WILL MICHIGAN BE FINE...IN 2009?

                 (BUT MICHIGAN HAS TO PLAY UP TO THEIR TALENT LEVEL IN 2009)

      In the aftermath of 2008's 3-9 tragedy, most of us Michigan Wolverines fans have remained preoccupied this off-season with phrases like "installing Rich Rodriguez' spread offense, and Coach Rodriguez getting his players" or with the names Tate Forcier and Denard Robinson. Why wouldn't we be? After all, Michigan was dead last in The Big Ten in almost every major offensive category, with an abysmal QB rating of 95.2. We were operating most of the time, at what seemed like a snail's pace, often seeming to just go through the motions. There were flashes of a good offensive team at times against Minnesota, Purdue, and for the second half against Wisconsin or first half against Penn State...but the flashes soon dimmed to a dull flicker and went out as suddenly as they came in.

      One phrase I've heard most often is that we were running a system that forced round pegs into a square hole, at least offensively speaking. I think this does reign true, and for whatever reason we simply couldn't or wouldn't adjust our scheme to our players and we suffered for it drastically. Not only did our offense struggle but our defense was placed in such a position, that it had to win games and it simply wasn't good enough to do so. They could only hold on to leads for so long, and when you are asking your defense to work for 40 minutes in a game it's too much to ask. Ultimately, I think sometimes we as fans put the focus in the wrong area when it comes to expectations for Michigan this upcoming season. We are looking to the QB position the most intensely because it was such a deficient area last season, and that only stands to reason. Although it may be the single most important position upgrade that was needed this spring and summer, I believe the real issue this fall will be the supporting cast. How will they perform?

     First of all, can the defense step up, and will they be prepared come September 5th? We have SEVEN defensive players by my count that will be on the roster this fall, who were considered elite prospects in their high school class by major recruiting agencies. Brandon Graham, William Campbell, Jonas Mouton, Donavan Warren, Boubacar Cissoko, Justin Turner, and Craig Roh all received 5 star ratings (Roh was a top 50 ESPN). Add to that Michael Williams, Brandon Smith, and J.B. Fitgerald who were all top 10 in their position group(s) and/or were High School All-Americans. Mike Martin (Frosh AA) Ryan Van Bergen and Adam Patterson were mid to high level 4 star athletes as well as just about everyone in their two deep except for Middle Linebacker Obi Ezeh (Frosh All- American two years ago). Michigan is still young on defense, but they have a lot of young talent that is a year older than 2008's squad that can step in and step up, hopefully they will do it sooner than later.

     The offensive will have to get better in 2009, in terms of both execution and tempo. How many times have we heard "they couldn't get worse" from the pundits? It bears repeating though that they have nowhere to go but up. Anybody who watched the 2009 spring game could see that there was an indisputable difference in 2008 and 2009 spring. Michigan is much further along than they were a year ago, thanks in large part to having a talented dual-threat QB in Tate Forcier who knows how to run their scheme and manage within this system as a coach on the field. The quarterbacks this year...no matter how talented will be freshmen and are going to need  a lot of help from the playmakers. Sometimes the critics are a little to hard on our skill players I think, not taking into account the immense talent. Greg Matthews, Brandon Minor, Carlos Brown, Kevin Grady, Michael Shaw, Junior Hemingway, Darryl Stonum and Je'Ron Stokes are all either quasi 5 star or top 100 players or highly rated at their position coming out of High School. As were Kevin Koger, Martell Webb, Brandon Moore and the list goes on. The entire offensive line which was incredibly green in 2008 returns led by 5 star Stephen Schilling. The pieces are in place and the talent level on this team rivals any team in the Big Ten.

     In conclusion, it is the second year under Rodriguez (you know what that means), and the team should understand all the concepts offensively. They have an upgraded defensive staff with Greg Robinson, a talented system-fitting QB and plenty of talent and game experience all over the field. It shouldn't all be placed on a true freshman quarterback's shoulders to save or carry the team, and I honestly don't believe it will be. It's really still too early to gauge this team with much accuracy because there are too many unknowns. If I had to bet now I'd give them an over/under of 6-7 wins, anything more being a great success. Still, it is a strong possibilty that this team can win more than that in my opinion based on the level of talent they have on paper. The question is will they play up to that level, and possibly more important...will they be coached up to that level? If they play sold defense, and establish the running game early it will give Mr. Forcier (or Robinson) time to develop, and that will ultimately be the key to their season, and possibly to Coach Rod's ultimate success at Michigan.