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| This girl approves of my pre-season predictions. |
It's always interesting to me to look back at my predictions from the beginning of the season. Some were alarmingly accurate, others not so much.
A few highlights:
Leading rusher: I picked Denard Robinson to have 900 yards, which was too few yards (he has 1,163 while Fitzgerald Toussaint has 1,011) but the right guy.
Leading receiver: I picked Junior Hemingway to have 1,000 yards. Again, the right guy but a ways off on the yardage total (he has 636).
Leading tackler: I picked Kenny Demens to have 100. He currently has 86 and has an outside shot to get to 100 in the bowl game.
Leading sacker: I picked Roh to have 7. This probably won't happen unless he has a monster bowl game. Roh has 4 but Ryan Van Bergen currently has 5.
Leading interceptor: I picked Kovacs to have 3. He only has 1. Courtney Avery and J.T. Floyd are currently tied for the lead with 2.
Breakout offensive player: I picked Jeremy Gallon. And while Gallon did break out this season (30 catches, 450 yards, 4 touchdowns), I think it's fair to say that Fitzgerald Toussaint had a bigger breakout.
Breakout defensive player: I picked Courtney Avery, who is tied for the team lead in interceptions and returned a fumble for a touchdown. So that's close. But I also mentioned Desmond Morgan in the blurb, and he earned a starting job and ranks fifth in tackles.
Most disappointing offensive player: I picked Roy Roundtree, who had over 900 yards last season but only had 18 receptions for 345 yards and 2 touchdowns this year. I can't think of anyone else who was disappointing on offense.
Most disappointing defensive player: I picked Troy Woolfolk. Woolfolk got a lot of hype prior to the season (from me included) because of his solid play in 2009, but I had a feeling that he would be just a guy this year. He's currently tied for 11th in tackles and didn't have a hand in any turnovers, so I think he probably counts as most disappointing. But he was nursing injuries for most of the season, so we didn't see the best of him, unfortunately.
You did well. Gallon was a good call, as he did break-out too, passing a bunch of quality seniors on the depth chart, establishing himself as the best kick-returner, and making several big plays. RB was impossible to predict especially since Tous had never been healthy.
ReplyDeleteYou whiffed on going with the consensus 8-4 record, but nailed the Iowa loss. Overall, these are predictions to be proud of.
Looking back on my own predictions - I was dead wrong on thinking Carvin Johnson and Mike Jones would break out but feel vindicated in my belief that Shaw wouldn't do anything special and that the defense would improve enough to get 9 wins. Safe to say they exceeded almost everyone's expectations.
@ Lankownia 1:52 p.m.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I didn't think Jones was anything special, but I expected more out of Carvin Johnson, too.
At one point in the season Denard could easily have been considered the most disappointing offensive player. Up until the last 3 games of the season, he was very off from his 2010 electrifying performances.
ReplyDeleteAnd I don't know if you can really say Roundtree was so disappointing. His production went down because the team threw a lot less than it did last year and the ball was spread around a bit more. He really doesn't have much control over those developments.
I'd actually consider the OL to be kind of disappointing this season. Yes they had two 1,000 yard rushers but a lot of that seemed to be how good those rushers were. Toussaint seemed to constantly get 3-5 yards on plays where he had no running room, and Denard is Denard.
@ Anonymous 4:23 p.m.
ReplyDeleteIf the season had ended after the Iowa game, I would have completely agreed that Denard was the most disappointing player. But Nebraska and OSU kind of changed that.
Roundtree had some drops, didn't get open, and didn't make much happen after the catch. He had a couple good plays (the TD against Notre Dame, the jump ball catch against Northwestern), but other than that, he had a mostly forgettable season. I agree that he doesn't have a great deal of control over his production, but when you got from 935 yards (or whatever he had last year) to below 400...I think that counts.
As you said, the OL produced two 1,000-yard rushers. And while I do agree that Toussaint had trouble finding open running lanes and created a lot on his own, I felt like Robinson often had open running lanes. The offensive line also did a solid job in pass protection, I thought. The OL wasn't as good as I expected, but they were still pretty good. All those guys were recruited to play in a zone running scheme, and they struggled to get a push when running power plays...but I think they did pretty well when running the zone/spread stuff. After all, they've been working on it for the past three years.
I am SO glad that Troy Woolfolk will be gone after this year!!!! I am so sick of that bum wearing a cast all the time trying to play football. I do not know how he even got out on the field, he lost his job to a true freshman which is going to be a Beast Countess! I remember two of the games he got his sympathy start until he got burnt and then they replaced him. So then he gets his sympathy starts at safety!!!! I know we had some injuries back there but damn!!!
ReplyDeleteSecond I think Roundtree was a victim of the coaches not seeing what works!!! We should be throwing the quick slant to him 3-5 a game! The one time we did he shook the guy off and took it to the house.
I really wish that Patrick Omameh was graduating this year!!! I honestly think that the suckeyes planted this tool on our team to destroy us. It's not just how the retard held on the DROB TD, he just always seems to be sucking!!!
My last comment is for Roh and Demens!!! First let me say I thought they both had a decent year but if we are going to make that next stride next year both of the guys need to learn how to F*CKING RUN!!!! How they hell are you playing DI football and it looks like you are running in quicksand!!! I can't tell you how many times I seen Roh this trying to chase down a qb looking like a zombie! Demens on pass coverage was never just burnt but damn he was trailing a little too far behind his man!!
Last these are the guys I'm looking forward to seeing next year putting us in the title hunt! Floyd, Campbell, Countess, Ryan on defense. On offense hopefully the work Tree more and I think Dileo, Gallon and Rawls should help Fitz and Drob takeover!!
At Anonymous 8:57, I would say your post was mostly uncalled for. I would be glad to never read another one of your posts ever again. Also, if you do post again, don't use exclamation points after every sentence!!!
ReplyDelete@ Anonymous 8:57 a.m.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure why I published your comment. Everyone can have his own opinion, but insulting Michigan players is pretty stupid, in my opinion. It's one thing to question a player's effectiveness, but you cross the line with some of your comments.
PHONE'S RINGING -- IT'S WOODY ON THE LINE
ReplyDelete•Football Schedule•Basketball Schedule•Forum•RSS•Contact
Five Things: Michigan
By Chris Lauderback - 27 November 2011
67 Comments
OSU
Football
AP: C. OsorioOrhian Johnson
Sorry HttV and Thunder. I thought we were able to speak freely about our thoughts about the team this year. I guess we have to sugarcoat our comments towards the UM players.
ReplyDelete*** To Troy Wolfork- I'm sorry for pointing out the fact that you are terrible and cannot cover anyone. That you got your position at Safety after you lost your corner job to a TRUE FRESHMAN!!!
*** To Patrick Omameh- I'm sorry that you cannot block anyone and I have eyes and pointed it out on a blog. But I do hope that you will not be able to be out the young lineman that actually can block
*** To Roh & Demens- It's ok that you run like you are in slow motion and can't make the tackle. It is cool you get close but don't have the speed to get there. But all I said was if you both get a little quicker you both would be animals!
Last thing is I seriously doubt players look at blogs like this and by no means am I trying to insult them I just gave my opinion of their football performance. I thought that is what blogs are for voicing your opinions? Also on MGOBLOG they were talking about some of the same things that I did say.
Sincerely,
Anonymous 8:57
@ Anonymous 9:12 a.m.
ReplyDeleteBlogs are for voicing opinions, but that doesn't mean you should say anything and everything.
I don't know if players read this blog, but I do know for a fact that parents read this blog.
You can say what you said without being so crude about it.
Also, please spell players' names correctly. Troy Woolfolk. Still. Name hasn't changed in the five years at UM.
ReplyDeleteAvery played well, although many thought he'd be the starter by the end of this year based upon his strong play last year. Could the breakout defensive player this year really be anyone other than Jake Ryan?
ReplyDeleteNever posted before, but those pre-season picks were pretty impressive. Kudos. The only one I disagree with is Avery, he wasn't close to being the defensive breakout player this year, although his game ending OSU pick was sweet.
ReplyDelete@ Anonymous 11:25 a.m. and Gene Johnson 11:56 a.m.
ReplyDeleteI guess Jake Ryan could be the breakout defensive player of the year. I don't know. I don't think any former non-entity had a GREAT season, since I think a viable case could be made for Jake Ryan, Desmond Morgan, Blake Countess, and Courtney Avery. Ryan ended the regular season with 30 tackles, 2 sacks, 1 forced fumble, and 2 fumble recoveries. That's a decent season for a redshirt freshman, but those aren't overwhelming numbers for a linebacker. Plus I expected good things from him, so I guess in my mind, he didn't really break out.
Maybe I'll turn it into a poll...
Anonymous @8:57 is probably a troll. If that wasn't obvious enough.
ReplyDeleteEither that or he's 12 years old and hasn't learned self-control. If he's even a teenager, his expressions are unacceptable along with his grammar.
Magnus, plant this tool face down next time he tries to speak. This is your blog, after all.