Since the dawn the Internet, some news services/newspapers have been writing provocative headlines that are really not accurate to the true story. Michigan has been a target for these headlines for the past couple of years. Examples are: "Win at all costs, Threet knows who the starter is, Rodriguez is to blame for Feagin, etc.
Which leads us to the latest headline, that even made the scrolling thing on ESPN last night. Rodriguez to play 3 QB's against Western Michigan! My first thought was; that's strange and my second thought was, boy that would be hard to plan for if your the WMU DC.
Then I started to research this headline and Yahoo's Dr. Saturday has his doubts about it:
On that note, beware the extreeeeemely misleading headline hitting all the wires Sunday that suggests Rich Rodriguez may rotate three quarterbacks in the Wolverines' opener against Western Michigan. That header is based on a teasing throwaway line -- "Maybe we’ll have three starting quarterbacks," Rodriguez said. "That would be neat." -- from the bottom of an obligatory media day story whose first 23 paragraphs focus exclusively on freshman's Denard Robinson's totally quirky habit of playing with his shoelaces untied. Rodriguez is playing coy about announcing an official starter, but even reporters who accept his premises are having a tough time working Nick Sheridan into the narrative. Repeat after me, folks: Sheridan will not be Michigan's quarterback as long as Tate Forcier and/or Denard Robinson are upright. And God help them if he is.
Mgoblog also has it's doubts as well, stating the author of the AP story has a history of bad takes:
*(Assumption: unnamed AP reporter is Larry Lage since he's the local AP guy who covers Michigan stuff. 1) Lage got on the radio a couple weeks ago and claimed he "did not buy" Michigan's home-and-home with UConn was a real thing because it had only been reported by the UConn Rivals site. At that point it had made it into originally-sourced pieces in Connecticut newspapers, IIRC, and anyway anyone with their ear to the ground couldn't help but have heard from someone who it was. 2) Remember the "Get a life" kerfuffle towards the tail end of last year? It was Lage who sliced a detailed answer from Rodriguez on how he deals with fans into the most unflattering two sentences he could and thereby ignited Yet Another Dumb Media Firestorm. Moral: take AP stuff on Michigan with a grain of salt.)
So is it coach speak, a joke, or the true facts? You be the judge. If you want my opinion, I think Denard is actually pushing Tate at the QB position with his elite speed and reminds the coaches of Pat White. So here is how I see the game against WMU going: Tate is in for the first 3 series and puts up 21 points in the air, Denard comes in for two series and scores 10 points, Sheridan comes in up 31 points and adds a field goal in a 34-7 victory. Does that sound ok?
Some of you maybe thinking what about David Cone? Maybe they should play 4 QB's!
Saturday's Scrimmage Highlights:
- Odoms had a couple of big plays
- Teric Jones had a pick in his new role as a CB
- Denard hit fellow freshman Je'Ron Stokes on a 3 yard TD pass
- Tate got tackled for a Safety by Brandon Graham
- Michael Cox broke off a 56 yard run
Other News From RR's Press Conference:
- JR Hemingway will be one of teams big play threats this year (note: don't sleep on Roundtree)
- Je'Ron Stokes will play outside WR and not Slot this year
- The players aren't quite ready to play a full game but they are close and will be ready for Western Michigan in a couple of weeks
2 comments:
Since other news outlets, annarbor.com and Freep.com also reported that Michigan is open to playing three quarterbacks for the opener, guess the APs right. Looks like the AP filed multiple stories, but they got the same header. One was a featurish on Robinson. The other was straight from the presser. You can find them online pretty easily.
What's the big deal?
1. Why shouldn't they play all three quarterbacks to see what they can do in real game situations -- even though Sheridan has had that chance, a few more game reps hopefully can't do much damage.
2. How else can you tell who can bring the "game day stuff," if any of them, can.
3. The reason you have back-up quarterbacks is to allow yourself the option of putting in someone else, an option ALL coaches leave open whether it's reported on or not.
Don't know what all the fuss is about. Slow news cycles until game week.
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