Last week at the Big Ten’s media days, Michigan cornerback Troy Woolfolk created quite the stir when he appeared to question the work ethic of Tate Forcier and intimated that last year’s starting quarterback was on the verge of being labeled as “diseased” by his teammates.
Some assumed that head coach Rich Rodriguez would be less than pleased that one of his players decided to air their locker room’s dirty laundry in such a public fashion. If that’s the case, the coach is doing a helluva job hiding his displeasure.
Rodriguez addressed the “situation” Monday, and, instead of being pissed at Woolfolk publicly dressing down Forcier, the coach seemed rather pleased that his players are demanding more of their teammates. And, in the same breath, took a little jab at Forcier himself that would make even the Ol’ Ball Coach proud.
“I’m glad our seniors are taking some ownership and leadership of this team,” Rodriguez said according to AnnArbor.com. “They want everybody to work as hard as they are going to, and I don’t blame him for that.
“Tate knows he’s got a lot do to prove himself not only on the field, but off the field as well.”
As far as the quarterback competition on the field goes, the battle was resumed yesterday as the Wolverines took to the practice field for their first official session of the summer. As has been the case all offseason long, Rodriguez would not tip his hand as who may have the upper hand amongst contenders Forcier and spring riser Denard Robinson, or even true freshman Devin Gardner.
As if to drive home the point that all things are created equal at the position right now, Rodriguez has not listed anyone as the starter on the pre-camp depth chart. While not getting into specifics, Rodriguez did speak in generalities as to where the QB trio stands just over three weeks before the start of the 2010 season.
“You can see obviously that Tate and Denard have some experience with the offense, because things are smoother for them,” Rodriguez said. “But Devin is a real, real competitive guy and he looks like he’s in great shape. It will be fun to watch.
“The hard part for us is to limit their contact, because we don’t want to get them beat up in August.”
What do the Wolverines and my winter clothes have in common?
Both are in the basement.
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It seems to me that the out-of-bounds nature of Troy Woolfolk’s comment was exaggerated. Perhaps this will serve as a wake-up call for Tate.
Rich Rodriguez has lost total control of that team. It’s a shame that a once proud University is now nothing but a joke, football wise.
Hail Hail….this offense is going to score a lot of points this year, It definitely seems Denard will start. I hope the defense can be halfway decent and if they are, this team could surprise.
Nothing like a little “inhouse competition” to light a fire under your leadership on the field.
Poor guy, got dinged by a senior and then have the coach agree with his assessment of things again before the media.
Better tighten up young man!
“I’m glad our seniors are taking some ownership and leadership of this team,” Rodriguez said according to AnnArbor.com
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What RichRod is really saying is “I’m glad someone is taking control–I lost it mid season last yr.” Florida went through this when they hired Ron Zook–fortunately the AD (the big $$$ alums were screaming) realized Zook was the wrong choice & cut him loose.
Mich AD Brandon needs to step up & change course. He didn’t hire RichRod so he’s not his man.
The Mich alum need to pony up whatever it takes $$$ wise to get Harbaugh to come back & bring back the dignity & pride Mich used to have. Brandon should be working with the school admin & powerful alums now so when this less than acceptable season ends things are in place to pull the trigger as soon as Stanford plays their last game! Nothing less than that is acceptable.
Wow – Dickrod wants to promote infighting between players in hopes of motivating the players. Good luck with that – usually it only harbors resentment and a great deal of hostility. Perhaps the players won’t block for one of the two in hopes of making them look bad so their boy gets the nod, or perhaps a receiver will drop a few balls or alter the route just enough to make it appear to be a bad pass. I do not see a lot of good vibes coming out of this locker room. Instead of a unified team looking out to help each other, this is an environment that promotes distrust and bitterness. Nothing good will usually come out of this type of activity
@ Arizona Buckeye:
“Nothing good will usually come out of this type of activity”
I agree with this statement, but hopefully this little display will bring them to a point to where they have to iron out their differences before they hit the field. A divided team is a defeated team before the game even gets under way and the distrust will not help that. Maybe this is just what they needed to create some unity and hopefully mentally prepare them for the upcoming season.
It would be hard to be the QB and be worried that your team mates might not block as well for ya.
@ Donna
Agreed! We had this same type situation when Terrelle Pryor got the nod mid season over senior starter Todd Boeckmann. Several of the players were grousing that Todd should have been allowed to continue to start. Tressel jumped in immediately to reaffirm why he made the decision as well as held several team discussions about it. MOST importantly though, Todd Boeckmann show a ton of class by going to those players and sticking up for the decision. He showed a ton of class and pretty much eliminated any chance for his benching to impact the team in a divisive and negative manner.
If something like this doesn’t happen in the UofM locker room – you will be dead on with the team divided is a team defeated. There will be lots of finger point and bickering all season long.
RichRod encouraging Woolfolk’s comments is like Ricky Bobby encouraging Walker and Texas Ranger when they were threatening to come at their grandfather “like a spider monkey”.
Little man Tate has filthy moves, but he doesn’t read defenses too well. I hope the off season did him some good. If he’s not vastly improved the Wolverines will suffer mightily.
“Tate knows he’s got a lot do to prove himself not only on the field, but off the field as well.”
Pot, meet kettle.
[...] every game as a true freshman in 2009, Forcier was roundly criticized this past offseason by his coaches and teammates alike for his work ethic — or lack thereof. He was ultimately passed on the [...]