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Brandon Peters made his Michigan Football debut on Saturday in the 35-14 win over Rutgers much to the delight of the fans.
It is hard not to be happy after a performance that saw the offense score three touchdowns on his first three drives. Jim Harbaugh spoke after the game on the performance of his redshirt freshman and his eyes lit up perhaps a bit more than usual during his press conference.
Still, coaches have to keep their composure when discussing things with the media, so yours truly decided to translate some of his comments from the session after the game.
(Note: These translations can be taken with a grain of salt. Never was the best language student. C’s get degrees, you know?)
What He Said
Harbaugh on Peters: “He really acquitted himself well...it was good ball.” pic.twitter.com/DFzb8dVJfa
— Anthony Broome (@anthonytbroome) October 28, 2017
What He Meant
“Rutgers was the perfect opportunity to get his feet wet and move the ball with consistency. We had no business losing that game and he gave us the spark we needed.”
What He Said
Harbaugh on decision to play Peters: “We made that decision before the game. It was time.”
— Anthony Broome (@anthonytbroome) October 28, 2017
What He Meant
“John O’Korn had one last shot to show us that he could do something, anything. Peters was going to play whether this was a blowout or not. The fact that it wasn’t early on was reason enough for us to pull the trigger.”
What He Said
JH says that Brandon Peters exceeded his expectations today. Now they’ll build on it.
— Anthony Broome (@anthonytbroome) October 28, 2017
What He Meant
“You’ll forgive me if I wasn’t sure that a quarterback change would be the spark this team needed. Everything else has gone wrong at every level of the offense much of the time. Now that we saw what he can do, we can build and move forward.”
What He Said
Harbaugh says they have felt Peters was ready to play for the last few weeks. Impressed with what they have seen in practice.
— Anthony Broome (@anthonytbroome) October 28, 2017
What He Meant
“There was no way in hell we were going to throw him to the dogs on the road in white out conditions at Penn State. But we knew what we had in O’Korn was not good enough and we have been getting him ready to play.”
What He Said
Harbaugh said ‘it was time’ to play Brandon Peters. ‘The bird had to leave the nest.’
— Nick Baumgardner (@nickbaumgardner) October 28, 2017
What He Meant
“If he wasn’t going to be good enough now, we are in big trouble moving forward. We had to know what we had in him and a low-stakes game was the perfect time to watch him play.”
What He Said
Harbaugh says Peters exceeded his expectations. Says he hopes Peters progresses ‘now knowing he’s the starting quarterback.’
— Nick Baumgardner (@nickbaumgardner) October 28, 2017
What He Meant
“He was good. The best we’ve seen out of anyone this year. Stop bothering me with quarterback questions. And to the fans, are you now entertained?!”
These are my takes. I’m no “Nicolas Cage after the Declaration of Independence,” but I’m confident in these.
We will dive back into his brain the next time he takes the podium.