11-01-2015, 01:22 PM
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#4418
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#Ace
OVR: 27
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 15,876
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Re: College Football Off Topic
Pulling this from the Week 9 thread when I asked about the state of Michigan.
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Originally Posted by Psyblast |
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On the right track based entirely on Jim Harbaugh's wizardry. He and his staff are squeezing every ounce of effort and talent out of what will almost certainly be his worst team at Michigan. Brady Hoke left him a roster full of highly regarded players from their high school days, with the exception of the most important position on the field.
In four years at Michigan, this is what Brady Hoke and Al Borges (and a worthless year of Doug Nussmeier) cobbled together at QB: Russell Bellomy, Shane Morris, Wilton Speight, Alex Malzone. Bellomy was a last second addition to the 2011 class that Hoke had basically three weeks to assemble once he got the job. They chose not to take a QB in 2012 because they locked up Morris early on. This specifically entailed pulling up on their pursuit of Gunner Kiel. Morris peaked as a high school junior and has never developed since then. He was hyped as a left-handed Drew Henson, but he is a non-entity now, and will almost certainly never play another down at Michigan. Speight was offered and taken based entirely on Al Borges's relationship with some QB coach he knows (name escapes me). This involved passing on David Cornwell and some kid named DeShone Kizer who very openly coveted a Michigan offer. Jury is out on Malzone, but Harbaugh has already recruited over him.
During this past offseason, Harbaugh made serious efforts to lure Kevin Hogan, Everett Golson, and Braxton Miller as graduate transfers, because he knew how much of a nuclear wasteland Hoke left behind at QB. There was a moment sometime in January I believe where it seemed like Hogan was coming; he obviously changed his mind. So basically, Jake Rudock was Harbaugh's 4th choice for a graduate transfer, and it's shown. He is so limited in what he can do, it has damaged Michigan in essentially every game. He left multiple touchdowns on the field against Michigan State, any one of which would have rendered the final 10 seconds of that game moot. If John O'Korn was eligible, he would be the starter.
Harbaugh and Drevno have done about as well as anyone can do to salvage the OL that Hoke and Darrell Funk spent four years destroying. They aren't a great unit; not the kind that can simply line up and dictate when the defense has 8-9 in the box. It's a decent unit, but wildly inconsistent; the good news (I guess) is 4 of the 5 will be back next year, so I think they can be good. The running backs are still inconsistent in that you never know when they're going to miss a glaring hole and just run up the back of the OL. Derrick Green is a bust. Ty Isaac is in the doghouse. Drake Johnson and De'Veon Smith are dinged up.
The wideouts have been a plus. There is no super-freak 1st round pick there, but Darboh and Chesson are quality players who made big plays tonight, and would look much better if they had a QB who could get them the ball in the right spot with any consistency.
The defense is more or less a known asset at this point. They were a sturdy unit that has been elevated with elite coaching, but not quite the über unit that pitched three shutouts in a row. Durkin got roughed up tonight. The DL was great (and literally every player in the rotation is back next year, with Bryan Mone coming back from injury, and possibly the #1 recruit in the country joining them), but the linebackers were truly exploited tonight. They had been shaky all year, but tonight was the first time they got taken apart. The issue is Hoke recruited a corps of linebackers designed to play ancient 1970s-style Big Ten football. They are usually in the right spot, and will usually make the tackle, but they have almost no athleticism and little to no lateral ability; they can't move side to side well at all.
The DBs were hit or miss tonight. Lewis was great, the passes he gave up are the kind you simply have to live with when the QB makes a perfect throw. Peppers was Peppers, he's the best player on this team. After that, it was a rough night. Dymonte Thomas dropped a pick, missed a couple tackles, and botched a punt. Jeremy Clark and Channing Stribling got burned. Delano Hill busted a huge play for the second game in a row. Overall the DBs have been a plus unit; I love what Zordich and Jackson have done with them. Still trying to fix the Hoke-era inability to force turnovers, and tonight was rough, but promising on the whole.
If Michigan can't run the football, they can lose any game, because they don't have a QB capable of consistently putting up yards and points. When the OL is blocking and the RBs are getting yards, they can grind the defense down, eat the clock, and keep the defense fresh. I expect that to be the case against Rutgers and Indiana the next two weeks. @ Penn State in three weeks, I'm less confident. OSU will exploit the linebackers and put points up on this defense, and Rudock won't have the ability to keep up.
Overall, an 8-4/9-3 season should land U-M in the Outback or Citrus Bowl. If they can win that, a 9-10 season with a quality second-tier bowl win over an SEC program should be enough for U-M to close great in recruiting and move forward into 2016 with the sky being the limit. Very excited about the future.
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A lot of your content here is about the lackluster recruiting Hoke has done...why was Harbaugh focused on QB graduate transfers vs. getting new recruits? Was it too late in the season to get any new coups or change minds?
Putting this in a nutshell, it's basically that Hoke was a terrible recruiter and his coaching staff was subpar...especially compared to Harbaugh. Fair assessment? Do you expect the program to exceed the "glory days" of Lloyd Carr? Is it unreasonable to think they'll be championship quality by next season, with it being a prestigious school to get recruits like Michigan (vs. the high academia Stanford). |
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