Michigan Football Tidbits: Three topics of interest -Part 2
Topic Two: Competition
Coach Rod frequently talks about how he hates depth charts and how players must compete daily for playing time. Watching practices, we believe this is a component of his coaching approach. Down the road, maybe even starting next year, Coach Rod may be able to coach that way, but in our opinion not this year.
Defensively, there are going to be very few battles for playing time. The likely competitions are discussed below:
Safety: Vlad vs. Williams. Williams is the leader in the clubhouse, but assuming a healthy Vlad, it may be only a matter of time before a change.
Linebackers: Fitzgerald vs. either Mouton or Ezeh. Mouton, despite the fact he did not practice, has a big advantage since he defends the pass. Ezeh’s advantage is experience. So, looks like, barring injury, not a lot of competition will be going on at this spot.
Herron vs.???: Herron is the leader, but who is his competition? Is it Evans and Watson? If so, this outcome is pretty cut and dry. A player move may or may not create competition.
The point here is that our defense looks pretty solid, as long the first team stays healthy and (this is the big one) our best players play great.
Topic Three: In Chat on GBW
So let us be clear on our stance/opinion.
Because of what has happened at Michigan in the past five years, combined with the messy transition of coaches and differing programs, Michigan fans and posters have lowered expectations for Michigan 's football program.
When expectations are lowered, people have a tendency to make excuses for any negative or non-successful part of the program, including game performance.
Our stance is, this is still Michigan. Michigan has a great deal to offer and is still a top national-level program. Simply put, it is time for the excuses to stop. It is time for everyone to raise expectations, throughout the collective program.
This staff insists that the strength and conditioning program, schemes, practice routines, etc., live up to the reputation of "leaders and best".
So, why should the program not hold similar expectations when it comes to recruiting? This is not a gripe about any current commit or incoming players. This discussion concerns the staff’s approach, in short, the coaches’ ability to focus, intensity, and persistence in recruiting.
Our initial evaluation of this staff is they are very good one-on-one or when or when recruits come on campus. But the above is insufficient in today’s recruiting world. Coaches need to stay on top of these kids weekly, be persistent, and not just fade away at a critical time. Recruiting, the lifeblood of a college program, is very hard work.
So, every program loses recruits, this is a clear statement of fact. But, the goal is to outwork the other programs and reap the rewards. Again, to clarify, we have seen excellence in many areas of the new program, but perhaps not so much regarding recruiting. After the good initial start, stay on the recruit and finish the task.
We expect Michigan to either win or be competitive in every game and expect a well-coached team to play hard and with emotion. We expect a team to not play down to opponents, that is, not let inferior teams stay in the game. We expect Michigan to be "leaders and best" in every program aspect (including scheduling by the way).
We only focused on one part of the current program, recruiting, but again wish to state that the lowering of expectations has been an ongoing five-year development, not just last year.
Again, please note this is opinion.
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If you have any questions please e-mail erocwolverine@gmail.com
Written by MaizeMan and ErocWolverine
6 comments:
Hey guys,
Can you explain what you mean when you say you don't like "the coaches’ ability to focus, intensity, and persistence in recruiting"?
Everything I hear, even on this site, suggests that the coaches work really hard. You mentioned sometime that Greg Robinson should get out more, or something like that. I've read that the coaches read through reams of paper, and are so busy that they have to read through stuff while walking on the stairmaster (Stairmaster? Sounds a bit girly. Shouldn't the coaches be at least doing free weights?)
So if they're that busy, it's surprisig to learn that you think they're not "intense" when it comes to recruiting. What gives?
We was told by several people that include high school coaches and high school recruits that they have not heard much from Michigan for awhile ... and this is longer than just the dead period like some have suggest elsewhere.
We have been told that the coaches do quite well when the kids come to campus, but seems like after they leave campus they do not follow up a lot of times and are not hard on kids like other programs and these are "elite talent" type of kids not just kids with hardly any offers.
That is what worries us along with the fact Michigan needs some elite players especially on defense to turn this thing around quicker.
what kind of sample size are we talking about here?
Is this just one or two recruits, or have you heard this type of thing from half a dozren different sources?
Not doubting what you've heard, just wondering if this might be a case of the coaches backing off a particular player or two (perhaps because we over extended the scholarship offers) for whatever reason.
Credit: We have heard about many recruits ... and not just midstar guys either or at positions that we have a lot of ...
Example one Sharif Floyd has not been contacted in AWHILE and I would say he is an elite talent at a key position of need!
Wouldn't it be a recruting violation for our coaches to contact a recruit such as Sharif Floyd during a period of no contact?
AJ,
It has been longer than the dead period.
Also the college coaches can call the high school coaches and tell the kids to call them, or the kids can call the coaches on their own or even they can send e-mails to the kids asking them to call them I believe still.
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