The 2010 Michigan Wolverines will give head coach Rich Rodriguez one more try to get the program back on track. In Rich Rods two seasons he has managed to tarnish much of the luster that had accumulated on the program since the Bo Schembeckler years starting in 1969.
Rodriguez has tried to instill his spread offense at Michigan even though the personnel he had was better suited for the pro style offense that Michigan ran so well for many years. Despite the fact that the program had generated NFL QB's like Jim Harbaugh, Elvis Grbac, Chad Henne and Tom Brady, the direction is now to go with "spread" offenses.
Ideally Rodriguez would like to have an 'aflete' at the postion even though the best players to run it have been the Drew Brees type of QB. To that end he has accumulated a collection of good run-no throw QB's with the exception of Tate Forcier, the ideal candidate to run the offense.
In a sane world Sophomore Tate Forcier would be firmly ensconsed as the starting QB but in the bizzaro world of college football he is in intense competition with aflete Denard Robinson. Robinson is a shifty runner but a disaster as a thrower. Thus Forcier will have to battle it out and share playing time until Robinson is forced to pass and implodes. Forcier has shown glimpses of becoming a fanstastic clutch player with some late game heroics but unfortunately he lacks the room brightening smile like Robinson so he will have to work to be the starter.
The rest of the Michigan offense is more racially segregated by position then the bus Rosa Parks took. The offensive line is virtually all-white as are most of the back-ups and there are no other white players that handle the ball except at quarterback.
Technically John McColgan a Jr, and 5th year senior Mark Moundros are the fullbacks, but they will see as much time with the football as you or I. There is probably no play in the U of M playbook which calls for them to get the ball. Unless they pick up a fumble or a deflected pass their season totals will read NSA.
Michigan's offensive line will feature veterans LG Stephen Schilling a senior, and Jr. David Molk at center, along with up-and-coming younger players like Michael Schofield a red-shirt freshman slated to be a back-up at RT behind Sr. Perry Dorrenstein. Taylor Lewan may possibly be the starter at LT also a red-shirt freshman. Jr. Mark Huyge will see a lot of playing time and will enter the line-up if someone is injured, while Sr. John Ferrara is another back-up.
On the dark side of the ball there is thin gruel but better then in past years. DE Ryan van Bergen, a Jr. will start backed up by red-shirt freshman Anthony Lalota. Craig Roh, a sophomore will start at the OLB position backed up by Jr. Kevin Leach. Both Roh and Leach are "over-achievers" who were never supposed to play, just fill roster spots; however Coach Rich Rodriguez decided at some point he wanted to have defensive players that could actually tackle and turned to the only ones on the roster that could do that.
Tackling ability also describes Sophomore Jordan Kovacs who will be the starter at strong safety. He played well last year but drew the ire of Michigan fans for having blond hair and blue eyes and playing in the defensive backfield. This is something they had never seen before and was to them a certain omen of bad things. Kovacs does give Wolverine fans the luxury of having someone easy to pick out on the defensive side of the ball and to blame for the many break downs of the defensive secondary.
Junior Jared Van Slyke may be in the mix as a back-up to Jordan Kovacs at Strong Safety, probably to allow the fans to have a white guy in the defensive back field to blame for big plays if Kovacs happens to get injured. Van Slyke is the son of Andy Van Slyke the former Pittsburgh Pirates star and now the 1st base coach for the Detroit Tigers.
Starters 9 out of 22 (counting QB Tate Forcier and the non-existant FB) Two players, Kevin Leach and Mark Huyge will also see the field often which might create the unheard possibility of half of the Wolverine 22 being white. The ghost of Tom Harmon will rise from the grave when this happens.
They still won't be any fun to watch as 'No-whites need apply' will be the policy for all ball carriers.
Rodriguez has tried to instill his spread offense at Michigan even though the personnel he had was better suited for the pro style offense that Michigan ran so well for many years. Despite the fact that the program had generated NFL QB's like Jim Harbaugh, Elvis Grbac, Chad Henne and Tom Brady, the direction is now to go with "spread" offenses.
Ideally Rodriguez would like to have an 'aflete' at the postion even though the best players to run it have been the Drew Brees type of QB. To that end he has accumulated a collection of good run-no throw QB's with the exception of Tate Forcier, the ideal candidate to run the offense.
In a sane world Sophomore Tate Forcier would be firmly ensconsed as the starting QB but in the bizzaro world of college football he is in intense competition with aflete Denard Robinson. Robinson is a shifty runner but a disaster as a thrower. Thus Forcier will have to battle it out and share playing time until Robinson is forced to pass and implodes. Forcier has shown glimpses of becoming a fanstastic clutch player with some late game heroics but unfortunately he lacks the room brightening smile like Robinson so he will have to work to be the starter.
The rest of the Michigan offense is more racially segregated by position then the bus Rosa Parks took. The offensive line is virtually all-white as are most of the back-ups and there are no other white players that handle the ball except at quarterback.
Technically John McColgan a Jr, and 5th year senior Mark Moundros are the fullbacks, but they will see as much time with the football as you or I. There is probably no play in the U of M playbook which calls for them to get the ball. Unless they pick up a fumble or a deflected pass their season totals will read NSA.
Michigan's offensive line will feature veterans LG Stephen Schilling a senior, and Jr. David Molk at center, along with up-and-coming younger players like Michael Schofield a red-shirt freshman slated to be a back-up at RT behind Sr. Perry Dorrenstein. Taylor Lewan may possibly be the starter at LT also a red-shirt freshman. Jr. Mark Huyge will see a lot of playing time and will enter the line-up if someone is injured, while Sr. John Ferrara is another back-up.
On the dark side of the ball there is thin gruel but better then in past years. DE Ryan van Bergen, a Jr. will start backed up by red-shirt freshman Anthony Lalota. Craig Roh, a sophomore will start at the OLB position backed up by Jr. Kevin Leach. Both Roh and Leach are "over-achievers" who were never supposed to play, just fill roster spots; however Coach Rich Rodriguez decided at some point he wanted to have defensive players that could actually tackle and turned to the only ones on the roster that could do that.
Tackling ability also describes Sophomore Jordan Kovacs who will be the starter at strong safety. He played well last year but drew the ire of Michigan fans for having blond hair and blue eyes and playing in the defensive backfield. This is something they had never seen before and was to them a certain omen of bad things. Kovacs does give Wolverine fans the luxury of having someone easy to pick out on the defensive side of the ball and to blame for the many break downs of the defensive secondary.
Junior Jared Van Slyke may be in the mix as a back-up to Jordan Kovacs at Strong Safety, probably to allow the fans to have a white guy in the defensive back field to blame for big plays if Kovacs happens to get injured. Van Slyke is the son of Andy Van Slyke the former Pittsburgh Pirates star and now the 1st base coach for the Detroit Tigers.
Starters 9 out of 22 (counting QB Tate Forcier and the non-existant FB) Two players, Kevin Leach and Mark Huyge will also see the field often which might create the unheard possibility of half of the Wolverine 22 being white. The ghost of Tom Harmon will rise from the grave when this happens.
They still won't be any fun to watch as 'No-whites need apply' will be the policy for all ball carriers.
