Which past Michigan QB would you liked to see Harbaugh coach?

Submitted by chad on
Considering he's the best QB coach in all football and what he's done with everything QB he's ever coached. I'm interested in what he would've done had Carr hired him as a QB coach and worked his way up or Brandon would've had his head out of his rear and hired him. Some of the more interesting choices... Devin Gardner - possibly the most talented and undercoached. He went from looking like a 1st round draft pick his first yr to a confused senior under Hoke. Denard Robinson - interesting to see how he would've been used under Harbaugh. Drew Henson - sky would've been the limit with his talent. Tom Brady - very obviously held back under Carr splitting his time with freshmen. Would've been interesting to see Harbaugh fully unleash him like the Patriots did. Any others?
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SlickNick

May 6th, 2017 at 8:41 AM ^

So many choices...but for me its Henne. He obviously had a great career without Harbaugh, but the way he came in ready as a freshman, with all the talent around him..would have been scary with a football mind like Harbaugh coaching him up.

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The Fan in Fargo

May 6th, 2017 at 9:08 AM ^

The 2006 season was a great time for me in college watching those games so I'll have to say Henne. I however think the kid that could've been the most lethal with Harbaugh would've been Garder. With an offensive line and running game, Devin was a talented kid who had some killer skills IMHO. He had some mistakes during his time there but that I believe was from a confidence standpoint. Things were down in the dumps and he was getting murdered every other play. 

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Mongo

May 6th, 2017 at 10:17 AM ^

Starting with a redshirt freshman year and 5 years of turning his technique around and improving his pocket skills into an elite NFL prospect ... 1st or 2nd rounder. Of course, if Harbaugh was here for all those year's we would have also developed a better OL than Devin suffered with.

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MIMark

May 6th, 2017 at 11:22 AM ^

For a four year starter, he had a noticeable lack of development. Hit a few walls. He would have benefitted greatly from better coaching and more creative schemes. With all that talent, he and the offense could have been off the charts.

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Magnus

May 6th, 2017 at 11:55 AM ^

I'm going to echo what a bunch of people have said: Devin Gardner. Gardner was the most talented player to come to Michigan at the QB position since Drew Henson, and he had a pretty up-and-down career. If Harbaugh were his coach, I truly believe he would have been in the conversation to be a 1st round draft pick.

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realfootballfan

May 6th, 2017 at 12:38 PM ^

Everyone is quick to say "Harbaugh would immediately make him a RB" but I don't think that's the guaranteed result. It's not like he was garbage at passing the ball. Was he Brady? No, of course not. But he wasn't exactly Nick Sheridan either.

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Footdog

May 6th, 2017 at 12:57 PM ^

I would love to see what coach could have done with Tate Forcier. I know he wasn't the tallest, but the dude was a baller. Harbaugh could have kept his ego in check and refined his talents.

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hazardc

May 7th, 2017 at 3:15 PM ^

Gardner would be my obvious choice

 

Just having harbaugh come in where richrod left off would have been amazing. Denard and Devin both still there, and not beaten into the ground.   Team was on an actual upswing, even though it was still in a pretty shit position.   

 

With Hoke's first year, imagine if Harbaugh came in back then, rather than after hoke left it in complete shambles.. both of those guys would probably be in way different positions than they are today. We wouldn't have seen our QB's getting slaughtered and neglected, that's for sure. 

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Lee Everett

May 7th, 2017 at 3:19 PM ^

Devin Gardner, as I said in the other thread.  He was a smart, educated, composed, uncontroversial player.  He was put in a unique circumstance playing under and alongside Denard, and to accomodate this he even switched positions.  Despite Denard having a more memorable career, Gardner would later break his single-game record with 584 yards of total offense, as well as John Navarre's single-game mark of 503 passing yards.  His 2013 season was second all time in total yards, behind Denard.

He had IT.  At his best he set records, and at his worst he was still a gooddamned trooper who stayed the course despite being banged up and not put into a position to succeed.  

Plucking him out from his playing years and placing him into any other era that had a B line or better would have been my choice, but giving him an effective NFL staff rather than Borges is a whole other thing.

(I don't think Denard would be a QB under Harbaugh, just like I don't think Speight would be Rich Rod's first choice.)

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waterfordjoe

May 7th, 2017 at 4:04 PM ^

Too many come to mind, but these two ( in that order ) came to my mind first. JH & staff definitely would have had their hands full with Tate, and Smith could have been a much better passing threat to go along with his excellent running game.

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