Funny, I was under the impression that Harbaugh was a master recruiter and great QB coach. How come he can't recruit a good quarterback or develop one like PSU?
"Jim Harbaugh’s Michigan tenure isn’t going as well as expected" - ProFootball Talk article
- Thread starter Judge Smails
- Start date
I suppose the answer is - at least in part - that the QBs he’s recruited are transfers (Rudock, OKorn) or young (RS frosh Peters, true frosh McCaffrey). OKorn has been an unmitigated disaster and Speight (Hoke recruit) clearly regressed from 3rd team all B1G last season to his pre-injury struggles this season. On the other hand, Rudock went from Iowa castoff to NFL backup; and Peters has seemed to overcome some early-career maturity issues to what certainly looked like promising potential (pre-injury).
And they’ve all played behind UM’s much more glaring weakness which is a bad-to-very bad OL (hence Speight’s been knocked out each of the last two seasons and Peters is in concussion protocol now).
I suspect we’ll see if Harbaugh is the QB guru he’s made out to be in Peters and McCaffrey (or a rumored well-regarded transfer) over the next year or so.
Yeah I don't blame him so much for this year. It's a very young team and the Big Ten East is brutal. We'll see how well Franklin does next year when he has to replace half his starters.
I blame Harbaugh for last year. They had the most talented roster in college football not in Tuscaloosa and really underachieved. He lost close games that he should have won (Iowa, Ohio State) and then a bad bowl game performance.
I blame Harbaugh for last year. They had the most talented roster in college football not in Tuscaloosa and really underachieved. He lost close games that he should have won (Iowa, Ohio State) and then a bad bowl game performance.
It goes beyond OL. Really you have to wonder about Harbaugh's offensive recruiting at this point.
He's racked up all these 5 star recruits but when you look at that Michigan offense this year, they didn't have a single outstanding wideout or running back or tight end. How could that happen? Or maybe they did have great athletes but they just didn't develop them well. Maybe it's injuries. I don't know.
But if I were a Michigan fan, I would be wondering about the coaching staff's talent evaluation at this point. They can get great players from all over the country but they have to choose the right ones for their system. Maybe Harbaugh doesn't really know what his offensive system is any more.
Maybe it's time for Michigan to join PSU and Ohio State and go to a mobile QB model. That probably won't happen because of the RichRod fiasco, but it is hard for programs like Michigan to succeed like they once did building around Tom Brady type quarterbacks. Just too hard to protect them against modern defenses.
Yeah Wisconsin succeeds with a giant line and statuary playing QB but they aren't playing in the B1G East.
He's racked up all these 5 star recruits but when you look at that Michigan offense this year, they didn't have a single outstanding wideout or running back or tight end. How could that happen? Or maybe they did have great athletes but they just didn't develop them well. Maybe it's injuries. I don't know.
But if I were a Michigan fan, I would be wondering about the coaching staff's talent evaluation at this point. They can get great players from all over the country but they have to choose the right ones for their system. Maybe Harbaugh doesn't really know what his offensive system is any more.
Maybe it's time for Michigan to join PSU and Ohio State and go to a mobile QB model. That probably won't happen because of the RichRod fiasco, but it is hard for programs like Michigan to succeed like they once did building around Tom Brady type quarterbacks. Just too hard to protect them against modern defenses.
Yeah Wisconsin succeeds with a giant line and statuary playing QB but they aren't playing in the B1G East.
would be a good pickup but here is my question.
If your coaching staff continually brings in grad transfers at the same position every year won't the Highschool players say WTF? Why would I want to go there when they'll just bring in a guy older and more experienced than me?
I'm guessing UM expected to get a little more than "doing fine" for its nearly $10 million per year. The flame out down the stretch last year with a loaded roster is tough to square with a coaching genius.
Most certainly agree with your bottom line about the offense. They need to begin incorporating more RPO and spread concepts into what has been a very traditional west coast offense.
With respect to offensive players, I think there are some glaring failures (the sophomore receivers for example) as well as some guys for whom the jury is out. And I hate “youth” as a blanket excuse but it certainly explains *some* of it.
I would also submit that a failure of “talent evaluation” is hitting them hardest on their ow roster than in recruiting.
For example...
> At running back, Higdon is a clear talent with 874 yards (6.4 ypc) and 10 TDs. It begs the question of why Higdon was third string through the first 6 games of the season. And notably, Chris Evans has done better as a complementary back to Higdon than as the featured back they tried to make him to start the season.
> Wide receiver a similar story...they tried to force Crawford into a starting role while it became obvious - after Black went down to injury - that DPJ was better (though unpolished) all along.
> And at quarterback the most talent guy - Peters - was third string until Speight went down and OKorn imploded (to be fair, Peters had some maturity issues).
> Entire right side of the OL has been replaced as of last week as well.
At this point, I’d actually say they have good (not necessarily great) talent on offense - they just seem chronically unable to identify that talent through practice/camp. It’s not uncommon to have a guy or two who practices different than he plays, but we’re talking about a starting QB, RB, WR, RG and RT all being misidentified and eventually replaced by players who are clearly better but somehow behind them on the depth chart.
Definitely a concern. In Patterson’s case though, it’s a transfer to get away from the impending Ole Miss sanctions as opposed to a grad transfer (he has two years left to play)). But your point is taken - Rudock, OKorn and now potentially Patterson.
So Michigan is giving a lifetime contract to a guy who's finished 3rd, 3rd, and 4th in the division in his first 3 years? How far has Michigan football sunk?
Maybe they plan on giving him a Million for every game he wins. LOL.
And why would a "QB guru" need to continually do this? Maybe he's considered a QB guru because he had Luck who was already good.
