Michigan’s Quarterback Chimera

So I'm out of it for a little while (Viva Mexico!) and then things start to get interesting with respect to Michigan football!

Jesus, the entire college sports media has their mouths agape at Rich Rodriguez's recent comments about possibly playing three (3) quarterbacks (Nick Sheridan, Tate Forcier and Denard Robinson) during the season opening game versus Western Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Rodriguez has never rotated three quarterbacks during his coaching career. Such a tactic has been observed before in Division II and Division III college football, but only intermittently at the Division I level. David Cutcliffe did it at Mississippi. John Jenkins rotated three quarterbacks at Houston in the early 1990s. Bobby Bowden has played multiple quarterbacks at Florida State several times. Rick Neuheisel rotated 3 quarterbacks at Colorado in 1997. Rocky Long tried to rotate 3 quarterbacks with some success at New Mexico in 1999, and later famously stated:

"We were trying to rotate three quarterbacks, and that's way too many to get ready,"

The scariest example I could find of a division I head coach rotating three quarterbacks was at South Carolina in 2007, when Steve Spurrier decided to rotate in Blake Mitchell, Tommy Beecher and Chris Smelley at quarterback. This was the same year that the Gamecocks started out 6-1 and then lost their last 5 games in a row!

So yeah, rotating three quarterbacks has been done before. The on-field results reside all along the spectrum between gridiron success and failure.

Normally,

A.) injuries and/or

B.) inconsistent play of the starting or backup quarterbacks

force this radical coaching decision. Of course injuries are not the case with Michigan's current quarterback situation. Not yet anyway. The fact that Rich Rodriguez would consider rotating three different quarterbacks in the season opening game versus an opponent that has been 7-1 in September, 6-2 over the last 8 road games, including recent road upsets over Big Ten opponents Iowa and Illinois, lead us to one plausible explanation: Michigan’s quarterback play thus far has been inconsistent and not one candidate has stood out far above the others thus far. This is somewhat surprising to me because even though Forcier and Robinson are true freshman and will be making a ton of mistakes, they obviously both possess the total talent package that Rodriguez really needs to run this offense at full throttle: a great arm, elusiveness and foot speed.

It therefore lies within the realm of possibility - however remote - that Nick Sheridan has improved considerably in every phase since the embarrassing defeats last November versus Northwestern and Ohio State. It's also possible that Rodriguez's thick playbook has slowed down the incoming freshman Tate Forcier and Denard Robinson to such an degree that the game-seasoned Sheridan remains a viable option to lead the Wolverine offense. With one full week of practice left to go, one would expect the clouds to be separating and a clear leader to emerge at quarterback. This has not yet happened, but it still could.

Sheridan played a good game against Minnesota last fall, but if we're honest, that was about it. Still, Sheridan has reportedly done well in summer workouts and fall practice so far. Tate Forcier showed a lot of promise in the Michigan Spring game on talent and physical skill alone. During fall practice Denard Robinson has repeatedly improvised his way into the end zone, further what my investigative intuition instructed me all along: "Shoelace" has always had wings on his helmet.

Even if Rodriguez does rotate three quarterbacks this fall, this is not a viable long-term objective. There are some damn good reasons why Robinson and Forcier got the scholarship offers they did last year and why Nick Sheridan did not receive any such offers. Eventually the talent and big play making ability of Forcier and Robinson will be showcased on Saturdays, separate them by the lengths of continents from Nick Sheridan, and make Rodriguez’s decision a whole lot easier.

The term chimera means an impossible or foolish fantasy.

Michigan's Rich Rodriguez Wants Greg Paulus at QB

Greg Paulus used to be one of the top quarterback recruits in the country in 2005.

He played high school football at Christian Brothers Academy in Syracuse, NY.

Scout.com ranked him as a 4-star QB, and the 9th ranked QB recruit in the land in 2006.

While playing high school football, Paulus was a stud. He set New York state high school football records on fire by throwing for 11,760 yards and accounting for a jaw-dropping total of 152 touchdowns in his career.

What's more is that Paulus operated a spread offense in high school and became renowned for his throwing accuracy, field vision, leadership skills and being able to make big plays with his feet.

Paulus committed to Duke basketball in 2005 and has played there for 4 years. But apparently Mr. Paulus still has some athletic eligibility left and may be able to play some football - 1 year of football to be exact.

Apparently several sources now confirm that Rich Rodriguez has expressed serious interest in having Greg Paulus come to Michigan to exhaust his athletic eligibility with the Wolverines on the gridiron.

Fan reactions have been mixed.

On the one hand, some fans believe this is controversial and somehow sends a disturbing message to the existing quarterbacks on the Michigan team: Tate Forcier, Nick Sheridan and incoming star freshman Denard Robinson.

In my view, UM coach Rich Rodriguez is simply doing what he said he would do all along in terms of increasing competition at quarterback. Rodriguez has repeatedly said that he wants players he can "win with", and that particularly at quarterback he likes to have 2 or 3.

I would agree that pursuit of a 1-and-done prospect at QB sends a certain message to Nick Sheridan and David Cone. I'm not in agreement that the incoming freshman, Forcier and Robinson, have the same perspective since both committed to Michigan assuming they would need to prove themselves and earn playing time. In fact, I don't think Sheridan and Cone are under any illusions that they must compete for playing time during fall practices, or carry a clipboard.

It's year 2 in the Michigan program, and while Rich Rodriguez probably senses some progress being made in terms of the team grasping the offense, the defensive schemes and getting in better physical condition, he is for good reason very concerned about his depth chart at quarterback and probably defensively as well.

Going after a guy like Paulus says a couple of things:

1. Rodriguez in year 2 is attacking needs with a sense of urgency. He wants to win now.

2. Rodriguez wants better competition week in and week out at quarterback this fall.
Come hell or high water, the quarterback play must improve, and fast. More players means more options. The competition in practice will serve to help all of the quarterbacks, but Greg Paulus the least of all.

3. Rodriguez needs 2 quarterbacks he can win with (at least). He probably feels he can win with Forcier (eventually). He has not seen Robinson under center yet. He needs a third or fourth option in case of injury.

4. RR's confidence in Nick Sheridan must have taken a hit following his minor break injury in spring practice. Forcier might start for Michigan this fall (he has a jump start on Denard and Nick), but Forcier, who struggles to bench 135 lbs, simply does not have the physical condition to avoid injury this fall, unless he plays like the Jumper.

5. RR wants a body on the roster to replace Steven Threet.

All of these things serve as a painfully reminder to RR just how horrid UM's depth chart is right now.

My view is that Paulus cannot hurt the program. While I'm excited about the UM football teams' improvement in the off-season, the football team can't erase the 3-9-0 season with workouts and spring practice alone.

The downside of adding Paulus is that he's a one-and-done player. He is unlikely to contribute early anyway. Paulus' confidence and leader-mentality could sow some seeds of divisiveness with the existing UM QBs and even other players on the team. But I doubt it. Forcier and Robinson are confident of their abilities and facing competition from anyone on the roster. Otherwise they would not have come to Michigan. More quarterbacks will be committing to Michigan next year alongside 2010 frosh QB Devin Gardner.

The other downside might be that Paulus hasn't thrown a football for 4 years, nor played in a Div 1 football game before, so he's sort of on equal footing with Forcier and Robinson in that department.

The final downside would be if Paulus is coming to Michigan only for Paulus. If that's the case, this will be a disaster. Michigan football needs "team" and "cohesiveness". Michigan was 3-9-0 last year. Rodriguez cannot afford any player with a "if it's gonna be, it's gotta be me!" attitude.

The upside is that Paulus is a great athlete and a winner. He's a team commander and a leader. He's been associated with championships, and championship- and olympic-level coaching.
Paulus has confidence and character that could really rub off postively on younger QBs and the rest of the team. Also, assuming Paulus can be true to his H.S. quarterback form, this kid simply makes big plays under center, and serves as a nice insurance policy that Michigan desperately needs at quarterback.

Michigan's 2009 Recruiting Class - Now In The Final Stretch

With 2 1/2 weeks to go for Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez to fill out his 2009 freshman class.

With 20 recruits so far, the Wolverines' class so far is ranked 12th nationally by Scout.com and 8th nationally by Rivals.com. This leaves 5 spots open that still need to be filled and perhaps more if soft commits DT Pearlie Graves and DE DaQuinta Jones choose to decommit from Michigan.

In my view, Michigan's biggest needs are indeed:

Quarterback

Landing Tate Forcier was very important. But losing talented commit Shavodrick Beaver to Tulsa was a serious blow to Rodriguez's class. At this point in the year, there appear to be slim pickings as far as quality quarterbacks go. Florida CB/QB combo Denard Robinson is one option, and Austin Dantin is another, and LA QB Brandon Mitchell is yet a third target for the Wolverines, but Mitchell says he's 90% sure he'll be an Arkansas Razorback.

Wide Receiver

Senior Greg Mathews graduates this coming fall. Besides, with the spread formations Michigan runs today, more wideouts are needed than just Hemingway, Clemons, Stonum.

Je'Ron Stokes appears to be a prime target for this position right now alongside Travante Stallworth and Anthony Williams.

Offensive Line

Neither Rodriguez nor OL coach Greg Frey can be too satisfied with Michigan's offensive line situation. The Wolverines OL demonstrated the same slow and deliberate movement toward improvement as the Earth's tectonic plates. Michigan landed Schofield, Lewan and Lalota, but may want 1 more to play offensive tackle or guard. With Bond having Carolina on his mind, there remain massive Ohio OT Marcus Hall and SC OL Quinton Washington on the target list for Michigan.

Defensive End

This wouldn't be such an issue if Graves and Jones weren't so soft with their commitments to come to Michigan. An interesting option here is SC DE Sam Montgomery who said he was impressed with his winter visit of UofM. Defensive end is important however, as Brandon Graham graduates next fall. LA DE Bernie Logan is another target that will be visiting Michigan shortly. I do believe that OT John Ferrara will likely move back to defense (DE/DL) in 2009 to provide more talent and bodies on that side, rather than stay on the offensive line for the Wolverines.

Cornerback

In my view, Michigan needs better cornerback play because between 2005-2008 secondary play, in general, has been one collossal disappointment. Cissoko and Warren are very talented, highly regarded and capable. But Michigan needs more talent here, i.e. one or two "shutdown corners" going forward.

Denard Robinson is a CB, but would likely play QB at Michigan. Jayron Hosely is an almost certain South Florida lock for HC Jim Leavitt, so that leaves...nobody? Maybe some of many leftover Michigan's safeties will convert over to play CB.

The 2008 recruiting season ended on a very high note for new coach Rodriguez. With only a few weeks left it will be interesting to see whether Michigan football recruiting again ends with a fury of success, or an anti-climatic thud.