Tag: Denard Robinson

Practice Video: August 16, 2011

Poll Results: Michigan’s Fastest Player?

Denard Robinson blazes out of the blocks with former Michigan offensive line coach Greg Frey watching from the background.

Denard Robinson: 87%
Troy Woolfolk: 6%
Josh Furman: 3%
Michael Shaw: 1%
Darryl Stonum: 0%

In a predictable landslide victory, Denard Robinson wins the race.  I wasn’t fully convinced that Robinson was the fastest dude on the team until the Notre Dame game last year.  His acceleration on that 87-yard touchdown run was incredible.

The only player that I thought might give him a run for his money was Troy Woolfolk, an indoor track runner himself.  Woolfolk’s nickname when he was playing free safety back in 2009 was “The Eraser” for the way he made up for everyone else’s mistakes.  I have yet to see him truly get burned in a footrace, so hopefully he can return from his ankle injury without lingering effects.

Furman and Shaw are both speedsters in their own right.  Furman reportedly ran a 4.37 forty yard dash in high school, and Shaw was a potential qualifier for the Junior Olympics in high school if he had decided to stick with track.

Stonum is a little too boozed up to run straight right now, so I guess that’s why he didn’t get any votes.

Feedback Requested: Potential Rating System

Denard Robinson – Image via MGoBlog.com

I have been toying with creating my own ratings system for a while, and the increased readership here at Touch the Banner – although far short of being a college football blogging juggernaut – has made it a more realistic option.  I’m somewhat flattered that people trust my analysis and observations to the point that some are requesting even more information, but this is just as much an entertaining endeavor for me so I can look back at my ratings in a few years and see whether I was in the ballpark.

Moving beyond all that, I’m requesting any feedback you might have on the rating system I’m proposing below.  The 5-star systems used by Rivals and Scout make very little sense to me (sometimes the 30th-best player and the 300th-best player both have a 4-star ranking), and ESPN’s 100-point scale is somewhat ridiculous, too (even though ESPN has 100 points to play with, virtually all recruits seem to fall within the 77-81 range on the scale).

Therefore, I’m proposing using a rating system loosely based on . . . EA Sports’ NCAA Football series, because everyone understands it and there’s more opportunity for differentiating between prospects.  Here are my thoughts for rankings:

100 = Prospect could immediately be star in the NFL
90-99 = Prospect has high likelihood of developing into All-America or first round NFL draft pick
80-89 = Prospect has high likelihood of being an all-conference player or mid-round NFL draft pick
70-79 = Prospect has high likelihood of being solid starter in college or fringe NFL draft pick
60-69 = Prospect has high likelihood of being a career college backup or occasional starter
50-59 = Prospect has little chance to make an impact at FBS college level
0-49 = Prospect has little chance of tying shoes without falling down

Please leave comments or e-mail me if you have any suggestions for tweaking the rating system, or if you just want to say, “Looks good, so get on with the ratings!!!!”

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2011 Spring Game Statistics

I haven’t seen these posted anywhere and struggled to find them through a Google search, so here are the statistics from Michigan’s spring game on April 16, as tallied by The Wolverine:

PASSING
Denard Robinson: 5/14, 71 yards
Devin Gardner: 5/10, 99 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT
Steve Wilson: 0/2
Jack Kennedy: 1/2, 10 yards

RUSHING
Michael Cox: 4 carries, 82 yards, 1 TD
Denard Robinson: 6 carries, 48 yards
Michael Shaw: 3 carries, 39 yards
Stephen Hopkins: 6 carries, 17 yards
Fitzgerald Toussaint: 7 carries, 14 yards
Jihad Rasheed: 3 carries, 10 yards
O’Neil Swanson: 3 carries, 5 yards
Steve Wilson: 1 carry, 1 yard
Vincent Smith: 1 carry, 0 yards
Jack Kennedy: 1 carry, -3 yards
Devin Gardner: 4 carries, -9 yards

RECEIVING
Jordan Barpal: 1 catch, 50 yards
Je’ron Stokes: 2 catches, 34 yards, 1 TD
Vincent Smith: 1 catch, 33 yards
Kelvin Grady: 1 catch, 10 yards
O’Neil Swanson: 1 catch, 10 yards
Kevin Koger: 1 catch, 7 yards

SACKS
Jake Ryan: 2
Carvin Johnson: 1
Craig Roh: 1

INTERCEPTIONS
Carvin Johnson: 2
Marell Evans: 1
Jake Ryan: 1 (returned for a TD)

FIELD GOALS
Seth Broekhuizen: 0/1 (missed from 30 yards)
Brendan Gibbons: 0/1 (missed from 48 yards)

PUNTING
Will Hagerup: 2 punts, 79 yards

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Spring Game Highlights