...damnit why is the summer so long

So I'm making an effort to post something everyday, regardless of how rediculously slow the day is in the world of Michigan football.

Let's talk about September 5th - the Western Michigan Broncos.

SUMMER is long...

Man does the summer get longer when you're coming off of a 3-9 season! Can't wait to see some faster players and a quarterback that can hit some moving targets. Let's hope both of those things happen or I'm going to have some shitty fall Saturdays. It appears, as of late, RR has reeled in another QB for next year's recruiting class to accompany Michigan's own Devin Gardner out of Inkster. So that will give the boys in blue four QB recruits from RR efforts. Hopefully, at least for this years sake, that young, small, skinny, tiny, but deadly accurate Tate Forcier can stay healthy and not have too many disastrious moments in some ever important early-season games. This will be crucial as Blue hopes to avenge last years loss to the hated domers.

Brandon Minor may resemble this guy in 2009...

...Offensively

So when is the last time Michigan has had an offense that CONSISTENTLY put up at least 35 points. Michigan offenses have came into seasons heralded as top in the country, but typically the performance on the field doesn't quite live up to the hype. Nothing against Lloyd Carr, but dynamic wasn't exactly his favorite expression when it came to the playbook. Clumsy offensive play typically led to long third downs and too many stalled drives for the talent that was out there on the field. Now, last year's offensive display was THE WORST I could have ever imagined - after having so much confidence and built up excitement going into the Utah game. That's what you get when you start a quarterback that literally was incapable of moving an offense forward down the field. Seriously, think back to the Penn State game. It was 17-17 late in the third quarter and Sheridan had to relieve Threet and you just knew that the offense had literally no hope of moving forward. Anyway, enough on Sheridan and inept play at the position, I want to get at what this offense could be with the right athletes. Not only will it be exciting, we are going to see speed and depth at the skill positions like never before. An opened up playbook that will give Tate - or whatever athlete that is playing behind center - options on every play. Like Tate was quoted in saying that in this offense there should never be an incompletion. Let's hope he can at least be around or above 60% completion.

Bottom line: when the system is working . NOBODY will want to play Michigan. And I've said it before, I want the Big House to be a place where teams dread coming to. It's time to get some serious winning streaks started in the big house....

Lacking a legitamate Threet at QB!

I know I know. The title of this post is pretty sweet. I mean, I think it's the first one I've seen where there's been a play on Steven Threet's last name. Can't believe no one else thought to do that.....so now that's out of the way. The real question is - what does this really mean for Michigan football next season?

So here's my take. I don't think it will dramatically affect the wins and loss columns. At least, in being optimistic, I don't think it will. Here's a scenario where I can see it hurting Michigan. In the think of Big Ten play, if Forcier goes down - I'm concerned about Denard Robinson stepping in and posing a threat in the passing game. I am going to turn the game off if I have to watch Sheridan, so let's hope Denard can establish himself enough at the position to be a solid #2 on the depth chart.

SO, if Tate can stay healthy, I don't think losing Threet is much of a concern. Let's flip around the conversation - what are the positives that the team will experience without Threet?

1. Sophomore leadership will develop. I'm not knocking Tate's ability to be a leader, but what this does, is it forces some of our natural leaders to come to the surface a bit premature. Which could result in better overall cohesiveness and offensive chemistry.
2. Staying with the offense - I think this puts more pressure on Brandon Minor and Carlos Brown to be leaders and play like stars. You know these two have high hopes for this coming season - and their play on the field and in the locker room can and should have a big impact on how this team performs.
3. Tate Forcier is not Steven Threet. No, he doesn't have the experience. But, yes, he does have the tools. Last year there were a LOT of open receivers that never even sniffed a decent pass - let's hope that changes with Tate and he can deliver an accurate pass more often than not.

More to come...

Staying positive...

So I heard a quote today that I found relatively interesting. So I did a quick search for it and here it is:

"Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work and driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for - in order to get to the job you need to pay for the clothes and the car, and the house you leave vacant all day so you can afford to live in it."

I don't know about you, but I bitch about my job - cuz it's only natural right? I mean, who really has a job that they enjoy? This quote is great and it actually makes you a bit angry, because then you realize that according to the quote you are in fact ''normal''. So I just generalized and gave some stereotypical thoughts - ya know the standard - who likes their job, bla bla bla.

Here's the thing - while many don't have the luxuries of youth, education, health - LOTS of us do have these luxuries and don't make efforts to get the most out of life. I'm one of them. I'm 25, athletic, decent job making enough to pay down some debt as well as save. So what's the deal? I'm just being "normal" aren't I?

When I was just a youngster stealin' candy and ringin' doorbells, my pops always told me that attitude is everything. Some common words from the wise - but there's seriously something to take away from it. Many will say that it's a load of shit on a crooked stick - it's the one thing you can control - everyday - when you hear the sound of the dreaded alarm again....

...something to consider.....More on the "normal" stuff later.....

RichRod as a recruiter...

It seems like Rich is going to be an excellent recruiter for the program. Not only will he be able to get guys that fit into his system - he's going to get guys from all over the country that are lobbying for other players to join them in coming to A2. On a bit of a different note in regards to his spread offense, it seems as though Rich is bringing in some receivers with size. I love speed, but you've got to mix in some size in on the edges. All this talk of the #7 ranked '09 class according to Rivals certainly has me excited. Thank God we will not have to see Sheridan lifting his leg back there behind center again. He was nothing more than an average high-school QB at best. One thing is certain....better times ahead for the blue faithful. I can't wait until A2 is a hostile environment where nobody comes in and beats blue.

...the beginning

first off....HUGE college football fan. Let's not beat around the bush here, it's been a rough few years for big blue especially in A2. Too many tough losses, games blue shoulda won, games that piss us all off. SO frustrating to watch....agonizing at times. BUT, players will get better, coaching will improve and...what the hell - blue may even have a louder stadium!!

Secondly, i'm just starting this blogging thing for a couple reasons. I always find myself reading message boards where every fifth post seems to have a bit of substance to it. So i wanted to express my opinions and insights and get some quality responses. I've always had an interest in writing. Covering UM athletics would be a dream of mine. I know I know, you may think working in a Marketing department was my dream....not so fast......more to come....