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| Mike Kwiatkowski |
Let's see less of this guy on offense . . . opponents running with the football. Three games, four interceptions for Denard Robinson. The one in this game was returned for six points. A senior quarterback should not be making these mistakes.
Let's see more of this guy on defense . . . Joe Bolden. I'm not a huge fan of replacing seniors with freshmen, but Bolden has done a good job the past couple weeks. Starting middle linebacker Kenny Demens played the vast majority of snaps last season, but Michigan can afford to rest him (or replace him?) with Bolden and not miss a whole lot. He's more athletic than Demens.
Let's see less of this guy on defense . . . Raymon Taylor. I really think Taylor is overmatched. I'm not sure if Michigan has a better option (Courtney Avery? Terry Richardson?), but I'm worried about how Taylor will match up against Notre Dame and other future opponents.
Play of the game . . . Devin Gardner's catch-and-run. Gardner did a great job of catching the ball, getting upfield, and stretching for the pylon. He's deceptively strong for having a lanky frame and did a great job of staying inbounds when it looked like he would get knocked out at around the 2-yard line.
MVP of the game . . . Denard Robinson. He ran 10 times for 106 yards and 1 touchdown. He completed 16/24 passes for 291 yards and 3 touchdowns. The turnovers and near turnovers are frustrating, but the bottom line is that he accounted for 397 yards and 4 touchdowns.
Thunder, do you think Bolden should replace Demens? In my opinion, Demens has taken a step back from last year. He looks slower and does not appear to be diagnosing plays quite as quickly (even though that was an issue last year as well at times).
ReplyDeleteI had high hopes for Demens this season, but so far they have been gashed. Bolden is the future and MLB and I would like to see him more on the field as well.
I think it's too early to replace Demens. He had a decent year last season, and the first couple games were a bit of a wash because of the opponent and the scheme; Alabama made it difficult by kicking the DL's butts, and Air Force was difficult because of the scheme. You also can't glean much from playing UMass, because Bolden's solid play might not translate to the Big Ten schedule.
DeleteI'd like to see how Demens and Bolden perform against Notre Dame. If things go poorly, maybe it will be time to make a switch.
That is a good point about the competition so far. Hopefully we learn more about the team after this weekend and hopefully it is mostly good. Although I do have worries about our offensive line after Notre Dame seemed to dominate against Michigan State's offensive line.
DeleteAgree that Demens has been a disappointment this year. He did much better last season when the Dline was doing a better job tying up blockers, but now that opposing offensive lineman are getting to the second level so easily, he has been very unproductive. I think that Bolden may well replace him as starter by the end of the season, or if not, he'll be getting a good share of the snaps.
DeleteAs far as who to see more of on offense...Norfleet! Put him in the backfield with DR, try him on some screens or flairs, get him the ball in space and let him make people miss! On defense, wish we were seeing more of Pipkins...was he hurt for UMass? Figured he would get some snaps, but he did not play at all, unfortunately.
Any thoughts (from anyone) on why Taylor is playing instead of Avery?
ReplyDeleteI'm sure the coaches want to get him reps against the cupcakes to help him develop. We will see how much he plays against ND.
DeletePainter -- Taylor STARTED versus UMass. And Taylor REPLACED Avery for virtually the entire Air Force game, including the two late series when Air Force could have come back with one or two big plays. And what was really alarming was that even when we went to nickel packages late in the Air Force game, it was Jarrod Wilson who came in, not Avery. Raymon Taylor has NOT been used just for garbage time the last two weeks. Notwithstanding the fact that Courtney Avery is above Taylor on the team's official depth chart.
DeleteThere is a story here, I feel certain. But I sure don't know what it is.
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Yeah; I think the situation with Avery is the biggest mystery on the team. I think it pretty safe to say that he is not injured. When he was pulled out of the Air Force game early, he remained up on the sideline with helmet on. And he played several downs against UMass, although I wasn't at all clear about how he was being used.
ReplyDeleteI actually thought Taylor played better against Air Force when he was thrown in unexpectedly, than when he had a whole week to prepare as a starting corner versus UMass.
I've heard nothing about Avery being dinged or at less than full strength. I expect that Taylor/Avery/Wilson are going to get a stern test this week.
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Pretty sure coach hoke said courtney's his back was slightly tweaked.
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