Tag: Raymon Taylor

Michigan vs. Michigan State Awards

Drew Dileo

Let’s see more of this guy on offense . . . Drew Dileo.  He’s not a big-play threat in the sense that he’ll run a long way after the catch or break open deep, but he’s a very clutch receiver who just finds ways to get open.  And when the ball gets thrown to him, he catches it.  Knock on wood.

Let’s see less of this guy on offense . . . Jeremy Jackson.  Denard Robinson targeted Jackson deep a couple times, and it was uneventful.  Jackson is a slow possession receiver.  If you want to run someone deep, send Gardner, Roundtree, or Gallon.  Heck, even Amara Darboh runs better than Jackson, though the former is just a freshman.  Jackson isn’t even that great of a blocker, so I’m not sure why he’s seeing so much time.

Let’s see more of this guy on defense . . . Raymon Taylor.  I’m not Taylor’s biggest fan, but I’m starting to get concerned about the cornerback depth once again.  With starter Blake Countess out for the season and his replacement Taylor knocked out of the game on Sunday, Michigan was nearing the bottom of the barrel.  The only scholarship corners left are sophomore Delonte Hollowell and freshman Terry Richardson, both of whom are tiny and inexperienced.

Let’s see less of this guy on defense . . . nobody.  The defense is playing very well.

Play of the game . . . in a tight game like this, there were lots of key plays.  One was Thomas Gordon raking the ball out of the tight end’s hands on the goal line.  Another was Robinson’s late throw to Dileo to set up the field goal.  But I have to give this one to Brendan Gibbons for hitting the 38-yard, game-winning field goal.

MVP of the game . . . Drew Dileo.  Yeah, somebody had to throw the passes, but Michigan’s receivers were struggling to get open and struggling to hold onto the ball.  But Dileo didn’t really have those issues.  He was also the holder on all four field goals.

Michigan 12, Michigan State 10

Drew Dileo (image via AnnArbor.com)

Well, that was terrifying.  That was way too much of a heart attack game for my liking.  I mean, I still liked the end result and everything, but that game was frustrating.  Neither team could do anything consistently on offense, and I’m not convinced that it’s because both defenses are great.  Both defenses are very good, but the offenses are just so-so.

That being said, yay!  Good golly, I hate Mark Dantonio.  I hate William Gholston, too, but Dantonio is the biggest tool of a coach in the Big Ten, even more so than Bret Bielema.  It would have felt great to see Dantonio lose, even if Michigan wasn’t the opponent.  It just makes the win that much sweeter that seniors Denard Robinson, Elliott Mealer, Patrick Omameh, Jordan Kovacs, Craig Roh, etc. succeed in their last chance to beat the Spartans.  Congratulations to those guys.

Thank you, Drew Dileo.  Wide receiver Drew Dileo played a great game.  He’s never going to be the fastest player in the field, and he certainly isn’t the biggest.  But he’s the type of do-it-all player and possession receiver that finds all kinds of ways to win a football game.  He came up huge in the Sugar Bowl against Virginia Tech, and he had another standout performance on Saturday with 4 catches for 92 yards . . . and as the holder on all four of Michigan’s scoring plays.

Brendan Gibbons and Matt Wile were great.  I was extremely impressed with the solid kicking from these two guys.  Gibbons was 3/3 kicking, including the 38-yard game-winner.  Wile was 1/1 in his first career chance to kick a field goal, and that one was a long attempt from 48 yards.  Obviously, each of the four kicks was huge.

Jeremy Jackson is slow.  At a couple points in the game, I couldn’t help harking back to the days when wide receiver Jeremy Jackson was recruited.  I said then that he didn’t have the athleticism to be an impact player at Michigan, and I still question why he’s on the field so much.  Denard Robinson targeted him a couple times deep, and while the throws could have been more accurate, Jackson looked like he was running in quicksand.  If the play call is for someone to go deep, then Jackson should be replaced by someone with a little giddyup.

The defense was pretty darn good.  There wasn’t much of a pass rush, and the coverage on the outside was mediocre.  But the Wolverines only allowed 68 yards to Le’Veon Bell (on 26 carries) and 86 total rushing yards to the offense (punter Mike Sadler ran 26 yards on a fake punt, which I won’t pin on the defense).  Desmond Morgan (11 tackles) is playing very well, and Jake Ryan (10 tackles, 1 sack) was all over the place once again, and Bell’s longest run was 8 yards.

Cornerbacks are a concern.  J.T. Floyd made a couple nice plays on short passes and supporting the run, which is an improvement for him; however, he was beaten deep a couple times by receivers who were unable to hook up with MSU quarterback Andrew Maxwell.  Meanwhile, Raymon Taylor left with an elbow injury, leaving the opposite side to slot corner Courtney Avery.  I’m hoping that Taylor can return soon, because the Wolverines are running out of healthy corners.  The only other guys left on the roster are backup slot corner Delonte Hollowell and tiny freshman Terry Richardson.

Michigan has 900 wins.  That’s more wins than any other football program in the history of the whole wide universe.  By comparison, Michigan State has 643 all-time victories.  The Wolverines are now 68-32-5 against the Spartans.

Michigan 44, Purdue 13

Denard Robinson had 235 rushing yards and 1 passing touchdown in the 44-13 win

Michigan’s defense is awesome or Purdue’s offense is terrible.  I couldn’t figure out which it was.  I’m leaning toward the latter, really, because Purdue found it necessary to try three different quarterbacks and a bunch of trick plays.  Don’t get me wrong – Michigan’s defense looked good.  But Purdue couldn’t do anything with consistency.  A couple trick plays turned out fairly well, and Robert Marve’s first few plays were productive.  But otherwise, they just don’t look like an offense that should scare any decent defensive teams.

I’m officially concerned about Fitzgerald Toussaint and the running game.  Toussaint (17 carries, 19 yards, 2 touchdowns) looks slower this year, quite frankly.  He also looks like he’s dancing too much instead of burrowing forward for a couple yards when he can.  Of course, it starts with the offensive line, and I haven’t been impressed this year with what the offensive line is doing.  None of the offensive linemen has taken a step forward this year, in my opinion.  Taylor Lewan has taken a step backward, and the other guys are just average.  Obviously, Denard Robinson (24 carries, 235 yards) was great, but the offensive line can’t open holes for the running backs.  Even Thomas Rawls, who had good numbers (4 carries, 33 yards, 1 touchdown), had to break tackles at the line of scrimmage to get anything done.

The broadcasters were terrible.  One of them called it a “flea flicker” when Robert Marve hit a wide receiver on a hitch, then tossed it backward to the running back coming out of the backfield.  That’s a “hook and lateral.”  I thought the dumb interpretation of that was “hook and ladder” but the BTN guys took it one notch stupider.  Also, there was no way that Denard Robinson was down at the 1-yard line on the play they reviewed.  Even if the officials determined that Robinson’s elbow hit the ground prior to the ball crossing the plane of the end zone, the ball should have been placed at about the 2-inch line.  I couldn’t believe that the refs didn’t change the spot of the ball (or award the touchdown), but the announcers didn’t point it out, either.

Raymon Taylor had an okay game.  Taylor hasn’t lit the world on fire and did get beaten on a slant for a touchdown, but I have to give credit where credit is due.  This was his second consecutive game with an interception, and he returned this one 63 yards for a touchdown.

Denard Robinson zone read anger.  Twice in this game, Robinson held onto the ball too long before pulling it out of the running back’s stomach.  The first time it worked okay for him because he gained a bunch of yards, even though his running back (Toussaint or Smith, I can’t remember) got smoked.  The second time it was disastrous because he got Smith crushed and, oh yeah, Robinson fumbled the ball in the process.  He gains a lot of yards because he’s a dynamic runner, but he’s never been adept at running those plays.

I’m really liking the linebacker crew.  I thought Jake Ryan (6 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 1 sack), Kenny Demens (6 tackles), and Desmond Morgan (6 tackles, 2 tackles for loss) all played very well.  There’s not much experienced depth, but the guys backing them up are pretty good, too.  I like James Ross as a prospect, but I don’t think anyone can really justify the talk about Morgan getting passed.  Michigan should be able to field a pretty good inside linebacker crew next year from some combination of Morgan, Ross, and Joe Bolden, not to mention a few other good linebacker prospects.

I liked the game plan.  If Denard Robinson can throw the ball fewer than 20 times a game, that’s probably a good thing.  Between good defense and running the ball well, the game wasn’t on Denard’s throwing shoulder.  Offensive coordinator Al Borges said that he re-evaluated his play calls from the past couple seasons, and he seemed to conclude that throwing the ball with Denard is a bad idea.  Good for him.  Robinson still missed a wide open Fitzgerald Toussaint on a swing pass that would have gained a first down and had a couple other questionable throws, but a 50% completion percentage isn’t so terrible when you’re only throwing the ball 16 times.

Michigan vs. UMass Awards

Mike Kwiatkowski

Let’s see more of this guy on offense . . . Mike Kwiatkowski.  I like what I’ve seen out of him so far.  He caught a 16-yard pass and that’s all, but he looks pretty athletic and does a decent job of blocking.  Despite Brandon Moore getting the Ron Kramer “Legends” #87 jersey, I think Kwiatkowski is the superior player.

Let’s see less of this guy on offense . . . opponents running with the football.  Three games, four interceptions for Denard Robinson.  The one in this game was returned for six points.  A senior quarterback should not be making these mistakes.

Let’s see more of this guy on defense . . . Joe Bolden.  I’m not a huge fan of replacing seniors with freshmen, but Bolden has done a good job the past couple weeks.  Starting middle linebacker Kenny Demens played the vast majority of snaps last season, but Michigan can afford to rest him (or replace him?) with Bolden and not miss a whole lot.  He’s more athletic than Demens.

Let’s see less of this guy on defense . . . Raymon Taylor.  I really think Taylor is overmatched.  I’m not sure if Michigan has a better option (Courtney Avery? Terry Richardson?), but I’m worried about how Taylor will match up against Notre Dame and other future opponents.

Play of the game . . . Devin Gardner’s catch-and-run.  Gardner did a great job of catching the ball, getting upfield, and stretching for the pylon.  He’s deceptively strong for having a lanky frame and did a great job of staying inbounds when it looked like he would get knocked out at around the 2-yard line.

MVP of the game . . . Denard Robinson.  He ran 10 times for 106 yards and 1 touchdown.  He completed 16/24 passes for 291 yards and 3 touchdowns.  The turnovers and near turnovers are frustrating, but the bottom line is that he accounted for 397 yards and 4 touchdowns.

Michigan vs. Air Force Awards

Devin Funchess caught 4 passes for 106 yards and this touchdown.

Let’s see more of this guy on offense . . . Devin Funchess.  The freshman tight end burst onto the scene Saturday with a 4-catch, 106-yard, 1-touchdown performance.  His 30-yard touchdown reception showed him getting behind a safety and leaping to snatch the ball out of the air.  Brandon Moore can’t do that, and I doubt A.J. Williams can.  Kevin Koger could do it occasionally, but Koger caught 4 passes just twice in his career and never had more than 60 yards in a single game.

Let’s see less of this guy on offense . . . Denard Robinson.  Twenty carries is too many.  The team needs to get the running backs going.  Fitzgerald Toussaint had 8 carries for 7 yards in this game.  Thomas Rawls had 6 carries for 9 yards last week.  And those were your starting tailbacks.  Yep, 14 carries for 16 yards through two games.  Michigan needs to improve the play of the offensive line and let these tailbacks run a little bit.

Let’s see more of this guy on defense . . . Courtney Avery.  I was not impressed with Raymon Taylor’s performance at cornerback on Sunday, and I think Avery should remain the starter at field corner.  The coaches need to find another contributor for the slot corner spot, whether it’s Taylor, Delonte Hollowell, or Thomas Gordon.  The injury to Blake Countess and the departure of Terrence Talbott have really hurt Michigan’s secondary.

Let’s see less of this guy on defense . . . Frank Clark.  Clark is still too undisciplined.  Yes, he made a couple nice plays, but he also made a couple bone-headed plays where he was culpable for losing contain.  He needs to be more consistent.  Hopefully Brennen Beyer’s injury isn’t too serious, because Beyer needs to get a bunch of snaps there.  Mario Ojemudia also looks decent as a bit player, although his size will become more of a detriment once the Big Ten season hits.

Play of the game . . . Denard Robinson’s 58-yard touchdown run.  The first touchdown run was longer (79 yards), but the second was more fun to watch.  He slid to the left, waiting for Patrick Omameh to pull through the hole, then burst forward, cut to the right, cut upfield, jumped outside to the right sideline, and outraced the Air Force defense to the corner.

MVP of the game . . . Denard Robinson.  Jake Ryan had a great game, too, but Robinson had 218 rushing yards, 208 passing yards, and accounted for all 4 of Michigan’s touchdowns.  He could have thrown the ball better, but he made just about every play possible in the running game.  He also seems to be developing a rapport with wide receiver Devin Gardner and tight end Funchess.