Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's Denard.

It has been a fun 4 years with Denard. I was on hand to witness his first touch of the football that went BOOM!

During the 2009 season it seemed like there was no way you would ever sling the ball at Michigan on a every down basis. 2010 came and UCONN visited the Big House and the rumors were proven true from practice reports... Denard Robinson was the man for his time and place. Deanrd had defenses kneeling before him week after week and he was kneeling on them. Its pretty scary to think what his stats would have looked like under RR but this is football and changes were made.

The changes kept Robinson from ever putting up Heisman numbers and asked him to make throws he can't always make but he did it all for Michigan and his team. Many players who had the success that Denard did in 2010 would have jet for the Oregon's of the world. He didn't since Michigan was always first to him.

Its a true sadness that the smile of the program for the last 4 years may not get to lead Michigan to victory on Saturday. The nerve injury in his elbow could rob him of that moment and the Pat White rushing record. I don't want to get into that because then I will cry all over my keyboard.

I can't think of to many players who have had this kind of impact on Michigan football. He is a true special talent and seeing him hit the banner one last time will have me fighting tears because I am happy for him and because I am selfish and don't want this to end. Thanks Denard for all the memories and I had such a great time making Deanrd MS Paints. Here is what Denard inspired in MS Paint form over the years. Enjoy.

The first Deanrd MS Paint. Since he can run at a speed of 85 mph it was only a matter of time before he went back to 2001 to make things right.

Denard hitting the banner. He is so fast he is a blur of course.

Maybe the best MM Denard MS Paint. This one was easy since these two(sonic and Denard) were meant for each other.

Yeah this one was out there. But Roundtree's and Denard's face alone made it worth the work.

Of course there was a sequel....

This was always a fav of mine and no one caught on that the Denards Destination was the 2009 Iowa game where he will replace himself and he won't throw the last INT and we end up winning.


This one was dumb but hey.. The Hokie farts and Kirk cries so it can't be that bad..

No doubt that this one is taking a shot at Denard but frustration sets in and you make stuff but the post ended with this...
So yeah... Best birds I ever drew had dreads.

Pretty much sums of the Zook fest of 2010.

Denard you are the man of your time and place. Thank you.

Some people are in the "we are 4-0! Shut up! Enjoy! Denard will figure out the passing game" and there is my people. "The passing game will cost us games when teams shut down the run." I can't lie I have been pretty disappointed with Denard's passing game this year. Some is the play calling but not a lot of it. He has flat out missed people on easy throws. He has thrown the ball into double coverage. He just looks bad at times.

At some point we will have to move the ball through the air and we can't count on Notre Dame Moon balls to get us there. I went through and looked at all the games again and pulled a few shots. In my simple caveman like mind there are three throws.

Easy: Completed,safe like a warm blanket and a solid pick up.
Hard: May not be completed, unsafe like working on a ladder.
WTF?: Not completed, unsafe like caravel rides, over throws and completed to the wrong team.

Easy
Denard is pretty good at these throws. We don't see them enough. This play can get him going a bit. He seems to throws these on a rope most the time.
Same throw here. Easy and safe. It gets Denard feeling good and fuzzy on the inside. Not sure why we don't throw more of these.
Koger makes a nice grab on a high throw from Denard. His throw kills any chance to make any extra yards on a routine easy throw and gets Kroger killed by a defender in the process. This throw for most QBs should be completed on the money 9 out 10 times.
Ahh a nice easy throw on target like a Sunday morning with a nice wet dew on a tree's leaves. More of these please.
I am not crazy about check downs but with Denard I love them. The other options this year have been bad so I will take a check down to Smith all day my brother.
Loved this play. I loved it when Rich ran it last year. Bring Koger across for an easy pitch and catch. i have only seen it once. I hope they are just holding off from using it. We need more money plays like this. I would run the shit out of this in NCAA 10(yes screw the last few NCAAs).
Another easy toss to Koger. Notice a common theme? The easy ones are either to Koger or Smith. Besides the few out passes in the first two pictures I haven't seen many times where Michigan has tried to find Hemingway and Roundtree for small easy pick ups(more later).

Hard
A deep bomb to Koger of all people who is covered pretty well. Its a hard throw for Denard out of the Power I. He over throws. Not much was there any way.
This wasn't the hardest throw but still a challenge for Denard. The ball goes way over the head and heads into safety land. It could have been picked but lucky enough they were chasing chickens out in the end zone.
Another hard throw for Denard. It Sails badly. Roundtree even has a step. He just has to hit him in stride. The ball ends up on the I-94 highway. #fileanotherawayintheoverthrow

W(what)T(the)F(fuck)?
Ball is tipped here but could have been picked off. Throws into two guys. When he looks down the field this throw shouldn't even be an option in his mind. He throws it anyway.
This should be listed under "easy" but goes to WTF? When he throws it behind the man. Just an easy throw that he misses on.
This one blew my mind. Denard thinks he is throwing to 1994 version of Shawn Kemp(not the 1999 one who gained 80lbs). He forgets its Smith. Ball goes sailing for INT. Its really not a hard throw. Its a screen pass. These are what OCs call since they are pretty easy to throw and if the blocking is done correct it can be a big gain. Thank god he hit in late in the game on screen for a TD.
I don't even know what to say. A bomb into double coverage. Roundtree has a better chance of playing pick up sticks with his butt cheeks. This tells me that Denard has his mind made up before he even snaps the ball.
A nice play call. A play action out of the power set. Ball sails. We kick for 3. Besides the point that Denard should have been on the bench at this point he really needs to make this pass. Its pretty easy. I dunno why but I have noticed its pretty much all over throws when missing the easy ones.
Once again just a giant over throw. If he hits the man in the hands then we can run with this. Instead the ball goes to the sky and we are stick at 2nd and 10.
This one sort of sucks but Denard throws it into two SDSU dudes and it was picked off. Hoke later blamed it on the route but I dunno when I watched it a 100 times over I think Denard lets it go way to early and defense is just waiting. Not an easy pass by any means but the ball shouldn't have even gone there.

Am I Hater?
No I don't think so. I love Denard(not as much as Brian). He has just struggled more with the passing game then I thought he would. I knew the growing pains would happen but I didn't think I would see him over throw a screen by 10 feet for INT.

His key wide receivers are starving. Hemingway has 5 catches for 211 yards and 1 TD... really? The dude is damn good. We need to find a way to get him the ball. easier routes or whatever just get it there. Outside of his three moon balls in the Notre Dame game he hasn't been targeted at all. At his current rate he will have 15 catches.

Roundtree has 5 catches for 44 yards and 1 historic TD. He should have that in a half. I think at this point last year he had 20 some catches. These guys need to be fed.

Here is a bizarre MS Paint to illustrate what I am saying. Complete with Birds with Dreads.

Now you can imagine Denard chewing up a football into little pieces and fee...never mind.

Anyway my point was that Denard has been way off. The new passing game is harder then I thought it would be. We need to find easier ways to get Hemingway and Roundtree the ball. They are some of our best play makers and right now they haven't been able to do much. A team will come along and stop Denard from running. Or ding him up. Its gonna happen people. Denard gonna have to find a way to get the ball to wide outs with out over throwing them by 10 yards.

I feel a small bit of terror now when steps back to throw. He already has 6 picks. Its gonna be around 20 by the seasons end. Unless he makes like a Neo(not a tree) and wakes up(not leaves). He just seems so 50/50 right now on every pass. Sometimes he over throws Smith on a screen by 20 feet in the air or he hits Gallon in stride for a set up winning touchdown. You really gotta take the bad with the good when it comes to Denard. I try to remind myself of that when he frustrates me because on the next drive he might break a 75 yard touchdown. I just want him to be able to make the easy throws and hit the barn.

This is a first for me. Until now, I have consistently held two rooting interests every Saturday without fail:

 

Denard Robinson, the guy with the smile that continues to melt my heart.

 

Last night I decided to head into downtown Grand Rapids, and catch the Virginia Tech vs. Boise St. game in bar. This normally isn’t my scene, especially now since the bars are all non smoking. I was all decked out in Michigan apparel just like I am every other day of the year. As I watched 2 very good teams play what turned out to be an instant classic, something occurred to me. From watching the Broncos and The Chokies play, in my infinite wisdom, I decided that Michigan could play with either one of those teams.

There was 2 guys sitting at the bar with me. They were both Michigan fans, however they were on the opposite  ends of the spectrum. The first guy was about as big of a homer as I am. He smiled ear to ear when he talked about how Denard torched the UConn defense. He made me proud to be a Michigan fan. The other guy only talked about how UConn could have made a game of it if their receivers had held on the GODDAMN ball. He talked about how ugly the Michigan secondary looked, and how if Denard Robinson continues to carry the ball 29 times per game, he will need Brock Mealar like rehab to ever walk again. I was shocked that this one dude could have so much negativity after such a fantastic performance.

I guess I can understand some of the negativity. Michigan is 8-16 over the course of the last two years. There hasn’t been a whole lot to be optimistic about. My argument to this is a simple quote from that timeless classic Billy Madison.

 

Don't you say that. Don't you ever say that. Stay here. Stay here as long as you can. For the love of God, cherish it. You have to cherish it.

 

We need to remain optimistic. Sure we may lose this week to Notre Dame, or we go out there and annihilate the Golden Domers. This is why they play the game. Denard Robinson may carry the ball 30 times a game for the next 3 years and never miss a down. None of us can see the future. Our Secondary may turn into 5 versions of Charles Woodson, we don’t know. This is why they play the game. If you truly love the Wolverines like I believe most of you do, then remain optimistic. Don’t let the doubts and what ifs creep into your minds. We are Michigan, THE LEADERS AND BEST. I believe this young football team gets that, and will do whatever it takes to be successful.

I was going to get into the bashing of the Huskies meme yet again but meh, I don’t feel like. After reading some of the UConn message boards, UConn fans seem like generally good dudes. I will be rooting for the Huskies the rest of the way. Win the Big East boys.

Bashing of Notre Dame however will begin in full tomorrow. FUCK YOU IRISH!!!!!!!!!!

 

Great Expectations are what we need to have!!!!!!

So a thread on The Mothership got me thinking today. Some people believe that Devin Gardner should get some playing time next year. Some other people even believe that Gardner should be the starting QB. I have a question for these people. Did you watch any of 2009 and more specifically the beginning of the season. Tate Forcier was amazing, the two game winning touchdown drives, the way he marched M down the field the very first time he stepped on it. He was an absolute joy to watch. I screamed myself horse watching the Notre Dame game, not from anger but from sheer joy at watching this kid play.

Now as we all know, a lot of Forcier’s problems stemmed from the injury he received in the Indiana game. He played through a large part of the year with a partially torn labrum. Now think about this, even though he is just a little guy, think of how tough you would have to be to play though pain, while getting knocked around because your offensive line can’t protect you. I can’t speak for any other Michigan fans out there, but you would have to be nuts to want to see anybody else taking snaps next year. The zone read was a problem for Forcier, who often would make the wrong reads, but with another year of experience isn’t it reasonable to assume that he will be able to execute the zone read much better. If he improves just a little bit, think of how much better this offense will be. Keep in mind this was by no means a bad offense last year.

So then what happens to Denard? I think at least for next year he continues to play Quarterback. My hope is that Rich Rod will install a WolverineCat package for Denard. If he can learn how to execute the zone read, I think a WolverineCat package could be extremely effective. Denard’s biggest problem last year was that he made poor reads. I think that a year in the film room with the coaches will allow him to make much better reads. I also (along with everyone else) expect the coaches to experiment with Denard at other positions, whether it be slot receiver or running back.

So where does this leave Mr. Gardner? Hopefully on the bench taking notes for the first year. Fwiw I think this kid is going to be amazing, but I hate the idea of starting a freshman three years in a row. I do think that in the event of a Forcier injury Gardner probably burns his redshirt.

Michigan Hoops preview coming tomorrow.