Love these podcasts the two of you do... They are a great way to get thru a 30 minute run once a week. The Marcus Ray and Doug Skene podcasts get me thru the other couple of runs each week... just great great entertainment and info.....
Just a few takeaways I had in listening...
Michigan Football is a pretty big mess right now compared to the three main competitors in the East... It's in the process of being fixed sure, but certainly not without set-backs and speed bumps - and while many have been created over years and years - some are being created in real time, today, this season, etc.
1. The Roster is all screwed up.... the numbers of the past two class were very good and big, but the numbers these next two are low... it's not a healthy way to move forward and it sounds like Jim is trying to RS a larger number of kids then most years to get this back on balance. Anyone know who has blown their RS's, who might get a medical and who is for sure RSing - even an educated guess.....?
2. Here's my definition of RECRUITING!!!! - Michigan in two back to back classes landed Kalis, Mags, Braden, Bars - all 4 Stars or higher and then Dawson, Kugler, Tillman, Bosch, Fox, and a couple of 3* projects.... Could those two OL classes, for various reasons - been bigger disappointments/busts? Obviously, this falls on Hoke and his staff primarily... but the level of suck Michigan's Olines have shown the past decade particularly is just unbelievable.....
3. OLine moving forward... sure, it'll be young. But, I would think the expectation moving forward should be good to very good oline play under this staff. How is this going to happen as soon as next year? It's hard to see..... All of the olinemen will have been coached solely by this staff... they will be what this staff has molded them into...no bad habits from the Funkmeister, or the Georgeous One Al B. The Guard positions next year should be pretty darn good assuming Bredeson and Mike O continue to progress.... But the other three spots? let's hope the RS Freshmen next year are as talented as their RECRUITING RANKINGS suggested and that this staff develops them better then the previous staff did.
4. I believe S. Barkley is a once every 25 years type player IMO... but the kid behind him looks like he's better then anyone we're rolling out as well - quick, fast twitch, shifty, explosive... OSU - every year they have another one they roll out including this year - True Freshmen. MSU has even had some studs and their stable is pretty good despite their fumble woes.... I don't think the talent is questioned at MSU... Wisconsin has another stud... Am I alone in being completely underwhelmed by the backs Michigan continues to bring in? Fingers crossed Walker and the New Mexico kid are studs and we just don't know it yet... but as JIM S said, if they were - you'd think we'd have seen them already.
5. WR's..... Can Tarik Black get a medical RS? He and DPJ are going to be studs - I agree with Jim S on that point... Did the Alabama WR blow his RS? Oliver Martin is RSing it seems? Hopefully the hype over Martin continues to be legit and the RS is a way to balance the classes as mentioned above....
6. On the coaching.... JimS says what everyone is thinking on the Podcast... the Offensive staff is a mystery.... 3 guys presumably making play calls... How do you develop and execute an offensive plan effectively with 3 dudes involved? Setting up the run by passing, vice versa - how does that all happen EFFECTIVELY with that type of set-up? Is this how we get play action passes on 4th and 11 late in a game we're trying to come back in? Or 3rd and medium 20 yard routes, and 3rd and 13 short routes? Where's a quick slant game? Where is the TE down the middle of the field?
7. Additionally, Drevno and Frey - Really guys? This is your oline? one of the worst of the last 10 years that has had a lot of bad Oline as Jim S said....
8. I joke and joke and joke about RECRUITING all the time, as you know.... Reason being is that we've seen supposedly had good RECRUITING for years... and without retention and development, good systems, good IN GAME coaching and adjustments and putting your players in good positions to win and make plays, it's just one piece of the puzzle in the quest to win championships... It all has to come together in order to pay off.... and it's not... far from it and there are holes in virtually every category...
We've seen good RECRUITING.
Development - sure in some areas, others like QB and OL and RB..... hmmm not so much aside from Ruddock - a true student of the game, a guy who prepared like a pro... We saw Speight play good last year - as a first year starter, only to seemingly regress this season before injury... concerning to say the LEAST. O'korn - for as long as he's been here, you just expect more. Peters - young still... but not exactly burried by Brady and Henson. Not getting him in there more is concerning too... AS JB said, can you imagine if he takes his first real snaps at Camp Randall?
Good Systems - Defensively, yes.... not perfect though as we saw Saturday... when the competition rose. Offensively - Seemed like it the first two seasons... This year? The offensive system is a mess, it's predictable, it lacks imagination it seems and lacks agressiveness - very conservative... and some real headscratchers game in and game out.
yes, UM lost a lot of talent and experience... so we run 40 formations in one half? the routes discussed above, the plays being called often times look like throwing shit against a wall to see if it'll stick..... It's hard to believe really, and as Jim S said - this is the average fan seeing some of this stuff.... We have a 6'7 TE just like PSU does.... I think the next time we throw a ball up and ask him to win the jump ball will be the first time... Yet, PSU does it 2, 3 times against us with their guy... Why? Where is the agressiveness and confidence to let your players go make plays? PSU's TE was doing this last year too... it's not new the way they let - as many here like to call him - captain Arm Punt let his guys go make a play... we don't do it enough
In Game Play Coaching / Adjustments - we've seen it on the defensive side of course - although not really last week... we lived and died with what we were gonna do and died... Overall - the in game coaching has been a bit underwhelming I think if we are being honest with our selves... It certainly hasn't won UM any big games late when it was winning time... IMO. Arguably, it's lost us some big ones against some rivals and other good coaches...
Michigan is setting itself up to be right there from a Roster standpoint to compete with anyone in the Big Ten East and Nationwide as early as 2018 but more likely 2019. However, it won't be easy - in fact it'll be incredibly hard. The coaching staffs from OSU, PSU, MSU are all doing the same thing and HAVE experience winning the Conference - they've gotten over that hump already at least once.
Who RECRUITS, Develops, Implements the best Systems, Game Plans for oppponents and in -game coaches the best - will ... We have a very good coaching staff here at Michigan... but they have to do all of these things collectively the best to win championships... I think they CAN do it... and hope they will but it's a major work in progress and they need to raise their game.
Overall, great Podcast... got me thinking about where Michigan is at currently and where they are hopefully going assuming Harbaugh gets
Just a few takeaways I had in listening...
Michigan Football is a pretty big mess right now compared to the three main competitors in the East... It's in the process of being fixed sure, but certainly not without set-backs and speed bumps - and while many have been created over years and years - some are being created in real time, today, this season, etc.
1. The Roster is all screwed up.... the numbers of the past two class were very good and big, but the numbers these next two are low... it's not a healthy way to move forward and it sounds like Jim is trying to RS a larger number of kids then most years to get this back on balance. Anyone know who has blown their RS's, who might get a medical and who is for sure RSing - even an educated guess.....?
2. Here's my definition of RECRUITING!!!! - Michigan in two back to back classes landed Kalis, Mags, Braden, Bars - all 4 Stars or higher and then Dawson, Kugler, Tillman, Bosch, Fox, and a couple of 3* projects.... Could those two OL classes, for various reasons - been bigger disappointments/busts? Obviously, this falls on Hoke and his staff primarily... but the level of suck Michigan's Olines have shown the past decade particularly is just unbelievable.....
3. OLine moving forward... sure, it'll be young. But, I would think the expectation moving forward should be good to very good oline play under this staff. How is this going to happen as soon as next year? It's hard to see..... All of the olinemen will have been coached solely by this staff... they will be what this staff has molded them into...no bad habits from the Funkmeister, or the Georgeous One Al B. The Guard positions next year should be pretty darn good assuming Bredeson and Mike O continue to progress.... But the other three spots? let's hope the RS Freshmen next year are as talented as their RECRUITING RANKINGS suggested and that this staff develops them better then the previous staff did.
4. I believe S. Barkley is a once every 25 years type player IMO... but the kid behind him looks like he's better then anyone we're rolling out as well - quick, fast twitch, shifty, explosive... OSU - every year they have another one they roll out including this year - True Freshmen. MSU has even had some studs and their stable is pretty good despite their fumble woes.... I don't think the talent is questioned at MSU... Wisconsin has another stud... Am I alone in being completely underwhelmed by the backs Michigan continues to bring in? Fingers crossed Walker and the New Mexico kid are studs and we just don't know it yet... but as JIM S said, if they were - you'd think we'd have seen them already.
5. WR's..... Can Tarik Black get a medical RS? He and DPJ are going to be studs - I agree with Jim S on that point... Did the Alabama WR blow his RS? Oliver Martin is RSing it seems? Hopefully the hype over Martin continues to be legit and the RS is a way to balance the classes as mentioned above....
6. On the coaching.... JimS says what everyone is thinking on the Podcast... the Offensive staff is a mystery.... 3 guys presumably making play calls... How do you develop and execute an offensive plan effectively with 3 dudes involved? Setting up the run by passing, vice versa - how does that all happen EFFECTIVELY with that type of set-up? Is this how we get play action passes on 4th and 11 late in a game we're trying to come back in? Or 3rd and medium 20 yard routes, and 3rd and 13 short routes? Where's a quick slant game? Where is the TE down the middle of the field?
7. Additionally, Drevno and Frey - Really guys? This is your oline? one of the worst of the last 10 years that has had a lot of bad Oline as Jim S said....
8. I joke and joke and joke about RECRUITING all the time, as you know.... Reason being is that we've seen supposedly had good RECRUITING for years... and without retention and development, good systems, good IN GAME coaching and adjustments and putting your players in good positions to win and make plays, it's just one piece of the puzzle in the quest to win championships... It all has to come together in order to pay off.... and it's not... far from it and there are holes in virtually every category...
We've seen good RECRUITING.
Development - sure in some areas, others like QB and OL and RB..... hmmm not so much aside from Ruddock - a true student of the game, a guy who prepared like a pro... We saw Speight play good last year - as a first year starter, only to seemingly regress this season before injury... concerning to say the LEAST. O'korn - for as long as he's been here, you just expect more. Peters - young still... but not exactly burried by Brady and Henson. Not getting him in there more is concerning too... AS JB said, can you imagine if he takes his first real snaps at Camp Randall?
Good Systems - Defensively, yes.... not perfect though as we saw Saturday... when the competition rose. Offensively - Seemed like it the first two seasons... This year? The offensive system is a mess, it's predictable, it lacks imagination it seems and lacks agressiveness - very conservative... and some real headscratchers game in and game out.
yes, UM lost a lot of talent and experience... so we run 40 formations in one half? the routes discussed above, the plays being called often times look like throwing shit against a wall to see if it'll stick..... It's hard to believe really, and as Jim S said - this is the average fan seeing some of this stuff.... We have a 6'7 TE just like PSU does.... I think the next time we throw a ball up and ask him to win the jump ball will be the first time... Yet, PSU does it 2, 3 times against us with their guy... Why? Where is the agressiveness and confidence to let your players go make plays? PSU's TE was doing this last year too... it's not new the way they let - as many here like to call him - captain Arm Punt let his guys go make a play... we don't do it enough
In Game Play Coaching / Adjustments - we've seen it on the defensive side of course - although not really last week... we lived and died with what we were gonna do and died... Overall - the in game coaching has been a bit underwhelming I think if we are being honest with our selves... It certainly hasn't won UM any big games late when it was winning time... IMO. Arguably, it's lost us some big ones against some rivals and other good coaches...
Michigan is setting itself up to be right there from a Roster standpoint to compete with anyone in the Big Ten East and Nationwide as early as 2018 but more likely 2019. However, it won't be easy - in fact it'll be incredibly hard. The coaching staffs from OSU, PSU, MSU are all doing the same thing and HAVE experience winning the Conference - they've gotten over that hump already at least once.
Who RECRUITS, Develops, Implements the best Systems, Game Plans for oppponents and in -game coaches the best - will ... We have a very good coaching staff here at Michigan... but they have to do all of these things collectively the best to win championships... I think they CAN do it... and hope they will but it's a major work in progress and they need to raise their game.
Overall, great Podcast... got me thinking about where Michigan is at currently and where they are hopefully going assuming Harbaugh gets
