Every Wednesday from 2pm – 3pm EST, former Michigan quarterback Devin Gardner, former Michigan point guard Daniel Horton, and I come together on Steady Droppin’ Dimes, a sports show featuring real talk, and real views, from three real dudes. College football, college basketball, NFL, and NBA topics drive much of the debate, but discussion of other sports will enter the fray some days as well. Non-sports topics aren’t off limits, and neither are celebrity guests.
In this week’s episode Sam, Devin and Daniel give their first takes on the Michigan Men’s Basketball team following their exhibition win against Oakland and an open scrimmage, and Sam and Devin give their take on where Michigan Football is headed on offense, with the Michigan State Spartans set to visit The Big House on Saturday. Plus, we revisit the NFL MVP discussion from a couple of weeks ago … which QBs are making the best case for this year’s award? Is Jarod Goff in the mix?
In the following transcript excerpt, Sam and Devin try to project what the Wolverine coaching staff will deploy against the Spartans, and how that might depend on just how much risk the staff is willing to take, on offense.
Sam
“…The defense goes out there and they play that a whistle, they play to the final second. And so, I think you’re going to see the guys who the health isn’t a question… Those guys, I think are going to be on the field. I mean, Michigan State, I think they’re going to be on the field. The question then becomes, from a quarterback perspective, what are you going to do as far as, the coaching staff is concerned. What’s going to be your game plan? What’s going to be your attack plan for how you go at Michigan State?”
“You know, I think they’re going to go back to some version of Davis Warren and Alex Orji. Probably mostly Davis Warren. That’s what I think they’re going to do. I have not confirmed that. But I think that’s what they’re going to do.”
Devin
“Yeah. The big the big thing for me… somebody, I don’t know who it was they sent out a tweet to me. And I’m trying to find it because… I’m not the numbers guy all the time, because you need to watch the games, and you know, it’s the analytics and actually watching the game, it’s just so different to me.”
“But the tweet; I can’t find it. He kind of outlined the number of points versus the number of drives versus the turnovers and everything for each quarterback. And far, like Orji, it wasn’t even close, right? As far as like points per drive, obviously turnovers – you know he’s only got one turnover.”
“And so, when you think about that, it’s just like what do you think you’re going to get from Davis Warren? Right? Are you going to get top three quarterback in the country. Are you going to get elite level quarterbacking? Not likely. It’s just not likely. And the reason it’s not likely is because, one, he hasn’t had a bunch of reps. And two, his talent doesn’t suggest that he’ll be that level of quarterback. Right?”
“So if that’s the case, you have to lean into Orji and his running ability and things like that. Because, the more you throw the ball, the more you’re going to turn it over. And if you’re plan is to throw the ball with Davis Warren, who’s proven he’s going to turn it over – even before he’s proven he’s gonna turn it over, it’s still a risk when you throw the ball.”
“So if you’re not going to throw the ball with Davis Warren a bunch because you’re afraid of the turnovers, then there’s no reason for him to be out there. Right? And if you are thinking of throwing the ball a bunch, you’re not thinking. Right? Because that’s just not who Michigan is, right now. So I mean, the only option in my opinion is Alex Orji, leaning into his running ability, try to continue to develop… do what you get paid to do, right? Develop him as a passer, and see how it goes.”
“Right? I mean, that’s all you can do. That’s all you can do. But the numbers bear out that the safest bet and the most productive bet is Alex Orji. Will it look pretty? No. Will it look like how you want it to look? No. However, even though, like I talked about on Monday morning Quarterback, we’ve never seen what Orji can be as a passer. We haven’t. And, from what I’ve watched, he has improved as a passer. And I’ll reiterate it – in the Washington game – the batted balls that ended drives… first of all, they were batted balls. Batted balls, which you can’t blame the quarterback for. And his feet and eyes were in the perfect place and he was throwing to the right guy. That’s improvement. And that’s against a defensive coordinator who’s Bill Belichick’s son.”
“So he had a plan. He knew what he’s going to do. He attempted to execute the plan. Now do we know if it had been a perfect throw or whatever? I don’t know. It looked like it would’ve been pretty good. But you just don’t know. What I’ve seen from him: When his hips and feet and shoulders are in line to a target, he hits the target. So when you see that and then the balls are batted, you don’t know. But that’s improvement, because before his feet and eyes weren’t in the same place. He did not look like he had a plan. And he looked like he was having his first opportunity in a big time college football atmosphere playing quarterback – feet a little antsy, all those different things.”
“And a lot of that subsided in those early drives against Washington. Now, granted, they went to Tuttle because they thought they would have a better chance of coming back with passing plays every single down. And he rewarded them by going down and scoring on I believe it was three straight drives. But, Alex Orji did make improvement in that game.”
“And who knows, maybe if he stays in the game they start to lean on him in the run game and he has some easy throws. I don’t know. But I just think that like I said, if Davis Warren is not going to be elite, which he isn’t, that’s a fact. We’ve seen it. He’s not going to be elite. There’s no real reason for him to be the quarterback, moving forward.”
For more, watch the full video on The Michigan Insider’s YouTube channel: CLICK HERE
Contents of the Video and show notes:
00:00 – Start of show
- Sam explains unexpected show cancellation last week.
- Promo for Underground Printing.
05:00 – Short talk on Detroit Lions
- What do the Lions have to do to beat the Ravens and Chiefs?
- Sam talks about Deandre Hopkins’ potential trade.
- Devin says Jared Goff is the third best QB in the league.
08:20 – Michigan basketball preview
- Sam starts the conversation with Michigan’s style of play and passing.
- Daniel gives thoughts on the team.
- Daniel likes how they shared and shot the ball.
- Daniel likes the length/height of the team.
14:30 – How to utilize the big men?
- Daniel would limit the amount of time Wolfe plays the three.
- Daniel wants Vlad going to the rim and play in the paint.
- He would like to see Vlad shoot a few threes.
- Daniel thinks Wolfe can probably shoot more threes.
- Roddy Gayle and Wolfe are probably the closers at the end of the game.
22:30 – How will Michigan be on defense?
- Daniel says that is where some of the issues may come from.
- Michigan will have to figure some things out with Wolfe and Vlad on defense.
- Sam says they want to play fast, so that may cause some issues on defense.
24:40 – Michigan recruiting
- Football picked up Babalola who is the highest ranked offensive line in history.
- Basketball also got a few commits.
- Sam likes the recruits basketball has gotten, Daniel wants to see more.
- Daniel sees two different styles from Winters Grady.
- Daniel thinks Goodman can shoot the ball.
30:20 – Is Michigan still recruiting Xavier Staton?
- Michigan may be the leader for Xavier Staton.
- Trey McKenny is also a great player Michigan is potentially leading for.
- Daniel says any in state 4-star Michigan should be after.
- Daniel also likes Calderon.
- Promo for underground printing.
40:15 – Michigan State Preview
- Devin says the coach at Michigan State is a good coach.
- Devin says Michigan State has a decent quarterback.
- Michigan State used the bye week better than Michigan.
- Devin says this will be a tough game.
- Devin is concerned about players opting out or cashing in on the season.
46:25 – Sam says he was happy with the defense not mailing it in against Illinois
- Defense made improvements.
- What does Michigan do at the QB spot?
- Sam thinks Davis Warren will start with Orji in spots.
- Devin says the safest bet is Alex Orji and Davis Warren can’t be elite.
54:00 – Sam thinks Warren will play because of what Kirk Campbell wants
- Sam says Warren will probably start because Campbell wants to pass more.
- Sam says you have to play Orji more.
- Devin jokes about goggles.
- Devin says you can’t change what you are or who you are within a week.
- Promo for Golden Limo.
1:06:20 – NFL MVP conversation
- What about Jared Goff for MVP?
- Devin says he is the third best QB in the NFL.
- Devin is very impressed with Jared Goff completion percentage.
1:14:00 – What does Jared Goff have to do to win the MVP?
- Daniel says he has to win the SuperBowl.
- Daniel says in his opinion, Joe Burrow is better than Jared Goff.
- Devin says the NFC North is the best division in the NFL.
- Devin and Daniel go back and forth between last year stats and only focusing on this year.
1:28:57 – End of show
