Ernest Shazor

[TheMile]

No ones saying you won't have a decent offense but it won't be quite as good as this years no matter how many recruiting stars the youngsters have.

My point was not that recruiting stars means automatic success, but that with 6 high talent players there's a pretty good chance one of them will step it up. And as college players go, Tabb isn't exactly a youngster as 2005 will be his fourth year (he was injured most of last season).

Your not just going to replace Edwards that quick.

Edwards is irreplacable. Let me quote myself for emphasis:

"it's also an offense that gains a healthy Breaston, a full year of experience and conditioning in Hart, Henne, Long, and three other linemen, and a lot of potential in Grady. If Henne really takes off, we could be better. I doubt it, but we could."

Look at Henne's options next year: Avant, Breaston, Massaquoi, Hart, and Tabb/Arrington. Edwards alone was unstoppable, but properly used, that many targets should be pretty darn tough to stop, too.

The defense will probably be worse, especially early on.

Well, maybe Hermann will get fired. It's for this reason I'm thrilled that we've got a rather easy nonconference schedule. We've got a great chance of starting 7-0 (and a frightingly decent chance of finishing 2-2).

You don't need to go anyfurther than an OSU board to find people who will tell you how easy it is to struggle with a gaggle of young players no matter how much talent they have or are surrounded by.

That's a fair critique of our secondary, but our offense, which was great in 2004 despite the true freshman backfield and sophomores in Breaston and Long, will be older! Take your average college team that, among the starting OL, WR, QB, TE, and RB, returns 9 of 11 starters. A priori, you'd expect that team to improve substantially.

I guess it all comes down to what your expectations are. If the usual 9-3 is ok then I'm sure Llloyd will find a way to get you there. If you have NC aspirations then I think you are setting yourself up for big time dissapointment.

Oh, please. We're fans of elite programs. What, you didn't expect OSU to compete for the MNC last year when OSU was ranked in the preseason top 10? We won't know if Michigan has any more of a chance than anyone else until we play Iowa at Kinnick in all likelihood.

All things considerd I'd say scUM is somewhere between Alamo and Outback next year. OSU and Iowa are the clear frontrunners and Minny or Purdue might actually get over the hump one of these days as well. Teams like MSU and PSU will be tough but I look for Wisky and NU to join IU and Illinois in the cellar. They had their chance to do damage with senior laden teams in a down year for the B10 and blew it, now they'll be young and a big step behind the rest of the leauge imo.

I agree mostly, minus Minnesota and Michigan. Minnesota seems to always find a way to lose.

When it comes to the Big 10 championship, it's naive to think Michigan will be on a lower tier than Iowa and OSU (especially given how the preseason polls all seem to have Iowa, OSU, and U of M in the top 10 in varying orders). Remember, in The Game, the home team is 9-3 since 1993. Were I to give my wildly premature predictions for those three huge games, I'd say Iowa beats Michigan, Michigan beats OSU, and OSU beats Iowa, knocking the Big Ten out of competition for the MNC anyway.

 

[dragonknight]

Iowa needs to keep Hodge and their other star LB to have a real shot at the Big Ten this year. Right now it looks like they're staying but I've heard it's not a given yet. If either goes, I think both do and that would kill Iowa's defense. They would then be replacing their entire front 7. They're already replacing their starting front 4 and that won't be easy to do. They had two real studs last year in Roth and a DT. If they do come back Iowa should be in the thick of things again.


I don't think any of the mentioned weapons will help scUM's offense be better next year. Edwards flat out won games by himself. He's the only reason you beat MSU and he pretty much won another game himself but I can't think which. He was uncoverable one on one and Henne would throw a mediocre to bad pass just lofting it up and Edwards would outjump the entire defense to make the catch. Unless you have a big WR that can do that again I think scUM's offense takes a bit of a hit.

I do agree it's not a good plan every to say scUM won't compete for the Big Ten title. Who thought they'd be in the Rose Bowl this year with a true freshman at RB and QB?

 

[Buckeyecty4]

Doesnt Michigan play Oregon next year? That Oregon team has a lot of potential to be good. They have some solid weapons offensively.

 

[jwinslow]

Doesnt Michigan play Oregon next year? That Oregon team has a lot of potential to be good. They have some solid weapons offensively.

Man, I just found some frightening pictures of those weapons:

On a serious note, they lose 3 lineman, one WR, two DL, two LB, and one DB from their starting lineup. But I agree, Oregon has given Michigan trouble before.

 

[brutus2002]

Holy shit Michigan plays Oregon next year? I thought they played N. Illinois instead. I agree that that will be a trouble game for Michigan.

 

[TheMile]

Doesnt Michigan play Oregon next year? That Oregon team has a lot of potential to be good. They have some solid weapons offensively.

No, brutus2002 is right. Michigan plays Northern Illinois, not Oregon.

Unless you have a big WR that can do that again I think scUM's offense takes a bit of a hit.

Fair enough. Edwards can't be replaced, but besides the wide reciever position, the offense should improve.

 

[BretGoBlue]

We play Oregon in 2007

It's the return for the game in '03. Should be Cam Colvin's senior year if he sticks around that long.

 

[stxbuck]

http://www.detnews.com/2005/um/0501/09/d01-54509.htm

He's gone. I'm happy just so I don't have to hear his name anymore. Plus that means any talented db they had waiting in the wings now might have to move to safety instead of CB. That just brings us one step closer to 6'8" Brandon Harrison starting at corner!

I will be licking my chops if Harrison actually get PT at CB for the scUMers next year. He's not a bad RB/WR, but as a DB I saw him get outrun badly by a kid who had zero business outrunning a Big 10 caliber RB/DB. Also, his hitting does not inspire fear.

 

[Buckeyeskickbuttocks]

I seriously wonder why so many people are so high on Henne's perfromance this season. Yes, he's a Freshman. Yes Michigan ended up in the Rose Bowl. I get it. Spare me all the team accomplishment stuff. I want to talk about Henne, here, not Michigan. Henne's lame duck passes are just asking to be picked. You'd better hope someome works on this problem with him. I promise you this, if he did not have Edwards bailing him out of throw, after throw, after throw, Henne would have ended up with a TD to Int ratio that would have embarrassed Jason Campbell - and I'm talking the 2003 version of Jason Campbell. Shoot, Jared Hayes of MSU alone should have had 3 picks. Hats off to Edwards for being able to make those plays. And I do leave room for the notion that Henne only threw like that cause Edwards could catch them. All in all, I say Henne's got some work to do. Excuse me for not just buying in to the hype.

Jason Avant has had one... count it slowly if you have to.. ONE good game. It was against Northwestern in 2003. For God's sake, look what has happened the the Avant Bandwagon:

Please, if you have any decency, disembark.

I hate to say it, but Hart is probably as good as advertised. He runs hard, rarely goes down with the first hit, and always falls forward. He doesn't have the ability to get to the corner against LB's like Carpenter and Hawk, but then, that's asking too much of most backs anyway, and not every team in the nation has such LB's.

 

[TheMile]

I seriously wonder why so many people are so high on Henne's perfromance this season.

I've posted this before; it's from mgoblog. Compare the following quarterbacks before reading on:

[PRE]Player.......Att-Cmp Yards Pct TD Int Avg
-----------------------------------------
QB #1........270-456 3331 59.2 24 10 12.3
QB #2........240-399 2743 60.2 25 12 11.3[/PRE]


QB #1 is Navarre as a 5th year senior. QB #2 is Henne. Say what you will about Navarre, but as a true freshman, Henne performed as well as a quarterback who managed to start a NFL game this year.

All in all, I say Henne's got some work to do.

You're right. It's as much Henne's upside we're excited about as his solid performance last year. Michigan has a good track record with QBs, so if he improves as much as our past QBs have, he'll be a great one.

For God's sake, look what has happened the the Avant Bandwagon:

The Breaston bandwagon has still got some room left on it.

 

[Buckeyeskickbuttocks]

Yeah, I'll give you that Henne is a better QB as a Freshman than Johnny N was as a senior.





Hey, I hope you realize - I'm not trying to say "Henne sucks, end of discussion." I just think the hype he's received has failed to consider the difference his O-Line and Edwards made.

 

[TheMile]

Yeah, I'll give you that Henne is a better QB as a Freshman than Johnny N was as a senior.

I know, I know, it's just Navarre. My point is that Henne started where Navarre ended, and that Navarre did (unbelievably) end up as a NFL caliber quarterback. He's a career backup to be sure, but it's a great place for Henne to start from. Michigan quarterbacks always show great improvement over their years.

Hey, I hope you realize - I'm not trying to say "Henne sucks, end of discussion." I just think the hype he's received has failed to consider the difference his O-Line and Edwards made.

I agree he wasn't a great quarterback last year, but a just passable one. His upside is what has us excited, and can you blame us? You've got (hopefully) 3 more years of Ginn; we've got (hopefully) 3 more years of Henne and Hart. Those are both things to be excited about.

 

[Mothra]

Cut by the Orlando Predators of the Arena League...

 

[Cornerback6]

Cut by the Orlando Predators of the Arena League...

Priceless.

 

[OSU SPORTS]

Let me get this right, you are saying Earnest Shazor was cut by Orlando? If so, can you post a link, I'd like to have some fun with that story.