Tuesday, October 5, 2021

Michigan Tuesday: The Deep Ball

Michigan has had an interesting list of QB's under Jim Harbaugh.  All of them seemed to struggle with the deep ball.  I'm not basing this on stats, just on what my memory is of them as a QB at Michigan:

Jake Ruddock - I remember him struggling early in his year at Michigan.  The picks against Utah seems to be cemented in my brain.  I know he got "hot" late and won some nice road wins but don't remember his deep ball being that good.   He went on to a nice backup career in the NFL for a few years.  Average Deep Ball.

John O'Korn - Nope, not reliving that time.  No Deep Ball 

Wilton Speight - Wilton had a lot of promise before he broke his back in the Purdue game.  I do recall a couple deep throws and going to give him an average deep ball.   Injuries killed his deep ball. 

Brandon Peters - Seemed like he just couldn't get it going in a Maize and Blue uniform.   The Outback Bowl performance was something I wish I didn't remember.  He has also has been at Illinois like 15 years.  Didn't love his deep ball. 

Shea Patterson - I had huge hopes for Shea at Michigan.  I thought with the wide receivers he had, he might even be a Heisman candidate.   Was it injuries or play calling or his inability to see his wide open WR's?  Either way, Shea's deep ball was bad and could have gotten him to the NFL if it had been much better.  Poor Deep Ball

Joe Milton - Joe's deep ball ended up in the stands more then it hit a WR's hands. No deep ball and now Tennessee gets to watch a huge arm over throw everyone.  

The moral of this story?  Michigan has had some nice talent at WR and really nobody that could throw the deep ball.   Until now!!!  Cade is 5-0 and we know he isn't lighting the world on fire with his passing stats, but the kid can throw the deep ball.   I love bringing that part of the game back to the Michigan offense.  Having a deep ball, keeps the safeties honest and out of the box for the running game.  

JJ also seems to have a nice deep ball.  His favorite target, Jackson State transfer Daylen Baldwin as they are 2-2 on deep balls with 2 TD's.  

I look for more deep throws to AJ and Roman Wilson.  I thought Roman played very well on Saturday.  AJ just needs more touches.  

  • Michigan Basketball recruit and "friend of the Howard family" Gregg Glenn was expected to announce his decision on IG live on Monday but IG went down for most of the day.  He is expected to make his announcement today for the Maize and Blue.  Triple G (quadruple G?)  is a 4 star Forward. 
  • Triple G's good friend Jett Howard is announcing his college decision a week from Wednesday on 10/13.   
  • A fun fact that I forgot to mention, is that Ted Lasso's character was partly built off of Jim Harbaugh.   I was late to the Ted Lasso party, but it is one of the best shows on TV.  
  • PFF loves them some Aidan Hutchinson and named him their Defensive Player of the Week. 
  • David Ojabo wins co-Big Ten Defensive Player of the week.  Not bad for both of our DE's!
  • Dumb thought of the day:  Mascots Michigan has played this year:  Week 2= Huskies, Week 3 = Huskies, now Week 6 = Huskers? 😏

4 comments:

MichiganMan said...

I hope Adien has couple of big sacks vs. Nebraska this weekend...has lots up side...

what some of you experts here think will happen this weekend....Scores?

Blue for life....
Fire Don Brown from AZ..

Michigan 33 Nebraska 17

Goblu said...

I'm curious (unable to prove) if we would have had more success at QB if we didn't take the transfers for one-done type seasons. Instead develop the younger guys like Dylan. Most programs do that - it's probably my biggest criticism of Jim.

Tim said...

I hear you Goblu. It is just tempting to grab the transfers. Fields at OSU was a transfer, Burrows at LSU and OK lived for several year with transfers.

I do agree that I prefer to recruit strong and develop. Although I can see why some coaches go after a shiny transfer...but as we all know it has not worked out as well at Michigan as it has at other schools.

It will be interesting to see the careers of McNamara and Mccarthy. Speaking of transfers, I would not be shocked to see one of these two transfer next year.

Voice of Reason said...

JJM is the best QB that Harbaugh has had since he's been at Michigan. With a good complimentary of solid to great receivers, he should be able to shine and Michigan should win more games.I believe the overall success of Michigan has reflected the quality of QB that they've had and hasn't had over the years. I've heard a number of sports pundits say that Harbaugh hasn't really developed any QB's since he's been here. That's not fair.

Let's be honest, most of those guys (fine people but...) were lousy QB's. "You can't make chicken salad out of chicken sh-t!" Most of these guys we backup quality talent at best. Shea Patterson (I believe was the highest rated QB coming out of high school not counting JJM and Dylan) didn't deliver consistently and wasn't even a serviceable back up QB in the pros. He accomplished some nice stats while here but it was clear that he wasn't... "The ONE."

The bottom line...if your pilot(s) can't fly the plane then everyone goes down with the plane. That's what has been happening to Michigan. We hope Michigan can get great results because they've stepped up in class with their QB's. IMHO!!!