Yeah, it's mostly the same guys with dipshit opinions about other teams turning their stupidity toward McCarthy. Like, Tom Fornelli said "I like Quinyon Mitchell and his tape but when was the last time a top-level corner came from the MAC?" but seemingly not applying the same logic to Sauce Gardner, another G5 corner who sure seemed like a capable first-round corner.
One of them loves Penix quite a bit for reasons I don't understand; we saw what happens when teams get pressure on him and it's the Michigan game, the ASU game, hell even Wazzou got after him a bit. He's going to be 24 when he takes his first NFL snap, which is 2 years younger than Lamar Jackson and a year younger than guys like Herbert, Jordan Love, Tua, etc. Bo Nix is even older. McCarthy, by comparison, would be 21 and has shown an ability to scramble and make plays out of the playcall and with (relatively) limited WRs.
McCarthy feels like the 3rd-best QB in this class unless you REALLY believe that Daniels can get away with everything he did at LSU in the NFL. No Kelly-coached QB has AFAIK, but I guess there's a first time for everything. I could even buy McCarthy as #2 if you're down on Williams, who I think has the widest variance of elite-to-headcase QB in this class. But none of the QBs in this class feel like sure things, and in an objective non-needs world I'd probably draft Harrison Jr. first and welcome a HOFer onto my team happily. But that's not the world we live in and if I'm, say, the Giants and I can get McCarthy to replace what is objectively a bad QB in Daniel Jones in a year or 2 I'd jump at it.
The drop-off from McCarthy is real but this team also made the playoffs with Cade McNamara, who I have been told by multiple people on this site and elsewhere was a terrible QB, and also won 10 games with the likes of Wilton Speight, John O'Korn, and sometime-UFL starter Shea Patterson at the helm. The drop from McCarthy to Tuttle/Orji/Warren/Davis/Denegal will be significant but I also think people are assuming the absolute worst possible outcome for the QB room instead of the most likely, which is that out of those 5 guys they get B+-level QB play against most teams. The difference is that none of them are going to bail them out against an elite defense, but there's only 3-4 of those on the docket and I'm a bit dubious on OU. Plus, they play most of their toughest games at home, which will help a less-talented offense.
The OP was saying UM is likely going 7-5 with an Iowa-level offense, while "a record closer to 7-5 than 12-0" could just as easily be 10-2/9-3. Nobody is acting like the offense won't take a step back but I think a lot of fans have this binary viewpoint of football that you're either a championship contender or a .500 squad and that's not true. Hell, Iowa went 10-4 last season with the most Iowa-ass offense possible, so even they weren't 7-5 bad.
Yeah, you're right. He didn't play a down this year so I was mostly going off the depth chart but per MGoBlue he's a scout team WR.
I still don't think moving Orji to WR makes any sense unless he's expressed an interest to do so or the staff feels that's his best spot, though given his size I'd be surprised if they'd put him there and not somewhere else.
Yeah, the fact he was in the 2020 class, which is the same one Hunter Dickinson, Terrance Williams, and Jace Howard was in, and he apparently doesn't have his degree yet is absolutely a "him" problem and not one for UM's admissions.
I've also come to realize that there is just a pat number of things to complain about around here that'll always get you upvotes even if they aren't remotely applicable. Admissions is one of them, and while sometimes they absolutely do make it harder for athletes to transfer into this school than elsewhere, this place also loves to act like a Michigan degree is some well-earned mark of superiority that much be treated with proper reverence.
Michigan's 2024-2025 season will not be saved by Davis coming or doomed by his absence.
Why would you convert Orji to WR? If he's not a QB then so be it but he's 6' 2" and 236 lbs; if anything that's a linebacker-sized guy. I mean, if we're flipping QBs to WR then put Kendrick Bell out there any hope he's like his brother.
I beseech you to look at the Iowa depth chart and their offensive coordinator from last season and compare it to UM's right now. Morgan and Morris are solid players with upside, and they have TEs like Loveland and Klein who can also be part of the passing game. Throw in the running backs and a floor of Tuttle at QB and that's a significantly better offense than Iowa has fielded. Hell, that's arguably a better offense than PSU put out last year.
UM is going to not be as dynamic as they were last season but the idea they're going to fall down a hole of despair that is Iowa offense the past couple of seasons is immensely hyperbolic.
The offense was sort of forced through him to keep him engaged was my take; yes you want to get him involved offensively but he was a sub-100 offensive player with a 24% TO rate on limited usage. I agree that Dug was the one creator but Reed was always going to be the 4th/5th option most times down the court. What hurt the team was that #2-4 were typically really bad.
I think Reed will be a good defensive player at UConn because he'll be asked to do less and they have a more coherent system where the wings and guards are more active and don't let guys just blow past them regularly. I also do think he'd work with the defensive style I assume May will run.
I agree - defensively he'll likely be much better with a better overall defensive system around him. Offensively he had a TO rate of 24% and that's more on his weak handle and limited post game. Those can obviously improve but Dickinson was a maestro with the ball both as a passer and a scorer as a freshman, skills Reed has never consistently flashed.
Yeah, defensively I think that was team-wide and we've seen him be effective, in spurts at least, as a high-level rim defender with some switchability. Offensively...he had a 24% TO rate which is, as the kids say, not great. And he's not a high-usage offensive player so it's even worse because it means his relatively few touches go the other way about 1/4 times and he's not generating a bunch of assists or scoring at a high enough rate that you can live with it. That's a part of his game that you have to see improve for him to be anything more than a rotational player on a good team.
I do think UConn will have a plan for him and he'll likely do better there than he showed last season, though as we've learned after Howard left there wasn't a ton of coaching going on in an acute way that I think would have been better either under May or even another year under Howard when he wasn't struggling to return from heart surgery. Like, Reed looked like a plus defensive player as a freshman.
I mean, he wasn't playing well at UM. Maybe he'll get better with better coaching at UConn but he was still an inefficient offensive player and a mediocre defensive one. That likely is due in no small part to poor coaching he was receiving but it's still the reality. I hope he succeeds at UConn but you can't objectively watch him play this year and come out thinking he played well.
That's a bit unfair. He's got good size, is a decent mid-range shooter, is a developing playmaker in terms of a passer and has defensive versatility. He may not fit for May's plan but he's absolutely the type of recruit May and UN would want more generally - a high-upside player who's at least a 2, probably 3-year player who isn't likely to get NBA buzz unless he absolutely explodes as a freshman.
Makes sense and I don't blame him. I sort of assumed he wasn't going to UM once Howard left, even if the Georgia coach switch upped the odds. We'll see how it goes.
For all of his hypocrisy Nick Saban never seemed to get into crazy fights with the NCAA like this. Dabo is a weirdo yet won two titles and, again, generally stayed above the fray. There are ways to perform while not creating more headaches for yourself and your compatriots, and Harbaugh struggles with that more than a lot of other coaches.
Again, I'm happy he won UM a title and I'm sure this will all be water under the bridge but there's no schematic or competitive advantage to fucking around with an NCAA investigator when it's clear they have the goods on you involved in some minor NCAA violations.
They suspended some coaches for 3 meaningless games because that was going to be the type of punishment the NCAA would have handed out. I don't get why people keep acting like every other school gets away with stuff when they get caught - they usually get probation and some recruiting restrictions, and UM's added suspension of some coaches is largely because Harbaugh was caught, at the very least, being uncooperative with an investigation. Yes is that petty? Sure, but that's the deal you make with the NCAA and so they took their medicine and it sounds that was basically it.
Also, save me this "UM's AD didn't stand up for Harbaugh" bullshit. They sued the fucking Big 10 to stop his suspension, and mounted a very public defense of him during the Signgate fiasco. Chris Partridge being an idiot and texting players not to help with the investigation is why they stopped fighting it in court, which again isn't something an AD can do anything about. They allowed Harbaugh to hire people like Schemmy even though a cursory review of his social media posting showed he was immensely problematic. Harbaugh antagonized the Burgergate situation from a bunch of minor violations into a major one, and there's nothing an AD can realistically do there. Warde Manuel and the school's AD has real issues but at some point "Jim Harbaugh being Jim Harbaugh" is the source of a lot of the issues and the AD is going to be stuck dealing with the fallout of his actions long after he returns to the NFL, so it's not a lack of "spine" to recognize you've lost this fight and try to make right with the shitty cops who still have jurisdiction over you.
Yeah, I totally get how his players and staff really like him but how he'd be exhausting as someone who works for you or you don't have a personal connection with.
I'm glad he won a title and I applaud him for his player advocacy but he's a bit of a chaos agent especially when he thinks he can get away with it
Yeah, Harbaugh acting like UM needs to defend his honor once he bolted is pretty stupid. Again, I agree with Harbaugh that the violations are BS but he didn't stick around to fight them and instead left that to his former employer so I'm not sure what he expected UM to do
I don't know what Mars and Harbaugh thought would happen - he left for the NFL and so he really doesn't have any skin in the game anymore. By comparison, UM and the current team and coaches are still on the hook. So of course they're going to try to figure something out to limit their punishment. Tom Mars is sort of a dipshit and Harbaugh is entitled to say his piece but grow the fuck up and take your shot at the NCAA and not at UM.
I agree that UM being consistently mediocre at zone defense and penalty kills (though this year they did do a good job after some early struggles), and that's something that will always hurt their chances to win a title. At the same time, Denver and as basically as bad as UM on that PK front and their goalie situation, while better once they settled on a starter, wasn't beyond the pale for UM to reproduce. It feels like BC is a bit of an aberration in that they had maybe the greatest recruiting class ever come in this year and then they basically all played like stars. We'll see if they can keep building and repeating that level of performance. And Denver is just in such a zone right now that you just have to hope they get tripped up in Plinko.
But I'm happy with the season and excited for how the team looks going forward, even with guys going to the NHL more frequently than you'd hope.
I agree, but nobody thought the Texans had a plan but them Ryans impressed as a first-year HC, they drafted well and had some talent on the roster that was under-utilized, and now they're a AFC contender. By comparison, the Panthers are a hot mess with bad vibes up and down the organization and Young looked pretty terrible.
The Chargers aren't grabbing a QB and neither are the Giants or Titans, but if he falls to the Falcons then that's a good spot because he'd be able to sit behind Cousins for a couple of years and then step into a starting role with a young, talented team. But yeah, if he winds up in NE or Arizona those aren't great spots unless, again, NE's new coaching staff really overhauls what is a bad offense.
I think Tebow's best traits didn't translate into that version of the NFL (late 00s, early 10s), but I do wonder had he gone to a place that was willing to continue refining his throwing motion (he had started in college a bit but it was still really elongated by NFL standards) if he could have hung on as a starter on a team. He was a plus athlete and while like a lot of Urban Meyer QBs seemingly didn't know how to read a defense that could stay with his receivers, seemingly had the ability to improve as a player. It sounds like there were issues off the field/mentally with him as it came to his role on a team that probably worked against him, but I'm not sure Josh Allen was any more refined coming out of college but the Bills invested in his development more than John Fox in Denver, who seemed annoyed having Tebow on the team almost immediately. I don't particularly like Tim Tebow as a person but I also thought going to Denver was a terrible landing spot.
That said, I agree that McCarthy is a much better QB than Tebow in terms of transferrable skills right now.
I'm not sold that any of the top 4 QBs in this class are actually going to be high-level NFL QBs (i.e. multiple pro bowls and guys who can seriously carry a team to a championship without significant help around them), but I think McCarthy's floor (along with Drake May's) feels the highest. I heard him referred to as a more athletic, stronger Kirk Cousins, which is maybe a bit tongue-in-cheek but also not a bad comp. An accurate guy who's better out of the pocket and is solid reading the defense will get you pretty far in the NFL, and I do think the (relative) lack of downfield throws compared to some of the other guys has led to over-analysis of his attempts compared to, say, Williams or Daniels who threw a ton more and so their mistakes get more lost in the wash. Doesn't mean McCarthy is perfect or that he doesn't have real question marks - his lack of touch on some throws is a real thing he'll have to address in the NFL, and he doesn't have the type of rocket arm that lets you get away with some of the throws he tried in college because of the improved defensive playmakers.
He's not afraid to throw in the middle of the field, which is something you have to be willing to do in the NFL, and he's clearly a smart guy who can work within the offense while also making plays off-script. That's something a lot of teams can live with at QB especially if you give him playmakers and don't ask him to throw 35-40 times to win each game. Stroud in Houston is a good example of a team that didn't leave their QB out there to carry them offensively alone, and so he was able to play within the offense with some confidence while also freelancing when he had to.
In reality, the NFL draft almost never goes purely on talent or ability because if it did you'd likely see a number of the WRs, DTs, secondary, etc. go far earlier than they are. But in a league where QB is king then yeah, McCarthy is a guy who's going to get drafted "too early" based on objective metrics but I'd certainly want as a QB if I needed to draft one early. Like, he's better than basically any QB from 2 years ago's draft and outside of Stroud I like him more than anyone from last year's class.
Just the dumbest thing in the world, and really disappointing.
This is somewhat different than the earlier incident with Scruggs because (I believe) this is his first offense but I'd still hope the punishment is pretty severe because this sets a terrible model for players. Get a fucking Uber; you've got the money.
With several good universities he could have gone to, the big question was which KB would have chosen.The 2008 NBA MVP would reveal his preferences, although it seems they boiled down to two schools – Duke and UNC.
OSU paying $2M to Kelly after it was clear few at UCLA liked him and his offense took a a significant step back after losing his 5th-year QB, then importing another QB who is unlikely to be much better than the guy they ran out of town, is sort of what I expected from the combo of Ryan Day and the AD who gave Fisher $75M guaranteed at A&M.
I do think it's funny how CMU still hasn't been able to confirm or deny who that Connor Stallions-looking MFer was on their sidelines. Seemingly nobody really cares to keep pushing on that publicly, which I assume it partly because Ryan Day...I mean Pete Thamel's sources don't have any dirt on that situation.
That's been Auburn's offense for a while. I think Pearl is a good coach but it seems like he's got some Calipari in him where he rolls out the ball and let's guys freelance a bit.
I suspect UM will get a number of these guys but this is also starting to look and sound a bit like head coaching season where guys get their names floated out there but then head back to their current stops (or to new, non-UM stops) with larger NIL paydays. I don't begrudge any of the players for doing it but I doubt UM gets 7-8 of the top 40 guys on the transfer market.
Nice write-up. I assumed BC would win; I thought people read too much into their (relative) struggles in the regional but as a current resident of Boston I've seen BC (and BU) on TV a couple of times and they are terrifyingly good. UM wasn't built to grind them down and pull an upset, and so sometimes you just lose. It sucks, but this wasn't supposed to be a great team this season and they overachieved to get this far.
Next year, assuming they get a goalie in the portal, will feature a ton of talent and depth that'll once again make UM a death star. Doesn't mean they'll win it all but the direction of the program is still up and that's exciting.
Credit to the players for getting this far and let's run it back and try to pick up some conference hardware next year as well.
I agree he'll be a solid player but I'm not sold yet that he can be more than a bench rotation guy. His shooting numbers last year were so minimal it's hard to read much into them but I worry about the times he did see the court not necessarily looking physically ready. Lots of growth potential, though, as he ages. UM still needs to get two starter level guys for the backcourt, which isn't ideal.
Nice. Hope he comes back and can get on the court and be productive; it still felt like he was pretty far away last season but guys do tend to make the leap after their freshmen seasons.
It's going to be so interesting watching OSU next year try to deal with immense pressure and expectations being helmed by a lot of guys who seemingly have the thinnest skin in the game. Just...nothing shows how Not Mad you are quite like saying you leaving a program for a better opportunity is because you are mentally tough, unlike other players who do it because they can't handle adversity.
Wish him luck. He had a lot of potential but I'm interested to see if a bunch of the deep bench guys find success elsewhere and so their struggles can be ascribed to poor coaching/team play but I worry that part of UM's issues last year was that they didn't have anyone on the bench who could reasonably play at the P5 level and thus the starters had to play way more than you'd like.
I guess I could see Calipari sort of beating the posse out of town and reaching out to both UM and OSU because they were available Big 2 jobs but I'm comfortable saying UM was never going to seriously consider him as HC and OSU wasn't all that likely either. The way he runs programs simply wasn't going to work at UM from a logistical or perception standpoint, and while I'm sure UM has money Cal seemingly despises being second fiddle to another sport and he'd never be the biggest game in town with football. That means he'd be fighting for resources, relatively speaking, between basketball and football and he already has gotten into numerous fights with Stoops at UK in situations where he's had the high ground.
Yeah, I don't think people understand how bad Iowa was in offense last year. The absolute worst non-pandemic offense UM had under Harbaugh was 2017, when they had a passing "attack" led by O'Korn, Peters, and Speight that was seemingly always injured and ended the year with 9 TDs, 10 picks, and about 6.4 ypa.
By comparison Iowa had a duo of QBs (McNamara and Hill) who combined for 9 TDs, 11 picks, and 5.5 (!) ypa. That's nearly a ypa worse than what was the worst passing attack in recent history, and you could argue it was an improvement on 2022 for the Hawkeyes.
Michigan's passing offense will be worse next year with the loss of McCarthy but they still have far more playmakers than Iowa has and, frankly, a much better offensive system.
Yeah, watching UConn's offense be so efficient even compared to top-level offensive coaches like Painter and Oats but also be lock down defensively is a huge credit to Hurley, even if the guy seems like an asshole.
Yeah, but that's been the case all season. Most teams wouldn't commit to just playing him 1-on-1 and daring everyone else to beat them, but UConn has enough horses to do it.
I have no issues with Purdue and want them to beat UConn just for variety but they don't look like they have guys outside of Edey who can consistently perform at the level you need to win a title. Edey is already looking tired at UConn isn't even playing that well.
I assume UM's new RB coach will give him a call but we'll see; I sort of doubt he'd get many more carries with UM than he would with OSU, so my guess is he looks somewhere else with a lighter depth chart.
Yeah, what I've understood tends to get guys is less the total necessary to graduate with a UM degree and more with the school not recognizing enough credits for them to be at the grade level they're supposed to given the number of years they've player collegiates sports. So for example, if a guy is going to the NBA in a year he might not care about the degree but if he's supposed to be in his third year of college and thus a junior, having only acknowledged credits of an academic sophomore means he's academically ineligible to play that year unless he catches up per the NCAA.
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Yeah, it's mostly the same guys with dipshit opinions about other teams turning their stupidity toward McCarthy. Like, Tom Fornelli said "I like Quinyon Mitchell and his tape but when was the last time a top-level corner came from the MAC?" but seemingly not applying the same logic to Sauce Gardner, another G5 corner who sure seemed like a capable first-round corner.
One of them loves Penix quite a bit for reasons I don't understand; we saw what happens when teams get pressure on him and it's the Michigan game, the ASU game, hell even Wazzou got after him a bit. He's going to be 24 when he takes his first NFL snap, which is 2 years younger than Lamar Jackson and a year younger than guys like Herbert, Jordan Love, Tua, etc. Bo Nix is even older. McCarthy, by comparison, would be 21 and has shown an ability to scramble and make plays out of the playcall and with (relatively) limited WRs.
McCarthy feels like the 3rd-best QB in this class unless you REALLY believe that Daniels can get away with everything he did at LSU in the NFL. No Kelly-coached QB has AFAIK, but I guess there's a first time for everything. I could even buy McCarthy as #2 if you're down on Williams, who I think has the widest variance of elite-to-headcase QB in this class. But none of the QBs in this class feel like sure things, and in an objective non-needs world I'd probably draft Harrison Jr. first and welcome a HOFer onto my team happily. But that's not the world we live in and if I'm, say, the Giants and I can get McCarthy to replace what is objectively a bad QB in Daniel Jones in a year or 2 I'd jump at it.
Real shame for them.
Doyel just seems like an awful guy to be around, mostly because he seemingly believes he's charming and thoughtful instead of a weirdo.
The drop-off from McCarthy is real but this team also made the playoffs with Cade McNamara, who I have been told by multiple people on this site and elsewhere was a terrible QB, and also won 10 games with the likes of Wilton Speight, John O'Korn, and sometime-UFL starter Shea Patterson at the helm. The drop from McCarthy to Tuttle/Orji/Warren/Davis/Denegal will be significant but I also think people are assuming the absolute worst possible outcome for the QB room instead of the most likely, which is that out of those 5 guys they get B+-level QB play against most teams. The difference is that none of them are going to bail them out against an elite defense, but there's only 3-4 of those on the docket and I'm a bit dubious on OU. Plus, they play most of their toughest games at home, which will help a less-talented offense.
The OP was saying UM is likely going 7-5 with an Iowa-level offense, while "a record closer to 7-5 than 12-0" could just as easily be 10-2/9-3. Nobody is acting like the offense won't take a step back but I think a lot of fans have this binary viewpoint of football that you're either a championship contender or a .500 squad and that's not true. Hell, Iowa went 10-4 last season with the most Iowa-ass offense possible, so even they weren't 7-5 bad.
Yeah, you're right. He didn't play a down this year so I was mostly going off the depth chart but per MGoBlue he's a scout team WR.
I still don't think moving Orji to WR makes any sense unless he's expressed an interest to do so or the staff feels that's his best spot, though given his size I'd be surprised if they'd put him there and not somewhere else.
Yeah, the fact he was in the 2020 class, which is the same one Hunter Dickinson, Terrance Williams, and Jace Howard was in, and he apparently doesn't have his degree yet is absolutely a "him" problem and not one for UM's admissions.
I've also come to realize that there is just a pat number of things to complain about around here that'll always get you upvotes even if they aren't remotely applicable. Admissions is one of them, and while sometimes they absolutely do make it harder for athletes to transfer into this school than elsewhere, this place also loves to act like a Michigan degree is some well-earned mark of superiority that much be treated with proper reverence.
Michigan's 2024-2025 season will not be saved by Davis coming or doomed by his absence.
Why would you convert Orji to WR? If he's not a QB then so be it but he's 6' 2" and 236 lbs; if anything that's a linebacker-sized guy. I mean, if we're flipping QBs to WR then put Kendrick Bell out there any hope he's like his brother.
I beseech you to look at the Iowa depth chart and their offensive coordinator from last season and compare it to UM's right now. Morgan and Morris are solid players with upside, and they have TEs like Loveland and Klein who can also be part of the passing game. Throw in the running backs and a floor of Tuttle at QB and that's a significantly better offense than Iowa has fielded. Hell, that's arguably a better offense than PSU put out last year.
UM is going to not be as dynamic as they were last season but the idea they're going to fall down a hole of despair that is Iowa offense the past couple of seasons is immensely hyperbolic.
The offense was sort of forced through him to keep him engaged was my take; yes you want to get him involved offensively but he was a sub-100 offensive player with a 24% TO rate on limited usage. I agree that Dug was the one creator but Reed was always going to be the 4th/5th option most times down the court. What hurt the team was that #2-4 were typically really bad.
I think Reed will be a good defensive player at UConn because he'll be asked to do less and they have a more coherent system where the wings and guards are more active and don't let guys just blow past them regularly. I also do think he'd work with the defensive style I assume May will run.
I agree - defensively he'll likely be much better with a better overall defensive system around him. Offensively he had a TO rate of 24% and that's more on his weak handle and limited post game. Those can obviously improve but Dickinson was a maestro with the ball both as a passer and a scorer as a freshman, skills Reed has never consistently flashed.
Yeah, defensively I think that was team-wide and we've seen him be effective, in spurts at least, as a high-level rim defender with some switchability. Offensively...he had a 24% TO rate which is, as the kids say, not great. And he's not a high-usage offensive player so it's even worse because it means his relatively few touches go the other way about 1/4 times and he's not generating a bunch of assists or scoring at a high enough rate that you can live with it. That's a part of his game that you have to see improve for him to be anything more than a rotational player on a good team.
I do think UConn will have a plan for him and he'll likely do better there than he showed last season, though as we've learned after Howard left there wasn't a ton of coaching going on in an acute way that I think would have been better either under May or even another year under Howard when he wasn't struggling to return from heart surgery. Like, Reed looked like a plus defensive player as a freshman.
I mean, he wasn't playing well at UM. Maybe he'll get better with better coaching at UConn but he was still an inefficient offensive player and a mediocre defensive one. That likely is due in no small part to poor coaching he was receiving but it's still the reality. I hope he succeeds at UConn but you can't objectively watch him play this year and come out thinking he played well.
Good luck to him. Not a bad place to land.
That's a bit unfair. He's got good size, is a decent mid-range shooter, is a developing playmaker in terms of a passer and has defensive versatility. He may not fit for May's plan but he's absolutely the type of recruit May and UN would want more generally - a high-upside player who's at least a 2, probably 3-year player who isn't likely to get NBA buzz unless he absolutely explodes as a freshman.
Makes sense and I don't blame him. I sort of assumed he wasn't going to UM once Howard left, even if the Georgia coach switch upped the odds. We'll see how it goes.
For all of his hypocrisy Nick Saban never seemed to get into crazy fights with the NCAA like this. Dabo is a weirdo yet won two titles and, again, generally stayed above the fray. There are ways to perform while not creating more headaches for yourself and your compatriots, and Harbaugh struggles with that more than a lot of other coaches.
Again, I'm happy he won UM a title and I'm sure this will all be water under the bridge but there's no schematic or competitive advantage to fucking around with an NCAA investigator when it's clear they have the goods on you involved in some minor NCAA violations.
They suspended some coaches for 3 meaningless games because that was going to be the type of punishment the NCAA would have handed out. I don't get why people keep acting like every other school gets away with stuff when they get caught - they usually get probation and some recruiting restrictions, and UM's added suspension of some coaches is largely because Harbaugh was caught, at the very least, being uncooperative with an investigation. Yes is that petty? Sure, but that's the deal you make with the NCAA and so they took their medicine and it sounds that was basically it.
Also, save me this "UM's AD didn't stand up for Harbaugh" bullshit. They sued the fucking Big 10 to stop his suspension, and mounted a very public defense of him during the Signgate fiasco. Chris Partridge being an idiot and texting players not to help with the investigation is why they stopped fighting it in court, which again isn't something an AD can do anything about. They allowed Harbaugh to hire people like Schemmy even though a cursory review of his social media posting showed he was immensely problematic. Harbaugh antagonized the Burgergate situation from a bunch of minor violations into a major one, and there's nothing an AD can realistically do there. Warde Manuel and the school's AD has real issues but at some point "Jim Harbaugh being Jim Harbaugh" is the source of a lot of the issues and the AD is going to be stuck dealing with the fallout of his actions long after he returns to the NFL, so it's not a lack of "spine" to recognize you've lost this fight and try to make right with the shitty cops who still have jurisdiction over you.
Yeah, I totally get how his players and staff really like him but how he'd be exhausting as someone who works for you or you don't have a personal connection with.
I'm glad he won a title and I applaud him for his player advocacy but he's a bit of a chaos agent especially when he thinks he can get away with it
Not a surprise but still a nice pickup. Let's keep them coming.
Yeah, Harbaugh acting like UM needs to defend his honor once he bolted is pretty stupid. Again, I agree with Harbaugh that the violations are BS but he didn't stick around to fight them and instead left that to his former employer so I'm not sure what he expected UM to do
I don't know what Mars and Harbaugh thought would happen - he left for the NFL and so he really doesn't have any skin in the game anymore. By comparison, UM and the current team and coaches are still on the hook. So of course they're going to try to figure something out to limit their punishment. Tom Mars is sort of a dipshit and Harbaugh is entitled to say his piece but grow the fuck up and take your shot at the NCAA and not at UM.
Good stuff.
I agree that UM being consistently mediocre at zone defense and penalty kills (though this year they did do a good job after some early struggles), and that's something that will always hurt their chances to win a title. At the same time, Denver and as basically as bad as UM on that PK front and their goalie situation, while better once they settled on a starter, wasn't beyond the pale for UM to reproduce. It feels like BC is a bit of an aberration in that they had maybe the greatest recruiting class ever come in this year and then they basically all played like stars. We'll see if they can keep building and repeating that level of performance. And Denver is just in such a zone right now that you just have to hope they get tripped up in Plinko.
But I'm happy with the season and excited for how the team looks going forward, even with guys going to the NHL more frequently than you'd hope.
I agree, but nobody thought the Texans had a plan but them Ryans impressed as a first-year HC, they drafted well and had some talent on the roster that was under-utilized, and now they're a AFC contender. By comparison, the Panthers are a hot mess with bad vibes up and down the organization and Young looked pretty terrible.
The Chargers aren't grabbing a QB and neither are the Giants or Titans, but if he falls to the Falcons then that's a good spot because he'd be able to sit behind Cousins for a couple of years and then step into a starting role with a young, talented team. But yeah, if he winds up in NE or Arizona those aren't great spots unless, again, NE's new coaching staff really overhauls what is a bad offense.
I think Tebow's best traits didn't translate into that version of the NFL (late 00s, early 10s), but I do wonder had he gone to a place that was willing to continue refining his throwing motion (he had started in college a bit but it was still really elongated by NFL standards) if he could have hung on as a starter on a team. He was a plus athlete and while like a lot of Urban Meyer QBs seemingly didn't know how to read a defense that could stay with his receivers, seemingly had the ability to improve as a player. It sounds like there were issues off the field/mentally with him as it came to his role on a team that probably worked against him, but I'm not sure Josh Allen was any more refined coming out of college but the Bills invested in his development more than John Fox in Denver, who seemed annoyed having Tebow on the team almost immediately. I don't particularly like Tim Tebow as a person but I also thought going to Denver was a terrible landing spot.
That said, I agree that McCarthy is a much better QB than Tebow in terms of transferrable skills right now.
I'm not sold that any of the top 4 QBs in this class are actually going to be high-level NFL QBs (i.e. multiple pro bowls and guys who can seriously carry a team to a championship without significant help around them), but I think McCarthy's floor (along with Drake May's) feels the highest. I heard him referred to as a more athletic, stronger Kirk Cousins, which is maybe a bit tongue-in-cheek but also not a bad comp. An accurate guy who's better out of the pocket and is solid reading the defense will get you pretty far in the NFL, and I do think the (relative) lack of downfield throws compared to some of the other guys has led to over-analysis of his attempts compared to, say, Williams or Daniels who threw a ton more and so their mistakes get more lost in the wash. Doesn't mean McCarthy is perfect or that he doesn't have real question marks - his lack of touch on some throws is a real thing he'll have to address in the NFL, and he doesn't have the type of rocket arm that lets you get away with some of the throws he tried in college because of the improved defensive playmakers.
He's not afraid to throw in the middle of the field, which is something you have to be willing to do in the NFL, and he's clearly a smart guy who can work within the offense while also making plays off-script. That's something a lot of teams can live with at QB especially if you give him playmakers and don't ask him to throw 35-40 times to win each game. Stroud in Houston is a good example of a team that didn't leave their QB out there to carry them offensively alone, and so he was able to play within the offense with some confidence while also freelancing when he had to.
In reality, the NFL draft almost never goes purely on talent or ability because if it did you'd likely see a number of the WRs, DTs, secondary, etc. go far earlier than they are. But in a league where QB is king then yeah, McCarthy is a guy who's going to get drafted "too early" based on objective metrics but I'd certainly want as a QB if I needed to draft one early. Like, he's better than basically any QB from 2 years ago's draft and outside of Stroud I like him more than anyone from last year's class.
Just the dumbest thing in the world, and really disappointing.
This is somewhat different than the earlier incident with Scruggs because (I believe) this is his first offense but I'd still hope the punishment is pretty severe because this sets a terrible model for players. Get a fucking Uber; you've got the money.
A nice return given a couple of guys departing earlier than expected.
They've got recruits coming in who are talented but obviously nice to have some veteran top-end talent as well.
Yeah, feels like a pick swap and Ferris will be getting a 3rd-line winger to be named later.
I mean...this is 7th paragraph in the article.
OSU paying $2M to Kelly after it was clear few at UCLA liked him and his offense took a a significant step back after losing his 5th-year QB, then importing another QB who is unlikely to be much better than the guy they ran out of town, is sort of what I expected from the combo of Ryan Day and the AD who gave Fisher $75M guaranteed at A&M.
I do think it's funny how CMU still hasn't been able to confirm or deny who that Connor Stallions-looking MFer was on their sidelines. Seemingly nobody really cares to keep pushing on that publicly, which I assume it partly because Ryan Day...I mean Pete Thamel's sources don't have any dirt on that situation.
That's been Auburn's offense for a while. I think Pearl is a good coach but it seems like he's got some Calipari in him where he rolls out the ball and let's guys freelance a bit.
I suspect UM will get a number of these guys but this is also starting to look and sound a bit like head coaching season where guys get their names floated out there but then head back to their current stops (or to new, non-UM stops) with larger NIL paydays. I don't begrudge any of the players for doing it but I doubt UM gets 7-8 of the top 40 guys on the transfer market.
Nice write-up. I assumed BC would win; I thought people read too much into their (relative) struggles in the regional but as a current resident of Boston I've seen BC (and BU) on TV a couple of times and they are terrifyingly good. UM wasn't built to grind them down and pull an upset, and so sometimes you just lose. It sucks, but this wasn't supposed to be a great team this season and they overachieved to get this far.
Next year, assuming they get a goalie in the portal, will feature a ton of talent and depth that'll once again make UM a death star. Doesn't mean they'll win it all but the direction of the program is still up and that's exciting.
Credit to the players for getting this far and let's run it back and try to pick up some conference hardware next year as well.
I agree he'll be a solid player but I'm not sold yet that he can be more than a bench rotation guy. His shooting numbers last year were so minimal it's hard to read much into them but I worry about the times he did see the court not necessarily looking physically ready. Lots of growth potential, though, as he ages. UM still needs to get two starter level guys for the backcourt, which isn't ideal.
Just win.
Nice. Hope he comes back and can get on the court and be productive; it still felt like he was pretty far away last season but guys do tend to make the leap after their freshmen seasons.
Good.
It's going to be so interesting watching OSU next year try to deal with immense pressure and expectations being helmed by a lot of guys who seemingly have the thinnest skin in the game. Just...nothing shows how Not Mad you are quite like saying you leaving a program for a better opportunity is because you are mentally tough, unlike other players who do it because they can't handle adversity.
Excited for him. Also, really like the fact that when he played someone here posted their named one of their goldfish "DeShawn Swims".
Wish him luck. He had a lot of potential but I'm interested to see if a bunch of the deep bench guys find success elsewhere and so their struggles can be ascribed to poor coaching/team play but I worry that part of UM's issues last year was that they didn't have anyone on the bench who could reasonably play at the P5 level and thus the starters had to play way more than you'd like.
I guess I could see Calipari sort of beating the posse out of town and reaching out to both UM and OSU because they were available Big 2 jobs but I'm comfortable saying UM was never going to seriously consider him as HC and OSU wasn't all that likely either. The way he runs programs simply wasn't going to work at UM from a logistical or perception standpoint, and while I'm sure UM has money Cal seemingly despises being second fiddle to another sport and he'd never be the biggest game in town with football. That means he'd be fighting for resources, relatively speaking, between basketball and football and he already has gotten into numerous fights with Stoops at UK in situations where he's had the high ground.
Not a surprise if he wants to stay in the state and work as a major program. Wish him luck.
Some weird stuff going on with WBB. Not sure if it's a problem yet but this is now two major players leaving via the portal in about a week.
Yeah, I don't think people understand how bad Iowa was in offense last year. The absolute worst non-pandemic offense UM had under Harbaugh was 2017, when they had a passing "attack" led by O'Korn, Peters, and Speight that was seemingly always injured and ended the year with 9 TDs, 10 picks, and about 6.4 ypa.
By comparison Iowa had a duo of QBs (McNamara and Hill) who combined for 9 TDs, 11 picks, and 5.5 (!) ypa. That's nearly a ypa worse than what was the worst passing attack in recent history, and you could argue it was an improvement on 2022 for the Hawkeyes.
Michigan's passing offense will be worse next year with the loss of McCarthy but they still have far more playmakers than Iowa has and, frankly, a much better offensive system.
Yeah, watching UConn's offense be so efficient even compared to top-level offensive coaches like Painter and Oats but also be lock down defensively is a huge credit to Hurley, even if the guy seems like an asshole.
Yeah, but that's been the case all season. Most teams wouldn't commit to just playing him 1-on-1 and daring everyone else to beat them, but UConn has enough horses to do it.
I have no issues with Purdue and want them to beat UConn just for variety but they don't look like they have guys outside of Edey who can consistently perform at the level you need to win a title. Edey is already looking tired at UConn isn't even playing that well.
I assume UM's new RB coach will give him a call but we'll see; I sort of doubt he'd get many more carries with UM than he would with OSU, so my guess is he looks somewhere else with a lighter depth chart.
Yeah, what I've understood tends to get guys is less the total necessary to graduate with a UM degree and more with the school not recognizing enough credits for them to be at the grade level they're supposed to given the number of years they've player collegiates sports. So for example, if a guy is going to the NBA in a year he might not care about the degree but if he's supposed to be in his third year of college and thus a junior, having only acknowledged credits of an academic sophomore means he's academically ineligible to play that year unless he catches up per the NCAA.