We know Brady Hoke loves to say Michigan. Brady Hoke will work the word Michigan into any sentence he can, as much as possible. Us in the media love to talk about Johnny Manziel.
It’s understandable; as he’s really good at college football. And he’s also a major douchenozzle at the same time. And it’s Michigan-Notre Dame week, so the hype for that game has been beaten to death. Time for Brady Hoke to talk about something else.
Brady Hoke was a call-in guest on Friday’s The Dan Patrick Show, and this came up:
Dan Patrick: “If Johnny Manziel is your quarterback — finish that sentence.”
Brady Hoke: “If Johnny Manziel’s our quarterback, he’d probably be playing behind Devin Gardner.”
The Wolverines Coach then went on to talk about Johnny Manziel with some boring cliches, banal coachspeak and after school special talk.
But again Devin Gardner over JFF?
Brady Hoke showed how much he believes in his signal caller. Good for him. Brady Hoke said the right thing in that situation. But we’re not dumb enough to believe he truly thinks that. There’s no way anyone could think Gardner is a better quarterback than Manziel; but that is exactly what Hoke is implying by saying JFF would back-up Gardner. And that’s touching. After hearing this, Gardner would probably go to war for Hoke. And that’s what a team should do.
Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. An analyst for 95.7 The Fan, he also writes on Chicago sports media for Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)