Obi Ezeh's performance
Obi Ezeh went from being the most useless Linebacker to have ever played for Michigan, to the most useless defensive end, who was also useless playing linebacker. How does he ever see the field? Don't say the coaches know best, because anybody can play as poorly as he did. His lone brightspot was when he was totally dominated, fell down and for some reason the ref's decided to call holding on the play. Gerg deserves to be fired, purely on the fact that he continues to play Obi.
November 6th, 2010 at 9:21 PM ^
Ezeh gives more of his heart and soul to Michigan than you and I ever did or will.
November 6th, 2010 at 9:24 PM ^
November 6th, 2010 at 9:37 PM ^
I just wiped my ass with this post, give the kid some respect you douche!
November 6th, 2010 at 9:24 PM ^
I'm not saying he lacks effort while being pancaked, or lumbering into blockers, or blowing coverages, he just doesn't belong on the field. He doesn't have football instincts, and hurts the team. Nobody can be worse than him, which is why I ask, why does he play?
November 6th, 2010 at 9:29 PM ^
November 6th, 2010 at 9:29 PM ^
I don't know why you are posting this tonight. Please stop.
November 6th, 2010 at 10:47 PM ^
This seems bannable.
November 6th, 2010 at 10:49 PM ^
November 6th, 2010 at 11:11 PM ^
How can this be bannable? Looks like something out of a UFR
November 6th, 2010 at 9:25 PM ^
I don't think this is picking on him, just the facts of life. Gerg is the LB coach, as well as DC, and therefor it is his responsibility to develop them and make sure the best ones play. Ezeh is awful and we can all acknowledge that, his love for Michigan is of no consequence. I love Michigan too but I can't play D-IA football....hey maybe we're twins!
November 6th, 2010 at 9:27 PM ^
We won. Just enjoy the night of a win like a Michigan man/woman should. I'm sure that's what Obi's doing.
November 6th, 2010 at 9:24 PM ^
The longest run was 20 yards, just like last week, so the breakaway TDs that killed us against MSU have been dealt with. Ezeh did have 5 tackles in the game, which is five more than you so STFU!
P.S. In case you missed it, you might want to check out Brian's post this week on the Roh-based instaban. You're coming real close there buddy.
November 6th, 2010 at 9:41 PM ^
Except Jason Ford had a 64 yd run on an option play. Don't remember if Obi was in on that one or not.
November 6th, 2010 at 9:53 PM ^
Mouton missed the tackle by the sideline on the long td run. It wasn't Ezeh.
November 6th, 2010 at 9:54 PM ^
but strangely, it doesn't show up in Mgoblue.com's boxscore:
http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/m-footbl/stats/110610aaa.html
Maybe they are pretending it didn't happen. I think we got RPS'd on that one as we blitzed right into the option. Once he got outside it was over. I remember watching the end of that play wondering why James Rogers was being blocked at the goal line. Shouldn't 64 yards be enough distance to get off a block?
November 6th, 2010 at 10:19 PM ^
I agree about the RPS on that play. As soon as I saw it was an option to the side we were blitzing on (I think it was Kovacs) I was like, "uh oh, this could be bad" and lo and behold, it was thusly bad. But we still pulled it out!!
November 6th, 2010 at 9:24 PM ^
We don't need this right now. Enjoy the win.
November 6th, 2010 at 9:28 PM ^
But maybe I'm just feeling optimistic because WE WON THE GODDAMN GAME.
November 6th, 2010 at 9:27 PM ^
I couldn't really tell whether he played a good or bad game today, but an honest question: were the two fullback receptions for TD's his responsibility?
November 6th, 2010 at 9:33 PM ^
but I will give a huge THANK YOU to Obi Ezeh for not quitting on this team, unlike some of the posters on this board. Ezeh is in his final year and isn't going to be playing in the NFL, so I don't think anyone could honestly blame him if he packed it in for the rest of the year. Instead, he found another way to get on the field, and contributed with 5 tackles today. We need big bodies against Wiscy and OSU and Ezeh looked good out there. He was probably miscast as a read and react MLB, but I think he did just fine today controlling the edge.
November 6th, 2010 at 9:29 PM ^
It seems that Ezeh's a good athlete who struggles to make quick decisions. Defensive end's don't have to make nearly as many decisions as a MLB. It's not a crazy experiment. Given the talent on defense, I'm sure that the coaches want to get their best 11 athletes on the field...
November 6th, 2010 at 9:36 PM ^
IM guessing the coaches know what they are doing. If their is someone better at a position, my guess is that they would be playing.
November 6th, 2010 at 9:41 PM ^
Yes Obi is terrible. Yes its hard to understand why he sees the field at all. And yes he has given Michigan football his all for 5 years and he will leave with a degree. He has accomplished more than most.
November 6th, 2010 at 9:42 PM ^
Enjoy the banhammer, jerk.
November 6th, 2010 at 9:45 PM ^
November 6th, 2010 at 9:46 PM ^
Someone needs to do an Obi Ezeh appreciation thread on senior day because he deserves. He's a fine student-athlete and a Michigan man.
November 6th, 2010 at 9:57 PM ^
I've been as big of a detractor of Obi as anyone, but the guys tries out there. He was a middling RB recruit who was asked to become the anchor of the defense. So he failed at that - it doesn't make him a horrible person or a bad athlete. He is a heck more athletic than I ever will be, and my guess is that he is better than most (if not all) people here. History will show him as one of the worst LBs in the history of UM football, but he can still contribute and I wish him the best. Plus, you know, the team kind of won today, and Obi recorded 5 tackles. I'll take that any day.
November 6th, 2010 at 9:59 PM ^
Obi has so much heart and by all accounts is a good kid.
You need to have more class if you want to critique his play.
November 6th, 2010 at 10:19 PM ^
I kept looking for the sign that this was sarcasm but never saw it. It's sad that many mgoblog people have decided Brian's critiques(which themselves are sometimes borderline too harsh) are an excuse to personally attack and bash a player that has represented the University to the best of the ability and stuck through an extremely difficult transition when many others in his class left.
November 6th, 2010 at 10:50 PM ^
I definitely try to realize that these guys aren't being professionals and need to be treated as such. But I also know that this is big-time sports with huge budgets and large groups of people spending tons of time reading and writing on this blog. I tend to agree not only with the original poster's assessment of Obi Ezeh and his disappointing play but also don't think his critique is not overly harsh.
If we are going to have high expectations for Michigan football, we need to have high expectations for a senior 3 year starter. We can't watch that defense and not criticize the individual play. More than anything, Kenny Demens play since replacing Obi shows the poor decisions by GERG for waiting so long to make the change.
November 6th, 2010 at 11:09 PM ^
the OP didn't point out any particular play, or bad read, or whatever. He just bashed Ezeh and that's uncalled for and unfair. There is a difference between constructive criticism and just being a d-bag.
November 6th, 2010 at 11:01 PM ^
Kid tries his best so I love the guy. But he did regress considerably from a few years ago, when a lot of people thought he was one of the best LBs in the BT. Why the regression? I don't know.
November 6th, 2010 at 11:02 PM ^
if you're playing, you can't possibly be the worst. the worse player must be riding the pine behind you. just sayin.
November 6th, 2010 at 11:35 PM ^
im not sure what your basing your assessment on. unless you followed him on every play, id recommend deferring brians ufr. otherwise you might end up looking stupid. i actually think the position switch was a smart one. instead of having to sit back and make reads, he can be more aggressive off the snap.
November 7th, 2010 at 12:39 AM ^
Wasn't Obi playing the Strong-side OLB because Roh was at DE this week? This is how I saw the base defensive package:
DE: Roh, Van Bergen
DT/NT: Martin
SOLB: Ezeh
MLB: Demens
WOLB: Mouton
Spur: Gordon
CB: Rogers, Avery (!!)
Bandit: Kovacs
Deep Safety: Vinopal
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