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Sunday, December 15, 2013
MLive: Brady Hoke has not discussed the NFL Draft Board with any non-seniors
It doesn't sound like any underclassmen are testing the NFL Draft waters, which is probably a good thing because I don't think the likes of Jake Ryan and Devin Gardner are ready yet.
Hit the jump for a girl with curly hair.
Hit the jump for a girl with curly hair.
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They better not be. That's good. Ryan, Clark, and Gardner can be NFL-ready next year. Hopely some borderline guys in our senior class can have a chance at NFL.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, reading the article reminded me that JT Floyd actually tested for the NFL as a junior two years ago. Wow. He did 5 bench presses as a senior and was downright pathetic at times. Costed us how many touchdowns?
ReplyDeleteThe thought of him reminds of me how bad Rich Rod's defenses were/are. I know some people reading this blog feels like Rich Rod has been mistreated and he would've succeeded otherwise. That might be true, and I think he could've found relative success at Michigan had he gotten that 4th and 5th years, but I really think Rich Rod just isn't good with defense and that makes him not-truly-elite.
Even at his heights at West Virginia, his team's defense was never that good, so he lost quite a few close games in a shoot-out. Can never win national championships without solid defenses, and weak defense always troubled Rich Rod when the offense was clicking with players like Pat White.
Had Rodriguez had Doug Casteel with him at Michigan then the defenses would have been a *bit* better ... but never dominant.
DeleteNow Rodriguez is at Arizona and he has Casteel with him ... and the defense is okay but not dominant and probably never will be.
I do not see Arizona being nationally relevant under Rodriguez, and I do not see Rodriguez being considered for programs such as Texas or Alabama or USC. His Arizona teams will be okay to good, and for U of A that's good enough. But the football concepts he pioneered are now fairly well understood and the game has evolved. Good defenses can stop spread teams like Arizona or Oregon or Ohio State.
Absolutely. Elite programs would be crazy to hire him. Like Carr, Bill Martin's legacy is also tarnished by that clown circus of a hiring process that got us Rich Rod.
DeleteI am thinking he will find relative success at Arizona, winning 7-10 games but never dominating the conference. He won't beat the upper echelon of PAC-12 teams on a regular basis. Rich Rod is also at a bad time, as Pac-12 is very solid as a conference right now.
It's a myth that Rodriguez is consistently synonymous with lousy defense. Here's how it did (ranking in parentheses) at WVU on a point-per-game basis from '03 to '07:
Delete2003 (37): http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/stats/byteam?cat1=defense&cat2=Total&sort=1137&conference=I-A_all&year=2003
2004 (26): http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/stats/byteam?cat1=defense&cat2=Total&conference=I-A_all&year=2004&sort=1137
2005 (11): http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/stats/byteam?cat1=defense&cat2=Total&sort=1137&conference=I-A_all&year=2005
2006 (48): http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/stats/byteam?cat1=defense&cat2=Total&sort=1137&conference=I-A_all&year=2006
2007 (7): http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/stats/byteam?cat1=defense&cat2=Total&sort=1137&conference=I-A_all&year=2007
In the top half every year, and pretty high a couple of times ...
It's certainly true that he made several decisions that were bad even in context. Aside: I say "in context" often because I can't rely on some Michigan fans to use their imagination and think about how it might be difficult to operate under black clouds (like the one blown up by the Detroit Free Press in '09 for no *really* good reason).
Take RichRod's '10 class (please ... take it). In retrospect he would have been better off recruiting a bunch of "Heitzmans" (Rivals "5.5s" with character and the all-important "toughness" that may have helped the team) instead of guys like Demar Dorsey and Antonio Kinard that never saw the campus. Without the black clouds maybe he doesn't feel as much pressure and doesn't swing for the fences (or whatever he was doing) as often.
Fair enough ... though I think all credit goes to Jeff Casteel.
Delete2007 being their best year, let's look at how they ranked in various splits (all from cfbstats.com):
o Total Defense: #7
o At Home: #9
o Away: #11
o Vs. Unranked: #5
o Vs. Ranked: #45
o August/September: #11
o October: #3
o November: #62
o December/January: #13
The "ranked" vs. "unranked" split is pretty interesting ... as is the fallout in November.
Well, that's exactly what I am talking about, actually. Cupcakes in September, the meat of schedule in November. Please remember that WV was going against generally inferior competition in the Big East. Even in their best year, WV defense kinda folded against relatively good competition. Too many close games. They also lost to 5-7 Pittsburgh team and 9-4 South Florida team in 2007
DeleteIn other words, they never dominated, in let's say, typical Alabama fashion (shutting out opponents while showering points upon them). They would've been shredded had they were in better conferences.
As noted many times, those who thought Gardner was a possible early entry were seriously deluded, not just because of his talent level, but because of his supporting cast. No other underclassmen are even close to being NFL ready. A really good senior season with All Big Ten and maybe low level AA honors could put Ryan in rounds 2-4. Clark might be drafted after next year too, but lower than that. A few other guys might be low round picks or undrafted signees, but we just don't lose much after 2014.
ReplyDeleteI guess I disagree that we don't lose much after 2014. We lose Gardner, who's the best QB we've had since Chad Henne or maybe longer. We also lose Jake Ryan, who's been arguably our best linebacker since the mid 2000's. And Frank Clark might be our best defensive end since Brandon Graham. It's not a lot as far as numbers go, but those are some significant players. And while it seems like there are some guys in the pipeline to replace Clark (Ojemudia, Charlton), nobody at QB or SAM has shown that they can replace Gardner and Ryan.
DeleteRyan, Clark, and Gardner are serious talents and will be missed, but with Hoke's elite recruits lined up our team will only get better overall. Ryan really came into himself in 2012 as a third year player, as did Gardner and Clark. We just gotta wait to see which of new players will breakout. I am very excited for 2015.
DeleteI feel Ryan will be missed the most, with Ryan a close second, and Clark a distant 3rd. Ryan has been an absolute play maker at SAM. I understand Mattison's defense is designed for the SAM and WDE to wreak havoc, but Ryan has been a special player.
DeleteWDE - Clark is definitely a good player, but I feel Ojemudia and Charleton will definitely be able to mitigate that loss. Clark has had some pretty good performances, and occasionally he'll go all out beast mode, but there are quite a few other times where he is an absolute non-factor. Charleton and Ojemudia are good players, we've seen them, with another year under their belts we will be good to go.
QB - we'll have Speight as a RS freshman, Morris as a Junior, and Bellomy will be a RS senior. Morris is the best ranked recruit, I have high hopes for Speight, and Bellomy will provide depth. The OL will be much better by that point, which will make whichever QB we have in look better. Gardner is good, and definitely has all the tools necessary to be a great QB, but he has yet to put it all together. I don't put the majority of the blame on him, seeing as he has had poor blocking at times, but he has made quite a few ill-advised decisions this year. All and all I think we'll be ok at QB after Gardner is gone.
SAM - Ryan is a special player and we don't have any stud recruits waiting behind him. Allen Gant will be a RS junior. He was moved from saftey his RS freshman year - so he'll have had 2 full years at the SAM position. I'm hoping he adds the required size and technique to play the position. Mike McCray will be a true Junior - however I'm not sure if he's going to be playing the SAM, or MIKE, or WILL, or what. His recruiting profile and the roster at mgoblue.com say he's 6'4", but after seeing him I feel he's much closer to 6'1" which might be a little on the small side to play SAM in this system. We'll also have RS freshmen Winovich and Furbush that might be able to contribute at SAM, but as RS freshmen that makes me worry a little.
-JC
Any chance that Kiy Hester is related to Devin Hester?
ReplyDelete