no first hand knowledge, but I would bet that Threet's decision to transfer was not 100% his decision. I have a feeling he was told by the coaches that they wanted to start fresh with the younger guys. My main reason for thinking this is that ST took the job in the first place, and tried to make the most of it in 2008. I think if it was up to him (and he would be given a shot at winning the job as the best player to win games in 2009), he would have stayed and fought it out, because he has some confidence and he really would have been the best option in 2009.

However, my theory is that RR encouraged him to move on, sacrificing experience in 2009 to build for 2010. I think and hope the staff has been playing rope-a-dope these two years and are ready to pounce in 2010. Let's pray they have, and that when they do it will all have been worth it.

Jon Benke

March 10th, 2010 at 12:28 PM ^

It didn't just start at Michigan.

Threet first went to Georgia Tech, a four star QB, mostly because Mallet went to Michigan. But as soon as he got to Atlanta, Paul Johnson was hired, bringing with him his flexbone option offense. Obviously, bein' a square peg in a round hole, Threet left and went home... And when he got home, to play under Carr, Carr was later replaced by Rich Rodriguez, who brought his spread option. It's just bad luck. So not only do I wish Steven the best of luck... I also hope that Arizona State doesn't replace their head coach, anytime soon, with someone who runs the spread!

Victory Collins

March 10th, 2010 at 2:53 PM ^

Threet was unable to make quick decisions, and was an inaccurate passer with a long wind-up (not as bad as Tebow). These seem to be issues if you are playing in an offense that relies on quick drops/decisionmaking, and delivering accurate short passes into tight spaces quickly. Maybe the article was not talking about the same Threet. That's the only thing I can think of; otherwise, it makes no sense.

gobluesasquatch

March 10th, 2010 at 4:40 PM ^

If Threet gets a chance to start, I might go over to a Sun Devils game (there will be a lot of empty seats, (god college football sucks in the west) and watch him play. He wasn't Tom Brady (but then Tom Brady wasn't Tom until the latter stages of his senior year). He wasn't Drew Henson (punk), nor John Navarre (only one D1 school besides Michigan wanted him at QB - Northwestern), but he came into a tough situation with young talent or injured talent and a pretty poor offensive line. And when he transferred, we can't confirm he went all Toney Clemons or J. Boren on the program.

Steve Levy Sucks

March 10th, 2010 at 6:20 PM ^

minus whatever in one night? Its been done, but anyways - some of you who are familar with some of my post concerning Threet know that I am familar with him and his family down here in Adrian.

I really rooted for this guy, a local high school football star. It was awesome to see him start for Michigan and I wanted not only the best from him but my team. I do feel he gave us mostly everything he had.

However,

Threet is one of the main contributors to the Free Press article - he threw Michigan under the bus. After him and his dad (Jewel) met with RR he decided to transfer, he felt he wasn't being treated like the football player 'he' thought he was. I'm not going to rip on him, not yet, but it's time we, as Michigan fans, know who those players were that contributed to that article - and I am telling you, whether you choose to believe it or not - Threet was the guy who started all of this bullshit

CRex

March 10th, 2010 at 7:08 PM ^

But at the same time I'm not going to give this any credence until I see some additional sources. Nothing personal.

I saw Threet come here to play for us, get thrown into the shark tank with a really poor offensive line, little run game and young WRs. He played for us, in a system that didn't exactly fit him, clawed his way back from injury a few times to keep playing, up to the point where he and Sheridan were on the bench and we had to give Feagin snaps against tOSU.

I have to balance what you said against what I saw. It's easy to type things on a message board. I for example am about to go bang Megan Fox, aka get Raback's seconds. Sources man.

Magnus

March 10th, 2010 at 9:38 PM ^

I read an article the other day where she said she's only had sex with her high school sweetheart and Brian Austin Green.

So counting Raback (who I'm assuming is Brian Austin Green) and me (I just left her place), you'll be #4 on her list.