Rip on Poole1Dan thread

Carrying this over from another thread, I'd like to start a thread ripping on the worst Michigan fan of all-time, Poole1Dan. I'll get it started by posting his message from youtube: Let me educate you sir. I will start by listing several of Michigans prominent recruits from the 2008 and 2009 classes: Terrance Robinson=5'9, 170 Michael Shaw=6'0, 185 Martavious Odoms=5'9, 164 Roy Roundtree=6'0, 154 Ricky Barnum (the star offensive lineman of the class of 2008; the guy DickRod stole from Florida)=6'2, 246 Teric Jones=5'8, 186 Vincent Smith=5'6, 159 Dewayne Peace=6'0, 177 Craig Roh ( also 4 star defensive end)=6'5, 230 DeQuinta Jones (a 4 star defensive tackle)=6'2, 265 Brandin Hawthorne (a supposed "linebacker")=6'0, 181 Jeremy Gallon=5'8, 165 And these guys are supposed to be "football players?" What, did RR just decide to recruit a bunch of malnourished kids from Africa? This is pathetic! These little guys won't be remotely close to being effective playmakers on offense or defense!!!!! This is a fact of football: you need brawn if you expect to win lots of games. Unless these guys run 2.90 forty yard dashes (which they don't), its not worth sacrificing all this brawn for an increase in speed!! Give me a Chris Perry, Anthony Thomas, David Terrell, Braylon Edwards, and Jason Avant over any of these skeletons!!! The only way you can succeed when you are tiny is if you are a talent from Mars. Percy Harvin, Noel devine, and Sam McGuffie are all uber-talents. But the fact is, the FAR MAJORITY of these small sticks are NOT uber-talented!!!! They do NOT make for gamebreakers at the college level!!! At my highschool, we had this starting QB named Jake Goodin. he started on the varsity team for three years (2003, 2004, and 2005). And let me tell you, Jake was an AMAZING athlete. I wish someone from the MHS football program would put up a highlight video of him on youtube, cause his moves in the open field were sick. If you look at how he performed on the field, you would have though major colleges like Michigan and Ohio State would be all over him. But they weren't. why? Well, for one thing, his 40 yard dash (4.61) wasn't the best, but his agility more then makes up for his lack of top line speed. So whats gives? Heres' what: Jake was only 5'11, 175. On the other hand, we had this slot receiver/tailback named Mike Petrucci who also started on the varsity team for three years (2004, 2005, 2006). Petrucci was a good athlete, but he wasn't HALF the athlete that Goodin was. Goodin was our Vince Young, where as Petrucci was our Laurence Maroney. Goodin had better speed then Petrucci (4.61 vs. 4.85). And yet, Petrucci got a fullride scholarship to play at Central Michigan, whereas Goodin only got a fullride scholarship from Division 2 Saginaw Valley state. Petrucci was 6'2, 215. So you see: size matters in football, and bigger players MOST OF THE TIME are better players. RR is bringing in really small players all over the team, and that will bite Michigan in the ass BADLY. ):):):): This is football for Christs sake! You need speed, but not at the expense of brawn. you need brawn AND speed! RR also had small little sticks at WVU, and way too often, those guys got eaten alive. small little skeletons can't be counted on to be playmakers unless: A. They are talents from Mars (like Noel Devine or Sam McGuffie) B. They are at punt returner and kickoff returner Steve Breaston is the perfect representation of what a tiny guy can do: they make for game breaking returners, but as playmakers on offense? They are mediocre at BEST. Tiny twigs succeeding (like Garrett Wolfe, Mike Hart, etc) are the EXCEPTION, not the fucking rule!!!! Yeah, you might get lucky and get a Hart or a Wolfe, but why risk the success of your entire offense by gambling that you will always get those rare exceptions in all of your recruiting classes? That’s such a stupid gamble, and yet, that’s exactly the gamble DickRod is taking!!! Its okay to get 1 or 2 little guys in every recruiting class, butt he far majority of your recruits should be big guys with speed and athleticism, cause it’s the later players that have the best chance of success, and hence give your offense the best chance of succeeding. look at all the receivers Michigan has had through the eyars who have both size AND athleticism: -Adrian Arrington -Greg Mathews -Jason Avant -Braylon Edwards -Marquis Walker -David Terrell -Tai Streets -Amani Toomer Michigan CAN and HAS been recruiting receivers with size and athleticism for eyars now. Why? acuse its those kind of receivers that become playmakers. RARELY do little guys like odoms and T-Robinson become bonafide playmakers. I'll give you a laundry list of 4 and 5 star receivers who were BUSTS cause they were too small. You're much better off gonig with receivers like Edwards who ahve both size AND athleticism. Those kind of receivers are NOT rare. there's an abundancd of them. Michigan is proof of this. So fuck the little guys like odoms. the FAR MAJORITY of the time, little guys like odoms and Robinson and Roundtree end up becoming average at best. But you think all these little guys DickRod is recruiting will end up like Desean jackson or Percy harvin or Steve Smith. the odds are aginst that prediction comnig true. The odds are in favor of these little guys becomnig average or busts. So why the HELL would you recruit a bunch of receivers who will most likely be only average AT BEST? Its illogical. it doesn't make sense. i don't care that they are "your receivers" You don't recruit receivers who ahve a very small chance of being gamebreakers!!!! For example, Martavious odoms is suppsoed to be the prototypical slot receiver under Dickrod, and yet, look how terrible he's been this season: Utah: 5 catches for 7 yards. ULTRA SHITTY! Miami (OH): 3 for 57 (50 of them came on a bubble screen in which no one was in front of him and he got great blocking from JUNIOR HEMINGWAY). SHITTY at Notre Dame: 6 for 56. Mediocre Wisconsin: 2 for 4. ULTRA SHITTY Illinois: his only good game thus far, which makes it a fluke at Penn State: 3 for 34 mediore Michigan State: 6 for 42. decidedly mediocre at Purdue: 4 for 26. SHITTY at Minnesota: 7 for 43, plus a lost fumble at the goalline. SHITTY Northwestern: 1 for 8, and he fumbled on the one catch he made. ULTRA SHITTY!!!!! Odoms is on pace for ONLY 52 catches, 498 yards ( a measly 9.3 yards per catch), and ZERO Td's, and thats when you include the fluke Illinois game and the 50 yard screen against Miami (in which Hemingway gets all the credit). Take those two factors out of the equation, and Odoms is on pace for only 42 catches, 261 yards (a PATHETIC 6.2 yards per catch), and still ZERO TD's . You see: Odoms is a shitty receiver who shuld be the waterboy instead of a starting wide receiver. he's okay as a returner, but even then, he lost THREE fumbles that ALL resulted in TD.s One of those lost fumbles (against Purdue) cost us the game, and another one (against NW) prevented us from gonig to overtime. If Odoms is any indication of how Michigans slot receivers under Dickrod will perform, we are ROYALLY FUCKED!!!!!! Like i said: fuck the little guys! Look, I wouldn't be ripping into odoms so much if he was actually producing. If Odoms was producing, i'd praise him instead of criticizing him. But instead, he's playing like shit, and any time one of Michigans "playmakers" plays like shit, I'm going to call him out on it, and i don't care what he might have done previously in his career (or in odoms case, what he DIDN'T do previously in his career). For example, I ripped mercilessly into Mario manningham after his wretched performance in the 14-3 loss to ohio State, and I didn't get off his ass until he played great in the Capital One Bowl (153 all purpose yards and a big receiving TD). And that's fricking Mario manningham!!!!!! He was a proven, bonafide playmaker throughout his career! If i ripped into super Mario for that horible game he had (a game which his previous great games DO NOT vindicate), then you better damn well believe I'm gonig to rip into odoms when he plays like shit ALL SEASON LONG!!! you aren't a fucknig playmaker just cause you start and get the rock more then anyone else! You have to fucknig produce, and odoms is not producing!!! Do you have any standards of excellence for Michigans starters? do you go by the mantra, "If DickRod starts them, they must be good!!!!"? Holy cow, get real: YOU HAVE TO PRODUCE RESULTS TO BE A PLAYMAKER!!! Just cause some idiot coach like Dick Fuckriguez puts you on the field and feeds you the rock doesn't mean you are a playmaker!! But yet, thats the logic you prodickrod fans apply to shitty players like odoms: "he's on the field, and he's getting the rock, so he MUST be a playmaker!!!" No, he's NOT a playmaker. he's not producing!!!!! WATCH THE FUCKING GAMES!!!!!! And please, PLEASE: root for someone else like Ferris state or Saginaw Valley or Wayne State, cause the fact that you dickrod supproters have absolutely NO STANDARDS FOR EXCELLENCE (whether those standards or for the players, the coches, or most importantly, the fucking teams win-loss record) makes you people UNQUALIFIED to root for the Michigan Wolverines football team, which is the number one program of all time. You'd be better to jump off a cliff or move to Somalia then to digrace yourself and the Michigan Wolveriens football program by actually ROOTING for them when you have no standards of excellence for them Furthermore, Idiots like brian Cook point out in false jubiliation how WVU led the nation in rushing when DickRod was there, but leading the nation in rushing and several high scoring games was because of a couple lucky things that WVU hinged on. 1) Playing in arguably the worst conference in the BCS against overmatched opponents. 2) Sacrificing the health of the key players (White, Slaton, Devine & Schmidt) when each of those guys gets at least 10 carries a game, well no shit your gonna lead the nation in rushing. WVU is a 70/30 rush to pass ratio. In order for something like that to be successful against higher competition, you have to utilize a far more balanced attack. 3) stumbling across several gifted athletes - White & Slaton to be specific. And once DickRod stacks the roster with those speedy players, is when we are going to see injuries. As I said, he recruits those quick, light in the ass track stars that wouldn't be much had it not been for thier speed. The big 10 isn't a pushover league, we got some big boys here. More so than the ACC and Big East - people get hurt unless you have some gerth on your body... DR's players don't, and it shows. Mcguffie can't break arm tackles and neither can beaver. And once your QB is hurt, you can forget about being a downfield threat, because you aint throwing shit with a banged up running QB, or any QB for that matter. look at Threet and how fucked up he is cause of his elbow injury. Hell, look at all the mysterious injuries Michigan has had on offense. You can thank DickRods system and Mike Bitchwis for that (Barwis has not only made the team more injury prone, but michigan was more conditioned under Carrs regime then they are right now. Barwis=pathetic) The spread option offense is a phase: There will always be a version of the spread offense in every teams playbook. Shotgun is a form of the spread, the pistol (depending on number of recievers) is a form of spread. All it does is try to create more man to man matchups, which is always what an offense is looking for. As opposed to lining up and saying " hey, we have the horses to come right at you" its a finese football system. The most consistent offenses over the past decade are run by coaches that play to the strength of their rosters. Ohio State was pure smashmouth from 2001-2003. Then went to a wide open variation from 2004-2006. To a pro-style/playaction in 2007 and now a wide open system from 2008 - the end of Pryor's career Look at some of the inconsistency's the spread option has. WVU lost their biggest game in history just last year to a pathetic Pitt team. A win that would have sent them to their first national championship. Why? They had depth problems because of injuries and weren't in sync offensively. It happens to every team on occasion, but with the amount of options, fake handoffs and tranistions in a run heavy triple... sooner or later your bound to have a few awful games because of poor execution. The 2009 UM recruiting class, and considering its rated ninth, somebody fucked up somewhere. we might have nine 4 star and 2 likely 5 star, but I can almost gaurantee they might not be there when LOI day rolls around. UM has already lost out on several bonafide recruits (Newsome, Campbell, McNeal, Fera). keep up the losing tradition, and trust me, people take notice. Alot of you prodickrod fans like to point to Notre Dame and their "resurgance" this season. Notre dame? Give me a fucking break, they landed several crazy recruiting class from 2005-2006. And look how 07 landed. Why? They have a fat ass functioning retared as their head coach. Instead of getting Clausen and the offensive line recruits some PT in 06 when the Irish had games well in hand, he kept Brady in to boost his stats and Heisman chances and his team into another undeserving BCS bowl bid. Fail! Again: you need size AND athleticism to be a successful team. You can't ahve one without the other. dickrod is recruiting tons of speed and athleticism, but he's doing it at the expense of size, and that won't work. The successful teams (like LSU, Texas, Ohio State, and USC) have both size AND athleticism. Its like i said above: the only tiny guys that are successful are the ones that are uber-talented, and most tiney guys aren't uber-talented. Also, if michigans wins uncer DickRod, i'll be like "you were right, I was wrong, Go Blue!" But if michigan sucks up the joint uder DickRod like I predict, then I'll be like "I told you so!!!" Either way, I win You can point to RR's track record in 2005, 2006, and 2007 at WVU, but aside from the fact it took 4 long years to get to that point (and RR doesn't deserve one year to get it right much less 4 years), even then, WVU was going up against shitty competition, and they were one dimensional; all they could do was run. In 2005, when WVU won the Big East and beat Georgia in the Sugar Bowl, their offense finished 50th in the nation in total yards. So much for a great offense. This spread option is one dimensional, and it only scored 40 points a game cause WVU was playing shitty competition. The Big ten is a mediocre conference, but is much better then the Big East, and here in the Big Ten, Northwestern ran the spread option from 2000-2005 (with the same talent pool as WVU) and they only won about 5 games a year. The RIGHT kind of spread offense with TALENTED players wins you lots of football games. Just look at the hybrid spread offenses that Ohio State ran in 2005 and 2006 and that penn state ran in 2005 and is running this season. I'm not against the spread offense if its the RIGHT kind of spread. But this spread OPTION offense is just total garbage. The facts speak for themselves. Here's an excerpt from a message a buckeyes fan sent me. I originally ignored the message, but now I've realized, this guy was absolutely right: "Defenses have begun to solve the spread option; especially a run heavy system (just like RR's) Really quite simple. Play a cover 1 - 1 safety covering deep ( should anybody miss a tackle), and man on the WR's. So that's 1 FS and 3 CB's. Make sure they play tight, option teams like to throw tons of screens. Run your traditional 4-3 or better yet, and 3-4. Blitz your weakside LB all the time or alternate between the weak and strong side. Sometimes both depending on the offensive formation. Then just drop your MLB right into coverage or the middle of the field should their be a slant or QB draw. Option QB's trust their running first and mostly have happy feet.. - WVU's opposition know that white can't deliver by stepping up into the pocket. And your going to see them exploit this more and more. Colorado and ECU did just this, except they didnt have to blitz because they're 4 man front applied plenty of pressure. This is the downfall of this system, either sacrifice the health of your 3 primary offensive weapons (QB, RB & FB) or attempt to turn your trigger man into something he's not ( a passing threat)" And don't tell me to "stop blaming the coaches." Coaching is everything!!!!! History proves this. Very rarely does talent trump good coaching. Any so called "down year stretch" will be completely self-inflicted. Michigan is IMMUNE to down stretches. I don't give 2 shits about finishing in the top 5 a decade from now or even next year. I care about finishing in the top 5 and winning big RIGHT NOW. So listen up: This is Michigan. We are the NUMBER 1 college football program of all time. To borrow a line from the Oakland Raiders, we have a "commitment to excellence." I root for the raiders, and let me tell you, Oakland has lost that commitment over the last 5 years, even though Al Davis is doing everything he can to make the Raiders a good ballclub. But his players and his ballclub don't have that commitment. on the other hand, you look at the New York Yankees, another team I root for, and everybody in that organization has a commitment to excellence (even A-Rod). Its this commitment to excellence on all levels that allowed the Yankees to go 89-73 in spite of an injury ravaged season. Yeah, they didn't make the playoffs, but they were determined to win everygame. they had the talent, and they had the coaching. They could have caved in like the Detroit Tigers did and gone 72-90, but they kept on pushing, and that's why they had yet another winning season inspite of all the injuries and adversity My point is this: patience ISN'T ALLOWED at a team that has a commitment to excellence. there are no off years. there's no such thing as taking a step back to take a step forward. Its WIN NOW all the time. Teams like the Yankees and Detroit Red Wings have this mentality at all levels of the team. Michigan once did, even under Lloyd Carr. They didn't take 2001 off after losing Henson, the A-Train, Terrell, and the entire offensive line. They didn't take 2004 off after losing Navarre, Heisman finalist Perry, two key o-linemen, and several stars on defense (Jeremy Lesuer, Carl Diggs, Larry Stevens, Norman Heuer, Grant Bowman). So guess what my friend: 2008 is NO EXCEPTION!!!!! this is Michigan! We have a commitment to excellence! We have a win now mentality! And now you're telling me that because a foreign coach with a foreign offense is in town, and cause he;'s throwing shitty true freshmen on the field, that I (or any other Michigan fan), should be "patient"? NO FUCKING WAY man!!! Michigan is stacked with talent EVERY SEASON. And based on his track record, we THOUGHT RR would be the coach to max out the potential of the tremendous talent we have. I can't speak for my fellow Michigan fans who called a multi-win season, but I was wrong about DickRod. You can blame a shallow talent pool for RR's failures in season one at West Virginia. But this is Michigan. If Tressell had Michigan's roster, he probably would have won another NC or two at Ohio State. Michigan has consistently outrecruited Ohio State, and yet, its the Buckeyes who have 3 straight Big ten titles and 2 straight outright conference titles. And as for the new system, its called 'adapting to your team." Why can't Michigan run the spread offense they ran in the Capital One Bowl? That's the type of spread offense that fits Michigan personnel! Keep in mind, the spread is like the prostyle: there's a million different versions of it. The spread option is just one version. But Michigan doesn't have the athletes to run RR's spread. So that means RR should ADJUST. But instead, he shoves the spread option down Michigan's throats, and the results have been disastrous. Hell, even when RR DOES get "his athletes," Michigan's offense won't be any good. I told you: stick thin twigs don't succeed unless they are uber-talented. Gallon, McNeal, T-Robinson, Roundtree, Odoms, etc, are all nice athletes, but they are too fucking small t be gamebreakers at the college level! (more on that latter). In the meantime, let me say that I like the spread just as long as its the right type of spread, and the spread option is the wrong type. RR should go with what works, not to mention what fits his personnel. he has FAILED to do both. The Capital One Bowl offense works (534 yards, 41 points). But RR doesn't use it. And the Capital One Bowl offense fits Michigan's personnel. But RR doesn't use it. RR is the culprit for Michigan's shitty offense, and that's the bottom line. you need to stop it with your bullshit excuses for Michigan sucking up the joint. I already mentioned how Michigan RELOADED gonig into 2004 after suffering heavey personell losses from 2003. Her's an even mor epowerful exaple: going into the 2001 season, Michigan was train-wrecked by personnel losses from the previous season on offense. We lost Drew Henson to the Yankees, A-Train to graduation, David Terrell declared early and was picked 8th overall, and we lost a whopping FOUR starter son the offensive line (2 of them were four year starters in Jeff Backus and Steve Hutchinson, Maurice Williams was a second round pick, and David Brandt was a two year starter at center). The lone o-lineman we returned was senior Jonathan Goodwin. Overall, Michigan only returned 4 of 11 starters on offense for 2001: Goodwin Marquis Walker at WR, B.J Askew at fullback, and Bill Seymour at TE. But yet, look what happened in 2001: we started off 5-1 and were ranked as high as 6th in the nation at one point, and we still finished 8-4 (6-2 in Big ten play), played in a January Bowl game, and we were ranked 20th in the nation at season's end. We were the only team in the regular season to beat Illinois, as we CRUSHED them 45-20. We crushed Penn state AT Happy Valley 20-0. We beat 17th ranked Purdue 24-14. And we made great comebacks to beat Iowa (32-26) and Wisconsin (20-17) both on the road. To top it all off, we won the little brown jug in a 31-10 win over a solid Minnesota team. Yet, because of the horrible way 2001 ended (26-20 to Ohio State at home and 45-17 to Tennessee in the Citrus Bowl), 2001 is considered a DISAPPOINTING season! With all the offensive talent we lost and with a horrible defense from 2000 returning, we should have been a team struggling to get to .500 But yet, we reloaded, rebounded on defense (school record 50 sacks that season) and had yet another solid autumn of Michigan football with GREAT victories. So with that being said: why should 2008 be any different? Just like 2001, we had to replace our hugely succeessful starting QB. Just like 2001, we had to replace our multi year starting tailback. Just like 2001, we had to replace our top receiver who declared early for the NFL draft. And just like 2001, we lost 4 starters on the o-line. Yet, we are headed for a 3-9 season in 2008, whereas we were 8-4 in 2001. Only one thing can explain something so inexplicable and inexcusable: horrible coaching. The coaching was there in 2001. Its not there in 2008. We were able to reload under Lloyd Carr. Not so under DickRod. FUCK THAT SHIT!! We don't rebuild! We reload! The expectation is for the position, not the player! Bill Callahan's transition is a copy of RR's transition. Let me break it down for you: Callahan was a previously successful coach, just like RR. He comes in with an "innovative" offense, just like RR. He shoves it down Nebraska throats, just like RR. The results are disastrous, just like RR (Nebraska's 35 year Bowl streak comes to end in Callahan's first season in 2004). Callahan asks for time, just like RR. Callahan says he needs "his players," just like RR. Callahan gets his players, but STILL the results are disastrous, just like.......well, that part is yet to come for RR. But it will come. You watch. So you see? RR is Michigan's Bill Callahan, and that makes me nauseous! Also, this whole "culture change takes time" thing is just another bullshit excuse for Michigan sucking up the joint. No, a culture change doesn’t take time to produce results! It didn’t take time with Spurrier at Florida, or Schembechler at Michigan, or Stoops at Oklahoma (yeah, Oklahoma went 7-5 in year one, but their offense went from averaging 19 points per game to 35 points per game, and considering they had 5 straight losing seasons when John Blake was fired, 7-5 to Oklahoma felt like 10-2 to Sooners fans in 1999), or Urban Meyer at Utah AND Florida!!!!! IT SHOULDN’T TAKE ANY TIME WITH DICKROD!! Dickrod needs to win now or get out!!!!!! Say, lets look at dickrod himself: back in the late 90’s when he actually had his head on his shoulder, he ADJUSTED his spread offense to fit the skills of his roster (at Tulane and Clemson). He ran a balanced run spread offense at Tulane and a balanced pass spread offense at Clemson, not an option run spread offense like he ran at West Virginia. The result? Tulane improved by 4 wins in his first season in 1997 (setting them up for a brilliant 12-0 run in 1998) and Clemson improved by 3 wins (setting them up for a fine 9-3 campaign in a tough as nails ACC conference in 2000). But then in 2001, he jams square pegs into round holes, and the mountaineers go 3-8. And it doesn’t matter that WVU improved in every season afterwards, cause they were in the Big East, so his improvement at WVU don’t mean jack shit. And lets look at DickRod one more time: even at West Virginia, he STILL adjusted his offense to fit his QB’s skills in 2005 when Adam Bednarik started the first half of the season before going down with a knee injury (the mountaineers were 5-1 with Bednarik at QB, and Bednarik had a 73% completion percentage and a 2-1 TD-int ratio). I hope you’ve gotten the memo by now: bringing in a new head coach who changes the culture and the offense of the team DOES NOT MEAN that that team will struggle in year one. Its like Jamie samuelson of the Detroit Free Press said: “RichRod seems to forget that many of the players on this team helped Michigan beat Florida in Florida this calendar year. Ask LSU: that’s not an easy thing to do.” Michigan went 9-4 last season, finished 18th in the nation, and beat the Gators in a January Bowl game, and we return 7 of 11 starters from that defense (which finished 24th in the nation), everybody on special teams, and plenty of experienced, proven talent on offense (C. Brown, Minor, Grady, Mathews, Hemingway, Butler, Schilling, Orttman, McAvoy) . The talent is there (its always there), and so is the experience (on offense, defense, and special teams). This is a Michigan team that should win no less then 8 games, and I rightfully predicted an 11-2 season until I watched in horror as DickRod tore the team apart and his assistants tore the team part with their shitty-ass coaching. This shit does not take time!! It didn’t with Bo, Spurrier, Stoops, and meyer when they made cultural changes!! Why should it take time with Dickrod? Hell, look at the Fartans in their first season’s under Mark Dantonio and John L. smith!!! Even the Fartans had success in year one under a new head coach who changes the philosophy and culture of the team!!! Oh, and by the way, let me explain to you who those experienced players on offense are that we returned for 2008: -Carlos Brown: Brown is Michigan’s best athlete at the tailback position, and he is a better athlete then even Mike Hart. Blessed with blazing speed and agility, Brown was a 4 star prospect coming out of high school and was rated as the 5th best running back in the nation from the class of 2006. After hardly playing at all as a true freshmen in 2006, Brown was much improved as true sophomore in 2007. As the featured substitute for Hart, Brown carried the ball 75 times for 382 yards (averaging 5.1 YPC), scored 4 TD’s on the ground, and he ran for 100 yards twice when Hart was hurt (one of those times was against Illinois on the road). -Brandon Minor: Just like Brown, Minor is blessed with raw talent. He is more of a power back, but he has very nice straight-line speed, and he was also a 4 star prospect coming out of high school. Minor has been a regular substitute at TB for the last two seasons, gaining 42 carries for 238 yards (5.7 YPC) in 2006, and 90 carries for 385 yards in 2007. He has two career 100-yard games under his belt. -Kevin Grady: He was the nations number 1 rated TB and a 5 star prospect coming out of high school in 2005. He hasn’t lived up to the hype so far, but considering he’s had running backs like Hart, Brown, Minor, and Jerome Jackson in front of him, you can’t say its all Grady’s fault that he hasn’t lived up to his potential. Grady blew out his knee in the spring of 2007, missing all of last season. He is a redshirt junior in 2008, and he’s made a full recovery. As a true freshmen in 2005, Grady started several games when Hart was hurt and had 121 carries for 483 yards and 5 TD’s, along with 14 catches for 113 yards receiving. And as a true sophomore in 2006, he had 55 carries for 187 yards and 3 TD’s -Greg Mathews: a 4 star prospect with 4.4 speed coming out of high school, Mathews has seen extended playing time in each of the last two years. As the fourth receiver as a true freshmen in 2006, he only had 7 catches for 68 yards, but then when Steve Breaston graduated, Mathews was moved to the 3rd receiver as a true sophomore in 2007, and his numbers spiked to 39 catches for 366 yards and 3 TD’s. Technically speaking, he is a returning starter -Junior Hemingway: He is a 6’1, 214 pound possession receiver, but he runs a 4.4 40, so he can get open on deep balls. He had a measly 4 catches for 37 yards last season as a true freshmen, but that was as the 4th receiver. he SHOULD have been the starter opposite Mathews, cause if he was, he would have seen his numbers spike as a true sophomore in 2008, just like Mathews numbers spiked last season. -Carson Butler: a returning starter at tightend, Butler is a junior this season, and according to rivals.com, Michigan great Jim Mandich predicted that Butler would have a monster season in RR’s spread offense. But because DickRod hasn't utilized Butler, that monster season hasn't come to frution. As a substitute as a redshirt freshmen in 2006, Butler had 19 catches for 166 yards and a TD, then as a starter as a redshirt sophomore last season, Butler had 20 catches for 246 yards and 2 TD’s. He has great size at 6’5 250, but as he proved with his 65-yard catch against Florida and his 16-yard run against Wisconsin, he can really move for his size. He's also a terrific leaper (see his 17 yard catch vs. Utah) -Stephen Schilling: redshirt sophomore; returning starter at RT; he's a former 5 star prospect -Tim McAvoy: redshirt junior; saw lots of playing time last year when Alex Mitchell was injured. Played better then both Mitchell and Jeremy Cuilla -Mark Orttman: redshirt junior; saw some nice playing time last year when Schilling was banged up; started 2 games and played extensively in several others So you see? Michigan has plenty of experience returning on offense for 2008. But instead, DickRod insists on starting 6 freshman on the offense. DickRod does that because he WANTS to, not because he HAS to. Yeah, if you throw a bunch of freshmen out there, you're offense is gonig to struggle, and its going to suck if you don't adapt the offense to fit the players you throw on the field. But Michigan doesn't HAVE to be starting all these freshmen!!! He claims there is all this inexperience on the offense, and thats a downright lie!! So many so called "fans" like you make excuses for how horrible Michigan has been this season, and that is sickening. Any fan who claims not to care about this season or next is not a true Michigan fan. "YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME! HELLO!!! YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME!!!! YOU DON'T PLAY IT TO JUST PLAY IT!!!!!!!!"-Herman Edwards, October 2002 I have no pragmatic reason to have hope for the future of Michigan football under Dick Fraudriguez. Not in the future, and certainly not right now. I'm not going to let anybody hold my hand and tell me it's going to be okay. It's NOT going to be okay. Not until i see it (IF I see it, which I probably won't). Say, check out all these painful yet true quotes from Buckeyes fans that have messaged me: "This is the result of losing out on defensive players. Macho Harris, Justin King, Ronald Johnson are just a few examples. Zook, Weis, Tressel, and now Dantonio are making the recruiting trail in the midwest very tough for Michigan. RR is making it even worse by neglecting recruiting in his region. Dantonio is creating relationships while RR is tearing them down. The lack of defensive recruiting compounded with the change of the offensive system has basically set Michigan back at least 3 years. Hell they lost 2 stud recruits at linebacker one due to grades and the other transfer IIRC. This is gonna get bad for them. If they continue to lose they will have decommits for sure. " "RR underestimated the talent of the B10. You can tell...he has the look on his face like " damn these guys are pretty good"...no shit genius. He is gonna find out that this conference is a grind. Those light in the ass defenders and offensive players aren't gonna cut it. McGuffie gets hits and flies back two yards. Michigan sold their souls and will pay for it." "Then they need to hold up their end of the bargain. Granted, we haven't even played the "new" Michigan yet, but they've already become the joke of the Big Ten. Unless there's a major turnaround in the next 3-4 years, The Game will have virtually no meaning. I don't think DickRod is capable of producing anything but a WV style "high school HD" level team, which will not cut it in the B10. He's having a hard time holding on to players and recruits as it is. As bad a job as RR is doing in AA, if he jumps ship now, it will set their program back another few years. The rivalry was built on the traditions of greatness, it can survive a down year here and there, but unless UM gets their shit together soon, The Game will be just another reason for people to bitch about OSU's weak schedule." say, want me to send you the big document I wrote in which I justified my 11-2 prediction? or have you had enough facts and logic? Anyways, lets do a quick review here. You claim Michigan is looking like shit because: -they lost 8 of 11 starters on offense. -they are bringing in a new coach with a new system -most of the starters are freshmen -above all, we don’t have the QB to run the spread offense effectively I have exposed the first three excuses as bullshit in this message alone. I will address the QB situation later on in the message and expose that as a bullshit excuse as well. The fact is, there is NO EXCUSE for Michigan getting having an offense that ranks 110th in the nation and last in the Big Ten, a defense that is 73rd in the nation and last in scoring defense, getting blown-out by a team they had beaten 9 times in a row (Penn State), an inferior team they had beaten 6 times in a row (Illinois), and an inferior team who they ahd beaten 85-21 the last two seasons and might not finish with a winning record (Notre Dame), losing to a 2-4 MAC team at home (Toledo), and an unranked, non BCS conference team at home, and most importantly, there is no excuse for being 3-7, which is only the 3rd time in the last 40 years that Michigan will have lost at least 5 games, and only the 4th time EVER that Michigan has lost 7 games!! DickRod and friends have fucked up the Michigan Wolverines (the team I love and I invest so much emotional energy into), AND HE NEEDS TO BE FIRED!!!! http://bleacherreport.com/articles/69799-captain-rich-rod-is-going-down… Lastly, about Steven Threet: -Threet almost led us on a spectacular comeback against Utah, the highlight of which was that great 33 yard toss to Hemingway -Threet was 16 of 23 for 175 yards, 1 TD, and no picks against ND -He DID lead us on a spectacular comeback against Wisky -he was 18-35 for 250 yards and 2 TD's against Illinois -He was 7 of 11 for 55 yards in one half against Toledo -he was 9 of 13 for 84 yards in one half against PSU -14 yards per compeltion, 123 yards, 2 TD's to no pciks against purdue, and he led us to 42 points ON THE ROAD Threet has been a solid QB for the most part. the few mistakes are to be expected. Threet is not the reason why Michigan is 3-8 and is heading for a losing season....he's not even close to being the main reason. What are you going to say next season when Forcier and Beaver are going through growing pains as well? are you going to rag on them for being bad passers who can't run the offense? So many prodickrod fans have declared Forcier or Beaver are the saviors based on their play against high school competition, and we will be double fucked as a result. Pryor is a better athlete then both, and he's just now starting to learn what you can and cannot do on this level. Our "saviors" are still kids, and prone to mistakes and poor games. Assume nothing.Plus, if the spread option was all about the QB running, Michigan would just stick Sam McGuffie back there and be done with it. But in any offense, a QB must have the ability to pass and pass well, and the FACT is, freshmen QB's going through growing pains (often painful growing pains) as freshmen! And that's whether they are good runners or not!!!! I implore you: get of Threets ass and cut him some slack. He's not the main problem. DickRod and his staff are the main problem "As far as Rich, I don't know the man he may be a good person he may be a great family man he may be alot of good things and I wish him well, but he is not now nor will he ever be a Michigan Football coach. Everyone keeps talking about what he did at West Virginia, come on if they had been in the big ten he would have a 500 record. And thats being generous. I could go on and on but I'm just to tired, the simple fact is, I could have coached with Ryan Mallet and Adrian Arrington and the offensive line that left and be at least 4-1 right now, but he ran them off. Trell Pryor? I'm glad he did not come to Michigan but I have to admit he would be starting right now if he had and we probably would have a better record, but not because of coaching. I too thought it was time for LLoyd to leave, please forgive me LLoyd I wish you were here. Now we are on the verge of having the worst season in Michigan History, Michigan does'nt rebuild it reloads. It's time for Rich to leave, now, not next season, not next week, now. Give us Harbaugh, give us some other Michigan Man, Bo would have already fired him. Where is Rick Leach? I played baseball with him when I was 12 and won the city championship in Flint, hell Rick would be better than Rodriquez, give him a call. Call Gary back, he needs to come home, beg LLoyd to come back lets just end this now because it's not going to get better next year, yeah we may go 6-6 but I miss 10-2 and being mad cause we lost twice. Thats Michigan Football, being pissed because we know we were better than the team that just beat us, we cant say that this year cause we suck, the only bright spot is Sam Mcguffie and yes he would still be starting no matter who the coach is, he would just have more yards cause the offensive line and the quarterback would still be here. everyone who thinks Rich will bring us back to glory needs to remember we never left glory till Rich got there."-angry Michigan fan on www.firerrod.com