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Thursday, August 28, 2008

Go Small/Shifty/Speedy Blue?

For year (sorry, decades) Michigan football has been defined by "3 yards and a cloud of dust".  Yost played by it.  Bo played by it. And Lloyd Carr played by it. 

Michigan football didn't win by style points.  Everybody knew Michigan's offensive playbook.....run off the right tackle.  Run off the left tackle.  If you get daring, short pass to a big bodied possession receiver.

With Lloyd Carr's retirement, and the hiring of offensive whiz kid Rich Rodriguez signaled a rapid departure.  In one fell swoop, Michigan lost its entire offensive starting unit from last year. 

Out
Gone are the 6'6 inch QBs with the cannon arms.  Gone are the massive 300+ lb offensive lineman.  And gone is the little bulldozer at Running Back (Mike Hart), who fought hard for every yard that he churned out.

In

- former UFC fighter Mike Brawis' ridiculously effective and efficient training routine.  Resulting in six-packs on the OL.  
- 2 way battle for QB between a redshirt freshman transfer (from Georgia Tech) and a former walk-on.
- running back by committee approach including 2 shifty and ridiculously fast true freshman
- 7 different people expected to get the ball from the wide out spot.  Almost all of them will see time at the slot.

So, Michigan was traditionally known as Big Blue.  Since we are no longer Big....does this mean that we're Shifty Blue?  Or, Small Blue (small, as in the new coaching staffs obsession with tiny players)?

My favorite is Speedy Blue.  Will it catch on?

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