February 8th, 2018 at 11:34 PM ^
Come on, you know, the "it" factor. Every back-up qb at Michigan has it until they become the starter. Then it's passed on to the new back-up. That way there's always a reason the back-up should be the starter.
February 9th, 2018 at 2:43 AM ^
What is it?
February 8th, 2018 at 8:55 PM ^
February 8th, 2018 at 8:41 PM ^
February 8th, 2018 at 7:34 PM ^
McCaffrey or 8-5 if that happens
February 8th, 2018 at 8:35 PM ^
...our Ken Dorsey or AJ McCarron.
February 8th, 2018 at 7:35 PM ^
Fucking title man. I didn't see your lowercase if. Either way, terrible post.
February 8th, 2018 at 8:00 PM ^
No shit...right? Now we know who to blame if for some odd and unexpected reason that he isn't eligible.
February 8th, 2018 at 7:38 PM ^
If it's not Shea I think it's McCaffrey. I've been leaning this way for a while, even before Shea signed on. I think there is a small but non-zero chance McCaffrey could beat out Shea straight-up.
I no longer believe Peters is going to be anything better than a good, not great QB long-term. I would be delighted to be wrong (he's still young, after all) but I just haven't anything to suggest that yet. He is no better than Speight was at the same point in their careers. His ceiling is better than Speight's actual performance (he could theoretically know the offense and not make the handful of awful mistakes), but not much higher. Just my baseless opinion.
I believe McCaffrey is vital to Michigan's future, and Harbaugh had better not frustrate him to the point where he runs off. The staff clearly likes him a lot.
February 8th, 2018 at 8:02 PM ^
February 8th, 2018 at 8:10 PM ^
It's been a bit more than that. Things like Don Brown praising McCaffrey effusively unprompted, and then insiders pointing it out in a "isn't THAT interesting" sort of way. Whether that means he's ready to lead us to a national title is obviously beyond this level of analysis, but the whispers were rolling in prior to the Shea moments.
I don't believe him beating out Peters and Speight would be an indictment of the staff; I believe that would be an indictment of Peters and Speight. We already know what those two bring to the table, and if they are both on the team and exactly the same next year, McCaffrey beating them out means that McCaffrey is developing quickly.
Speight's issue this year was not poor coaching. He was given the keys, he was given the team's confidence, and he had the yips. It's quite possible (likely) that he has been bouncing off of his "ceiling" a bit and that he isn't physically capable of becoming much more than he has been.
I think it would be a worse sign if Peters got the start, was awful, and McCaffrey was unable to unseat him. Because that would suggest that talented QBs are coming here to die. If McCaffrey is better than those guys, it suggests that it's the guys he beat that were the issue.
February 9th, 2018 at 9:11 AM ^
Speight was also coming off a shoulder injury that could have still been on the mend causing some velocity/accuracy issues. To compound this, he was throwing to freshman receivers, the most advanced of whom was already out for the year, who were running option routes. If Speight was already having arm issues, combine that with a lack of confidence that he and the receiver were making the same read, then the ball could be coming out late or thrown to an area nobody, not even Tacopants, could catch.
February 9th, 2018 at 10:27 AM ^
Right on, but also consider how Speight became the QB that he is. JH put him through the fire and Speight almost quit the team. He came out his RS-SO season as a completely different QB. I'd be surprised if JH doesn't do the same thing to Peters if he starts to fall behind in the QB competition. I'm looking for Peters to make a jump (like Speight did) or fall off the wagon completely.
February 9th, 2018 at 10:29 AM ^
I'm not arguing against the enthusiasm, but we heard a lot of the same stuff last year regarding Peters from Harbaugh, staff, insiders, etc.
http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2017/07/yes_brandon_peters_is_going_to.html
McCaffrey could well be a great player at QB, but I'd like to think at this point we've seen enough evidence that first-year starters at QB at UM struggle, and if another RS Freshman plays that's sub-optimal.
I don't buy for a second he had the yips. All three QBs struggled behind a bad blocking line and WRs who couldn't get open or hang onto the ball. The idea that Speight, Peters, and O'Korn all struggled because of some internal failures seems needlessly reactionary. Michigan's passing offense as a whole struggled last year, and to assume that said struggles begin and/or ended with Speight is ignoring the forest for the trees.
I don't think talented QBs are coming here to die. I think a bad offense with mediocre receivers and bad blocking submarined good QBs. Those first two aspects should improve with another year, and that's why I think the QB spot will as well.
February 9th, 2018 at 4:07 PM ^
that Speight has reached his ceiling. I think Harbaugh, Fisch, Pep wrung as much talent out of him as possible and I'm actually surprised at some of the stuff he did do. But he has been horrible in his last 6-7 starts and looks broken (yips) Love the kids dedication and hard work, but bottom line he's just not that good of a QB and does not have the ability to take UM to any Championship.
Peters is young and showed some good stuff. He just needs to get his game up to the speed of the college game. He knows the play book he just needs to go through progressions faster and be quicker with post snap reads and I think he could be a very good QB.
McCaffery I have seen play a fair amount when he was in H.S. and he is the real deal. The kid can read defenses, spin the ball nicely and make all the throws. He has great pocket presences and decent speed to extend a play. I think he just needed a little more bulk to hold up to the college game and I'm guessing a year and a half of being at UM has brought that around. I think this kid has a high ceiling and will compete with any QB UM has on the roster for the starting job. I think Shea would be the only one who could possible beat him out this year. I do thnk we have a brght future at QB and Milton could turn into someting special himself.
February 8th, 2018 at 7:38 PM ^
February 8th, 2018 at 8:14 PM ^
This is a dumb-ass take. Nobody quit on the team.
February 8th, 2018 at 8:58 PM ^
February 8th, 2018 at 9:51 PM ^
February 10th, 2018 at 9:31 PM ^
You are missing the point. Even if he wasn't 100% he still could of practiced with the team and helped Peters/O'Korn and been a leader on the sidelines during the bowl game. He is a 23 year old who was expected to be the leader of our team. He chose to quit the team before the season ended to find a new team. Now if he came back specifically because he learned there would be less competition, I could understand how players on the team could be turned off by that.
February 8th, 2018 at 7:40 PM ^
February 8th, 2018 at 8:36 PM ^
February 8th, 2018 at 7:40 PM ^
February 8th, 2018 at 8:53 PM ^
February 8th, 2018 at 7:42 PM ^
I don't know why everyone is so excited by Shea Patterson. His career at Mississippi was very mediocre and he ended up getting injured and his replacement played much better than he did.
February 8th, 2018 at 7:52 PM ^
February 8th, 2018 at 7:53 PM ^
February 8th, 2018 at 10:56 PM ^
If you look closer to his stats, you will see that he had much better performances against weak out of conference opponents and not nearly as many good performances against SEC opponents. I think he looked to transfer because the tea leaves were saying that he was not going to get his starting job back at Ole Miss.
February 9th, 2018 at 10:26 AM ^
February 9th, 2018 at 10:53 AM ^
IMO it doesn't matter why he left Ole Miss. At the very least he brings:
- The ablity to extend plays
- An accurate deep ball while flushed from the pocket
- The ability to run a RPO/Read option play or two that JH seemed to like about Philly and/or ran in San Fransisco.
Not to mention he's used to having a line that can't pass protect very well. I think there is at least a cause for some light optimism don't you? Perhaps strongest case for Patterson not improving UM would be the fact that he ran a much, much different offense at Ole Miss than he'll be tasked at UM.
February 10th, 2018 at 2:30 AM ^
That's sad that you have to (rightly) list his familiarity with poor OL play as a potential positive.
February 9th, 2018 at 1:51 PM ^
February 8th, 2018 at 9:47 PM ^
February 8th, 2018 at 10:21 PM ^
February 8th, 2018 at 7:43 PM ^
Just... goddamnit, man.
February 8th, 2018 at 7:50 PM ^
February 8th, 2018 at 8:10 PM ^
February 8th, 2018 at 8:31 PM ^
February 8th, 2018 at 9:01 PM ^
February 8th, 2018 at 7:50 PM ^
February 8th, 2018 at 7:52 PM ^
February 8th, 2018 at 7:55 PM ^
February 8th, 2018 at 9:41 PM ^
February 8th, 2018 at 11:04 PM ^
February 8th, 2018 at 7:54 PM ^
February 8th, 2018 at 7:54 PM ^
February 8th, 2018 at 8:00 PM ^
If OJ didn't do it...
February 8th, 2018 at 8:01 PM ^
But I think McCaffrey will be in the hunt. From all accounts, the kid is what Peters isn't and that's a go getter.