Michigan Football’s Denard Robinson was one of a kind
How former Michigan football quarterback Denard Robinson changed college football.
The recent extremely exciting news that beloved former Michigan football player Denard Robinson was coming back to Michigan football brought with it a flood of memories that came rushing back.
Not just to me though. The memories came rushing back to a lot of Michigan fans as they all fondly remember “Shoelace” and his time at Michigan. From all of his long runs to his “hungry” TD celebration, he gave Michigan some of the best moments in the program’s storied history.
It’s still so crazy to think that Denard is the last Michigan QB to beat both Michigan State and Ohio State in his career at Michigan. Not in the same year, but over the course of his Michigan football career. He got the win against OSU in 2011 and the win against MSU in 2012. That was a decade ago.
Michigan has had times where a QB has beaten MSU but lost to OSU (Wilton Speight, Shea Patterson twice), and have had QBs that lost to MSU but have beaten OSU (last year, Cade McNamara).
Injuries ultimately derailed Denard’s NFL dreams, but he was one of the best college QBs of all time and on my personal Mount Rushmore of top-5 greatest Michigan football players.
Oh yeah, and if you get the chance, go read this. It gives some more background of what Denard was up to prior to him being hired at Michigan.
What made Denard so unique
We have seen countless QBs play for their respective college schools and put up video game passing numbers and that in turn gets them drafted by the NFL.
What made Denard so unique, and how he ultimately changed the game of college football forever was how fast he was as a QB (bonafide 4.3 runner, and probably even faster than that to be honest), and the threat that he was as a true dual-threat QB.
Yes, generally, people don’t regard Denard as a great pocket passer, and more often than not, he left something to be desired there, but just the threat of Denard’s legs allowed him to be effective enough to have success as a run-first QB.
In college football history, there aren’t too many QBs that have commanded the level of attention that Denard commanded with his running ability.
Yes, there were tons and tons of QBs throughout that could occasionally rush the football for a first down, or occasionally use their legs for a long gain, but this was not super often, and the defense wasn’t scared of that QB like they were of Denard.
Michael Vick is probably my comparison to Denard. And that’s my point. People might say that Denard is nothing like Michael Vick and vice versa. Ok? Well, can those same people name me a QB in college football history that could otherwise compare to “Shoelace?”
I don’t think I can name even five QBs in history like Denard Robinson. Probably the most recent QB to enter this list is Lamar Jackson. I still think “Shoelace” is faster though.
Denard was a threat to go the distance literally every single time he took the snap. There aren’t too many QBs like that in history.
Denard is unique because he wasn’t the traditional pocket passer, throwing for 300-400 yards per game like some of the other QBs like Joe Burrow, Mac Jones, Bryce Young, or Justin Fields.
No. Denard was the equivalent to those QBs, except he ran the ball instead. He didn’t need to throw the ball 35-50 times a game to win. He could just run the ball 30 times a game and kill you that way.
Opposing defenses literally had to account for Denard at all times, putting a spy or two on the field at all times. Most pocket passing QBs don’t have to deal with that. At least not on literally every single play.
Denard was a threat to break off a long run even if he had been contained all night long. He was that good. It only took one broken tackle or one sliver of daylight for Denard to go the distance.
So, when people think fondly back on Denard, who can they really compare him to? The best examples are Michael Vick and Lamar Jackson or a combination of the two.
There’s been Jalen Hurts, there’s been Malik Willis. Those players don’t hold a candle to Denard.
There aren’t too many QBs in history who commanded that much attention on every single play every single game, and the college football world hasn’t really seen anybody like that (with the exception of Lamar) since Shoelace.
Shoelace forever changed the game of college football forever (that’s why he’s on the cover of NCAA14) and him coming back to Michigan only brought all of those memories flooding back.
He’s going to be working in the recruiting department and has connections in Florida (where he’s from), so who knows, maybe he could get the next Denard Robinson to come to Michigan? You never know.
Next. 3 reasons Denard is a genius hire. dark
Also, Michigan football fans, what’s your fondest memory of Shoelace? What QB would you compare him to from the past or present? Sound off in the comments below!