Spring Game tentatively scheduled for April 14

Submitted by Wolverine Devotee on

Patterson v. Peters v. McCaffrey v. Milton is tentatively scheduled for April 14th.

Was looking around the MMB website and found it on their calendar.

http://mmb.music.umich.edu/public-calendar/2018-04

Blue leads the all-time series 39-27-2, despite dropping the last two years contests to the Maize team.

war-dawg69

December 15th, 2017 at 2:39 AM ^

Ya -4 up here by Cadillac yesterday morning. Was thinking the same thing. A lot to look for in the spring game this year with the QB battle and the o-line. That's the indicator of the season, so hopefully the offense can pick it up. We know we can run the ball so pass protection should be paramount. We know QB play is going to be much better no matter who wins the starting job. Really looking forward to see how Peters performs in the bowl game.

If we can get a vertical passing game going, I really think Higdon and Evans can really tear it up this year. With our receiving corps and a defense that should be better than last years it really comes down to pass pro and QB play. If those two things change for the positive it could really become almost unfair for teams on our schedule. The talent is there over any team in the big ten and I really believe that. OSU is right there, but Michigan has better coaching IMO and I think this year it really shows and a lot of Harbaugh haters will get humbled.

On another note, love me some Mo Hurst and am not going to chose, but him or Winovich not winning big ten player of the year is just flat out bullshit. Winovich had like fifty more tackles than Bosa at the same position and Hurst had like thirty more at DT. Sorry but I hate everything about osu and this bias against everything Michigan is wearing thin. I hope we can finish up this recruiting cycle with Frere, Oweh, chase, Patterson, Friday and keeping Reese. Are we going to get any of those guys. Frere to me is number one guy. OSU thinks there getting Friday know that schiano visited him and he is visiting Alabama. Just getting nervous.

Don't want to change the thread but can anyone tell me why Logan Brown is committed to Wisconsin. I thought he was all Michigan and then there is the Dobb's and Barnett thing. Why isn't Harbaugh closing the deal on these in state guys like he did in the beginning. It is really troubling to lose two top o-lineman who live less than an hour from campus.

707oxford

December 15th, 2017 at 1:55 PM ^

Just got an email saying the Big House 5K is on April 8th.  Often that event has fallen on the same weekend as the Spring Game, although I don't believe this was the case last year which sucks for out-of-towners.  This means there is also a chance the Spring Game could be on April 7th instead, but the link in the OP is probably a better indicator.

stephenrjking

December 14th, 2017 at 6:42 PM ^

I'm glad for what they contributed, but it'll be nice to have a spring game without O'Korn or Speight in the mix. Even if Speight was coming back he's a known quantity and the spring game tells us nothing. I'm eager to see McCaffrey and Patterson show what they can do.

"What about Peters," you may ask. I'm eager to see what Peters can do in Tampa. Kind of bullish on him for the bowl game, it's a huge chance to seize pole position for the job next year.

YoOoBoMoLloRoHo

December 14th, 2017 at 9:45 PM ^

I learned Peters had superior field vision and calmness in the pocket compared to JOK. Go watch the last 2 Spring Games and give me an objective assessment of JOK - everything will point to what you watched during his 3.5 starts.

Fezzik

December 14th, 2017 at 11:51 PM ^

I'm tired of the 'spring game tells us nothing' hearsay. Who was the best looking QB in the spring...Peters. Who was the best looking QB this season...Peters. Speight's spring game was very indicative to his season performance, from sailing passes high to throwing a bad pick six. The O line struggled badly in pass pro in the spring...just like the regular season. The receivers underwhelmed in both as well. Yes the spring game should be taken with a grain of salt but it should not be so rashly disregarded as it has been on this blog.

1VaBlue1

December 15th, 2017 at 8:01 AM ^

Because Peters was able to run the 5 plays he knew, he was the best QB all around?  That's a bit revisionist and myopic, don't ya think?  I have no doubt that Peters was well short of where he probably should have been in understanding the offense - to the point where it was between Speight and JOK, only.  Yes, I'm saying it - Brandon probably should have put in more effort to learn the offense, because I think that is what led to him being #3.  Which, in turn, led to his (don't have a good word here, sulking, maybe?) lack of vocal leadership thing.

I do believe the QB position will be one hell of an improvement this season.  And I think we'll see it against USC (NTUSC) in a couple of weeks.  I also think that Patterson will be in more of a competition than he probably thinks he's in...

Fezzik

December 15th, 2017 at 9:05 PM ^

Chicken or the egg?

Did Peters not put enough effort into learning the playbook and in turn fell to 3rd string OR did Peters get passed by both Speight and O'Korn in practice which then led to Peters not fighting very hard for the job he already lost? I believe its the 2nd one.

Either way you never want any of your QBs giving less than 100% but after Peters showed he's the most talented guy we have and still got passed by not only Speight, but O'Korn as well, I'd understand the frustration. Before you hate on him if this is true, remember even Speight was quoted saying, “I was on the phone with my parents, basically saying, ‘OK, I’m out. Let’s find a different school," in 2015 when he was buried on the depth chart.

The coaches messed up not getting Peters 1st and 2nd string reps all year long. Also the lack of vocal, no command of the offense stuff is just a personality thing. It's not a lack of leadership thing. Coach Fisch even talked Peters into working with a voice inflection instructor on campus. Regarding this Peter's said, “I was having trouble with that in the spring, because you have to be pretty loud to be heard in the Big House,” the naturally soft-spoken Peters said. “I met with a teacher who taught me mechanics to project better, and it really helped.”

Wolfman

December 16th, 2017 at 12:50 AM ^

it obviously had to have caused a problem with the offense probably in the manner that the entire offense could not hear him - voice has to emanate 55 yds roughly and do so in a manner that leaves no doubt. Coach wanted him to be able to do so if he is most gifted, which i believe - probably close to Wilton prior to being hurt - but if so it definitely was problem or he would have been on field. 

I've had discussions like this ever since people were saying Carr had better qbs on roster than John which was true except for fact it wasn't. Peters is not a stretch as to football skills but when lack of voice projection takes away from offense, or lessens amount of things offense can do then it certainly is a problem and coaches are forced to stay with what they know will work as opposed to what they hope will work unless what they know Peters can do minus this is better than what Okorn can do. If such is the case then, indeed, they did make mistake. 

But if you were coach, how would you have played it? No I'm seriously curious as to all who believe this way. I coached for years and had to put players in, even at qb that I knew were a year away from being their best but that was high school and that was trying to get as many victories is a season, not build a program where i had five other qbs fighting and watching at the same time. This actually intrigues me. 

Fezzik

December 16th, 2017 at 12:02 PM ^

It no doubt is an issue, but one that Peters started working on over a year ago. The width of a football field is about 53 yards. With your QB in the center of that his voice must carry at least half that. So I'd say the 55 yards is a bit of a stretch but your point is valid.

John Navarre was much better than us fans, I was guilty too, wanted to give him credit for. It's the coaches job to play the guys that give them the best chance to win and the majority of the time they do so correctly. I think you are overstating the lack of vocals from Peters. I find it hard to believe he all of a sudden become loud enough by the Rutgers game to play but couldn't be heard well enough to play before that. Other factors we don't know had to of played the biggest role here.

Is our playbook bigger with Speight or O'Korn...most definitely! Does that mean the offense was better with Speight or O'Korn...no. Dantonio even mocked how many plays/formations we ran after beating us. The pros and cons were this;

With Speight and O'Korn you have better knowledge of the playbook. You can call anything you want. You'd expect less delay of games, burned time outs, broken plays, and incorrect formations. With the less talented guy in however you are more likely to have the QB make a terrible play despite a perfect play call. Example: Speight leading us to 1/10 in red zone TD% against 3 teams who never even became bowl eligible. Maizeandbrew show his stats as 1 completion on 14 called pass plays in this span for a total of -1 yards. Example 2: Re-watch O'Korn vs osu...open guys all over the place and O'Korn throwing to none of them. The QB talent level was too low with these guys. Too much value on full playbook vs lack of talent to take advantage of said playbook.

With Peters you may only run 20 plays but do so with a guy who is solid at those 20 plays. Our playbook was clearly limited with Peters but if you watched the games you could also see the execution/results were much better than a less talented QB running 100 plays.

I believe we over-estimated Speight's talent based on last year when the talent around Speight carried him, not Speight carrying the offense. This year most of that talent left and Speight was expected to pick up the slack but simply wasn't good enough to do so with such a young team. In turn, we under-estimated Peters ability to lead us based on Speight hope and Peter's "lack of command" of the offense. O'Korn should have never been #2, thats just a straight up coaching mistake. Seeing him everyday in practice for a couple years should have made him a known quantity to coaches. If Peters doesn't get bumped to #3 and stays at least #2 he would of learned the offense faster with actual meaninful practice reps rather than 3rd string playing with walk on reps.

If I coached I'd have the Keep It Simple Stupid approach until I knew my team could handle more and also to maximize the talent I can keep on the field. Speight gives you the best chance to win if he can execute the plays he already knows, which he did not execute well. He opened with a 11-25, 181 yard, 1TD - 2 INT TDs stat line. Could Peters at minimal match that, even with a possible vocal problem? Or was he already loud enough to play this game? The speed of growth Peters could/should have received this year from playing earlier would have been immensely beneficial.

Speight starting against Florida made sense. Peters, the most talented QB, seeing no action despite Speight's continued struggles through 3 games make no sense. Mastering 20 plays as an offense with Peters playing early would have given us 40-70? well executed plays by osu (if he stayed healthy). 

Peters with a limted playbook and his higher talent level > than Speight/O'Korn with a full playbook.

Fezzik

December 15th, 2017 at 6:22 PM ^

Two major mistakes our coaching staff made this year was the RT and QB depth chart. JBB should never have been behind Ulizo and I wouldn't be surprised if Runyan Jr is a better RT than Ulizio too. 

Peters should never have been lower than 2nd on the depth. There's a multitude of things us fans will never know that goes into making up the meritocracy. Peters clearly showed he was the most physcially talented. This turned out to be less important than other criteria when deciding what QB should play. I'd guess knowledge of the playbook was a bigger priority which in hindsight, the playbook should have been lessened and Peters should have played much sooner.

Everyone Murders

December 14th, 2017 at 7:04 PM ^

"Blue leads the all-time series 39-27-2" is maybe the most WD line of all-time.  Overall scrimmage records is some next-level stat keeping right there, boy howdy.*

*Not a hater - just in awe at the dedication.  Also grateful for the info re: the Spring Game schedule.