Michigan Football: Manball

[Tom1975]

this thread.





I'll stop now. You guys are cool but sometimes I can't help myself.

[Riverman]

It's hard to blame RRod when there is absolutely no talent on defense (sans Warren and Graham, who are sadly wasted on this abortion of a unit) and we're scoring a ****load of points most weeks.

Just get a ****ing defense please. Fast. Recruiting pitch: play now.

[UATrewqaz]

People cut alot of slack to new coaches in their first couple of years, but no coach has ever failed as hard in their first 2 seasons as Rich Rod.

We're talking a program that hasn't had a losing season for like 40 years and he goes 3-9 and is likely to have another losing season this year.

That alone is fail enough, but the fact he left WVU under nasty, horrible circumstances, the fact the players hate him and alot of them bailed, and the fact that he's brought the NCAA's awful snooping nose into the program = EPIC FAIL

Even if the NCAA doesn't nail them on the extra practice thing they'll find something. The NCAA is like the IRS, if they look hard enough they'll find something to hit you with.

[Franchise 60]

The funny thing is that some people won't even say RR has done a bad job so far (not all, some). They are so inclined to defend him that they will act like winning two big ten games in two years is where their talent is right now.

RR is doing everything he could have lololololololol

[DeadMoneyWalking]

Perhaps the competition in the BigN is a bit tougher than he was used to in the BE, and rebuilding weaknesses get exploited more.

[DVaut1]

Originally Posted by Riverman

It's hard to blame RRod when there is absolutely no talent on defense (sans Warren and Graham, who are sadly wasted on this abortion of a unit) and we're scoring a ****load of points most weeks.

Just get a ****ing defense please. Fast. Recruiting pitch: play now.

The thing is, there are equivalently talentless and raw defenses out there in the Big Ten (hello NW, IU, Minny, Purdue, Illinois) that DON'T give up 500 yards of total offense to fellow Big Ten basement dwellers in consecutive weeks.

Yes, the defense is definitely decimated. But there are other teams in the conference that never see 4 or 5 stars on their defense, that are young, that are starting walk-ons, and they're not as bad as we are. That's on RR.

[DVaut1]

Other things on RR: hiring Shafer, then never getting on the same page with him. I don't want to say Shafer totally sucks as a DC, because he might not. It may have been whatever conflicts existed between RR and his guys.

So, RR hires a guy who either sucks or wasn't compatible, meaning last season essentially gets wasted and this season everyone learns a new system, as we get the third defensive system in three years (English --> Shafer --> GERG). That puts the defense behind the development 8-ball, so to speak. That's totally on RR.

Second problem: GERG is known as a ****ty recruiter and an okay scheme guy. Maybe the reputation isn't deserved, but it's out there, and everything we've seen far (Jordan Paksorz? Carvin Johnson?) validates it. The defensive guys RR is loyal to and brought with him, like Hopson -- also generally thought of as bad recruiters.

So now you're RR, and you've got a talentless defense, and you have historically: 1) focused your own recruiting efforts the offensive side of the ball and delegated defensive recruiting to assistants and then 2) brought in a guy who can't recruit.

It should be no surprise your defensive class this season is one four-star and then a bunch of guys the recruiting sites don't even bother to rank.

I'd love to sit here all day and exhort the program to just find a ****ing defense, but from where I'm sitting there's absolutely no plan to do any of that. There's no elite talent cavalry riding in from high schools. There's a couple of decently thought of guys waiting (Vlad, Campbell, Turner) who can't get on the field over Jordan Kovacs and Mike Williams even when we've burned their redshirts (in Vlad's case).

They've got no talent. RR blew a year of potential growth by hiring the wrong guy (Schafer). And RR seems ambivalent about defensive recruiting, and the assistants he has suck at recruiting.

I 100% agree: find a ****ing defense. His plan appears to be delegating defensive recruiting responsibilities to guys not capable of securing elite talent to commitments. This sure doesn't sound like a plan with a high chance of success. This is all on RR. I'd love to blame Old Man Lloyd but frankly none of what RR is doing on defense (from a meta perspective, ignoring the game-to-game stuff) makes any sense right now.

Every week that goes by where we: 1) get torched by another Big Ten team for 500 yards and 2) where the young players look just as clueless and lost as the week before and 3) the older guys are getting benched in favor of these young guys because they're not developing either and 4) hand another defensive scholarship over to some 2 star the recruiting sites have never heard of is another week where our skepticism about RR should justifiably increase.

Lloyd is responsible for leaving the cupboard bare, but I think it's clear at this point that RR is responsible for not being able to take the remaining food left on the shelves and make an edible meal, and then delegating defensive grocery shopping to people who clip coupons for ramen noodles and seem to exclusively shop at the Dollar Store.

[DVaut1]

BTW, I hope I'm wrong about all of the above, and that RR & Co. are finding diamonds-in-the-rough, and that with another year under GERG and more Barwis and another year of learning how to stick to an assignment, the defense will be better. They almost surely will be "better", because you can't be worse than this (there's usually not enough time in a college football game to give up more yards than the UM defense gives up). But "better than this year" may still never be good enough to compete for a Big Ten title.

I'm definitely not in the Fire RR Camp and I think he should definitely get a Year 3 and almost definitely get a Year 4.

I'm just saying boundless optimism and blind faith is no longer justified, and exclusively blaming Lloyd is ignoring the growing data set we have about RR.

[heater]

fwiw, this class is going to finish very very strong and other than a possible Kenny Stills or Kenny Shaw it will all be on the defensive side of the ball. And no, these recruits will not be diamond-in-the-rough type guys, either.

[ikestoys]

Originally Posted by UATrewqaz

People cut alot of slack to new coaches in their first couple of years, but no coach has ever failed as hard in their first 2 seasons as Rich Rod.

lol no

We're talking a program that hasn't had a losing season for like 40 years and he goes 3-9 and is likely to have another losing season this year.

That alone is fail enough, but the fact he left WVU under nasty, horrible circumstances,

lol no

the fact the players hate him

lol no

and alot of them bailed, and the fact that he's brought the NCAA's awful snooping nose into the program = EPIC FAIL

lol no

Even if the NCAA doesn't nail them on the extra practice thing they'll find something. The NCAA is like the IRS, if they look hard enough they'll find something to hit you with.

lol no

stop talking.

[mjw0586]

Even if they end with Christian, Beachum, and Grimes, Marvin Robinson's the only other potentially impact defensive player I see. Still, the focus on this class has been the offense which is something I've been disappointed in.

On the bright side, add those 4 to the guys who are waiting, and the defensive future is better. JT Turner, Vlad, Big Will, and Witty (who appears to have qualified) should all play next year.

[heater]

You're assuming that picking up Christian, Beachum, and Grimes is the ceiling for this class. From what I'm hearing, that isn't the case.

[NozeCandy]

I just thought about Nick Perry and got sad

[mjw0586]

I guess I missed Josh Furman, but that doesn't change the fact that the recruiting emphasis for 2010 has been on the offensive side of the ball. Considering the talent disparity, I've been disappointed with the coaches in what they're focusing on.

[ikestoys]

RE: Emphasis on offensive recruiting

I think this may be more of a function of 'offense is kewl, so we'll cover it media' and the fact that Devin Garnder is pretty sweet. The defensive recruiting looks pretty good, especially at safety and corner, and good god do we need those two positions.