Roy Roundtree, a tale of two seasons

I'd say it's more a result of Denard struggling in his first year in Borges' system. It would be more interesting to compare his stats from 2012 to those of 2010. If Denard improves the way Borges has said he will, I would imagine that RR's stats will see a bump as a result.

Hemmingway got a lot more balls.  It isn't that Roundtree had a bad year.

I expect him to have a big year this coming year.  It is somewhat obvious that Denard is still struggling mightily in the passing game, even despite his strong showings in the late part of the year.  I do expect Denard to improve, but I also expect that Borges is going to have to accept some of Denard's limitations and work in more of the short- intermediate passing stuff that Roy specializes in.

stop dropping passes. we need a big 2012 out of him..

here's to hoping he steps up next year. i'm sure he will as he will be much more acclimated to the system, but i guess we'll have to wait and see.

It did feel like the ball was rarely thrown to him this season.  For instance, the game winning catch against ND was the only time all night Denard threw to him. 

I always figured it was a combination of the new system and Hemmingway playing solid and stealing some of the spotlight.   

Keep in mind that Roundtree was generally the target or QB Oh Noes plays, resulting in a few receptions per game and generally 70-80 yards and a TD if the defense bit. We don't have anything like that in our offense except PA deep balls, which isn't exactly Denard's specialty.

An offense that no longer utilizes him to his utmost capabilty?

I think it is crazy that some in our fanbase can't seem to acknowledge that RR is one of the greatest offensive minds this game has ever seen. It's not opinion, it's a fact. It's not punching Borges in his Egg McMuffins either. It's simply stating that RR is a better OC than Borges is. Ali is better than Lenox Lewis. Always will be always has been. Was Lewis bad? Not at all. Lewis was very successful in his time and place.

And he doesn't have the best hands. We stole him from Purdue and not OSU for a reason.

In Borges offense there are few of the Oh No / misdrection plays that Roy feasted on from last year. In this offense, you need to be able to get open just by running a great route and executing. IMO, Roy just doesn't have the ability to get open vs. most good DBs...

Plus, in the beginning of the year when we played weaker teams Denard couldn't throw it in the ocean so that didn't help.

I doubt Roy's numbers improve that much next season, UM REALLY needs Stounum to plays since he is the best athlete we have at WR and the only real number 1 type. If you look at the Sugar bowl NONE of our WRs could get seperation from their man. not even Hemmingway.

Hemmingway does't have great speed but the guy knew out to win the balls in their air, there's a reason why he was the de facto safety value when Denard freaked out and just decided to chuck it.

Probably because under RR, Roundtree lined up in the slot and would be matched up with a LB/S which is much more favorable than being lined up on the outside against a CB.  

Borges as it has from the day he came here. If he calls plays that suit our players ability for example against Nebraska and Ohio when we ran zone read short passes to set up big plays then Roy might get some balls but if he runs the offense he did against Iowa, M State, and V Tech then he will be a non-factor. That's why it is funny to hear everyone say what was Denard doing at the beginning of the year that he wasn't doing against Nebraska and Ohio. It's what was Borges doing??!!!!!! He wasn't running the zone read offense with the only player in college football history to throw for 2500 and run for 1500 in a single season.

Last year he was a slot.  He rarely ever played outside.  This year Gallon took over the slot position and caught more passes (31) for more yards (453) than Roundtree.  As was true last year, our outside receivers weren't all that productive this season, although they did catch the occasional deep ball.  We really haven't had a consistent deep passing game since Henne/Manningham.

The interesting question is if Gallon straight-up beat Roundtree for the slot position in fall camp and forced Roundtree to move outside, or if the staff felt that they needed both guys on the field at the same time and slot was the only logical place for Gallon. 

I'm sorry that I have to be that guy, but once you know the proper use of "begs the question" it will bother you the same way it bothers me when people employ it incorrectly: http://begthequestion.info/

It really is a shame.  I always hoped he'd be the next Manningham...and he almost was.  Somehow, Denard's passing style has turned into throw it up and cross your fingers that someone will grab it.  With a guy like Junior, it's almost always worth a shot.  However, with the way Roy runs routes (plus his unimposing physical stature), it's not a good idea to send those his way too often. 

That being said, if Stonum is miraculously still allowed to play for Michigan this season, I'd expect Roy's numbers to stay pretty stagnant, possibly improve slightly.   However, if Stonum doesn't make it back, it could force Denard/Borges to take away a heavy dose of regularly ran 25+ yard routes in the playbook, opening up the door for Roy to at least get closer to his Sophomore year totals.

In 2010 we completed 243 passes as a team for 3,252 receiving yards.

In 2011 we completed 155 passes as a team for 2,377 receiving yards.

In 2010 we threw the ball 385 times.

In 2011 we threw the ball 284 times.

For a variety of reasons (fewer short passes, no big deficits, fewer plays per game) we just didn't have as many opportunities for guys to catch the ball this year.  That is a lot of catches that had to disappear from somewhere.  Roy also went from 13 yards per catch to 18.7 per catch so he was running deeper routes and as such likely targeted less often than an underneath possession receiver (a role Gallon filled this year more often than Roundtree).

No one on the team this year caught 35 passes.  The leading receiver scored 4 TDs and had less than 700 yards receiving.  Nobody else had more than Gallon's 453.  I don't expect those numbers to jump up considerably if we have the kind of year I expect running the ball and playing defense next year.  Roundtree may see a bump as he picks up some of Tay, Koger, and Grady's catches from this year and he may get a few of Hemingway's balls thrown his way if Stonum isn't as effective as Junior, but there just aren't a lot of yards/catches to go around.

Edit - double post

Roy played slot last year, this year he was outside...RR's system favors slot recievers. 

Its been discussed that Roy was very good at finding those little seems and zones to sit down in last year but this year has had trouble getting the kind of seperation needed to play on the outside.