Ryan Mallett Speaks... Positively About Michigan

Submitted by MGoShoe on

A frequent recipient of MGoBlogerati disdain, Ryan Mallett just may have undergone a fairly significant maturation since his matriculation at Arkansas.  Check out this article in which he credits Michigan and in particular Lloyd Carr and Chad Henne as major factors in his current success.

Mallett, who has two seasons of college eligibility remaining, said his leadership skills have been shaped by Michigan and Arkansas. "When I first went to Michigan I was young," said Mallett, 22, who missed the Razorbacks' spring practices because of the foot injury. "I had a great guy in front of me in Chad Henne. He was a very good leader and I watched him and I learned from him.

"I was still young when I came here (to Arkansas). Going under the tutelage of coach Carr and (Arkansas) coach (Bobby) Petrino -- they really helped me understand what I need to do. I've always felt I've been a leader, but I've just matured with the direction of those coaches."

Mallett...said he signed to play for Michigan because he "had fallen in love with the campus and the coaches."

Perhaps with age and experience Mallett has undergone his own transformation to complement his transfer. Meanwhile, with the Heisman campaign underway, Mallett is surely receiving some significant public relations coaching from Arkansas.  Of course, both can be true, can't they?

coldnjl

July 15th, 2010 at 9:07 PM ^

He and Ricardo are my favorite recruits of all time. I can't blame him for leaving. I am also glad that he still loves the area

the_big_house 500th

July 15th, 2010 at 9:13 PM ^

He did an incredible job taking over the starting qb spot after Henne got injured. I have always thought highly of him and I wish he would of stayed with us after Carr left. He's got a great arm and is a tough player physically.

maizenbluenc

July 16th, 2010 at 7:45 AM ^

What a relief that day was after the previous two weeks. An amazing come back by the team too, to turn it around like they did. Just goes to show what experienced upper classmen leadership will do for you when the chips are down - whether they are on the field (Hart and Long), or off the field (no clips of Henne, but he was in Mallet's ear advising everytime Ryan came off the field).

david from wyoming

July 15th, 2010 at 10:39 PM ^

Pat White was drafted in the 2nd freaking round as a QB. I might take a few years since all of our QB's are young, but Michigan will keep having QB's drafted.

Magnus

July 15th, 2010 at 10:48 PM ^

He didn't say make it TO the NFL.  He said make it IN the NFL.  As in "have a decent career."

So far Pat White hasn't exactly put on a show at QB, and rumors keep swirling that the team might move him to WR.  I don't think he really counts as a success story for "NFL-caliber quarterbacks coached by Rich Rodriguez."  Shaun King?  Sure.  Pat White?  Eh...not yet, at least.

raleighwood

July 15th, 2010 at 10:50 PM ^

Pat White will never be a starting QB in the NFL.  He's a situational QB at best.  That doesn't mean he can't have a good career and make some money (like Antwan Randle El...) but he was not a great second round pick (and the Dolphins didn't learn their lesson after taking Ginn in the first round?). 

Which was a worse second round QB pick.....Pat White or Drew Stanton?  OK, it's probably Stanton because he'll never be good at all, White has a chance at being good at some things.

raleighwood

July 17th, 2010 at 11:20 AM ^

He'll probably be a starting QB at some point  The Broncos have too much invested to not make that happen.  However, I don't think that he'll be an effective, every down QB in the NFL.  

I had the impression that most teams thought his mechanics were too far behind other QB's to risk that high of a pick.  Tebow going in the first round and McCoy going in the third round just seemed crazy to me.  The gap between those two players just wasn't that big. 

Of course, we'll probably have to wait a few years to see how it all turns out.

jmblue

July 16th, 2010 at 4:30 PM ^

While I've enjoyed the "QB U" hype we've recently gotten, let's be clear: that hype is basically because of one guy (Brady).  Besides him, we've just had a couple of guys with so-so careers (Grbac, Griese) and a few others that got a cup of coffee.  It's not like we cranked out a succession of All-Pros.

Magnus

July 16th, 2010 at 4:41 PM ^

...and yet you'd be hard-pressed to find a school that has produced a higher volume of quality quarterbacks in the last 25 years.  USC is probably the closest competition, but that's only based on Palmer (a good QB), Leinart (so far a bust), and Sanchez (a good rookie season).



Harbaugh, Grbac, Collins, Dreisbach, Griese, Brady, Henson, Navarre, and Henne are a pretty good string.  Toss in a sprinkle of Ryan Mallett, Matt Gutierrez, and Clayton Richard (okay, maybe not), and wowee zowee.

Magnus

July 16th, 2010 at 5:28 PM ^

I agree.  But if you look at Pro Bowl nominations from recent years, the All-Pro caliber quarterbacks come from a random smattering of schools, for the most part...

Peyton Manning - Tennessee

Drew Brees - Purdue

Matt Schaub - Virginia

Vince Young - Texas

Tony Romo - Eastern Illinois

Aaron Rodgers - Cal

Carson Palmer - USC

Donovan McNabb - Syracuse

Kurt Warner - Northern Iowa

Eli Manning - Ole Miss

Brett Favre - Southern Miss

Jay Cutler - Vanderbilt

Kerry Collins - PSU

Matt Hasselbeck - BC

Jeff Garcia - San Jose State

Ben Roethlisberger - Miami (OH)

Derek Anderson - Oregon State

Philip Rivers - NC State

Marc Bulger - WVU

Mike Vick - Virginia Tech

Steve McNair - Alcorn St.

Trent Green - Indiana

Etc.

I got tired of typing out the Pro Bowlers, but I had to go all the way back to the 2000 Pro Bowl to find a school that had repeat Pro Bowlers. 

So what's the only school that has had multiple Pro Bowl quarterbacks since then?

Why, the good old University of Michigan.  Elvis Grbac and Brian Griese made it in 2000, and Tom Brady has made it five times since.

Gino

July 16th, 2010 at 9:37 PM ^

What do you expect?  The QB fraternity consists of the few elite which is at any given time around four or five active QBs and the rest, trying to become that.

Michigan has an unprecendented string of QB success in the NFL, perhaps starting with Harbaugh? and ending with Mallett, as far as the Bo/Mo/Carr regime goes. UNPRECEDENTED.   To start in the NFL on a consistent basis means your among the best 32 or so in the US, and there are so many variables that have to come into play for the QB to be able to reach that elite.  Ask yourself if Brady got drafted by the Lions instead...would he be ones of these with a so-so career ????

Gino

July 16th, 2010 at 9:26 PM ^

Unbelievable, that I got negged like that.  What I said is completely true. We had an unprecedented streak of QBs succeed in the NFL. Rodriguez has had one in Shaun King, and Pat White has not 'truly made it' yet, as in starting on a regular basis.  I hope Forcier is the first, though this will be at least four more years, which is AWHILE, isn't it ?  

ChasingRabbits

July 15th, 2010 at 10:43 PM ^

It is pretty hard to look at a kid who stayed, but complained the whole time, soured some other kids attitudes, told some past coaches how much extra work they were required to put in, (which may hav been the start of the crusade against rr and um football as a Michigan man. My definition tents to favour those kids who work hard to make a POSITIVE contribution to my university and it's football program. Maybe that's just me though.

Sven_Da_M

July 15th, 2010 at 9:23 PM ^

... Despite the Massive Meathead comments a few years back, you have to admit he has the prototypical QB look going.  It's understandable that he's a bit nostalgic now that he's in the middle of BFE 24/7/365, and being coached by Dipshit/CarpetBagger ("Falcon for Life") Bobby Petrino:

Hard Gay

July 15th, 2010 at 10:23 PM ^

Talented as he is, he is one goofy looking person.  I remember the 2007 Illinois game where he kept the ball and took off running for a 20 yard gain.  I was laughing my badonkadonk off, half out of joy that we had the first down, half out of reaction to his hilarious gait.  

raleighwood

July 15th, 2010 at 10:58 PM ^

If Michigan had continued with a traditional offense and Mallett had stayed, Michigan quite possibly could have had three players drafted in the first round last year (Mallett, Boren and Graham).

People like to complain about "empty cupboards" but Lloyd left some top notch talent when he retired.  Maybe not a ton of depth, but certainly more talent than Purdue, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota...... 

Mouton and Warren are two other five star recruits that he left on the roster.  Things just didn't fall into place.  Hopefully we've turned the corner.

Magnus

July 15th, 2010 at 11:02 PM ^

Our offense SHOULD have had in 2008...

LT - Ortmann

LG - Boren

C - Molk

RG - Moosman

RT - Dorrestein

TE - Butler

QB - Mallett

WR - Arrington

WR - Manningham

WR - Mathews

RB - Minor/Brown/McGuffie

That's not a great offensive line, but you can't tell me that the makings weren't there for an explosive offense.  I know Manningham was probably out the door anyway, and maybe so was Mallett . . . but the cupboard wasn't "bare" until the hiring of Rich Rodriguez cleared it out.  And no, I'm not blaming Rodriguez.  It's just . . . shit happens.

Watts Club Moz…

July 15th, 2010 at 11:18 PM ^

Did you leave Schilling off because you thought the other guys would have beaten him out, or was it an oversight?

I was under the impression Manningham and Mallett didn't like each other very much and that Manningham was going to do whatever Arrington did (and he was out the door the minute the Citrus Bowl ended).

Ziff72

July 16th, 2010 at 8:54 AM ^

Zirbel for Dorrenstein...from many accounts Zirbel had taken over as our best lineman in the Spring before he blew out his knee.

I agree with you though.  People always want to assign blame to everything when sometimes it really is just bad luck/timing.  Lloyd left plenty of good players, but the perfect storm hit of system change, injuries, transfers, turning pro etc.... and bam Rodriguez is screwed.  

raleighwood

July 15th, 2010 at 11:26 PM ^

....and the defense would have had:

Brandon Graham (five star, NFL)

Tim Jamison (four star, borderline NFL)

Terrence Taylor (four star, borderline NFL)

Will Johnson/Mike Martin

Obi Ezeh (three star)

John Thompson (three star)

Jonas Mouton (five star)

Stevie Brown (four star)

Brandon Harrison (four star)

Donovan Warren (five star)

Morgan Trent (NFL)

Not exactly an empty cupboard, although the depth was suspect.  Oh well, it's time to look forward.

 

Blueisgood

July 16th, 2010 at 1:36 AM ^

The D woulda still been pretty much the same. Stevie Brown didn't do anything good until RR came in and he switched postions. Morgan Trent was well, Morgan Trent. Mouton and Ezeh haven't been great, but I'm hoping there is a turn around for them this year. Your D argrument isn't that good. Maybe if you'd said they'd play'd a familar D with the same D coordinator, then you'd have one.

raleighwood

July 16th, 2010 at 8:03 AM ^

I listed four or five players who were drafted or had a reasonable chance of making an NFL roster.  That's not just Rivals rankings.  I don't think that any other team in the Big Ten outside of OSU and PSU had that much talent on the defensive side of the ball.

blueheron

July 16th, 2010 at 9:35 AM ^

7 out of 11 seems like mostly to me.

I believe there was talent on the defense that year.  (If all goes well, at least Martin will get the NFL classification one day, so add him.)  But, I don't think Rivals stars have any place in the assessment.  If they do, why not cite 5-star Kevin Grady and blame Lloyd / RichRod for not developing him properly?

Cobrani Mixon (who fled to Kent State) was a 4-star.  Mike Hart was a 3-star.  You probably get the idea.  "Studies have shown" that those rankings aren't worthless, but I'd rather talk about player quality as shown by on-field production.

raleighwood

July 16th, 2010 at 12:26 PM ^

.....and raise you LaMarr Woodley (5 star), Chad Henne (5 star), Mario Manningham (4 star), Jake Long (4 star)......you probably get the idea.

Obviously star ratings are not a guarantee of anything.  However, I'd much rather have highly ranked players on my roster.  The rest is up to coaching, motivating, attitude....and those sorts of things.

We all want to judge players based on field production.  However, college football is a very fluid situation because you're dealing with a huge maturation/improvement process over a four year period.  Woodley, Graham (and Crable to a lesser extent) had decent early years, good middle years and dominating senior years.  That's why star rankings matter.  You want to start with a base of talent and develop that into exceptional talent by the end.

 

maizenbluenc

July 16th, 2010 at 7:52 AM ^

It's just . . . shit happens.

 

Exactly. We haven't experienced it since 1969, but when you have a major coaching change turnover happens. The guys who can go on to the NFL because staying is too much of a career risk, etc.

That's not RIch's fault, and not Lloyd's fault, (and for that matter not Ryan Mallet's fault).

I love how you put it. Made me laugh.

M-Wolverine

July 16th, 2010 at 10:02 AM ^

And Mallett was the QB.  After the bowl game, starting over with a new coach AND a new, inexperienced QB made him think his stock would go down.  He was probably right.  But if he became the man in the system, and had Mallett throwing to him, I'd bet he'd have come back. Mario...no, not so much.

Magnus

July 16th, 2010 at 10:08 AM ^

I don't think his departure was a foregone conclusion.  He still had never been the #1 guy and despite his awesome bowl performance, that only got him drafted in the 7th round.  I know Michigan guys have a history of leaving early only to be disappointed and undrafted (Warren, Shazor), but that's not the norm.

Maizeforlife

July 16th, 2010 at 8:36 AM ^

I'm not looking for good draft picks.  I'm looking for winning seasons in COLLEGE football.  Michigan may have been a QB factory for pro QB's but the college game has been changing over the past few years.  To be competetive, Michigan needed to change with it.  We'll see this new style of football translate to the pro level soon enough when the talent pool that they draft from develops different skill sets.  The NFL lags behind a few years when it comes to player skills, but the game will adapt at that stage too.