Ryan Mallett "forced out"-Transfers from Michigan
It is official. Ryan Mallett is withdrawing from Michigan and will be enrolling at a new school to play football. Per NCAA rules, he will have to sit out a year before he will be eligible to play at his new school. Mallett is leaving Michigan just one year after he arrived as an early enrollee in January, 2007. He had an eventful freshman year and he saw considerable action this past season due to extensive injuries incurred by starter Chad Henne. Mallett played in eleven (11) games and completed 61 of 141 passes (43.3%) for 892 yards, 7 touchdowns with 5 interceptions. Michigan won all three games (Notre Dame, Penn State & Northwestern) that Mallett started in 2007 and he was the heir apparent to assume the starting QB position for next season. However, with the arrival of Coach Rodriguez and the implementation of the "spread offense", Mallett's destiny suddenly changed.Coach Rodriguez apparently spoke with Ryan Mallett on three separate occasions regarding Mallett's future with the Wolverines. Coach Rodriguez spoke with Mallett twice by phone and once face-to-face but apparently the conversations were too one-sided for Mallett's taste. "I really didn't get to ask a lot of questions," Mallett said. "I have a lot of respect for what he's done, but for me to be successful right now, I have to go somewhere else."
When Mallett came out of high school last year, he was rated the #2 prep quarterback in the nation behind only Jimmy Clausen. It appears that Coach Rodriguez did a poor job of "re-recruiting" Mallett. The Michigan faithful are trying to look on the bright side of Mallett's departure as they figure it is now more likely that Coach Rodriguez will be able to bring in Terrelle Pryor who is one of the top prep recruits in the nation this year. However, Pryor is also still considering Ohio State, Florida, Penn State, and Oregon. It is obviously essential that Coach Rodriguez sign Pryor to Michigan. Unfortunately, it is far from a sure thing that Pryor will commit to Michigan. It seems to me that when Coach Rodriguez already had on the team one of the top quarterbacks in the nation in Ryan Mallett that it was imperative for Coach Rodriguez to have done everything he could to keep him. Coach Rodriguez' efforts at retaining Mallett appear half-hearted and uninspired. As a result, Coach Rodriguez is now scrambling to bring a talented (albeit younger and more inexperienced) quarterback onto the team. If his recruiting effort of Pryor turns out to be as successful as his re-recruitment of Mallett, then Coach Rodriguez may have to resort next season to playing Steven Threet, David Cone or Nick Sheridan. Go Blue!
*Note: Photo of Ryan Mallett (15) from 9/22/07 game vs. Penn State by KIRTHMON F. DOZIER/Detroit Free Press
Labels: Ryan Mallett
posted by mzgoblue @ 8:45 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
IMO, as soon as Loeffler was not retained, Mallett was gone. It seems from Mallett's comments that he just doesn't want to believe that he can be successful in any system other than a pro-style offense. The barrel's not empty as long as we still have Threet, we'll just run the basketball on grass offense instead of the run-option spread.
Mallett might not have been worth keeping. Seems to me he had some attitude problems that Carr may have felt he could deal with but RR didn't want to waste the time. Mallett may have made a fatal mistake in his career considering the exposure he would hav e gotten at Michigan if he won the QB position.
I love seeing YOUR opinion in here. Its hard to fault Mallett for leaving but at the same time I don't think there is anything short of saying "you will be the starter all year next year and I'll make sure I change my offense so you can market yourself to the pros" that Rich could have done to keep him.
Its interesting to look over the past few years to see Michigan load up at either Rb or QB and then some kids transfer. Forcier, Fargas, Clayton Richard (sort of), etc.vci
Malett made the right decision. Look at Rodriguez' history, he says he's had QBs who made it big in the NFL. Who's that Rich? Shaun King? Oh boy...what a success. The pro-style offense UM has run for years is being replaced by a gimmicky spread. Hope you all enjoy it. If you enjoy watching black QBs running the ball, you are going to love UM football under Rodriguez. Its the end of an era. Talented passing QBs will be passing on UM. Too me, it's a sad day.
Boy "anonymous" you're dead on. Why in the world would Michigan hire Rich Rodriquez when they could have kept Debord as the head coach? Maybe we could bring back Jim Herman. Give me a break.
Mallet will get roasted at Arkansas. NOW people like Mel Kiper are talking about how good he will be. There was none of that talk when he was at Michigan other than by Michigan folks. Just another attempt to make the SEC look unstoppable.
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