isaiah wilson

Quick Isaiah Wilson Tea Leaves Comment Count

Brian

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NY OL Isaiah Wilson decides at 11:35 (or, given how these things go, thereabouts) and there's still an undercurrent of uncertainty about his choice. Most people still think it's Michigan despite this talk of a Georgia surge, and an article posted yesterday at 247 offers an opportunity to deduce. Here's his high school coach explaining why Wilson moved his decision up:

"I came up with the idea after seeing Jim Harbaugh here," Fountaine said. "He spent a couple hours here, and he is just like a big kid - he's got a different personality. But seeing him walk around the school, with such a and how the kids respond - everybody knows who he is. Football is so important to the school, so I thought it would be great for him to do it in front of his entire student body."

Fountaine says he contacted Wilson while he was on his official to Georgia to pitch the idea.

Wilson immediately agreed, which again doesn't sound like a guy who is still contemplating a decision. He probably knew it was Michigan at about the time he moved it up from the UA game to Christmas, as well, and knew at about the time the Alabama insiders' confidence went off a cliff.

It is of course possible that Georgia changed his mind. Weirder things have happened in recruiting. This is why it is sometimes known as crootin. Still feeling as confident as possible given that Wilson, like DPJ, seemingly hasn't given anyone the wink-wink. Per Sam Webb it's crickets for all three suitors. Fun! (Not fun.)

Anyway, we'll know in an hour or two.

Comments

Hard-Baughlls

December 16th, 2016 at 11:25 AM ^

The test here is not simply YPC or YPG stats.  The true test is, up by 10 with 8 minutes to play and possession, or up by 4 with 4 minutes to play and possession can you salt away tough victories.

Can you go on those soul crushing long drives that get 4 yards a play and milk the clock.  Bama has had that for a while now, where you are about 90% certain the other team just isn't getting the ball back.  They constrict the life out of you.

If we had that this year, and could run for a few more 1st down we would have been undefeated instead of having 2* losses.

Game in Cbus will always get an asterisk due to officiating.

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ST3

December 16th, 2016 at 11:36 AM ^

The comment I replied to said the offensive line held us back in 2015 and 2016. It seemed he was lumping them together. You seem to be doing the same thing. In 2015 we were 79th in YPC at 4.19 and only gained 158 ypg.

This year, we were 42nd in YPC at 4.98 and gained 223 ypg. 2015 was a below average line. 2016 was a better than average line. There was a pretty dramatic improvement in year 2 of the Harbaughffense. I hope we don't slide back too much after losing 3/5 of our line going into next season.

And even though the lines weren't great, we still won 10 games each season and could have won more if other parts of the team had not made mistakes. It's a team game and I don't care for everyone piling on the offensive line and making them the scapegoat. Maybe in 2015 you can make that case, but this year's line was good.

What's your definition of a defense with a pulse? We've had this argument before. You think Colorado has a pulse and we couldn't run on them. I disagree. I think we ran just fine against CU. I remember 27 for 27. I remember -48 yards against MSU. I'll take >100 yards rushing any day if that comes with a successful play-action passing attack. You've got to do just enough to make them honest. In the Iowa game, they sold out against the run because Speight had a bad wing, and still we beat them if Darboh catches that ball.

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michgoblue

December 16th, 2016 at 11:22 AM ^

I hear what you are saying, but the stats don't tell the whoe story.  For one, Harbaugh's offense is a bit more creative, which can make up for some, but not all, of the line deficiencies.  We saw a number of highly-creative run plays that popped for decent gains.  I haven't watched Bama as much, but I doubt that they have as much of that.  Second, it's not just the run - just look back at our games against better defenses (and MSU) and Speight was definitely under pressure more the Alabama's QB has been. 

Again, I am not saying that our line is bad.  They are solidly average, and at times, played above average.  But, for the offense that Harbaugh wants to run, we need an upgrade in our line.  Fortunately, we already have a few prospective stars on the roster, but we need to regularly grab 2-3 guys at Wilson's level every year to keep the line solid and deep.

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ST3

December 16th, 2016 at 7:13 PM ^

I finally found the stats I've been looking for. The rushing yards by season can be found on page 127 of the record book:

http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/mich/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/2016-…

We averaged 223.2 yards per game rushing this year. That's the first time we've been over 200 yards per game since 2011 and 2010 when Shoelace was QB. I think those rushing outcomes were more related to him than the skill of the line. Discounting the 2 glorious Denardian years of 2010 and 2011, you have to go back all the way to 2000 to find another Michigan offense that averaged over 200 ypg. They went for 215.1, less than this year.

In fact, other than the two Denard years, this is our best rushing output in terms of ypg since 1992, when we put up 268.1 ypg.

Our line is solidly average compared to what? They are clearly above average when compared to the last quarter century of Michigan football lines.

This is the best non-Denardian rushing attack we've seen since the Moeller days. And even those Denard teams were excoriated for not being able to run against defenses with a pulse.

Unfortunately, the record book doesn't list ypc, but I'm tempted to just go ahead and calculate those to see how we compare to recent Michigan teams.

EDIT: Relative to the past quarter century of Michigan offenses, the 2016 Michigan offense had the 3rd highest yards per game rushing and the 4th highest yards per carry average. The ONLY Michigan offenses that exceeded this year's in terms of YPG and YPC had Tyrone Wheatley or Denard Robinson. No offense to our skill players this year, but they ain't Tyrone Wheatley or Denard Robinson. I rest my case.

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trueblue262

December 16th, 2016 at 11:15 AM ^

I have never felt this confident about these decision dates. Even after the all the DaShawn Hand, Dee Hart, Damien Harris, Laquan Treadwell types where our hearts were literally yanked from us........ The confidence that JH brings is HUGE! It seems that it really took a turn with Rashan Garys announcement last year.  I absolutely love it!!

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Mgodiscgolfer

December 16th, 2016 at 11:19 AM ^

of a man I am right now I thought at  first that was a hello post...... It's ok I am going to have a smoke and another coffee and calm down...Go back to pacing the floor I think the little lady is wondering if she should cut me off from this Crootin stuff but she doesn't have near the power to pull that off ..Ok going back to my Commit pace...Go Blue! Isaiah!

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Sopwith

December 16th, 2016 at 1:01 PM ^

Wish I posted earlier so this wouldn't seem like hindsight, but there is no way this merited a front page post. There is nothing substantive in the comment on 247 that suggested UM was any more likely than before. The quoted comment was strictly about process, which has no reflection on the substantive decision. even as garden variety tea-leaf reading goes, this was a very stretchy reach.



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RobSk

December 16th, 2016 at 1:27 PM ^

how fast we've gone from "potential huge OL haul" to "good grief, we may have problems on the OL for the next few years".  This isn't a shot at the coaches at all.  The competition is super fierce here. I'm just seriously concerned that we're not going to be able to put together an offensive line to play with the big boys at this point. I had assumed we'd have trouble next year pretty much no matter what (I wasn't assuming Wilson/Leatherwood/etc would help us in 2017), but I did believe this was a foundation to build a series of outstanding lines on.

At this point, this class is starting to look potentially like a problem OL wise, unless some of these lower ranked guys massively improve over the next few years.  Cause now it looks like we maybe get one or two top 100 linemen. While that is a fantastic accomplishment in any other context, in the realm of "We want to compete with Alabama/OSU", it worries me.  Understand, I'm not suggesting any stupid crap like Michigan isn't going to be a good to excellent program, but man, the margin for error is really small at the top..

I'm just astounded a failing, floundering program like Georgia is able to compete for recruits of this calibre.

          Rob

 

 

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RobSk

December 20th, 2016 at 12:00 PM ^

do not equate to my having said that we should sound the panic alarm. Indeed, I said clearly that Michigan is an excellent program and bids fair to remain that and even get better. In the context of competing with the top 2 programs in college football, that recruiting event makes it harder. I stand by that statement, and don't believe that it in ANY way suggest "panic".

But enjoy your inability or unwillingness to actually read what I wrote.

        Rob

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MGoVillain

December 16th, 2016 at 4:44 PM ^

Still a long way to go till signing day. Bowl games will be played etc. Especially since Georgia seemed to make a late push and his commitment seemed a bit spur of the moment - it's possible when the dust settles he ends up in Ann Arbor after all.



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