What I like about Downs is that you can really build around him. He’s so flexible in his roles you can really just get next best and have him fill the gaps. Think that’s a huge luxury to build from
Didn’t study D closely, and hard to know what to take away up front. They are long. They won some blocks and got sealed a few times too easily. Will need to help LBs. Coverage looks comfortable vs base looks. Will see if that holds
My overall expectation is that run game is still strong, especially once they settle on the OL. This and more early reps with RPO generally makes the O more consistent down-to-down.
Drop back pass will probably be a small uptick compared to last year. No one will confuse it as UM’s bread and butter
As far as decisions, I thought there was really only one decision he could have taken free yards and tried to fit a tight throw vs C2. C2 vs drop back with base formations is hard! Without functional run game or PAP, there wasn’t a ton naturally open for him
The big thing is I think he needs to get some comfort in the pocket and timing with receivers. I think that will near term take him farther than complaints about mechanics.
On the out he got spooked by a DE spinning into his window; he is still a little early to leave the pocket
- Timing is still off with receivers, not a huge surprise, especially when he’s mostly trying to hit tight zone windows.
- People are freaking out about footwork and mechanics and while I think there is some of that, I think it’s mostly a predefined talking point people are running with
- Think people are generally too down on BU. He was not great, he doesn’t look like a top 10 QB. He also was doing a ton of straight drop back stuff vs 2 high zone coverage with static offensive formations and the base passing concepts. 1-2 things I’d like to see different
Watched the 1Q of the Michigan spring game. My takeaways:
- Nearly impossible to judge run game based on touch tackling, static D fronts, and all 2-high mandates. Looks fine, liked how they adjusted gap to spill defense, not much else to take.
This can all be picked up on paper, but it’s just much harder in practice. Scenario where I think the flexibility of keeping a RB in protection or slipping him out either side of the formation is more beneficial than the threat of 5 verts.
02P never scratched the itch for me. I get it keeps some 7-man pro schemes but:
- While keeping 5 vert threats, limited on quick game to protect protection
- Unless you keep TEs in to chip, you often are making OT job harder
- Interior games becomes really challenging
This could have been picked up by the OL, but good example of why just keeping it in 2 TEs but being empty isn’t the same as having a back. Really hard to pick up interior games once you remove the back from the protection
To be clear, unless that is Te Fiti, they are also not finding a traditional wife there
Some have told me I’m too “controversial” for a machine washable animal-themed throw pillow line
Hope you guys enjoyed it!
This is the oddest strategy and timing for an Oscar campaign I’ve ever seen but let’s see if it works out for her
But what’s the kinda round thing towards the bottom mean?
Michigan put a basketball hoop in the Big House to practice shooting in a big stadium with weird views.
Key here is it was one of those $100 hoops with a loose rim that makes everything as long as it’s on top of the rim. Big time confidence builder
We’re going to the moon. Just not on the moon
Bernard also a good call out. Think he’ll contribute on special teams too
If I see Barham as an off ball player in my system there is no way I’m taking him day 2. He has so much explosiveness and physicality on his tape and so little experience/technique at edge, that you need to probably accept essentially at least a redshirt year for him there. Has upside though
For Nuss, I think you have a borderline 1st round pick in 2025 going much later because of last year, which I think is more to say than basically any other QB. I’m not sold he’ll work out, but I think his chances are probably better than anyone other than Mendoza and you’re getting him in the mids
Gonna get tickets and just feverishly swim laps for 3.5 hours like a freak
Because despite the cries of “it’s been done before,” it’s still a near-impossibility to accomplish. But we will try. We’ve put in the work and we will strive for greatness. Here and elsewhere. Because that’s what we as humans should do, even in the face of chaos and hate. Godspeed Artemis. Ad astra
I’ve had the chance to talk to a number of young people about this. To see their faces light up with excitement. To hear back from their teachers how they’ve heard about this possibility and now are thinking of the possibilities they have. It’s real, and the cynical adults should know that
It should spring the next great revolution in science and technology not just applicable to space but here at home. This isn’t a Trump win. It’s an American win. A true American win. A worldwide win. It should stand for what we truly believe in, what we truly can become.
It should inspire us to look back at our little blue marble and hope. It should inspire us to do the next great thing: to feed the hunger and quench the thirst of the thirsty. To solve cancer. To resolve our differences with humanity and humility such that we love and have empathy for our neighbors.
Despite it being similar to things done before, it’s not the same. This flight will travel farther from the surface of Earth than human before it. Young girls, people of color, and international citizens will see people like them, and know people like them, were responsible for putting us there.
The Artemis program has spanned Obama to the current Trump admin. While it may be touted as an administration win, the thousands of people who have worked to get us to this point tell a different story. And while this was done as far back as the 1960s, it hasn’t been done again since the early 70s.
I know given all that is going on that this is not the most important thing. I know the tense feelings everyone has about the state of our country and world. But this also doesn’t detract from that. Taking this away doesn’t resolve those issues. In fact, this should inspire us to do better.
