Husker in WI

The money also does not matter because (in most cases) what they make as an analyst or assistant is deducted from their payout from the previous school. He's going to make around 3.5 million this year no matter what we pay him. We pay him more, Houston pays him less - it evens out. Probably worth waiting on his end too though, he'll have plenty of analyst offers and can scope out HC jobs.

Sounds like Paul Chryst was their OC target and he turned them down.

He's still susceptible to double moves and holding, but he improved a lot over the course of the year. Really turned it around and is probably an NFL corner if he keeps tightening it up this year.

Before their New Year's Eve game he tweeted this: And then had his best game of the year, 4/84 and a TD. So just trying to manifest that into a good game tonight - didn't work when he tried it again last week though, 2 catches for 10 yards after this one:

Hard to have somebody lined up when the guy in place wasn't giving any indication he was slowing down - people won't wait forever. I think the rumors of their demise are greatly exaggerated regardless of who they hire. I'm sure they want an experienced big name, but that wouldn't be a guarantee of success. And somebody with a smaller profile is not doomed to fail - the pressure is high without a doubt, but everything necessary to win a lot is there. They'll get dunked on in the media if it's Rees or Locksley or someone like that, but those might be better hires than some of the "big" names in reality.

Every school has a team (or at least a person) stealing signals, just not ones filming practices/games.

Awesome! Obviously still have to see how it shakes out on the field, but the staff has done an incredible job of bolstering weak spots this offseason - QB, RB depth, WR experience, G experience and size, LB depth. There's really not a position group I'm worried about, and there were several just a month ago. QB is thin (which is just how it is with that position these days) and some guys need to make good on their potential across the team - but they've hit every spot I had major concerns with.

I don't think we need to restart the whole argument that already happened a few pages ago. But 1) what should he have done to "fix" Haarberg or Sims in the pretty short amount of time he had? and 2) he implemented large amounts of option and only had them throwing the ball 35% of the time - those are attempts to play to their strengths and make the weaknesses less exploitable. I'd also disagree that Haarberg's decision making got worse - he wasn't successful early because he was making great decisions under pressure, it's because there were some timely drops by the defense and they were not prepared for the pass plays we had. They adapted and started holding onto the ball, I don't think he got worse at reading defenses or making the right decision. He just wasn't great at that to begin with. I don't have the expertise to dissect QB mechanics, but again to me it was bad from the start.

They also don't have an obvious HC candidate on their staff currently, so gotta assume they poach a huge name from a big school and kick off an insane coaching carousel. And if Harbaugh goes to the NFL too? Gonna be wild.

Wow.

I'm going to guess that winning a national championship might be a better experience than helping build a good program. Again I wish he would have stayed, but if any of the reasons listed were a factor he would have. Imagine there was a guy who could have transferred in here and played significant snaps every game in 1997 with a path to start in 98/99, but stayed at his old school instead. He misses a bowl game in 1997 - maybe he gets to one in 98/99, he does play more and probably plays well. We would not be saying "well that still worked out fine for him" even if he was an all-american there.

Starter both places - he's an immediate upgrade. Plug him in and we don't have to worry about Lutovsky making a big leap, Buckley taking to Guard quickly, or some freshman being thrown into the fire. I feel really good about Prochazka/Evans-Jenkins/Scott/Mazzccua/Benhart.

I'm not sure why that would be the assumption, or why playing a rotational role at Michigan before becoming the starter would hinder that. Guys want to win, and starting here is no guarantee of being developed into a draftable player - we haven't had a true LB drafted since 2012. I don't know his priorities, but Michigan has had 5 LBs drafted in that time and just won a championship. Sure, but would you rather win 10 games as a Senior after slogging through a few bowl-less seasons, or win 10 games as a Senior while also having played a sizable role on a national championship team your sophomore year? I don't know why we would discredit all of the years before the end of his career and say "well you ended up in the same place, should have stayed." I wish he was still on our team, but it's ridiculous to pretend it would have been better, or even comparable, for him personally to stay.

Would you rather play every snap for a team fighting for bowl eligibility, or play a significant role on a national champion who is still easily a 9-10 win team next year? It's not like he was just watching from the bench - he went to a better situation, both from the team and personal perspectives.

Unless Rhule himself plans to leave (unlikely), Holgorson would only be on staff for a year no matter what. He will have head coaching offers next year (probably has a few this year), I don't think there's any way he'd stick around to be our OC in 2025. He has enough of a track record as a HC that he doesn't need another full stint as an OC.

Ohh, it makes sense now - I wasn't watching or listening close enough to ever catch who the announcers were, but I did notice it was the voice and smugness of Cris Collinsworth without the whole "knowing what he's talking about" thing. Sounds very similar to his dad which isn't a great thing.

You should watch the Washington/Texas game - dude was unreal in that one, and human against Michigan. Plus you get to see Texas lose.

My guess is the middle safety has the normal responsibility of the MLB in a Tampa-2 - would carry anything up the seam deep but initial responsibility is the middle underneath the 2 true deep safeties. But I agree that is weird and probably not accurate terminology.

There were also some misses that were not as straightforward as people claim. This guy is a Michigan guy, but he breaks down some other Big Ten stuff and I really like his insights. The wide open TD Penix and the WR are reading different DBs. Because of the bust that allows the WR to be so open, they (QB and WR) come to different conclusions on the coverage and how the route should go. Penix sees Cover 2 and throws the corner route, Odunze sees Cover 3 and runs it up the seam. He didn't just "miss the throw." And for the one Herbstreit was up in arms about, Odunze just isn't part of the play as designed other than to make Michigan commit numbers over there. It would have taken entirely abandoning the play call and/or somehow recognizing that despite the numbers advantage Michigan wasn't effectively covering Odunze while reading the opposite side of the field. Still not sure I buy him as an NFL QB anyway - but it seems like the narrative is he was flat out missing guys all game and that's just not true. Michigan disguised well (which NFL teams will do even better), and then also got lucky on some key plays - the above, a couple screens that fell apart, etc.

The numbers are starting to make more sense with Batenhorst out and this:

He's looking at all options, but based on the tweet in Mavric's post that may end up being his only option. He could probably make more staying in college if the NCAA let him, he's not what the NFL is looking for.

Dahrran Diedrick 2.0, for style and the same initials.