GBMWolverine

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Michigan Football: Former Wolverines in All-Star Game Today

A pair of defenders, cornerback Morgan Trent and defensive tackle Terrance Taylor will suit up for the East squad in the 84th annual East / West Shrine Game this Saturday at the University of Houston's Robertson Stadium.

The game will be nationally televised by ESPN2 starting at 4 p.m. EST. Trent will be wearing jersey No. 23 and Taylor will wear No. 67.

www.shrinegame.com

East / West Shrine Bowl

4:00pm EST. - 7:00pm EST.

DirecTV Channel 209

ESPN2

Mailbag question: Assistants taking heat

Hi fellas,

Rich Rodriguez has taken a lot of heat all season, and continues to, for the team's poor offensive performance and output. Scott Shafer publicly took the responsibility for the defense (well, for those of you who believe that...). However, with the crappy performances of our 5-star stud defensive back (Warren) and our pre-season first round NFL draft consensus defensive end (Brandon Graham), to name a few, is it possible that these position coaches may simply be crappy?

Yes, Shafer was also the DB's coach, so it may HAVE been his entire fault. However, consider that Rodriguez may simply have elevated poor position coaches as well. Yes, WVU was a very highly ranked defense during coach Rod's tenure there, but then again, that was against the Big East.

It may have simply been an issue of talent, but we know that the coaches that the players have the closest relationships to are their position coaches. The Defensive Coordinator, and certainly the head coach, get less personal day-to-day interactions with these players.

My question is why aren't the assistant coaches held more accountable? Why aren't people calling for their heads? Is coach Rod's loyalty to his assistants blinding his judgment?

Thanks.

GregGoBlue

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Thanks for the question.

Coach Rod thinks the defense had multiple problems, and trying to blame them on any one thing -- or person -- misses the point.

In our opinion, there are several issues to consider:

#1) Lack of overall talent. We started talking about this during spring practice when we saw it first hand, but not many wanted to believe us or believe that the defense lacked talent and depth.

#2) The defensive staff lacked cohesion. The pieces -- assistants -- just did not mesh nor share the same philosophies.

#3) The emphasis placed on the offense during the spring.

#4) The available talent was not recruited to play in this defensive scheme and did not have the skills necessary for what the defense was trying to accomplish.

These, along with a few more other deficiencies lead to the problems that Michigan had on defense. And let's not forget the terrible performance by the offense and special teams which only exagerrated the defense's shortcomings.

Written by CoachBt and ErocWolverine

Friday, January 16, 2009

Mailbag question: Regarding Michigan State and Coach Dantonio

I've been reading posts and blogs about Michigan State. What do you guys think about how they did this year? What kind of coach is Dantonio? Do you think he will stick around at Michigan State or leave when another, better, job opens up at a bigger school -- like Saban did?

He sure does seem to spark the rivalry and actually put some emotion into it again ( he hates Michigan). That, to me, is a good thing. Maybe Michigan fans will not take State for granted after they beat us this past year.

Do you see them becoming a program that will contend against Michigan on a yearly basis, or will it be like the last 20 years or so where State gets a win once in awhile, but struggles the rest of the time?

Jim from the U-P

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Thanks for the questions.

In our opinion, Mark Dantonio is a solid football guy and one heck of a good person.

He is an old-fashioned, run-the-football and play-outstanding-defense type of guy. He has established a good base of recruiting in the state of Michigan and will give Michigan a run for their money with in-state recruiting.

We think Coach Dantonio will be at Michigan State for some time. His stress on recruiting in the state of Michigan, should make the rivalry fun. Those Michigan high school kids not recruited by Michigan will have added incentive to prove Michigan screwed up when passing on them.

This is exactly what happened when Coach Perles was at Michigan State. Time will tell how Coach Dantonio will do; he did inherit Hoyer and Ringer and must replace them if Michigan State is to contend next year.

We do like the fact that the rivalry looks to be heating up. That just makes beating "little brother" all the more fun.

Written by CoachBt and ErocWolverine