A few scrimmage nuggets

He absolutely got a load of 1 v. 1 opportunities last season, unfortunately he often either did not fight for the ball or dropped the ball. All season it felt like any 50/50 balls beyond 20 yards thrown his way were more like 20/80 balls in favor of the bad guys (and I may be being too kind there).
Right. And on top of that, many WRs nowadays have the skill or art-form (whatever you want to call it) to generate or sell contact and draw a flag. I am constantly impressed by some of the WRs around the country who seemingly make more of a play to draw a flag than actually catch the ball. Pope (as well as our other WRs) have been awful at this particular skill.
 
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Right. And on top of that, many WRs nowadays have the skill or art-form (whatever you want to call it) to generate or sell contact and draw a flag. I am constantly impressed by some of the WRs around the country who seemingly make more of a play to draw a flag than actually catch the ball. Pope (as well as our other WRs) have been awful at this particular skill.

100%. And it's usually because they try to go around the contact or try to avoid the contact instead of driving through it and making a strong play on the ball. Playing small and with limited physicality.
 
That’s exactly why buying Nope stock right now is so intriguing to those of us who are desperate to be seen as the seers we are. I can’t wait to stick it up everyone’s cagootz if Nope suddenly awakens from his 21 year slumber.

LOL, he's a penny stock.

Where have you gone Jonathan Harris?
 
Ok, 'Nope' has me laughing loudly at my office.

"Did he catch that tough pass down field that he got his hands on?"...

Nope.

Its so fitting
That was exactly the scenario I was thinking with Nope. I was picturing him wide open and the ball just bouncing off his face mask and everyone thinking "nope, didn't catch that one either."
 
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That was exactly the scenario I was thinking with Nope. I was picturing him wide open and the ball just bouncing off his face mask and everyone thinking "nope, didn't catch that one either."
Honestly, I was luke warm on him but that bowl game just was it for me

What's really bad (and I agree, Im being old man telling kids to get off the lawn, here) but it just irks me that a guy like him posts up his own highlights on social media as much as he does after losses.

Nope... not having it!!
 
Honestly, I was luke warm on him but that bowl game just was it for me

What's really bad (and I agree, Im being old man telling kids to get off the lawn, here) but it just irks me that a guy like him posts up his own highlights on social media as much as he does after losses.

Nope... not having it!!
Dudes posting highlights after losses is yet another sign of UM football Armageddon.
 
No one celebrated a 4 yard catch on 3rd and 9 like Jon Harris. He'd be a Manure favorite with his well documented "spontaneous celebrations" or whatever the name of that stupid stat is that Manure was tracking.

He was no doubt poor man's Randall 'Thrill' Hill
 
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Dudes posting highlights after losses is yet another sign of UM football Armageddon.

to me, that's more about Manny Diaz, I get it, he wants to be liked. But geezus, Manny sack up and be a leader. Nobody said this job was easy, or that it would always be birthday cake and balloons all the time

I have no issues with Pope or Wiggins getting PT or getting rotation snaps, but we know what they are. I want to see the likes of Keyshawn, Redding and X get some burn and see what they can do at this point
 
Yea. And I actually think you're a pretty decent poster most of the time. But it sort of just gets to a point, you know? I would definitely want a buddy of mine to let me know when **** is getting a bit played out.
16-0

Better?
 
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The issue is fans think guys are amazing until proven otherwise. That mindset means they'll always prefer the untested to the proven, because few players prove to be what fans hope.

Coaches, meanwhile, have almost the opposite view. A kid is unproven until he proves something. We see the failings of some guys on the team. Coaches also see what they've done (game time and practice), what they know, how serious and hard they prepare, and the lack of all that by others.

I'm not defending all their personnel decisions, but the monotonous repetition of this discussion for most of 2 decades tells you it's not about one staff or their behavior. What it's about is we haven't recruited enough underclassmen who can legitimately take food from the plate of juniors and seniors. The NFL draft ends up confirming this, as our talent pipeline has dried up a ton. Fans think every promising recruit is the next ____. Well, they haven't been, not for a long time around UM.'

The issue is fans think guys are amazing until proven otherwise. That mindset means they'll always prefer the untested to the proven, because few players prove to be what fans hope.

Coaches, meanwhile, have almost the opposite view. A kid is unproven until he proves something. We see the failings of some guys on the team. Coaches also see what they've done (game time and practice), what they know, how serious and hard they prepare, and the lack of all that by others.

I'm not defending all their personnel decisions, but the monotonous repetition of this discussion for most of 2 decades tells you it's not about one staff or their behavior. What it's about is we haven't recruited enough underclassmen who can legitimately take food from the plate of juniors and seniors. The NFL draft ends up confirming this, as our talent pipeline has dried up a ton. Fans think every promising recruit is the next ____. Well, they haven't been, not for a long time around UM.'
This is it guys! When a newer player has not shown it in practice that he can execute and excel when they're not even hitting how can they be trusted at crunch time in a game? The new guys have to excel or they will only get a chance when it doesn't matter. GR was coming off an injury, when he started to show in practice he got some reps and showed up. Before that Patchen played OK so it took a special showing for GR to get there. Unfortunately last year most games were closer than they should have been and left little room to experiment.
 
I think it's mentally challenged, but I'm telling you it's coming. It's what happens on here. I see people shorting Nope stock every day on here so they can set themselves up as geniuses when he makes his first good play in 2021.

Clearly, he has some talent. So does Wiggy. The problem is they've both eaten up way more reps than they should have, and fans are sick of them wilting and playing so soft along with dropping so many passes. There's not much else that goes into the equation. Catch the ball and don't get punked by freshman DBs and tossed around like sissies.

This. Especially the bolded.

I was caping for our underperforming receivers all last offseason only Harley stepped up and fulfilled his potential.

The amount of snaps they played in the bowl game was inexcusable. When guys struggle like that, you don’t just keep throwing them to the wolves. Wiggins and Pope perform the best in practice, so be it. However, allowing the to stink up the joint for 60-70 snaps is just ridiculous.

The coaches put themselves in a bind and turned the fans against their own players in a way that there will be nowhere to hide from the vitriol if you put them back out there in 2021.

This is not the way to handle things when you don’t have a contract extension.
 
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