Spring Game Prognostication - Sheridan vs. The Tate
I am going to be attending the spring game this april, and i was wondering if people think the Tate will outplay Nick Sheridan?
personally i think Sheridan will show him up and then everyone is going to get paranoid that Sheridan will start vs. WMU, which btw i still think he has a chance of doing.
any other spring game thoughts would be appreciated...
(i.e. Will the Coner get any snaps?)
You are an idiot.
Let me guess. You're one of those blind faith homers who thinks Tate Forcier is the next messiah? Fuck off.
To answer the OP, I think Sheridan will do a lot better than people think, but Forcier will win out in the end. Cone won't get any meaningful snaps.
Once I finished reading this post and came to yours.....you said EXACTLY what I was thinking.....No way Sheridan should have ever started 1 game let alone multiple games for UM and no way he should be part of the QB solution over 2 seasons. I thank Nick for his efforts and at least being there when needed but no way will RR invest in him going foreword....his time has passed...
Great post; would love to read it again.
TL;DR
I think Sheridan brings experience and Tate brings talent. Don't forget about Denard or Feagin either...I could see either of the four vying for the starting position because each will bring their own talent to the table. In the end, however, Tate or Denard will prevail.
As for Coner, I hope he gets a snap but it is unlikely...
Feagin has switched to slot
Please hear me out even though I am heavy on the Tate bandwagon along with the sleeper D-rob wagon. I could be waaay wrong, but there is no way Sheridan shows Tate up....ever.
IF it were to happen, it would be a fluke.
Tate is an athlete who can throw and make very quick decisions. STOP with your, "but Tate has never seen college speed" stuff. DI recruits adjust. Guys like Tate and D-Rob and all recruited DI players are capable of stepping into the game and learning on a fast curve. Tate specifically will be ready because of his upbringing and genes. Sheridan is a good athlete but not nearly the athlete Tate is and he has about 1/4 of the arm Tate does. And by arm I mean accuracy combined with strength. Even with a year of quality playbook and gametime experience, you cannot hide ability that Sheridan does not have. Tate has more of it, much more of it.
He will throw picks and will make bad decisions, but at least he has the ability to make those bad decisions. Now I know there are many variables, one being the O-line that will give Tate an advantage but I think all who go to the spring game will see the difference immediately. I do not hate Sheridan, but we need to understand that he is not the caliber player of Tate or D-Rob.
Maybe I am a hopeless romantic who thinks we are due some good fortune but I think we will all be pleasantly surprised by what product is on the field come April 11. (when Tate takes the field)
I am up in the air yet with the Coner getting snaps.
PS- Can someone PLEASE tell me what the scuba flag on the sideline last year was for. I have never seen anything like that in my life and no one in the liveblog would answer me when I asked it. Does anyone know?
why it was there? maybe this will shed some light.
Discharged from the U.S. Navy on August 16, 1949 Denzel James Dockery began his newly acquired trade of Diving with a home built "SCUBA" rig manufactured from a plan published in an issue of the "Popular Mechanics" magazine. After serving a period of apprentice with his new equipment and now newly wed to Ruth Evelyn Carlson, it became painfully apparent that the "Baker" flag he had used in the Navy was not recognized by civilian marine operators. The "Baker" flag is a solid red DANGER flag displayed by Navy personal when there were divers at work nearby. "Doc", as he was nick named, was using the flag as he had in the Navy, but no one was honoring its presents. Together he and Ruth fabricated a "Red" flag with a white stripe running across its middle. This flag showed the same pattern when viewed from either side. The Dockerys soon discovered that their flag was a copy of a National Flag used by Austria. After much research the White Stripe was quickly moved to Run from the upper left corner to the lower right corner. The flag was a little more difficult for Ruth to sew but was a true original "DIVER DOWN FLAG". It did not represent any country or organization that they could find. The "Divers Flag" was born. The fact that it reversed its self when viewed from the back was a necessary but acceptable trade off. Doc used the flag in his work and promoted it through the "Cuadro Pescadores" Diving Club that they belonged to. During the early 1950's the Dockery's opened a "garage" Dive Shop in Flint, MI and sold the flag to local Divers. A sales representative for U.S. Divers named Ted Nixon saw their flag and offered to sell it Nationally while calling on his regular customers. With Ted's contacts the flag really sold. Ruth spent most of her spare time sewing flags by the hundreds. Meanwhile, Doc and the club members worked to get the flag recognized by the Michigan State Legislature as a means of protecting SCUBA Divers from marine traffic. Also, the newly formed Great Lakes Diving Council began promoting The FLAG to the Legislators of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Each of the Legislations in turn passed laws forcing penalties to be levied against Divers who did not use The FLAG but gave the Diver no legal protection against boaters while using it. Their efforts had "BACKFIRED". By this time many other companies were making The Flag and Doc & Ruth decided it was time to drop out of the picture and direct their attention to their growing Diving business. The Diving industry has rewarded them with a comfortable life style and a small place in the HISTORY OF DIVING.
my guess is that Doc was probably a big Michigan fan.
I will make an appearance where I streak across the field naked with a leprechaun hat on.
State and proveyour football expertise. Also, go fuck yourself.
Cheers.
We all know Sheridan rocks in practice. It just that he didn't rock with consistency in games and was mostly bad than good during games.
I think the starting position is Tate's to lose.
Can I change my vote in the Least Favorite poster diary to gremlin for being an assclown? I can? OK sweet, thanks.
minus the kinda. but you never know. i think the fact that tate scared threet off discourages the notion of sheridan outplaying him in the spring game. but then again i never thought we'd end up with RR as coach either so there ya go.
So, Threet was "scared off" by Tate, huh? That contradicts the rumors that Brian and other people "in the know" have heard. Do you have any evidence whatsoever to back up your accusation, or, are you just throwing shit against the wall to see if it sticks?
P.S. It is quite unfair of you to accuse Threet (or any other player, for that matter) of leaving because he was afraid of competition unless you have any actual knowledge that this was the case.
to see if it sticks before and i'm certainly not forcing you to believe anything i say. that being said. yea i do have evidence to back up what i've said and it's stronger than anything brian has. believe what you want.
Since most of us will never know the real story I don't really care.
That being said, your version is the one I want to believe. To intimidate the returning starter is one thing. Making him want to transfer is awesome.
Sheridan will be seen this season signaling plays to Tate.
Sheridan is not D-1 caliber, Tate is. Tate will outplay Sheridan in every category this spring. It would be impossible not to.
Tate is the future. He gets the majority of snaps. My question is whether and when and how much the D can really get after him. If he doesn't face real pressure, he can look good in a simulated Spring game (as did Threet & Sheridan last year.) OTOH, if faces pressure and gets hit and hurt, the season could go down the tubes.
Not trying to nitpick everything you say, but for the record Threet and Sheridan did not look good at all last year in the spring game. Man, this statement could not have been more true: "As previously theorized, it's going to be confusing and ugly early."
Here is Brian's full recap:
http://mgoblog.blogspot.com/2008/04/spring-practice-views.html
so have all the threet apologists become sheridan apologists now?
why is it only ok to root for bad players?
Threet was terrible. He is not, nor will he ever be, a D-1 QB. Sheridan will probably be a great coach someday, but has no talent in his body to match what is in his head. Neither should ever have played a down at Michigan. If Lloyd Carr hadn't left the cupboard bare, they never would have.
They are probably nice kids, but neither has any business trying to QB an elite team.
Hopefully, the situation stabilizes this year. If Forcier is the real deal and doesn't get injured, Robinson can be brought along slowly, and can start out as a wildcat. I wouldn't mind seeing Jeremy Gallon wildcat some if he "passes" his ACT.
Next year, RR must bring in two more bona fide dual-threat QB's. Eventually, the situation will be more stable. Hopefully, they can get back on track this year. The Big Ten is still weak, as is ND, and they can finish 9-3 if things go remotely decent this year.
last year and that's legit I suppose, but for the last time, Threet's stats and performance last year were no worse than literally dozens of D1 QB's as freshmen. QB's do actually improve from the Freshman to later years.
Threet was a redshirt freshman in a system that didn't fit his skills - his third system in two years. To say that he won't ever be a D-I quarterback is extremely premature.
I remember last year he had a couple nasty pump fakes that backed defenses up. I was actually looking forward to seeing how much he progressed this year.
Oh well.
Tate will have the same amount of practice as Threetidan had last year. Nick got the start over Threet but that did not last. I think RR knows that Nick does not do well under the pressure and I think that will put Tate in the driver's seat. Perhaps we will see D Rob get a start or 2 this year but probably not until after the Iowa game. I really hope we get to see Cone take a bunch of snaps because if that is the case then that means he is in there serving as clean up and we are beating the other team by a bunch. All of that being said I think Nick will take a few snaps in the spring game but not many and not for much importance.
part of what i was asking was what you guys, that is, well-informed posters who know a thing or two about what they are talking about, think we can or should expect from Tate-Force in the spring game.
the best comparison was the guy who said Threet and Sheridan had the same amount of time last year to get ready, so i guess we'll have something to compare his performance to.
Sheridan couldn't show up Threet last year, I don't see him showing up Tate....
He will throw picks and will make bad decisions, but at least he has the ability to make those bad decisions.
Route 66
Cool sentence. I am intrigued by your ideas and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
Decision making was not a strong point last year by any of the QB's. Ok, so that is low hanging fruit, but it is nonetheless true. Typically it is problematic for any new QB. It is also one thing that is very difficult to practice. I am not sure how RR will run the spring game i.e. will it be more of a scrimmage or more of a genuine game time exercise. RR's decision on this point might be telling...
What concerns me the most is the threat of injury. We are not exactly deep at QB, and RR knows this obviously. How much of a chance do you think he is going to take in the spring game? I mean, do you think he is going to let the defense blitz a whole bunch when he knows he is so vulnerable at the qb position? If he does not allow blitzing, how much of a true test would this be for whichever qb? You got to believe our opponents are going to blitz a lot this year--the best thing to rattle a raw qb after all.
So, we have that going for us.
probably answers the question of pressure you raise. I seriously doubt RR lets the defense loose in the spring.
Didn't you watch last year when B. Graham lit up Kevin Grady? Lol. But I think the QB's wear the red pennies so people don't wreck them.
I agree that it will be more scrimmage oriented than actual game oriented....which means, at least to me, that without the element of pressure normally associated with a real game, it will be more difficult to accurately evaluate any QB's value. I could be wrong, but just about any qb, given lots of time, can hit a target on the field. Proven qb's operate well under pressure. So, I am just guessing that even if Tate the Magnificent looks Johnny Unitas in the scrimmage, he might look rather Rex Grossman in a real game where the defense is not constrained. That is a long way of saying that we may not learn a heck of a lot from the scrimmage. Operative word being "may". Not only for our new savior qb and existing flogging pole Sheridan. It will also not provide an accurate eval of the D.
But, if the d is limited, and Tate looks pedestrian, then we may be looking at another 3-9 campaign this year==unless someone greatly improves over the summer, that is.
So, are we looking more for a lack of negatives rather than a presence of positives?
Inquiring minds want to know.
Detroit Lions were undefeated in the preseason last year. Just sayin'.
Obviously does not include 2008-vintage Nick Sheridan and Steven Threet during Michigan games.