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| Devin Gardner's second rushing touchdown against Central Michigan (image via AnnArbor.com) |
Let's see less of this guy on offense . . . Graham Glasgow. I thought redshirt sophomore former walk-on left guard Glasgow was the weak link on the offensive line. He had two false starts and didn't seem to get much push. Word was that redshirt sophomore Chris Bryant would have started if not for getting his knee drained last week, but when healthy, I think Bryant should be ahead of Glasgow.
Let's see more of this guy on defense . . . Cameron Gordon. Gordon is the starting SAM linebacker while Jake Ryan is injured, and the former ended this game with 4 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, and 1 pass breakup. He should continue to start until Ryan returns, but once that happens, Greg Mattison needs to find a way to get both Ryan and Gordon on the field. Gordon is too good of an athlete and a playmaker to keep on the bench. If that means putting Frank Clark at strongside end, Ryan at weakside end, and Gordon at SAM on passing downs, so be it.
Let's see less of this guy on defense . . . Josh Furman. Furman started at strong safety in place of the suspended Thomas Gordon, and while Furman did a fair job of keeping things in front of him, he's just somewhat slow at reading plays. He showed some nice makeup speed on plays to the sideline in Cover 2, and he helped hunt down a running back near the sideline deep in Michigan's territory to prevent a touchdown. But ultimately, Gordon is the better safety at this point, and he needs to be on the field first.
Play of the game . . . the punt block for a touchdown. At the end of Central Michigan's first possession, Michigan overloaded CMU's right side and went for the punt block. True freshman safety Dymonte Thomas exploded off the line, came around the corner, and made a textbook block by laying out for the ball and aiming right for the toe of the punter. Former walk-on wideout Joe Reynolds picked up the ball and took it 22 yards for a touchdown to start the scoring.
MVP of the game . . . Devin Gardner. Gardner finished 10/15 for 162 yards, 1 touchdown, and 2 interceptions, plus 7 carries for 52 yards and 2 touchdowns. He wasn't entirely focused early, which resulted in those two picks. In the end, though, he accounted for three touchdowns and kept plays alive with his feet. His two rushing touchdowns included some smooth cuts to juke defenders, and he also threw a great deep ball to Joe Reynolds on a play action pass on which he turned his back to the defense for an uncomfortably long time.
I liked Josh Furman better than you did. I fired up when he came across the filed to make the play on the sideline you reference in your comment, and I believe it was Wilson who got caught up and in and thus caused the whole issue in the first place, although he did recover nicely to get there and help out. I wouldn't mind seeing Furman getting some of Wilson's snaps against Notre Dame.
ReplyDeleteDespite leading the team in tackles, I thought Desmond Morgan struggled occasionally in space and thought about Cam Gordon getting some at Mike while reading your call for Cam and Ryan on the field at the same time. I watched Beckman call Gordon's blitz up the middle three more times over at the official site and it's still cracking me up.
As an aside and since we're on the subject of guys we'd like to see/hear less/more of, I used to love Mark Champion ..... just sayin'.
I thought Furman played poor overall. Furman and his friend Cullen Christian were both consensus 4-stars who turned out to be total busts. RR def isn't a top judge of talent.
DeleteI was never a real big Kovacs fan mainly because of his lack of foot speed. He did play smart and effective for what he had to work with, will give him that much and he was/ will always be 100% Michigan Man.
DeleteThat said, saturday was one game in a long time where I thought, "we've got some speed on D finally" and I heard it mentioned by the talking heads as well. The D backs missed some assignments, no doubt about it, but I was very impressed by their make up speed and quickness to the ball. Hope that is just the start of what we will see all year, minus the missed assignments of course!
With regards to play action and turning "his back for an uncomfortably long time" ..... sort of. I got questions.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid playing high school football and in the interest of full disclosure I played freshman football wearing a leather helmet. I am not lying, ..... the Jerry Ford joke has been done before ..... it was all about Rex Kern and two handed ball handling, sticking it in the pocket and then pulling it out on fakes, being at the tailbacks front hip on both exchanges and fake handoffs. People know by now that I wasn't a fan of Ricky Leach throwing the football, but handling the football was one of Leach's real strengths, he could occasionally trick the camera, as could Jack Midren, the kid at Texas who won a national championship and just a raft of other guys.
Now it's all one handed, arm way extended, slice away on play action and take the football to straight under your chin on fakes.
A week or so agao, Hoke mentioned that Gardner was accomplished at the 'lost art" of ball handling and I have to admit that the fake yesterday was probably the first I've seen in maybe years that I thought might have actually fooled anybody.
What is the thinking behind one handed handoffs and QB ball handing in general? I'm not a fan.
I've always wondered why some QBs just give a brief fake of the handoff, then drop back with the ball in plain view. A solid fake and keeping the ball at least partially hidden can freeze the linebackers for another second which can really open up the passing lanes.
DeleteFinally, and then I promise to quit.
ReplyDeleteIn the box score at the official site, they give Joe Reynolds 30 yards of return yardage, but don't assign him a return. First of all it wouldn't have occurred to me to assign yards after a block as return yardage or a picked up block and subsequent run as a return, but of course they are. There was a punt. It was returned. A small mishap in the middle is neither here nor there. But, and I would guess that it will probably be corrected, the average yardage per return is presently skewed up as total returns is one light.
Nit picking, I know.
Green was listed at 220 during the game by the TV network FYI
ReplyDeleteBTN made quite a few mistakes during the game. They used both Green's and Morris' weights from the Rivals site from last year.
DeleteThat is his old weight, last year, prior to his 'putting on the beef'
DeleteHis weigh in at the start of fall camp was 240 lbs.
The same TV network that would list Tate Forcier at 6'1" and Denard Robinson at 6'0", so it doesn't mean much. But, Green played well nonetheless.
DeleteThey still had Shane at 183...they were using old weights.
DeleteI wonder if they will try Cam Gordon back at safety if Wilson doesn't hold up, similar to last year when they had Kovacs play a box safety type role.
ReplyDeleteGreen is fat. It's obvious when you look at him on the TV (as long as those maize-tinted glasses are off) that Fred Jackson is full of it when he made excuses for Green. It's a shame because his talent is evident. You could see it as he ran, but he didn't perform well other than the long run. I'd expect him to be at his best at around 220-225. I wish he would have put the work in to get there as it seems he could help this team.
ReplyDeleteSmith brings a north-south element that could be pretty useful if the OL gels. He's the kind of back that needs holes though.
I'm not worried about RB - Hayes and Rawls both showed good burst in their carries and Johnson was looking solid before his injury too.
Toussaint is the best RB we have and the support is fine, even without Johnson.
The only question I have is if someone can be a consistent pass protector/3rd down guy, as Johnson was supposedly doing well in that regard and Fitz can't play every down. I suppose the answer is to rotate in Green more often on 1st and 2nd down and give Fitz more 3rd-down duties.
And there's the Lakwonda we all know...wrong about pretty much everything.
DeleteWell argued as usual, BB88.
DeleteGreen didn't make a single play that any other back couldn't make. His long run was all OL and with 15 pounds less of fat maybe he takes it to the house. The best (RB) runs on the day came from Fitz and Rawls.
Not disputing Green's potential, but he hasn't shown he's earned Johnson's backup spot yet, let lone pulling carries from Fitz.
I would appreciate it if we could lay off bashing Lanknows just to bash him. If people have a point, make it. Unnecessary insults just won't be published. Let's have some good, positive, mature discussions. Thanks!
DeleteFine by me. I'll stick to discussing one or two points because Lank writes a GD novel every time for whatever reason.
DeleteGreen might be carrying some bad weight, but "fat" is deliberately pejorative and inaccurate. He's also already second on the depth chart after Saturday with his stuff and Johnson's injury, so clearly he's doing something right. It's not like we got an in-depth look at anyone. Fitz is clearly the best option, but I wouldn't be surprised if Green got usage with him like Georgia uses Gurley and Marshall.
Yes, calling the guy fat is a criticism. No, it is not inaccurate. Being out of shape doesn't preclude you from being talented or effective.
DeleteI realize he is second on the depth chart and I never said he wasn't doing anything right. I was saying he didn't do anything IN THE GAME (the evidence I have) that would warrant him earning the job. Obviously others may disagree and the coaches have a lot more info. Just saying what I saw, since, you know, this is the comments section of a blog afterall.
@BB88
I don't care about your insults as I've been reading your comments for long enough to establish a level of, let's call it, 'respect' for you. I'll just say that if you have a counter argument you can share that blows my argument out of the water - great. Otherwise your responses will just sound as 'smart' as usual.
I want to mention another RB, that is Rawls. He looked impressive with his TD, but that's the same when he played against weaker opponents last year. Can this confirmed that he's a MAC player only, not BCS level?
ReplyDeleteWith all due respect, you seem to have a tendency to put certain players in the doghouse and never let them out (i.e. confirmation bias). In your game summary post it was Norfleet and "not finishing the run," now it's Glasgow, who I and others feel had a pretty solid game. Yes he had two penalties but the whole team was pretty sloppy in that respect (Lewan had one that took away a TD for example). I thought Glasgow looked good on most plays and had some misses as did the entire line. The coaches seemed to like having him pull more than Kalis and most times he looked good doing it, especially on the one TD run where he pulled through the hole and chipped two defenders on the 2nd Fitz TD. He also didn't bust in pass protection that I noticed. If Bryant is the better option, IMO I would like to see Glasgow replace Miller at center. Miller seemed to be the one that was consistently ceding ground.
ReplyDeleteAll that said, having a legitimately hard time finding a goat to pick on after a 50 pt win is a good problem to have. We'll know more after this week I'm sure.
I disagree that I put certain players in the doghouse and never let them out. Glasgow was not good last year, and now he's getting better, which I believe I mentioned. Furthermore, I was not extremely high on Mario Ojemudia, but he's grown on me. Etc.
DeleteThe fact is that Glasgow had two penalties, and they WERE penalties. Lewan had one penalty for being an ineligible man down the field on a pass, but he was engaged with a defender and should not have been flagged. I don't think it's going out on a limb to say that the walk-on left guard who incurred two penalties might not end up being the best option there.
Well, what is it that bothered you, the fact that he's a walk-on or that he got two penalties? I mean, he's essentially seeing his first action, so I think there's margin of error there. How many times did Lewan get penalized his first year? The answer would be an awful lot. And Lewan still gets penalized, including a drive-killing penalty in the bowl game last year. Which is not a knock on Lewan. I just don't think two penalties in Glasgow's trial by fire are as indicative of his potential as the fact that he blocked and moved well.
DeleteAnd if you just don't like him because he was a walk-on, then obligatory Kovacs reference.
I think I answered your question in the post.
DeleteThunder, any thoughts on the freshman QB's play?
ReplyDelete