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Give Carr
credit for Michigan's Depth
Another point of view on a common criticism of Carr
EVANSTON, ILLINOIS OCTOBER
30, 2005
Lloyd Carr consistently gets criticism for not
challenging for national titles despite having highly ranked
recruiting classes year after year. This is certainly a valid
discussion point, but I hardly ever hear Carr praised for
delivering the depth and talent that Michigan possesses. There
are several dimensions to this.
First, this criticism kind of assumes that, by virtue
of the winged helmets and "tradition", Michigan simply opens the
doors to Schembechler Hall and lets the top talent line up for
scholarships. This implies that Carr has no hand in, a)
actually recruiting the top prospects and, b) continuing to create a
desirable program that kids want to be a part of (5 Big Ten titles,
9 straight New Year's day bowls, let alone a place that parents are
proud to send their children). These critics assume that
anyone could come in and continue dragging in top talent year after
year. I'm not so sure this is as easy as it seems to come to
Carr and his staff.
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Second, I don't hear Carr praised when the value of
these deep recruiting classes actually makes a difference.
Look at this season. This
team continues to lose its top players yet there's always a
Wolverine back-up ready on the bench that tosses his helmet on, trots on the
field and delivers. In the Northwestern game, center Adam Kraus
was helped off the field after his injury, you had to wonder how
Michigan would deal with yet another loss at a key position.
Chad Henne simply tapped Mark Bihl on the shoulder, took 3 practice snaps on
the sideline and they were good to go. No one got by Bihl (or
anyone else) all day: Henne was never touched. |
The difference in depth can also be understood when
looking across the field. Northwestern QB Brett Basanez is a
fine quarterback and delivered the ball all day. The problem
was with the guys trying to catch the ball. The Wildcats must
have dropped six or more balls. Bad luck? Having a
couple drops might be chalked up to bad luck, this many drops was
due to poor talent. Northwestern had many drives in the second
half killed by holding penalties. Holding was the only way to
keep the quicker, bigger Michigan defenders off their quarterback.
Give Carr credit for bringing in these players.
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