Spring Game Snowflakes
I think Evans and Higdon are both better. FWIW I do think he looks a bit more in shape and was generally running through contact a bit better than in the past.
But Karan looked like he's gotten quicker somehow and had a couple plays where he read the blocking very well today. I'm not trying to dog Ty, but I see him as the third back right now.
I hope he does, but let's be honest he hasn't made a habit of trucking dudes.
He's big, so we tend to expect him to bowl people over (especially those of us that continue to see him as BIG TIME FIVE STAR RECRUIT TY ISAAC!!!) But we haven't seen a lot of him plowing through traffic.
I think today he displayed a bit more ability to drive forward with guys hanging on him, and I hope it's a sign of things to come.
But go rewatch the game and pay close attention to Higdon's vision and burst. A couple of those big runs came when there really wasn't a lot of space to work with. He had to tunnel his way to that first TD on a play that IMO Isaac almost certainly doesn't reach the end zone.
Again, not trying to trash talk TI. I'm just very impressed by what I saw from Higdon, and I already thought Karan has been better than Ty before today.
You have never seen McCaffrey throw a snap at the college level.
That is ridiculous to include him. Peters makes sense because he completely outplayed Speight today and he's in his 2nd year. McCaffrey is getting ready for prom and looked like a toothpick in that Army Game (where he didn't play that well).
Do they really have to if they average 6 ypc before they're even touched?
Pretty sure Evans weighed in at 212 over spring. He was 200 last year. Higdon is also over 200 this year I believe.
The PA announcer shouldn't make that mistake though. I don't remember him ever calling him that before, so it was odd.
I'm still a big Grapentine fan overall, to be clear.
but there were some bad throws too. And some drops. Still, it's a spring game and you're going against people who know your tendancies so it makes it look worse.
Higdon looks very good.
We have a lot of good things coming out of that game. 3 servicable QB's. Good defense again. Can't wait for Fall. Going to be another fun season!
Unless that QB goes down. Just consider how much Speight's backup struggled last year, almost threw the season away against freaking Indiana
a good point on the broadcast. The defense goes up against the offense every practice so they know what's coming. They've seen it all before time and time again, especially when it is 1s vs. 1s. I think Peters was the better QB today, but Speight was going up against the number one's who have practiced against all these plays.
Speight was awful. He was running for his life on most plays, but still looked bad. Also, Ruiz struggled for most of the day.
This is true, it's always true of Defense in practice situations. If a team's Defense doesn't get the best of the offense in intrasquad stuff, either the Defense is bad or the OL is utterly dominant. However, Speight made some bad plays and decisions against the backups as well. I thought Peters was clearly better today, regardless of the situation.
Now, there could be a number of explanations for that and I'm not saying that Peters should definitely be our #1 as of today. However, I also didn't see a QB situation that is absolutely settled.
I could only listen to a few series on the radio while driving around but it sounded like Speight was under a ton of duress that Peters was not. There were a lot of plays Brandy basically said the ball is snapped and within 3 seconds "and Speight is down" (2 hand touch) or "Bush got there" or "Hudson got Speight". I did not hear such things on the other side of the ball when Peters was there so it sounded without seeing any of the game it was sort of 1 v 1s on 1 side and 2 v 2s on the other and the backups on D didn't pressure Peters nearly as much as Speight.
So for those who watched it what % of plays did you feel Speight was under immediate duress vs Peters.
Having watched the taped broadcast, that was my impression as well. Speight often had someone in his face almost instantly. On Peters' long completions, he had plenty of time to throw.
Yeah except the pick 6 at the endzone
That the offense knows the defensive packages and coverages. Neither side is going to really surprise or outscheme the other, one of many reasons why you can't project too much of what we saw yesterday onto real games. Nobody was hitting as hard as they would have against a real opponent, either.
even his pick-6 hit the dude in the hands in stride. :)
Kicks were good even in the wind. That was a 47-yard field goal he hit, right?
Now, we just need the PA announcer to pronounce his name correctly (i.e. nor-deen, not nor-din)...
Higdon may be the most complete back on the team...but man there are some good backs on this team...the rotation should be stronger than its been in a long time.
I think we're beginning to see some real depth develop at some position groups:
DL will obviously continue to be a strength. We've got three incoming freshman in the fall that IMO are all capable of finding their way into the rotation.
WR - We lost three productive players if you include Perry, and yet I think we have a lot of depth and upside. It's young and unproven, but we've got freshmen and even a walk-on that look like they're all ready to contribute, to say nothing of the guys that were already playing last year.
CB - Again, young and unproven, but I think there are five or six guys capable of playing the position competently, and I'm not even including Thomas (who looks like he's got a learning curve ahead of him but whose potential I love.) Even St. Juste, who gave up a couple big plays, was RIGHT there in coverage and just didn't quite play the ball well enough (it doesn't help when Black was making some outstanding catches.)
As for the other stuff: I'm still hesitant to say Speight won't start against Florida, but he's going to have to continue to improve if he wants to. And even if he does, I feel much better about the backup situation if he struggles or gets hurt than I did last year. We all know about Peters, but I honestly thought O'Korn looked a lot more fundamentally sound throwing the ball than he did last year. It's spring, but he looked a lot better than he did last spring or against Indiana. I do think that Peters is going to be the next great Michigan QB. It's just a question of when, not if. All the tools are there.
We've got some players at S and LB, which is good to see... guys that can cover, blitz, and hit. No question in my mind that we're looking great at those positions by 2018, but with some luck it just might click sooner than that.
At RB, Evans didn't play much and that's perfectly fine. But Higdon looks quicker and more explosive than before, with some good vision and patience displayed on a couple of plays as well. If you told me today that he and Evans are going to be close to even in number of carries, I'm taking that as a compliment to Karan and not a worry over Chris. I think they're both good.
OL is still the biggest area of concern. To be fair, these guys were split up part of the time and had to deal with maybe the best DL they'll see all season (though OSU and UF will be awfully good.) I like the young guys inside, and hope they'll develop fast. I think it's reasonable to think Cole will be decent at T if not great. We can't afford injuries. I think we'll be good enough to manage if we can just stay healthy. This is a team that can win 10+ with good line play. If the line falls apart, on the other hand....
drop top?
April 16th, 2017 at 12:29 AM ^
drip tops
tip top
Dan Dierdorf was completely underwhelmed by Speight's performance today. For the expected Fall starter to only go something like 7 of 24 for about 70 yards was a big surprise to Dan, especially considering the QB-hitting limitations placed on the Ds. The entire UM broadcast team was generally impressed with the athleticism of all the young players. The only true cautions (aside from the play of Speight) were regarding the injuries to Runyon (?) and McDoom.
I was rather sad that both injuries happened so late in the game.
"especially considering the QB-hitting limitations placed on the Ds."
I didn't hear that as a benefit for Speight. On the radio broadcast they said QBs were not in play so every 2 hand touch was a "sack" or "down" so things that Speight sometimes got out of in fall with his size he would not in this sort of scenario as he is not super mobile. Also the guys on radio said Brown was blitzing like made - I heard a lot of Bush Jr and Hudson touches on Speight. So I am not sure how those limitations helped Speight in any way.
April 15th, 2017 at 10:11 PM ^
What does "No DPJ" mean? He played today and made a few catches from what I read.