Sophomore slump?

Maybe this has been already talked about, but who thinks Tate has a good year this year, or does he go through the "ol sophomore slump"?

A slump would implies playing great as a freshmen. Given the circumstance Tate played great(a lot better than some admit) but I see no reason to expect him to play worse than last year. I don't see what he would be slumping from.

A Star is Born

After teams had a few games to see Tate in action and make adjustments, he played at a very ordinary level, and sometimes quite poorly, towards the end of the season. We can hope that he makes great improvements this coming year and thereafter, but he is clearly not the "Savior" of this program. He should play better if the OL comes around after a poor 2009, but unless the D gets MUCH better, and there is little basis to expect this, any quarterback will not look good when the D can't get off the field. The final record for 2010 will not look any different than that from 2009 because of the immense problems on defense. 

blufan1


After teams had a few games to see Tate in action and make adjustments, he played at a very ordinary level, and sometimes quite poorly, towards the end of the season. We can hope that he makes great improvements this coming year and thereafter, but he is clearly not the "Savior" of this program. He should play better if the OL comes around after a poor 2009, but unless the D gets MUCH better, and there is little basis to expect this, any quarterback will not look good when the D can't get off the field. The final record for 2010 will not look any different than that from 2009 because of the immense problems on defense. 

I for one am expecting major improvement from the defense. We only lost 3 starters so they d*** well better improve, they can't get much worse. 2010 marks the first year we return a significant number of starters on both defense and offense, I see no reason not to expect a significant improvement record wise.

A Star is Born

I dont see this happening. I think Tate will have a good grip on the offense and will be a much improved Qb for our team. He enrolled early and now has almost a full year of practice and a good feel of the playbook.  Our offensive line should be better and with that being said give our qb a little more time.

Hardcore Michigan Fan. Always have been always will be.

Even though those 3 losses were probably our 3 best players last year, I agree the D should improve. I think Tate will improve as well. Even if only his decision making, that would be a significant improvement in itself.

"Those who stay, will be champions!" 

" And, everybody else who is not all in, the hell with them."
GO BLUE

blufan1


After teams had a few games to see Tate in action and make adjustments, he played at a very ordinary level, and sometimes quite poorly, towards the end of the season. We can hope that he makes great improvements this coming year and thereafter, but he is clearly not the "Savior" of this program. He should play better if the OL comes around after a poor 2009, but unless the D gets MUCH better, and there is little basis to expect this, any quarterback will not look good when the D can't get off the field. The final record for 2010 will not look any different than that from 2009 because of the immense problems on defense. 

Really?-You don't think this years  record will be any better than last years? I think we 8 games and win a bowl--the D can't get any worse than it was last year.

msp2kids

blufan1


After teams had a few games to see Tate in action and make adjustments, he played at a very ordinary level, and sometimes quite poorly, towards the end of the season. We can hope that he makes great improvements this coming year and thereafter, but he is clearly not the "Savior" of this program. He should play better if the OL comes around after a poor 2009, but unless the D gets MUCH better, and there is little basis to expect this, any quarterback will not look good when the D can't get off the field. The final record for 2010 will not look any different than that from 2009 because of the immense problems on defense. 

Really?-You don't think this years  record will be any better than last years? I think we 8 games and win a bowl--the D can't get any worse than it was last year.

That's EXACTLY what I/everyone else said going into last season. Then the D got worse.

True-but this will be 2 years in a row under the same D-coach, hopeful the only way t go is up.

I do believe Tate played most of the year with a bum shoulder.  So hopefully a healthy Tate will regain the form he had the first couple of games last year.

jthorp24

msp2kids

blufan1


After teams had a few games to see Tate in action and make adjustments, he played at a very ordinary level, and sometimes quite poorly, towards the end of the season. We can hope that he makes great improvements this coming year and thereafter, but he is clearly not the "Savior" of this program. He should play better if the OL comes around after a poor 2009, but unless the D gets MUCH better, and there is little basis to expect this, any quarterback will not look good when the D can't get off the field. The final record for 2010 will not look any different than that from 2009 because of the immense problems on defense. 

Really?-You don't think this years  record will be any better than last years? I think we 8 games and win a bowl--the D can't get any worse than it was last year.

That's EXACTLY what I/everyone else said going into last season. Then the D got worse.

That's not what everyone said. We had 4 returning starters last season. I`m not sure what would have prompted you or anyone else to expect the defense to get better going into last year. There was no reason to expect last years defense to be better than the year before, we lost a ton of talent the experience from the year before not gained.

Depending on who starts we're looking at 7-8 returning starters this fall and a second year in the system. That is an entirely different situation than the once we faced going into last year.

A Star is Born

MichFan4Life

jthorp24

msp2kids

blufan1


After teams had a few games to see Tate in action and make adjustments, he played at a very ordinary level, and sometimes quite poorly, towards the end of the season. We can hope that he makes great improvements this coming year and thereafter, but he is clearly not the "Savior" of this program. He should play better if the OL comes around after a poor 2009, but unless the D gets MUCH better, and there is little basis to expect this, any quarterback will not look good when the D can't get off the field. The final record for 2010 will not look any different than that from 2009 because of the immense problems on defense. 

Really?-You don't think this years  record will be any better than last years? I think we 8 games and win a bowl--the D can't get any worse than it was last year.

That's EXACTLY what I/everyone else said going into last season. Then the D got worse.

That's not what everyone said. We had 4 returning starters last season. I`m not sure what would have prompted you or anyone else to expect the defense to get better going into last year. There was no reason to expect last years defense to be better than the year before, we lost a ton of talent the experience from the year before not gained.

Depending on who starts we're looking at 7-8 returning starters this fall and a second year in the system. That is an entirely different situation than the once we faced going into last year.

This is huge! In basketball, freshmen and sophomore led teams still have a good chance to succeed with a lot of talent. In football, that's simply not the case. Most of the teams that are very successful have starting lineups filled with juniors and seniors. Experience and team chemistry may be two of the most underrated things in football.

"Those who stay, will be champions!" 

" And, everybody else who is not all in, the hell with them."
GO BLUE

I don't think the defense will be any worse, but I was just pointing out... that's what I thought last year. IMO it's really dependent on our secondary (like you all know). LB play also needs to improve. I was actually impressed with the D-line last year, and that should get better. 

As for Tate, I don't expect him to have a sophomore slump. It seems like most QB's that do became the starter towards the end of their freshman year, he started from day 1. Hopefully he can stay out of injury trouble!

I think our offense suffered greatly when we lost Molk. Even in high school football, my team just couldn't fire on any cylinders when we lost our center. Centers are so important to an offense I don't think people really realize it. Especially the relationships that form between QBs and centers, when anyone else is there its a total lack of rhythm . my 2 cents from being a HS qb.

defense? only time will tell, i just hope we have smart guys, i don't care about anything else.

The loss of Molk was huge. He was a real anchor, and maybe we win 1-2 more games last year with him in there. And has anyone heard if Tate has put on anymore weight?--got any faster? this would also improve his game.

msp2kids


The loss of Molk was huge. He was a real anchor, and maybe we win 1-2 more games last year with him in there. And has anyone heard if Tate has put on anymore weight?--got any faster? this would also improve his game.

He supposedly has already added 10 pounds of muscle. 

just being a year older will help with his decision making skills.  A lot of really bad turnovers last season that could have been avoided had he just ate the ball or chucked it out of bounds.  But it's obvious he has a Brett Favre "gunslinger" mentality, which I like.  Getting heeled up is important too.  A healthy Tate in the first 5 games last year was vastly better than the banged up Tate that finished.  The extra muscle he's added should help.  I also think the addition of Gardner to the depth chart is going to push Tate even harder into improving.

 

"ALL IN FOR MICHIGAN"

Take all the above posts, and extract the points as to why Tate will be improved as a Sophomore.  You are all correct.

One thing i didn't see mentioned above.
Tate got off to a great start, as did the team.

Then Conference play started!

Tougher opponents, and the defenses by then were somewhat prepared for Tate.

Tate lost some of that "magic" he showed early on.

As mentioned in posts above, "experience" is a wonderful thing.

I think you see a better version on the field this year. For Tate and the rest of the offense.

As for the "D".  You have to assume it will be better.

Usually, QBs make their biggest leap from their first year to their second year starting, so if anything, I expect a much bigger year from Tate.  The game will slow down for him and he will be much more comfortable with the offense.
 
If our defense decides to stop anyone next season, it should take some pressure off Tate and allow him to get in a flow during the game instead of playing from behind and trying to do too much.

Go Blue!!

jthorp24


I don't think the defense will be any worse, but I was just pointing out... that's what I thought last year. IMO it's really dependent on our secondary (like you all know). LB play also needs to improve. I was actually impressed with the D-line last year, and that should get better. 

As for Tate, I don't expect him to have a sophomore slump. It seems like most QB's that do became the starter towards the end of their freshman year, he started from day 1. Hopefully he can stay out of injury trouble!

You think the DL is going to get better after losing the best player on your team?