Michigan welcomes Brady Hoke, initiates latest quarterback reckoning

Depending on who you ask, hyped freshman quarterback Ryan Mallett was probably on his way out of Ann Arbor when Michigan hired Rich Rodriguez that December, but if there was any doubt, the arrival of the "Spread 'n Shred" and its emphasis on a mobile signal caller put the seal of Mallett's departure. Michigan spent the next two years struggling to find any consistent quarterback ("mobile" or otherwise) while Mallett developed into the best passer in Arkansas history and a certain first round draft pick. By the time Denard Robinson emerged as a perfect fit for Rodriguez's system last fall, even the No. 1 offense in the Big Ten and a return to .500 wasn't enough to salvage Rodriguez's job – nor, apparently, any commitment to the transition to the spread he initiated three years ago, and that helped Robinson flourish as the Big Ten's Offensive Player of the Year as a sophomore.

Before incoming head coach Brady Hoke had even taken the podium today for his introductory press conference, one of Rodriguez's veteran quarterback recruits, 2009 starter Tate Forcier, had already flown the coop. Because he's not stupid, Hoke's first promise as Michigan head coach was to make every effort to keep Robinson from following Mallett and Forcier's leads in the wake of the latest philosophical shift, telling reporters "We want his future to be at Michigan." Robinson's response: "No comment."

The kid's not stupid, either. It's no secret that Hoke's mandate is largely as the "Anti-Rod," the guy who restores Michigan to the "smashmouth" (to use athletic director David Brandon's term) persona that defined its 40-year run as an undisputed national power prior to Rodriguez's arrival. That's not a guess – that's the identity Hoke assumes for himself, as he told the San Diego Union-Tribune last week, when his name began bubbling to the top of the list of potential successors, alongside other decidedly non-spread headliners Jim Harbaugh and Les Miles:

When asked recently about the influence of Oregon's offense, Hoke subtly revealed his disdain for the tactical shift Michigan experienced under Rodriguez. He is convinced that modern spread option offenses can be counterproductive to the core values of smashmouth football and are, therefore, to be avoided.

"Right, wrong or indifferent, when you're zone blocking all the time -- when you're playing basketball on grass -- you practice against that all spring, you practice against it all fall and then you’re going to play a two-back team that wants to knock you off the football," Hoke said. "I don’t think you're prepared.

"I think there's a toughness level (required in college football). I still believe you win with defense. That's been beaten into my head a long time, but I really believe that. The toughness of your team has to be the offensive front and your defensive front."

Along with the old-school mentality, Hoke (right, greeting Robinson today) brings his San Diego State offensive coordinator, Al Borges, a West Coast guy who has presided over attacks that led Boise State to the I-AA championship game in 1993, Oregon (1995) and UCLA (1998) to the Rose Bowl and Auburn to an undefeated season in 2004. His system is and always has been a relatively generic "pro style" affair that calls for a traditional pocket passer – the kind that Michigan consistently recruited prior to Rodriguez and sent on to long careers in the NFL – to stand tall or make throws, preferably complimented by a strong, between-the-tackles running game. Predictably, Borges' most recent attack at San Diego State easily led the Mountain West in passing in 2010, but the closest he's ever had to a running quarterback is probably Cade McNown.

For Robinson, by far the most exciting and productive player of the entire Rodriguez era, that may be enough to convince him that his future is elsewhere; if he does, with Forcier's exit, the offense will be in the touted but very unproven hands of redshirt freshman Devin Gardner, who at least looks like an imposing pocket guy at 6'4"/215 pounds. Robinson's immense improvement as a passer, on the other hand, came explicitly within the context of a) His ability to make defenses respect his ability as a runner in a system that exploited the threat of his legs to the max, and b) A passing game that consisted largely of screens and other short, safe throws into the flat. Even within that context, he was pretty mediocre over the second half of the season.

If he agrees to shoehorn himself into a less Denard-friendly scheme, the offense is almost certainly domed to another round of growing pains in the transition. If not, the Wolverines will open the 2011 season with their fourth brand new starting quarterback in four years. Either way, it's yet another new direction for a lineup that was just beginning to find its footing.

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Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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