why is Michigans offense so young

Man looking at the offense for Michigan, really was not aware of how young that group is Gardner and Funchess are the old guys everyone else soph, and 1 TRUE Fresh. When a group is that young that is learning on the fly. Why are soph and Fresh starting and where are the Jr and Sr are they that bad that even with experience they can't get it done. Gardner plays like a soph and Fucnchess should be a leader.

Gotta remember that DG was a Rich Clod recruit and Funchess was most likely also a Rich Clod recruit as well.  Just like how Lewan was coming to Michigan before Rich Clod ever got to town.  It takes time to get a recruiting base and yes Michigan has had several busts on the recruiting trail.  Speight will hopefully be the real deal next year as he will have had 2 Spring Practices as well as 2 Fall camps in which to learn/compete.  Ideally he will be pushed by both Morris (experience) and Malzone (young upstart but he won't understand the offense well enough).

Be patient my friends.  I hate to use sparty as a comparison but remember how spartys offense totally sucked at the beginning of last year before showing glimmers of hope at the end?  Then this season the sparty offense was the story, the defense was good but still just "meh".

When Hoke came in he had to fix the defense immediately, and he did.  No real attention was placed on the offense, I mean look who we had.  The offense took a step-down the next year but there was still some decent pieces there.  Recruiting on the offensive side of the ball wasn't great but the people we got flamed out.  Year three was a disaster, the recruiting was decent but needs time to deverlop.  This year was a dumpster fire, we have no depth plus there was a lot of bad luck.  Additionally DG isn't the answer (keeping him at WR would have been ideal but there was no one else to turn to plus he wanted to play QB).

I'm not saying that Speight will be the savior, heck he might not even beat Morris for the job.  The line is becomming serviceable now and there is a glimmer at the end of the tunnel.  

DG isn't a QB (plus I actually think that Grad. School is hurting him) and Funchess is Funchess.  He's just not the same, maybe he actually has Funchess of the Butt (remember that? )?

TheNewBlueOrder wrote:

...The line is becomming serviceable now and there is a glimmer at the end of the tunnel...

I agree with this.

One of the excellent things Hoke has done was he came in and recruited quality depth in the trenches on both sides of ball.

Quality recruit has not developed into quality players just yet but the D line is our strength and they are deep. The O line has definitely gotten better and there are plenty of bodies there to develop.

Hoke has struck out with DEs though so I sure hope that doesn't come back to bite us once Clark and Beyer are gone. Something tells me it will though

sandyeggo_blue wrote:

TheNewBlueOrder wrote:

...The line is becomming serviceable now and there is a glimmer at the end of the tunnel...

I agree with this.

One of the excellent things Hoke has done was he came in and recruited quality depth in the trenches on both sides of ball.

Quality recruit has not developed into quality players just yet but the D line is our strength and they are deep. The O line has definitely gotten better and there are plenty of bodies there to develop.

Hoke has struck out with DEs though so I sure hope that doesn't come back to bite us once Clark and Beyer are gone. Something tells me it will though

The lack of DE's is a concern but Michihan should have enough, barring injury. Next year we'll have Ojemudia (SR), Taco (JR), Strobel (RS JR), Marshall (SO), Poggi (RS SO), plus there are still a few other highly rated DE prospects that are at least still considering Michigan. I wouldn't hold my breath but the door is still open. Tyrone Wheatley Jr. might be the best chance. Both he and his fther "say" that they're ignoring all of the talk but who knows.

The starting two would be Ojemudia and Taco with backups of Poggi and most likely Strobel (although I honestly don't know much abou him). That looks pretty decent as long as (*knock on wood*) there are no injuries. I think that Hand went to 'bama because it's 'bama, he could compete for playing time this year, and the rumor that he wouldn't be able to keep up in Michigan's engineering program.

TheNewBlueOrder wrote:

...I think that Hand went to 'bama because it's 'bama, he could compete for playing time this year, and the rumor that he wouldn't be able to keep up in Michigan's engineering program...

he went to Bama for a few reasons...

1. Nick Saban is a hell of a salesman and his product speaks for and pretty much sells itself
2. the hotest bama co-ed was his sponsor for his trip weekend and they rolled the carpet out for him.
3. He always wanted to go into engineering but when he visited UM he was sold on their sports management program. you are right, he probably couldn't handle the engineering class load but UM's sports management is no walk in the park either. On the other Hand bama's 239 ranked engineering school was more his speed.