MAILBAG!

What are your thoughts on Fitz being used as our punt returner?  Watching his
high school film, he seems to have the right style for punt returns, and the
moves to make the first guy miss (granted, this is a 4-5 star recruit
against high school competition).  Gallon has been less than impressive
to say the least.  Thus far, even fair catches have been no small
order, and indecision as to whether to let the ball drop, sail over,
fair catch, or field have been wrong consistently.  Hard to believe
there isn't a better option.

After seeing the lack of speed that Fitz displayed while being caught from behind on his first run as a Wolverine, I do not think we will be seeing him back returning punts anytime soon.

This past weekend Michigan actually debuted a new punt return formation that featured two “short” receivers in addition to a deep return man.  The answer to who should be the deep return man was answered for me after seeing Drew Dileo’s two returns as the “short” man in the new punt return formation.  Dileo was well known as a dynamic return specialist while playing high school ball in Louisiana and many thought that the return game is where he would ultimately make his mark at Michigan.  Dileo’s film, in addition to his two returns this past weekend, show a sure-handed return man that has the natural instincts and ability to make the first man miss.  Looking back at Dileo’s old film, he always seems to be able to find the crease in the return game.  I would love to see Dileo get the opportunity to return punts as the deep man this week to see if he truly is the answer to the Wolverine’s punt return woes.

With Tate completing all 12 of his passes at last Saturday’s game, do you believe he'll be seeing more game time to give Denard a bit of a break? Also, should Devin Gardner remain second string?

As long as Denard Robinson is healthy, no other quarterback on Michigan’s roster needs to see the field.   Denard provides a change of pace within his own style of play with his amazing speed and rapidly developing throwing ability.  Tate will not need to see the field unless Denard is hurt or we are up big and Denard has already collected his 400+ total yards on the day.

After this past weekend’s game, I think that Tate is your new second-string quarterback if Denard gets hurt during Big Ten Play.  Devin Gardner clearly has the talent to be a big-time quarterback, but at this point in time his comfort level within the offense along with his ability to make the proper reads is not quite where it needs to be yet.  When Tate took over against Bowling Green he played with great energy and showed great leadership throughout the game.  Tate is much more decisive on the zone read option and also has a year of valuable game experience under his belt.  I have no doubt that if Robinson were to go down with an injury that Tate would be able to lead this team to victory.  Michigan’s quarterback depth is unrivaled across the nation and it is hard to believe that just two short years ago we might have had the worst quarterback depth in the nation.

If Tate becomes the second string quarterback, do you consider red-shirting Devin Gardner next year in order to separate him from Denard/Tate?

One curious thing about Devin, similar to Terrelle Pryor, is that he displayed   amazing ability as a wide receiver during recruiting camps prior to coming to Michigan.  If Gardner wants to get on the field as quick as possible he would consider making the switch to receiver right now.  He would give Michigan a tremendous redzone threat with his size and leaping ability. However, Devin eventually will be most valuable to Michigan as a quarterback and it will be hard to justify any sort of position switch when the coaching staff specifically recruited him to play quarterback.

Since Devin will remain at quarterback, I do think the coaching staff will consider trying to red-shirt him in 2011.  However, I really don’t see this as a true option though because Gardner is going to have earned some time on the field next year as a quarterback and the potential to put both Gardner and Robinson in the same back-field could lead to an offense unlike any that we’ve ever seen before.

In all honesty, do you really see a difference between last year's team and this team in terms of momentum?  Lets say they lose to MSU and Iowa, do you think they will be able to overcome the urge to collapse again?

I get a sense that with Denard at the helm, this team is going into every game knowing that their quarterback is the best player on the field.  Knowing that their quarterback is this type of talent, I have to think that they truly believe that they are going to win every game they play in.  In 2009, with Tate being a true-freshman, it was easy to see that once some of Tate’s magic started to wear thin, the players, and most notably the upper-classmen, were clearly deflated.  Having that confidence in the quarterback position makes me think that the momentum the 2010 squad is carrying is much more potent than what the team had last year.

If the team does drop both the MSU and Iowa games, the bye week will come at the perfect time.  Having the bye week after those two games would allow the team to get healthy and the coaching staff to develop a great game-plan for the Penn State game.  Penn State looks extremely vulnerable and with two weeks to plan, a win in Happy Valley suddenly looks like a realistic possibility.  If the team can get back on track against Penn State, both Illinois and Purdue have already proven that they are absolutely awful this year and neither would pose much of a threat.   That three game stretch would provide a great bounce back opportunity for this squad and would absolutely prevent a similar collapse to the one we saw last year.