Why not Malzone?

Submitted by Clarence Beeks on

IF Peters and Speight can't go, why not Alex Malzone?  If we go back to the spring, the major positive upside on his game was his "smarts" (https://247sports.com/Article/Hamilton-previews-QB-depth-74917540).  That has been the consistent knock on O'Korn's game from what we've seen.  We know with this offense, and in this game in particular, being sound in decision-making is crucial. Yes, RS-Freshman asterisk applies to that, of course, but just tossing it out there for discussion (we can still do that here without instant snark, right?), because that's why not at this point...

Justibro

November 23rd, 2017 at 7:49 AM ^

In fairness if we aren't sitting at practice we don't see what they see. Peter's knock was never talent, it was being vocal and controlling the offense. He very well could have known Speight will be the starter and toned down being vocal for whatever reason until he sees he can truly beat out O'kourn. I mean that's just as logical as the coaches not seeing that Peter's is better than O'kourn.

Commie_High96

November 22nd, 2017 at 4:20 PM ^

I ran through all my "Trust the coaches" surplus from 2005-2014, sorry. I think Harbaugh is better, but if you think he is not capable of a colossal mistake or two or six, you are a moron.

There was bad luck all around this year, but there certainly seem to be some calls he and his staff made that didnt pan out. Which is ok, it happens

sheridonthirehoke

November 22nd, 2017 at 5:02 PM ^

REPORTER: “Coach, do you have faith in O’Korn to win ‘the game’, or would you rather see what Malzone can bring to this team.?”

HARBAUGH: [stares]

REPORTER: “That is, ah-“

HARBAUGH: [rolls eyes]

REPORTER2: “So, um, Devin Bush—“

HARBAUGH: “Good football player. Great speed. Very impressive, attacks the ball. Great kid.”

FauxMo

November 22nd, 2017 at 3:10 PM ^

What, and he hated O'Korn, who looked completely lost when pressured even slightly in all but one of his starts, and got pounded on numerous occasions? Or do QBs get stronger bones by their RS Sophomore year, but not before? And wasn't Peters dad rumored to have been pressing JH for more playing time for his son? Does his dad hate him then?

I don't buy these "Peters didn't start because Harbaugh cares too much." PLENTY of QBs far younger than RS freshman have started on day one across the land and done just fine. Chad Henne told me so this one time I talked to him... 

stephenrjking

November 22nd, 2017 at 3:48 PM ^

There's some pretty good intelligence out there that suggests that Peters was checked out for a portion of the early part of the season, and that it took some heavy coaching to get him to the point where he could even run the vanilla level of offense we saw against Rutgers and Maryland. People are acting like he was already the product we saw in that drive against Wisconsin when Michigan was struggling against Michigan State, but I don't think that's the case at all. 

Given that Peters has grown visibly in just the last three weeks, it is reasonable to think that he had to grow to get to the point he was at when he actually stepped on the field. And we've heard as much from people who seem to know what they're talking about. 

The timeline makes sense. O'Korn looks good (and he looked REALLY good) against Purdue. He struggles against MSU, but perhaps weather was a factor, so you trot him out against Indiana.

Indiana is where it was clear that desperation was required, but then you're looking right in the face of a road trip to PSU, and you don't put a not-quite-ready RS freshman in there. Indeed, there were whispers that Peters was getting heavy prep to play after the PSU game, including one-on-one time with Pep, but that Rutgers was the target. So O'Korn goes against PSU, struggles but has some nice throws, and then gets a chance to play to hold onto his job against Rutgers, and doesn't. And Peters comes out right on schedule. 

The idea that the staff was somehow mistaken/prejudiced about Peters seems way shortsighted to me. I think Peters got punched in the mouth when he was third coming into training camp, got discouraged, floated through the motions for a while (he's a kid, I don't hold this against him), and then started really striving to be in position to play when it became clear he would have a chance. The coaches then worked to put him in the best position to succeed.

lilpenny1316

November 22nd, 2017 at 3:51 PM ^

I think a little better accurary from Peters would've had us in the lead early against Wisconsin last week, but that's with almost three full games under his belt.

If his first game was MSU or PSU, the results might've been the same as what we had anyway.

copacetic

November 22nd, 2017 at 4:20 PM ^

One difference though is that we've heard for the past year-ish how Peters has looked like the best QB physically in practice, but didn't have command of the offense/speak loud enough/etc. Seems like he made great strides in those areas (even had a voice coach) since the start of the season, so I think it's reasonable to assume earlier in the season maybe he was rightfully behind O'Korn. And then enventually passed him (obviously debatable on whether that should've happened a week or two earlier). 



We've heard no rumblings about Malzone, good or bad, so this would definitely be more random. 

fksljj

November 22nd, 2017 at 2:15 PM ^

"Hey kid, we know you've never played before, but we're gonna toss you out there against a defense that's much better than the defenses that clobbered our OL and took out 2 QB's before you. Good luck!"

 

JOK is our best option. Unfortunately.

Yo_Blue

November 22nd, 2017 at 2:19 PM ^

How many other QBs on the roster will get their own threads today? 

I guess this includes Moores since he was a HS QB.

Here's an idea: Jack Wangler since his dad played QB at Michigan.  How bad could that go?  Of course, you'd have to start freshman TE Carter Selzer so you could have Wangler to Carter all day long.