Please allow me to introduce you to Michigan’s new backup quarterback, walk-on redshirt freshman Brian Cleary.
Name: Brian Cleary
Height: 6’3”
Weight: 199
Position: Quarterback
High school: University of Detroit Jesuit
Class: Redshirt freshman
Offers: Did not hold any Division I offers, but reported interest from much of
the MAC and many Division II and Ivy League schools
Ratings: Ranked as a
2-star prospect to Rivals, Scout, and 24/7 Sports; unranked by ESPN and
TTB
Notes: Carried a 4.1 high school GPA. . . .first team All-Catholic League as a junior and senior. . . .”has earned praise” from Al Borges.
Stats: Threw for 1,400 yards and 14 touchdowns with four interceptions as a senior.
Scouting: “Accurate and has a live arm, and also capable of making throws on the run. Also has mechanical work to do, but definitely some things to like about him as a prospect.” – Allen Trieu
Senior year highlights:
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He has a decent build, but avg. at about everything else. Ball floats, no zip. Would not consider him "fast" either. Looks like a poor man's Bellomy.
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Jeeeeezzzzzz, please don't make these conclusions based upon highlight high school film. He was a gamer at a notably weak football program that had his brains bashed in by the Ross's, Godins,Reschke's, Shallman's, etc of the Catholic League. A lot of productivity with a very weak team around him. Most likely not coached by a stellar QB coach so you will probably see a few sloppy throughs. He was very dangerous in many of the games. His speed is also pretty good – he is definately faster than Morris. Saw him at practice last Friday and he was hussled in and ended up getting a ton of reps for obvious reasons. While it doesn't assure success he definately calmed-down and started making some good throws. Rather than bash him with your internet scouting ability why don't you let him be and hope that he rises to the occaision? Would be great if he can take the reigns occoaisionally and effectively so Shane can develop and learn the system.
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I think his film looks pretty good. He has decent speed for a pro-style QB and he throws the ball fairly well. The grade point avg means he's a smart kid. I'm really glad we have him on the team..
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Did you miss the part that he did not have a single Div 1 offer?
You can put lip stick on a pig, its still a pig. We're in major trouble if he plays in prime time.
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Did you miss the part that he did not have a single Div 1 offer?
You can put lip stick on a pig, its still a pig. We're in major trouble if he plays in prime time.
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Again Gordon – you don't know enough to be bashing these kids. It was known that he was wanted to go to Michigan if he didn't go to an Ivy League program. Some of his offer situation was self inflicted because of this. I'm not saying he should have been a 30 offer guy, but I hope and believe he may have enough to fill the role adequately until Morris gets up to speed.
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Yeah, I gotta go with Anon here.
It's tough to be all conference in the Catholic League, this kid did it twice without a helluva lot of support, while not humping QB camps all over the country a la Shane Morris.
While also making it very clear to anybody paying any attention at all that while he appreciated all the interest from other BIG schools including MSU, Purdue, Northwestern and I'm pretty sure Illinois among others, along with about every MAC school, he was looking for an Ivy League or Michigan offer.
Throw in the fact that he was a two time Captain and you gotta think the kid has a chance to be an effective game manager at minimum. Game manager not good enough for ya? I got two words ….. Craig Krenzel.
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Suppose something happened to Gardner and Morris was, for some reason, "unavailable." If Gardner is a 10 (out of 10), how would you guys score Bellomy as a replacement (0 to 10)? Cleary?
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Okay, so I'm just going to operate under the assumption that Gardner is a 10, and a 1 would be Quinton Washington.
So. I'll give Bellomy a 6 and Cleary a 5. Neither one is probably capable of carrying the team. Unless Michigan can obliterate teams on the ground and get production from the running backs, I think they would be in terrible shape if Gardner got hurt.
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What would you give Morris? He's definitely got the edge in physical tools, but he needs a fair amount of polish himself and he lacks the experience in the system that Bellomy and Cleary have. Would he be a 7? 5? Also, do you think it's a given that Morris would beat out Cleary?
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I think it would be awesome for Q to get a few snaps. Let's rescale this and make him a 10. What would Richard Ash and Willie Henry get?
Seriously, thanks for scoring Russ and Cleary. Hopefully Gardner will stay healthy next year.
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@Guido
Willie Henry would get a 14. He throws the best fade on the team.
@Paul Danao
I would give Morris a 5.5. Both Bellomy and Cleary are probably going to know the offense better, but Morris has better overall physical talent.
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Wasn't Brian Griese a walk on QB? He turned out alright, if I remember correctly. Definitely more Grit than Polish to him, but hey as long as the defense never let's anyone score, you only need a field goal or two to win.
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Griese was brought in when Michigan didn't have enough scholarships to go around, so he was essentially on the level of a grayshirt or preferred walk-on. He was promised a scholarship, but they couldn't give it to him immediately. IIRC, he also had scholarship offers from other Division I schools, which I don't believe to be the case with Cleary.
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UDJ fun facts: in addition to Jordan Morgan being a U of D Jesuit grad, I'm pretty sure Gardner attended UDJ for at least one year before transferring to Inkster. Odd that for a non-football school (I would know; I attended UDJ), UM's QB depth chart will likely read (1) UDJ transfer, (2) UDJ grad.
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Not only that but Braylon Edwards and Damon Webb (OSU 2014 recruit) also attended UDJHS&A. Unfortunately, only one graduated.
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Sorry, that was not a well crafted last sentence. Let´s go with: "Unfortunately, only one of the four (Edwards, Gardner, Cleary, or Webb) graduated. AMDG
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Give this young man a chance were acting like DG is hurt, how many D1 offers did Jordan Kovacs have? That seemed to work out pretty well!!!
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Not a bad analogy. If there's one position where a guy with a great football head and intuition can be good despite average physical talent, it's QB. Its also good that we're moving to the WCO, as Joe Montana wasnt the greatest athlete to play QB, and that worked out fine (though I'm sure Montana's measurables are better).
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Give this young man a chance were acting like DG is hurt, how many D1 offers did Jordan Kovacs have? That seemed to work out pretty well!!!
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So how did Bellomy get hurt?
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I don't think that has been revealed. It was supposedly in a non-contact portion of practice, but not sure if he was taking team reps, doing agility training, running a QB drill, or what.
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I'd love for this kid to be a great underdog story, but let's be realistic — Morris is the backup the day he sets foot on campus. It would take another injury, or some type of disciplinary problem for him not to be ahead of a kid on the depth chart who had no I-A offers and only has one redshirt year of seniority on him. Maybe if the kid was a fifth year senior, but — a redshirt freshman? No way.
The only question to me is — will the coaches burn Morris's redshirt early in the year against Akron and CMU, or will they roll the dice and hope that Gardner can play every meaningful snap? If they take the second option, then they might use Clearly in mop-up duty in the hopes that they won't need Morris this year for real duty. I don't think that's going to happen though. Morris is going to be the guy who comes off the bench. He's got to get reps and be prepared. He's going to be forced into action at some point. We haven't had a starter make it through a season completely unscathed since 2006.
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Hopefully our running game takes a huge turnaround and pressure is taken off the QB. I expect our line to solidify after the ND game.
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While I don't think Cleary is a burgeoning superstar, based on his high school film, I would say he's a better QB prospect than guys like Jack Kennedy and Nick Sheridan. For a walk-on, I think he's pretty solid. He's still young so I'm not saying he would be stellar this year, but he does have potential.
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