Dinardo: Denard will start, Devin 2nd team.

Submitted by wolverine1987 on

So apparently Dinardo, in the M preview, believes Tate will be the 3rd team QB. I would be astonished, and if that happened the board will erupt in renewed Tate transfer speculation--this time it might be true. But I see no way that happens.

He also stated that Denard will be both the starter AND leading rusher.

Geaux_Blue

August 20th, 2010 at 12:08 PM ^

Tate's been 3rd stringed since the start of camp - haynesworth was 3rd string since the start of camp

also they barely got to see Tate play while seeing Denard all day. why wouldn't he think that?

thevictors85

August 20th, 2010 at 12:14 PM ^

i suggest we have that world cup octopus make the predictions for us... 8  matches correctly picked in a row!

Flying Dutchman

August 20th, 2010 at 12:14 PM ^

DiNardo is an idiot.  He may be right about part of that, though.    Not to start the avalanche of "who's your starter?" posts, but everything we have seen recently really seems to point to DR, at least against UConn.

DG 2nd team, though.... come on.   We already have ridiculously high hopes and expectations for this kid, and unless he absolutely blowing all of those high hopes and expectations out of the water ALREADY, you just don't make him a 2nd string QB as a true freshman.

If DR starts, Tate is a FANTASTIC backup - assuming he stays - not going down that road again.

chitownblue2

August 20th, 2010 at 12:18 PM ^

Dinardo probably isn't the retard we seem to think.

He went 5-6 3 times in 4 years at Vanderbilt (I think they give medals for this?).

He had several good teams at LSU.

He was an abject failure at Indiana...but it's Indiana.

bronxblue

August 20th, 2010 at 1:17 PM ^

He had a couple of decent years at LSU (one 10-win season), but toward the end they cratered and then he went to IU, where he also ran that team into the ground.  So yeah, his early coaching run was decent, but his trend has been down for quite some time.

As far as an analyst, I don't give much credence to a guy calling out the depth chart for a team before the season.  People seem to forget when you are wrong and remember when you are right, but saying that Robinson is the likely starter simply regurgitates what people have been saying since the spring game.  I won't give him much credit for that, and guessing that Devin might be the backup (but I expect Tate to actually see game time before him) is just a shot at some attention.

bacon1431

August 20th, 2010 at 12:21 PM ^

They only make predictions because fans expect them to. I'm sure Dinardo knows that he isn't qualified to predict the starters because he saw one practice. He's just a talking head doing what they're supposed to do

Huyge Cox

August 20th, 2010 at 12:23 PM ^

He prolly based his prediction off what he saw in practice.  Now, Wingless Tate was taking 3rd string snaps, but I severely doubt thats how the season will go.  He'll work his way back onto the 1st team in time.

Lil Michigan Man 7

August 20th, 2010 at 12:24 PM ^

How about this we start with no RB's on the field but both Denard and Tate in the backfield, we could snap it to either one and they could run or throw. None of Uconn's players would know what to do.

michgoblue

August 20th, 2010 at 12:26 PM ^

When I read the title opf this post, I thought it was a joke.  But nope, you are serious.

There were multiple threads on this last week.  In fact, the originators of several of those threads got slammed for re-posting old info. 

wolverine1987

August 20th, 2010 at 12:46 PM ^

This aired last night for the first time on BTN. I know there were tweets and such the day it happened, but please show me a thread saying that Dinardo says Devin will be the 2nd team QB and Tate third. If it exists then I'll apologize, if not you can. And I've noticed that so many people are so aware that this is old news that nobody is posting!

Mgobowl

August 20th, 2010 at 12:27 PM ^

RR doesn't even know yet because he hasn't seen the team scrimmage. Once that happens there will probably be some more insider info as to how it went and people will be able to make more educated guess. Until that time I'm going to tune out all the rumors.

RoseBowlBound

August 20th, 2010 at 12:27 PM ^

I think DG redshirts if Denard and Tate remain healthy all season long.  RR realizes that there is no room for a mid-season injury to one of those guys causing us to dump a winnable game during Big 10 play and that is the reason he's talking up DG as "ready to go" when it is probably an injury contingency plan.

canzhiye

August 20th, 2010 at 12:29 PM ^

now that tate has gotten his wings back, i dont think he would still be stuck on 3rd team. he was the starter last year and had some good moments. DG hasnt taken a single snap in game yet. Dinardo is an idiot.

bronxblue

August 20th, 2010 at 1:10 PM ^

This is the problem with Twitter - quasi-"journalists" like Mr. May and the Professional Hottie can spout off rumors and opinions without any censor and people take it as fact.  I highly doubt that RR has made a decision about who will be the starter against UConn, and even if Denard does start (which seems to be the trend), I doubt he would have told anyone.

jblaze

August 20th, 2010 at 12:39 PM ^

Dinardo was a terrible Head Coach, is a commentator on a secondary (maybe third tier) sports network (sorry BTN), and has seen 1 practice, so I guess he's correct!

BlueGoM

August 20th, 2010 at 12:58 PM ^

Listen to the podcast from WTKA this morning,  Calvin McGee made a comment that he was pleased that he had some QBs with some experience this year.   Unless DG is clearly better than Forcier, I don't think the coaches will burn his redshirt unless it was genuinely necessary.

They already underwent 2 seasons with QBs with basically no experience, I don't see how putting a true freshman out there is a good idea, especially when you have 2 experienced guys out there already.

Proclus

August 20th, 2010 at 1:01 PM ^

In the grand scheme of college football, it wouldn't be preposterous to suggest that a true freshman with lots of recruiting accolades might be made a backup over another talented player with significant experience, but in this instance it ignores the fact that Rodriguez and his offensive schemes seem to place a significant premium on experience in and understanding of the system, which is why we had to endure Sheridan (bless him) as a starter in '08, and the occasional round of paranoia that Rodriguez would start him again last year.

m1jjb00

August 20th, 2010 at 1:12 PM ^

Dinardo and May are laying down their chips.  At most, the only people who know who's starting is Rodriguez and Magee, and I doubt they've made their mind up.  What's the upside of deciding now?  RR said yesterday that his usual routine is to go 50/50 or 60/40 on practice reps.  They haven't started their game-day prep in earnest.

We've seen Tate when healthy, and I believe/have faith he'll be ready by game day.   

So, when Denardo says DG will be the 2nd string, I take that to mean he's really playing well.  That's good news.  When he says DRob will start, that means he's playing really well.  That's good news.  And those two points are the only news.  He's not RR.  What I take from the whole mess is that whoever starts is going to be playing really well in order to have beaten out the other guys.  My guess is that both Tate and DRob will play a lot, especially early on for the competition, preparation and different skill mixes.  But that's just my little informed opinion.

Mark May doesn't know anything.  Is he here?  How long?   He probably has a friend somewhere who's  in his ear.  Maybe he's right, maybe not.  It's just about the chattering and laying down a marker early on.