As pretty much anyone with a passing interest in college football knows by now, The Fainting Goat (tFG) was at Michigan's workout on Tuesday, checked out the offense, chatted with Coach Rodriguez, and then the internets blew up with rumor, speculation, innuendo and general confusion. Obviously, tFG at one time had some pretty serious football skills, winning Gatorade's National Player of the Year honors in 2005 and widely being considered the #1 QB prospect in that class. Offers from Michigan, Notre Dame and many others followed, but tFG chose basketball (because there are dozens of 6'1" white point guards in the NBA?) and sold his soul to play for The Rat in Durham. Four underachieving years later, tFG has an interest in checking out that whole "football" thing again.
It started with a workout for the Green Bay Packers, and ended with the meeting with Coach Rod on Tuesday. We here at MATW got an inside scoop on how those conversations went:
Green Bay Scouts: "Yo, brah, we love your raw skillz, but you need about 30 pounds of meat on that ass, and not the kind Danny Green placed on your grill. Plus, it would be super-duper if you actually, you know, spent some time around a football program. Gots it, yo?"
tFG, after twice falling to the ground while being searched at the airport, hops on a flight from Raleigh to Detroit. He slaps the street to get a taxi, and jets over to Coach Rod's crib at 1000 S. State. Much like Corleone and Roth, they don't really like one another, but see mutual benefit in a working relationship (no word on whether Coach Rod snake-oiled him with claims that together they would be bigger than US Steel). tFG gets to be Barwisized, a year learnin' football, and all he can drink chocolate milk. Coach Rod gets to claim a #1 overall recruit and NPOY on his 'crootin resume as well as have some insurance that should Tate and Denard shake hands with LaMarr and be rendered disabled, he never has to turn to Sheridan or
Kidding aside, this has provided fodder for many a fan of schools not named "Michigan" (and chiefly those named "Ohio State" and "Michigan State.") But, on its face, it seems to make sense. As much as we all hate tFG, it's likely that he still possesses more raw QBin' skills in his fingertips than Nick Sheridan could ever hope to have. That's not a knock on Sheridan- the kid works hard, loves Michigan, but lacks talent. If Sheridan ever has to take another meaningful snap in a game, well, that will not be a good day. Nothing against Nick, hell, if I were to start at QB for Michigan you bet your ass I would work hard, be dedicated to the position like no other...and suck more than any QB has ever sucked before. Michigan fans would curse my name, chiefly because winning matters. And thus, the problem with Sheridan and Cone. They just aren't Big Ten QBs. Is tFG? Probably not right now. Not to mention, he's working with only a year of eligibility. But, this team will certainly be led by either Tate Forcier or Denard Robinson come September. Those guys are your clear #1/#2. They'll get the necessary snaps to develop and show their worth as the future of the program. tFG? He would get to shake off the rust, give the scout team a better look, and provide much needed depth. And hey, the worst thing that could happen is that he turns out to be really good, and the move is vindicated. As to Coach Rod's "offer" to him that he could come in and compete for the job, well, that's what every kid should be told. The best players should play and if tFG were to have an unlikely run of success and win the job, he should be on the field.
Of course, that "offer" (whether or not it happened) has led to an interesting reaction from Michigan's current #1-by-default (i.e., No-Denard) Tate Forcier. Forcier, who has never lacked confidence, first made a rather puzzling statement to The Michigan Daily Thursday.
From what I’ve heard, I’ve been talking to coaches all morning, my position coach, Coach (Rod) Smith, he told me specifically that they have not offered him. They don’t know why he would lie. They don’t know the kid. They haven’t offered them. They said we’ll let you’ll know what’s up, because right now, their specific words were, they haven’t offered them.Again, interesting to say the least. Of course, it was followed up later in the night by a Facebook "status" update that has now made its way around the internets (and received a chuckle from 2010 commit Devin Gardner):
I want to believe my coaches, I committed (to) them. Why would a kid like him lie to national media? So to me it’s still up in the air.
From what I’ve heard, he hasn’t been offered anything yet, he hasn’t accepted anything yet.
We were actually in practice here, we were having a meeting before practice, and he walked in, and I recognized him. I was like, ‘Who is he?’ And I talked to the coaches about it, and he’s trying to find out the best options available.
His quotes saying they offered him, I woke up and it was on TV. My coaches were calling me, they called me like three times this morning before I even saw it, but I don’t know if they saw it on TV before I did and just wanted to tell me the truth. It’s hard. I can’t give you a word on it. I’m not worried about it, a kid like that was good in high school, but it’s nearly impossible to come back to this level and play. It might be possible, but not in the QB position. You have to know too much. You have to know the speed of the game.
If it happens, it happens. I still highly doubt he’s coming. It would be impossible.
Again, the only reason he would be doing this is because I heard he tried out with the (Green Bay) Packers. And from what I heard, I’m not worried about it. It ain’t going to happen. By the time he would legally get here would be in the summer, and by the time he’d get here, he’d have to learn the whole playbook and get used to the speed of the game. I doubt you could even do that at the high school level, go in your senior year and try to play. You have to know too much. You have to get used to too much. I’m honestly not that worried about it. It ain’t going to happen. I talked to (Michigan) Coach (Rich) Rod(riguez) and he said (Paulus) doesn’t know if he wants to play football or be a basketball coach at Duke or coach football. He doesn’t know yet. I might not be getting the whole story from my coaches, but there’s no final word.
Tate Forcier i can give a damn what Paulus does. If he wants to ruin his career and come here its fine with me cuz hes about to be my backup!
2 minutes ago · Comment · Like
Now, you can't help but love that sort of confidence (nor can you help but question the reaction were Lloyd still running the show...6 a.m. stairs for sure) but Forcier's reaction that is now very public has led to further criticisms of the program which we really didn't need coming off a very positive spring. Is Forcier nervous, concerned, upset about the possibility of tFG coming to Ann Arbor or being given a fair shake at the starting gig? Likely not, given his history of not backing down from competition (sticking with interest in Michigan when Kevin Newsome and Shavodrick Beaver were committed) and his comments after Beaver de-committed about nothing being handed to you in the Big Ten. Truthfully, given Forcier's exceptional play at the tail end of spring ball, it's highly unlikely that tFG would be able to shake off the rust, get his timing back, learn the offense and mesh with the team in just a couple of months in order to have a real shot at the starting gig. Both Forcier and Robinson have a large advantage in that race.
So what is the verdict? While we're likely screwed if our #3 QB is seeing significant time anyways, it's tough to determine whether the risk-reward balances out. Is it worth the raw talent tFG could bring over Sheridan to deal with the circus that will be his participation? Is QB depth for 2009 really that big of an issue? Fans of teams who are not used to football success are considering this move an indictment on Rodriguez's feelings about Forcier/Robinson, and a ploy to "save" the 2009 season by getting a one year starter. Taking Coach Rod's words for what they were, that he could immediately compete for the starting gig, without understanding the context (that EVERY player should be able to earn a starting spot- which doesn't happen at all schools) an ignorant fan could draw that conclusion. In all likelihood, Michigan will be in a better position had this not been an issue. As head coach, though, Rodriguez should be looking at any option that can make the team better, which is what he is doing here. Quite frankly, our stance here at MATW is that of "meh." We don't like tFG, if he comes in to Michigan for a year, that likely won't change. If he makes the team better, great.
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