Big Ten Football Morning Coffee: No More 'Bad Denard' Robinson?
Rise and shine, friends. Here's what's going down in the Big Ten today.
Michigan Wolverines
Michigan head coach Brady Hoke praised senior quarterback Denard Robinson on Monday, noting that Robinson had improved his throwing as a quarterback and specifically that Robinson was more "decisive with his throws."
This is bad news for opposing secondaries who enjoyed the small handful of Bad Denard passes that Robinson would heave on a weekly basis; this usually consisted of dropping back to pass, seeing very few options, and trying to lead the one semi-open receiver about 20 yards farther than the receiver can actually go.
This is also called "arm-punting," and it's good that Robinson is trying to get rid of that aspect of his game before the rules change and secondary members are finally allowed to start calling for fair catches on some of his passes.
Wisconsin Badgers
Wisconsin landed a verbal from two-way prospect Austin Ramesh, a 2013 fullback/linebacker. It's insanely premature to start dreaming about an Owen Marecic situation at Stanford (Marecic famously started at both those positions as a senior in 2010), but if Bret Bielema were to go down that road, Ramesh sounds like the guy to fill that role.
Incidentally, Ramesh only has a grayshirt offer from Wisconsin at this point, meaning he'd join the team in January 2014, but he says he's been told that the next 2013 scholarship that opens up will be offered to him.
Penn State Nittany Lions
Remember Devon Smith? The guy who had drugs and drug paraphernalia seized from his apartment 12 days ago, according to police, and just never told the coaches about it? No comment from Penn State head coach Bill O'Brien so far, and Smith was in a helmet and practicing on Monday.
Also worth reiterating: No charges have been filed yet against Smith or his roommate, former Penn State DE Jack Crawford.
Purdue Boilermakers
And finally, would you vote for Purdue safety Ishmael Aristide and quarterback Rob Henry for student president? What if we told you Aristide did a solid impression of the Old Spice guy?
"Leading with class, on and off the grass." Is that a drugs reference? Damn kids these days.
