Mailbag question: Change Up On Vlad?

Posted at 8:00am -- 2/3/2010

Mailbag question: Change Up On Vlad?

Last spring you guys were very high on Vlad and considered him a lock to start in the fall. Today you lumped Vlad in with other players that you thought could start, but not be a star. Why the change? I had high hopes for Vlad to be that stud safety we have craved for years at Michigan, that downgrade was disappointing to hear.

Ziff72

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Thanks for the question.

GBMW never thought Vlad had “superstar” potential or elite level talent. We simply thought he was the best available player at the time and that he had the skills to be a very good player. As readers could later tell, once Woolfolk was pulled out of safety, the thinly stocked (numbers and talent) position became very problematical. Do not interpret this statement as a knock on the Michigan players who went out and busted their backsides playing safety, but pictures did indeed tell plenty of words. Michigan, in recent times, has struggled at safety. And that is a nice way of putting it.

We are not giving up on Vlad either, but we believe he is not that "elite level" player that can change a defense and make the offensive coordinator worry about him, account for him, and scheme for him on the field. A best descriptor may be the word solid.

Vlad is, in our opinion, more of an upgrade over the safety play of the last few years as described above.

What concerns us about Vlad is how he dealt with his injury and where he is mentally, with off the field concerns that possibly kept him in the doghouse and on the sidelines.

Playing big time college football is as much about maturity and mental toughness as physical skills. We still think Vlad has the skills to be an upgrade and be a very good football player. We will just have to wait and see about the mental part.

We believe he is better than two of the starters last year at safety and let us hope the defense has the confidence to keep or move Woolfolk back to safety, so that UM can try and reduce all those game changing big plays. Let us also hope UM does not have to count on two incoming players to start at safety. Safety, like centerfield, is the last line of defense and is subject to split second decisions that can determine the outcome of a game.

The best thing we can hope for is that J.T. Turner can show he can take control and tightly secure one of the cornerback positions, and JT Floyd can show he can play at a high enough level to take over the other cornerback position. We would like to see the above two players, along with Woolfolk and Vlad, as the defensive backfield this spring.

We believe that this line-up COULD put on the field the best set of defensive backs with talent, size, and speed helping this team get faster and put more athletic talent on the field.

Written by GBMW Staff

Go Blue -- Wear Maize!