If You Could Add 1 Former Player To This Years Football Team Who Would It Be And Why?
Was reading r/cfb and discovered an interesting thread. If it was up to me, I would add Jake Long. That would instantly take our O-Line from a C+ one to a B+/A- one. Speight would have more time in the pocket and we could rely on at least one person to get push vs elite defensive lines. What say you Mgoblog?
https://www.reddit.com/r/CFB/comments/69empf/if_you_could_add_one_forme…
Long, Brady, or Woodson are the obvious choices, but, how about Desmond Howard? A game changing wide receiver and punt/kick returner on a team with a very inexerienced receiver group could be huge.
I think Woodson, Long, and Howard are obvious choices but I don't get all the Brady selections. He was a good college quarterback but nothing compared to NFL-Brady. If the question only takes the college part of the equation into consideration, I don't think Brady is even the first QB choice. In fact, I think if he had been an NFL bust probably not one person (okay, maybe one or two) on here would select him as there would be plenty of other choices to go with.
I think the point is that people think that Harbaugh would have unleashed the NFL Brady at the college level because he is the best QB coach at the college level.
It would be scary good no doubt. The sideline intensity alone would be worth it.
"Replace Wilton Speight with lots of other QBs....for example Brian Griese....and we win it all"
The hate/disrespect/disregard for Speight is bordering on comically absurd.
Griese had a better OL than the one Speight had. Go look at the names of the 97 OL.
And even if we beat Ohio State and Wisconsin with a healthy Speight to win the Big Ten, we would've had to play Clemson and Alabama. You think Griese leads us to wins over those teams with our 2016 OL?
Do people realize that Speight has basically been 98-99 Tom Brady-esque?
I recently told a friend (who's not a Michigan fan) that a strong contingent of the Michigan fanbase dislikes Speight and wants him to be replaced by Peters.
He was surprised and pointed out to me how clutch Speight has been (which is something I hadn't realized until he explained his point). Consider the evidence:
- 2015 Minnesota: Comes in for the injured Rudock as the back-up and wins the game for us twice. (Once with the TD and again with the 2 point coversion. Otherwise, Minnesota can just kick a FG to win.)
- 2016 Colorado: Michigan trails 21-7 but Speight helps us re-take the lead by halftime thanks to a well-excuted screen pass to Darboh. (Why don't we use more screen passes?)
- 2016 Wisconsin: Tied game in the 4th quarter. Michigan finally opens up the passing attack by switching to 4 and 5 wide sets. Speight responds by converting 1st downs and throws the game-winning bomb to Darboh.
- 2016 Iowa: Michigan trails in the 4th quarter and Speight leads us down the field to retake the lead on a FG. Speight even throws a perfect pass on 3rd down to Darboh but, shockingly, the usually reliable Darboh doesn't hang on.
- 2016 Ohio State: After throwing the pick 6 which gave OSU a 7-3 lead, Speight leads us down the field in a methodical fashion to a TD drive which gives Michigan a 10-7 halftime lead.
In overtime, with a 4th and long in the redzone, Speight throws a great pass to Darboh to score a TD. When he absolutely had to have it, Speight stood in the pocket against a fierce pass rush and delivered a strike. That is THE example of clutch.
2016 Florida State: With Michigan trailing double digits, Speight does enough to help Michigan come back and take the lead (which includes a TD to Khalid Hill). He later converts a 2 point conversion to give us a 3 point lead which our defense couldn't protect.
In each of those scenarios, Speight was partially resopnsible for us trailing. But he also did enough to either keep us in the game or re-take the lead. And he did all that with a mediocre OL. (That none of our OL got drafted is a stark and clear indictment on how average they were.)
And yet people want Peters because they are enamored with his build, his arm, his athleticism, and his potential. Nevermind that the truly great ones excel by mastering the mental side of things.
This truly is turning into Brady/Henson 2.0.
To that end, I think it's worth pointing out that 3 of Harbaugh's 6 losses were because we couldn't ice the game:
- 2015 Michigan State
- 2016 Iowa
- 2016 Ohio State
Great offensive teams can get 1st downs by running the ball even when the defense knows what's coming and plays for the run.
I look forward to Harbaugh finally rebuilding our offensive line into a dominant unit which ends games by using up clock with soul-crushing ball control offense.
Sorry, but not buying it. Michigan's team was loaded last year, and the defense did its part every week. You talk about a few highlights for Speight, but fail to counterbalance them with a vast list of mistakes the kid made, especially in the most crucial games down the stretch. His last 3 passes in the Orange Bowl were unequivocally awful, and throughout the game FSU's QB appeared more accurate, more athletic, more everything. "Oh but he was injured..."
Bottom line is Speight is a decent QB, and put together a decent year riding 11 NFL draft picks many of which consistently got him the ball back after 3 and outs. But he has a ceiling that is lower than Peters', period. Not to menton there's been little evidence of polish or "leap" from what has been seen this Spring from Speight.
We will not go 12-0 with Speight with the weapons we lost from last year. If Peters continues to perform better in fall practice, he should get the nod. This would be a good year to get Peters going because his ceiling is far higher, he can easily surpass Speight's production as a result and potentially have a big year, and regardless how it turns out for him this year, that experience can carry him and the team to great things next year.
Not to worry, our number 1, 2 and 3 are all capapble. The season is long and brutal so with that being said, we will see all of them in game action. Be it in garbage time, beause of injury or because of terrible play. I think that if its the garbage time scenario then that means Speight is playing well. If he gets injured or plays poorly, Peters takes the reigns and never relinquish"s them. If he's not ready, which I doubt, we have a more mobile O"Korn. Its a win-win either way.
Jabrill Peppers because everyone else has expired their eligibility and/or is old and out of shape.
Not mentioned so far. Blue collar bad asses that just made huge plays in critical times.
Played both ways and won the heisman
Charles Woodson...because I want to watch him play again for Michigan. Some pick sixes against OSU, endzone interceptions, etc.
The non-woodson answer is obviously Jake Long or Skrepenak. Dan Dierdorf maybe? O-line is an area of need.
Tom Brady. Go back and watch that Orange Bowl win over Alabama and just watch the accuracy and decisionmaking of Brady all day. Kid was unbelievable in college too, the main reason he plummeted in the draft was he looked like a slow moving twig who'd be snapped in two in the NFL.
Lots of good options here.
I would love to see Woodson because he completely took over games and dominated on both sides of the ball. I think Peppers had the same capability but he wasn't used properly and became too one-dimensional once teams figured we only had one or two plays for him..
Would be great to have Brady because he was so accurate and clutch. He just wins and wins and wins . . .
Would be excited to see Wheatley bust trough D lines like a runaway freight train, ripping off 40, 60 yards at a time, punishing Ohio State and exposing them for the imposters they are.
Denard would be great to have back. His speed was a weapon few of us see in a lifetime. Just wish he had a chance to play on a loaded Michigan team like we had last year.
Dont know how I forgot about Desmond. He dominated so effortlessly and looked like he had so much fun doing it.
PLAYMAKERS!!!!!