Michigan Football Tidbits: Three topics of interest -Part 2

Topic Two: Competition

Coach Rod frequently talks about how he hates depth charts and how players must compete daily for playing time. Watching practices, we believe this is a component of his coaching approach. Down the road, maybe even starting next year, Coach Rod may be able to coach that way, but in our opinion not this year.

Defensively, there are going to be very few battles for playing time. The likely competitions are discussed below:

Safety: Vlad vs. Williams. Williams is the leader in the clubhouse, but assuming a healthy Vlad, it may be only a matter of time before a change.

Linebackers: Fitzgerald vs. either Mouton or Ezeh. Mouton, despite the fact he did not practice, has a big advantage since he defends the pass. Ezeh’s advantage is experience. So, looks like, barring injury, not a lot of competition will be going on at this spot.

Herron vs.???: Herron is the leader, but who is his competition? Is it Evans and Watson? If so, this outcome is pretty cut and dry. A player move may or may not create competition.

The point here is that our defense looks pretty solid, as long the first team stays healthy and (this is the big one) our best players play great.

Topic Three: In Chat on GBW

So let us be clear on our stance/opinion.

Because of what has happened at Michigan in the past five years, combined with the messy transition of coaches and differing programs, Michigan fans and posters have lowered expectations for Michigan ‘s football program.

When expectations are lowered, people have a tendency to make excuses for any negative or non-successful part of the program, including game performance.

Our stance is, this is still Michigan. Michigan has a great deal to offer and is still a top national-level program. Simply put, it is time for the excuses to stop. It is time for everyone to raise expectations, throughout the collective program.

This staff insists that the strength and conditioning program, schemes, practice routines, etc., live up to the reputation of “leaders and best”.

So, why should the program not hold similar expectations when it comes to recruiting? This is not a gripe about any current commit or incoming players. This discussion concerns the staff’s approach, in short, the coaches’ ability to focus, intensity, and persistence in recruiting.

Our initial evaluation of this staff is they are very good one-on-one or when or when recruits come on campus. But the above is insufficient in today’s recruiting world. Coaches need to stay on top of these kids weekly, be persistent, and not just fade away at a critical time. Recruiting, the lifeblood of a college program, is very hard work.

So, every program loses recruits, this is a clear statement of fact. But, the goal is to outwork the other programs and reap the rewards. Again, to clarify, we have seen excellence in many areas of the new program, but perhaps not so much regarding recruiting. After the good initial start, stay on the recruit and finish the task.

We expect Michigan to either win or be competitive in every game and expect a well-coached team to play hard and with emotion. We expect a team to not play down to opponents, that is, not let inferior teams stay in the game. We expect Michigan to be “leaders and best” in every program aspect (including scheduling by the way).

We only focused on one part of the current program, recruiting, but again wish to state that the lowering of expectations has been an ongoing five-year development, not just last year.

Again, please note this is opinion.

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Written by MaizeMan and ErocWolverine

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