True Frosh

RobHowe

RobHowe

Administrator
Brents and Moss were all in before Saturday. Kaevon Merriweather joined them In MD game. It must have been late. Don’t think he played during first theee quarters.

Nobody else has played in more than 2.
 
I saw Dillon Doyle make a special teams tackle, so I was wondering if he may be another freshman burning a RS.

I hope not. Seems like we have 5 pretty good LBers right now and 6 if you count Hooker. 7 if you count Hockaday who may be out for awhile. Welch, Niemann, Colbert, Jones, Wade, Hockaday and Hooker. Seems to me that the non-starters can be on special teams and keep Dillon’s RS in tact. Then, he and McDonald can come in as RS soph’s in 2020 and dominate for 3 years
 
That was only DD's second game. He had not played since the season opener against NIU.

I think the coaches are doing a good job managing the four games for this class. Get some of their feet wet periodically up to now and then use as needed beyond that.
 
RobHowe said:
That was only DD's second game. He had not played since the season opener against NIU.

I think the coaches are doing a good job managing the four games for this class. Get some of their feet wet periodically up to now and then use as needed beyond that.
Click to expand...
I like how they are also mixing in road games. It is really good for the young players to get that experience.

I really think that the playing of 4 games will become a very chess like game for player development. The coaches with the best strategies will really have a leg up in the future.
 
RobHowe said:
That was only DD's second game. He had not played since the season opener against NIU.

I think the coaches are doing a good job managing the four games for this class. Get some of their feet wet periodically up to now and then use as needed beyond that.
Click to expand...
It's funny because almost everything I've read from the coaches says they aren't managing it/thinking about it, but that if a player is good enough they'll play him regardless of the new 4 game rule or not. Now I haven't actually believed them but it has sounded like they aren't interested in taking advantage of the rule
 
I think it's just a fluid situation. The plan can change week to week. But I do think they're playing the guys they need to play and going from there.
 
RobHowe said:
I think it's just a fluid situation. The plan can change week to week. But I do think they're playing the guys they need to play and going from there.
Click to expand...
I know, but the thought of the rule has to be in the back of their minds, if it isn't they're being (pretending to be) naïve, which of course is quite Ferentzian
 
Ree4 said:
It's funny because almost everything I've read from the coaches says they aren't managing it/thinking about it, but that if a player is good enough they'll play him regardless of the new 4 game rule or not. Now I haven't actually believed them but it has sounded like they aren't interested in taking advantage of the rule
Click to expand...

I wonder if they mean for players like Brents and Riley that are playing serious minutes. You'd have the believe they are managing the special teams snaps to maximize that 5th year availability.
 
I don't really see any negatives so far. It allows incoming players a certain amount of participation, thus helping them stay engaged in the program. It allows coaches a bit of a chance to test a players progress against real game conditions without losing a year of eligibility. It allows the option of backing out, after playing someone and coming up short of expectations. It also allows coaches the opportunity to spot fill needs on special teams than back out short of burning a red shirt.
 
And you could see a guy like Tracy maybe w a game or 2 of eligibility left play in a big spot like B1G champs or bowl game after some extra practice
 
I asked KF about the plan with the true freshmen today and here's his response:

Q. What is your plan with the true freshmen? Is it fluid?

KIRK FERENTZ: Yeah, it is. You've been reading my notes or what (laughter)?

We talked about that this week actually. In a perfect world, we had to play some guys early, some guys are playing, we made that decision, three of them are defensive backs, but we were young coming in. Last week Dillon got thrown in there basically because of the injuries at linebacker. We're starting to get thin at some spots. He's probably a good illustration.

We are well aware of the four-game rule. Perfect world you want to wait till November, then you have four games to play with it. Also we're trying to win right now.

I think our attitude really is if somebody can go in there, if we have a need, somebody can help us, we're going to play them regardless. Then we'll deal with it at the end of November if it's a factor. If it means a guy plays in five games, that's a decision we'll have to make because we're going to be trying to win then, too.

We're far enough along where we know enough about those guys in that pool, the other part is how does that pool look relative to injuries, that type of thing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Share this page

Top