Mailbag question: Mario in Coach Rod's offense

Mailbag question: Mario in Coach Rod's offense

Earlier you answered a question regarding Mike Hart and the current spread offense. In much the same, what is your opinion if Mario Manningham had stuck around? If I do the math correctly, he would be a SR leader this year. Even if he stuck around for his JR year, do you think he would have enough invested interest in the spread to stay for his SR year with such a bad season in ’08? Illinois may be in this same boat since their season is slow starting, and I find it hard for Benn to stick around another year.

I know the money is hard to turn down; I just can’t stop thinking of what SuperMario could have done had he stayed at Michigan!

Go Blue!
Darin

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Thanks for the question.

Talent is talent; if a player has it they can generally fit into any offense.

Super Mario would have been a very good fit for catching passes in Coach Rod's offense. Would he have helped to stretch the field? Yes, again, he would help, but yet again did UM have the quarterback to get Mario the ball as well as an offensive line that could provide the quarterback with enough time to throw deep.

Both Mario and Adrian Arrington would have helped the younger split ends and helped out the overall passing game, but to what extent? The results of Mario staying, a nice academic discussion, can only be guessed. Now if you throw Ryan Mallet into this discussion then this would have changed a lot of things. But that is another debate that is only for fun and some would say there is no real reason to get into the RM debate all over again.

Two very pertinent questions arise in such a hypothetical discussion about Super Mario. First, would he block enough to keep Coach Dews happy? Mario Manningham never had much of a rep as a successful blocker. Remember, UM last year relied on running plays and also those quick screen passes to the slot receiver, where the split end has to block well for the play to succeed,

Second, would Mario have been willing to do the required/voluntary off-season work expected of current Michigan players? Mario was not known as the hardest off-season worker during his stay at Michigan.

We cannot answer those two questions with specificity or precision, only speculation. Still, this is an interesting avenue to pursue in the crowded world of what ifs.

In addition, would Mario have been happy throughout the entire season? Why we say this is because last year, as many remember us stating, the wide receivers on the team were not happy with the amount of balls thrown their way, favoring the slot receiver instead.

Would this have made last year’s situation better or worse? Again, we do not really know the answer to that question either, but could it have gotten any worse last year? Well let us hope we will never have to worry about that type of season ever again.

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Written by CoachBt and ErocWolverine