What Could Have Been . . . Austin White

Tag: Ryan Mallett


11Jan 2011
Uncategorized 3 comments

What Could Have Been . . . Austin White

Former Michigan running back Austin White has enrolled at Central Michigan University and joined the football program there.  White was a part of the Class of 2010 and enrolled at Michigan in January 2010, but he clashed with the coaches and got into some trouble over the summer.  White was one of the players who had to “earn his wings” in fall camp, and the two parties decided to go their separate ways prior to the season.

Visit the Ex-Wolverine Encyclopedia page to find updates on former Michigan commits/players like Dewayne Peace, Sam McGuffie, Ryan Mallett, Shavodrick Beaver, Pearlie Graves, DeQuinta Jones, Dann O’Neill, Bryce McNeal, Kevin Newsome, Toney Clemons, Cobrani Mixon, and Quintin Woods.

6Jan 2011
Uncategorized 20 comments

Top 10 Failures of Rich Rodriguez

1.  Losing games.  This is obvious, but it belongs on the list.  Rodriguez finished his three years at Michigan with a 15-22 record.  That winning percentage (.405) is the worst in Michigan history.

2. Losing to rivals.  Rodriguez was 0-6 against Michigan’s two biggest rivals, Ohio State and Michigan State.  If you want to include Penn State, he was 0-9.  He was outscored by a total of 317-140 in those nine games.  It’s unclear how much a couple victories against Ohio State or Michigan State might have affected Rodriguez’s tenure, but wins against Indiana and Purdue don’t carry the same weight.

3. Neutering Scott Shafer.  Shafer has proven to be a solid defensive coordinator at every other stop – Western Michigan, Stanford, and Syracuse.  The former two were prior to Shafer’s hiring at Michigan.  But Rodriguez’s other defensive assistants were proponents of the 3-3-5 and seemed to undermine his authority.  Late in the season, Rodriguez even authorized a mid-season switch of defensive schemes from the 4-3 to a 3-3-5; Michigan subsequently allowed 42 points to Purdue, a team using a converted running back to play QB.  Shafer could have been a good coordinator at Michigan and helped Rodriguez keep his job, but he was fired after the 2008 season because, well, someone’s head needed to roll after a 3-9 season.

4. Hiring Greg Robinson.  Robinson had intermittent success as a coordinator in the NFL and in college.  But just like Shafer, Robinson was a 4-3 or a 3-4 guy.  In my opinion, the defense showed some promise in 2009, when Robinson used safety Steve Brown as an outside linebacker and freshman Craig Roh as a rush linebacker.  However, Rodriguez used the 2009-10 offseason to convert to the 3-3-5, and Robinson was obviously uncomfortable and inexperienced with running that defensive set.  That resulted in 458 points allowed in 2010, an average of 35.2 points per game.

5. Not retaining holdover players from the Carr era.  Michigan was extremely short-handed in 2009, fielding a team of 69 or 70 players who were given scholarships right out of high school.  Some of those players were bound for a career of anonymity, I’m sure, but others were not.  Quarterback Ryan Mallett was vaguely in Heisman contention this season.  Justin Boren became an All-Big Ten guard at Ohio State.  Adrian Arrington chose to enter the NFL Draft (and became only a 7th round choice) a year early.  Rodriguez can’t shoulder the blame entirely for these departures, but there’s no question that a guy like Boren would have been helpful in 2008 and 2009, the former season featuring a starting guard (John Ferrara) that was a mid-season position switcher from defensive tackle.

6. Stretching too much.  The Detroit Free Press reported some trumped-up charges regarding Michigan’s practice schedule, and that sparked an NCAA investigation.  While the charges were blown out of proprtion, they were a black mark on the Michigan program and resulted in probation and some lost practice hours.  Rodriguez wasn’t responsible for everything that went wrong in the compliance department, but his staff did fail to keep track of its countable practice hours accurately and a graduate assistant watched some voluntary 7-on-7s, which is a no-no.

7. Not finding his Steve Slaton.  Pat White got a lot of hype at West Virginia, but running back Steve Slaton was almost as important as White.  And prior to White’s arrival on campus, Rodriguez used running backs like Quincy Wilson and Kay-Jay Harris to great effect.  Rodriguez never found “that guy” at Michigan, partially due to injuries and partially due to recruiting.  Therefore, the offense wasn’t as spectacular as it might have been.  The lack of a running game cost Michigan a couple games throughout his tenure.

8. Not developing top prospects.  Rodriguez seemed to have an abnormal number of high-end recruits bomb out of the program.  And it’s probably a coincidence, but most of them seemed to come from the defensive secondary.  Four 4-star players recruited by Rodriguez never made a significant positive impact at Michigan (Demar Dorsey, Boubacar Cissoko, Justin Turner, Vladimir Emilien), which resulted in five true freshman defensive backs seeing significant time in 2010.  Furthermore, arguably Michigan’s best prospect in the last few classes (William Campbell) has yet to make an impact at Michigan and just switched from nose tackle to offensive guard in the middle of the season.

9. Handing out the #1 jersey to J.T. Floyd.  Before Rodriguez ever coached a snap at Michigan, he tried to give the #1 jersey to true freshman cornerback J.T. Floyd.  He was either unaware of the jersey’s significance or chose to ignore that aspect, but it was nonetheless a mistake.  Nothing seemed to highlight the fact that Rodriguez wasn’t a “Michigan Man” more than the #1 jersey snafu, which pitted some alumni and fans against him from the start.

10.  Poor player personnel decisions.  Part of the heat falls on the assistant coaches, but Rodriguez shoulders most of this blame because he has the final say: Rodriguez didn’t put his players in their best positions to succeed.  Running backs Sam McGuffie and Vincent Smith played far too much when there were more productive and explosive backs on the roster (Brandon Minor and Michael Shaw for starters).  Obi Ezeh should have been an outside linebacker starting back in 2008; and at least according to their play on the field, Ezeh should have been replaced by Kenny Demens much earlier.  Cameron Gordon – who has linebacker speed – spent half the 2010 season playing free safety.  William Campbell spent two years toiling on the defensive line before making a permanent move to the offensive line, and he didn’t even redshirt to allow for a fifth year of eligibility.

6Sep 2010
Uncategorized 3 comments

Former Michigan Athlete of the Week: Ryan Mallett


Former Michigan quarterback Ryan Mallett transferred to Arkansas after his freshman season in 2007. He had a stellar redshirt sophomore season in 2009, and he’s in the conversation as a Heisman front-runner in 2010. On Saturday he was 21/24 for 301 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 1 interception against Tennessee Tech.

Honorable mention: Another former Michigan quarterback, Steve Threet, started for Arizona State against Portland State on Saturday. Threet was 14/21 for 239 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 1 interception in a 54-9 victory. He also rushed 3 times for 24 yards.

6Jan 2010
Uncategorized no comments

What Could Have Been . . . Ryan Mallett

Ryan Mallett
Quarterback Ryan Mallett was an early commitment in Michigan’s 2007 recruiting class. Always considered to be headed to Arkansas, he instead chose to become a Wolverine because he didn’t want to sit behind Mitch Mustain at quarterback for three years. He thought it was a better idea to sit behind senior Chad Henne for one season and take over Lloyd Carr’s quarterback factory of an offense in 2008.
Unfortunately for Michigan, Mallett didn’t like the cold and wasn’t a model citizen. He considered transferring practically when he arrived at Michigan in Winter 2007, and he followed through with those plans as soon as Rich Rodriguez was hired in December 2007. As a freshman in Carr’s final year at the helm, Mallett played for Henne when the latter injured his knee and shoulder. Mallett even started a couple games and finished the year 892 yards, 7 touchdowns, 5 interceptions, a 43.3% completion percentage, and a 105.69 passer efficiency rating. But his taste of playing time wasn’t enough to convince him to stick around for Rodriguez’s read option offense.
Arkansas quarterback Mitch Mustain had transferred to USC, and Mallett transferred to Arkansas to fill his position. He appealed to the NCAA in an attempt to allow him to play for Arkansas in 2008, but lost and had to redshirt last season.
In 2009, Mallett started for Arkansas and finished the season 225/403 (55.8%), 3627 yards, 30 touchdowns, 7 interceptions, and a 152.52 passer efficiency rating. He had -29 yards rushing with 2 touchdowns on the ground. He’s explored the possibility of jumping to the NFL early, and he’s been talked about as an early Heisman candidate for the 2010 season.
By comparison, Michigan’s quarterbacks – mainly Tate Forcier, with bits of Denard Robinson, Nick Sheridan, and David Cone – finished the 2009 season 189/329 (57.4%), 2380 yards, 15 touchdowns, 15 interceptions, and a 124.14 passer efficiency rating. They also rushed for 608 yards and 8 touchdowns.

The offense would not have been the same with Mallett, who’s about 6’7″ and 235 lbs. He would have been less of a threat to run than Forcier or Robinson, but the passing game likely would have been upgraded if Mallett were still in Ann Arbor. Michigan’s lack of a downfield passing game was evident in 2009, and that’s one thing Mallett would have improved.

Image via life.com

27May 2009
Uncategorized no comments

Toney Clemons, ex-Wolverine (update)

Clemons was recruited by Lloyd Carr and played one season under that regime before Rich Rodriguez was hired. He made an ill-suited position switch to slot receiver and caught only 11 passes for 101 yards this past season.

Yet new Colorado offensive coordinatorEric Kiesau, who coached previously at Cal-Berkeley, said this:

“‘He said he feels I can come in there and be at Colorado what [DeSean] Jackson was
at Cal,’ Clemons said.”Uhhh . . . right. Jackson had 601 and 1,060 and 762 yards receiving in his three years as a Golden Bear. And he was a first round pick. Clemons’ biggest achievement has been earning high rankings (such as #91 overall on Rivals in 2007) coming out of high school. This is an example of the type of B.S. that college coaches feed players in order to lure them to a school. Clemons might be a successful receiver, but DeSean Jackson he is not.The total number of remaining players from Lloyd Carr’s final recruiting class has dwindled from 20 to 14. Zion Babb (destination unknown), Artis Chambers (Ball State), Avery Horn (destination unknown), Ryan Mallett (Arkansas), Austin Panter (graduation), and Clemons have all opened up scholarships.Clemons said nice things, especially about Carr and his staff, on the way out. Michigan fans should harbor no ill will toward him. I wish him good luck . . . unless we schedule a non-conference game against Colorado . . . and we’re down 26-21 in the waning seconds of a game at dusk . . .