Al Borges: Will Adapt Offense to Denard
Borges runs a pro-style offense, but he said it has gone through much tweaking over the years, and describes his philosophy as more of a hybrid pro-style.
He has run some aspects of the spread offense.
"To say we're a spread team, we're not that," Borges said. "But you can't say, we're going to blow up and start all over again, not when you have a talent like (Robinson).
From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110114/SPORTS0201/101140352/New-U-M-offensive-coordinator-Al-Borges-will-adapt-to-Denard-Robinson#ixzz1AzMn0zxM
This sounds promising at least...
January 14th, 2011 at 1:35 AM ^
This will be interesting. The spring game should draw a lot of curious fans.
January 14th, 2011 at 2:46 AM ^
...which begs an interesting question: Will spring football revert to what it was during the Carr years (i.e. nothing, from the fan perspective) or did the glasnost/perestroika of the past three years open the flood gates enough for the spring game and other related activities to remain 'events'?
January 14th, 2011 at 3:46 AM ^
I like what you're saying, even if I don't like the parallel you draw between Michigan and Soviet Russia. (In Soviet Russia, spring games you.)
January 14th, 2011 at 4:02 AM ^
I should clarify: I meant the thawing as it relates to the spring game. It's a known fact that Carr had no desire for the spring game to be a fan-friendly event.
January 14th, 2011 at 10:03 AM ^
If Lloyd ran a circus, it wouldn't be fan-friendly.
One of the curious aspects of the Press's attitude towards RichRod, was how consistently rude Carr was towards it, and how outright dickish he was to sideline reporters--sorry, dude, it went with the territory.
Thank God, Hoke at least appears to HAVE a personality.
January 14th, 2011 at 8:25 AM ^
Coach Hoke has handled everything very well since his hire. 2011 season we will see an inspired football team
January 14th, 2011 at 9:24 AM ^
I really like to see 50k people at the spring game. Man, that is something I look forward to starting Jan 1. And I do agree that a LOT of people will be interested to see what the team has to offer. Should be really exciting. I think DB will keep trying to improve the spring game. How cool would it be to let people sit in the suites?! Perhaps charge a nominal fee and all proceeds go to Mott Children's Hospital. I think that would be awesome.
January 14th, 2011 at 5:30 AM ^
January 14th, 2011 at 6:19 AM ^
a night spring game? Would be sweet.
January 14th, 2011 at 7:19 AM ^
January 14th, 2011 at 11:17 AM ^
perfect opportunity to show off our new maize unis! finally!
January 14th, 2011 at 7:39 AM ^
We will have 5 games in 6 nights all sponsored by different corporate entities providing DB with data to determine who will get to splash their logo across the Block M at midfield.
January 14th, 2011 at 8:01 AM ^
January 14th, 2011 at 9:12 AM ^
Hopefully we never have to see the day when it is Arbys Michigan Stadium or Michigan Field at Dominos Stadium.
January 14th, 2011 at 9:26 AM ^
Brandon has stated a few times he wants no part in advertising at Michigan Stadium.
January 14th, 2011 at 10:09 AM ^
... and then he let a 7 foot tall box of curly fries skate around in Michigan Stadium.
January 14th, 2011 at 11:51 AM ^
FWIW, he was asked about that and he said that he allowed advertising for the hockey game because hockey allows advertising. He stated very clearly he does not intend to allow permanent advertising in the stadium and that football does not allow advertising inside the stadium. Not saying he wasn't blowing smoke or won't change his mind but that would be a pretty big thing for him to try and sell to the boosters.
January 14th, 2011 at 1:39 AM ^
Not surprised one bit. Looking forward to the new looks on offense.
January 14th, 2011 at 7:26 AM ^
January 14th, 2011 at 7:34 AM ^
January 14th, 2011 at 7:55 AM ^
but looks like well priced ones from tSIO.
January 14th, 2011 at 8:01 AM ^
Was it signed by a player? Maybe they just left their "mark" if a signature was too hard.
January 14th, 2011 at 9:44 AM ^
Couldn't get the pencil out of the lightsocket.
January 14th, 2011 at 1:42 AM ^
he'd better
January 14th, 2011 at 1:42 AM ^
reminds me of Carr. Not giving away playcalling specifics.
January 14th, 2011 at 1:46 AM ^
I doubt he much in the way of playcalling specifics yet.
January 14th, 2011 at 4:26 AM ^
He's not even in Michigan yet and we're looking for a breakdown of each play he'll call against Western in 9 months. Brilliant.
January 14th, 2011 at 7:02 AM ^
Does anyone give away playcalling specifics? I can't recall any coach, Michigan or otherwise, up and announcing what plays they plan on running and providing the accompanying X and O diagrams....
January 14th, 2011 at 1:48 AM ^
The element of surprise should be there since opposing teams wont really be able to look at SDSU tapes to see what kind of plays we will run since we are going to be adjusting our offense to fit with denard.
January 14th, 2011 at 11:52 AM ^
By game three (Eastern Michigan) There should be enough tape that we suprise no one after that. The only suprise advantage will be with Notre Dame. We will need that advantage because Kelly found his Qback and should have the team humming when we meet.
January 14th, 2011 at 6:04 PM ^
Most teams do not go through their entire playbook by week 3.
January 14th, 2011 at 1:50 AM ^
Would be good if he could tweak for our smaller faster backs as well... Not your typical Pro-Style power backs... Hopkins, that's about it
January 14th, 2011 at 2:03 AM ^
I expect a real competition for carries at RB this year. We should see the 3-4 back rotation Freddy J. alluded to earlier in the season.
January 14th, 2011 at 2:14 AM ^
Why do you say that exactly?
SDSU had a 1500 yard, 17 TD rusher in 2010 who accounted for 60% of the teams rushes. He's 5'10", 175lbs. That makes him smaller than all of our RBs except VSmith, who actually weighs more than him.
Outside of Smith, I'm not sure why people think we have small running backs. Hopkins and Cox are big backs, Shaw and Toussaint are pretty average for RBs, and Vincent Smith is tiny. If anything, he'll need to tweak his playbook for our bigger backs.
January 14th, 2011 at 2:46 AM ^
All i got from that: "Cox are big".
January 14th, 2011 at 10:31 AM ^
Was funny, thanks for the laugh.
January 14th, 2011 at 7:14 AM ^
It's because we started Vincent Smith. He got the most snaps, so that's what people associate.
January 14th, 2011 at 10:09 AM ^
If you really think Vincent Smith weighs more than 175 pounds, you'd probably be seriously intimidated by my thirteen inch dick.
January 14th, 2011 at 8:56 AM ^
Mike Cox will start in the backfield in the fall.
January 14th, 2011 at 12:05 PM ^
If only we had a Mike Hunt on this team we would be epic.
January 14th, 2011 at 1:50 AM ^
Good to hear.
On a bit of a sidenote, Al Borges could be the best thing that happened to Tate Forcier's career as a QB (provided that he makes it back on the team, of course). Seems to me like the McNown-led Bruins were arguably Borges's best coaching job. It also seems to me like Forcier and McNown have a similar skill set: accurate; mobile in the pocket, but not necessarily "running" QB's; good-but-not-great arm strength.
Oh, and moxie.
Tate himself pretty much admitted during the Gator Bowl practices that he wasn't a great fit for RR's offense. But it seems like he'd be much more comfortable running one notable iteration of the Borges offense.
January 14th, 2011 at 5:32 AM ^
MOXIE
January 14th, 2011 at 5:35 AM ^
January 14th, 2011 at 1:57 AM ^
too bad he cant go and study RROD over the summer like other teams have.
January 14th, 2011 at 2:04 AM ^
Brady may have to work on his sense of rhythm though. Not that RR teams managed dance-worthy rhythms during the past three years. But then the fourth may have contributed the charm, we'll never know...
January 14th, 2011 at 6:07 PM ^
He can make do with three seasons' worth of game tapes.
January 14th, 2011 at 2:06 AM ^
mind if Borges and Co run a similar offense to what Purdue does. It seems Purdue is a mix of some spread and pro style offenses.
January 14th, 2011 at 7:56 AM ^
Hopefully just minus the ligament damage and generally suckyness
January 14th, 2011 at 2:10 AM ^
How do you go from being OC at Auburn to being OC at SDSU?