Diaries

Colorado offensive lineman Paul Thurston decided to take a trip out to Ann Arbor on Monday with his father. The 6-foot-5, 274-pound lineman took in Michigan's campus for the first time and told me about how the trip went. Here's a look at his film and what he had to say.

TOM: You're from Colorado, so it's not like this was a two hour car ride for you. What made you decide to visit Michigan so early?

PAUL: Well, we went up Monday and just got back today. I know Michigan, they're a big time program and the scholarship offers aren't going to be around forever. I thought it would be best to get over there and when things heat up I'll have already seen them and know what they're about.

TOM: You said when things start heating up. Does that mean you have a timeline for when you want to decide?

PAUL: Yeah, I'd like to do it before the season or during the season. So probably around July, August, or September is when I'll make my decision.

TOM: What did you know about Michigan before this visit, or what made you so interested in them?

PAUL: Probably the big time tradition they have there. These coaches I'm sure they'll get back to that again. When I got the offer it was definitely a place I was interested in.

TOM: Ok, so tell me about the trip then. What all did you get to see?

PAUL: It was my first time in Ann Arbor, and when we got there we went to the athletic complex. I met all the coaches, talked with Coach Hoke, talked with Coach Funk, and took a tour of the facilities. The next morning we got a tour of campus, saw the academic center, and we saw the Big House. That was pretty crazy. Then after that we talked to Coach Hoke again.

TOM: The Big House was crazy? How did it compare to other schools you've seen so far?

PAUL: Yeah, the Big House was crazy. You go to a place like Nebraska and they have a pretty big stadium, but then you walk on that field in the Big House and that place is huge. I was in there talking with some of the coaches about what it's like on gameday with all the fans.

TOM: You mentioned talking to the coaches, what were they talking to you about?

PAUL: They were telling me where I'd be playing, where I'd fit in, and where they stand. Talking with Coach Hoke he was able to tell me some things about the program, chat, and just get to know me.

TOM: Where did they tell you that they want you to play? Tackle or guard?

PAUL: Coach Funk said I'll probably go in and play left tackle. If I can play there, then good, if not then they might move me to guard or right tackle.

TOM: Your dad went with you on the trip, how did he feel about it?

PAUL: He really liked it. He said it's definitely a top place and a good place to go.

TOM: We talked about your timeline, but do you have any leaders at this point, or does anyone stick out to you so far?

PAUL: No, I don't really have any leaders yet. I'm coming back from all these visits and trying to get everything on paper. I think I'll take a couple more visits, I'm not sure where yet, but it's coming together slowly. We'll see who starts talking to me.

TOM: What are the most important aspects for you when you're evaluating a school?

PAUL: Some of the big things for me are a good weight program, if they can get me ready and get me ready to compete. If I like the coaches and my position coach, and how long the coaching staff will be there.

TOM: After this visit how do you think Michigan stands for you?

PAUL: They definitely fit all three things I'm looking for. I talked to the weight coach and he has everything I'm looking for. They were telling me that they don't plan on going anywhere either.

TOM: Was there anything that stuck out to you on the visit, or anything unique?

PAUL: Well, I actually got a call that I was selected to play in one of All American games while I was in Ann Arbor, so that's something I'll remember.

Prologue:

Mrohblue's MGoBoard question, "How long before Hoke has UM in BCS game??" has prompted me to post some data I previously compiled for personal satisfaction.  I hope you will find it just as satisfying.

I am sure Michigan can/should pull off 10 wins this upcoming year, and it's not just because the Wolverines nearly pulled off 7 wins in 2008 while utilizing a 3rd string QB lining up behind one previously starting OL, throwing to one previously starting WR or TE, or handing off to one of 2 previously starting RBs; with depth being drawn from a team of less than 70 scholarship players.  (Compare this to the 2011 offensive transition that will feature 4 of 5 OL starters and 4 of their 5 backups, the top 8 WR, top 5 RB, top TE, and the nation's most dangerous QB... all from a top 5 Offense from the year 2010.)

Introduction:

Look to Mr. Rittenberg's list of Big Ten returning starters for 2011 to get a general overview of the Big Ten's experience gap. Our beloved Wolverines are the most experienced group in the Big Ten, returning 20. Of note, the 4 programs on our 2011 schedule who are/will be traditional favorites to finish among the conference's top half include MSU, Iowa, Neb, and OSU. This traditionally difficult block of teams return only 13, 10, 12, and 13 starters, respectively. Also of note, we will have our hands full with ND and NW who return 18 and 17 starters, respectively. (That assumes that Brian Kelly's competitive mean-streak translates to Michael Floyd being magically available for Michigan's first home night-game.)

But when looking at whether a team will be the hammer or the nail, the proverbial hammer's head is the Offensive front 6 (OL and TE) or the Defensive front 7 (DL and LB.) Looking at what Wisconsin's 2010 OL was able to accomplish against a young Michigan DL (especially after they purposefully took Mike Martin out of the game) is a great example of experienced big uglies taking (talented) newbies to task. That Wiscy OL featured 2 Sr, 3 RS-Jr, and a So.

Data:

Who will we hammer this year?

As you can see, no one has a clear experential advantage over Michigan in the trenches this year. Not only does Michigan return more total starters than any of its foes, 10 of our returning starters are trenchmen perfectly balanced across the O and D.

By the Numbers:

The teams who will give our offensive Front 6 a challenge: Notre Dame, Minnesota, Purdue, the Illini, and Nebraska.

The teams to challenge our defensive Front 7:  SDSU, NW and the Illini. Of course, ND, Purdue and OSU all return a respectable 4 out of 6 on the offensive front line.

Note that only ND, Purdue and the Illini are on both of those lists.

Conclusions:

WMU, MSU and Iowa will all be overrun by winged helmets on both sides of the ball. That's RBs stuffed, QBs with no time to breathe, and our RBs unleashing an absolute Denarding. EMU will be able to at least rely on its lines to keep the game closer than it should be, and SDSU brings back some real talent on the offensive side of the ball but a very weak-looking defense - posing the threat of a shoot-out. But those 5 games should be our gimmes. We have a heavy advantage on either O or D against Minnesota, Nebraska, and Ohio State (and are not outgunned on the other side of the ball) = 3 more wins. The Illini return a lot along the lines, but only 3 total starters behind the lines. Win.  Our nastiest games will be Notre Dame, NW, and Purdue who each return solid lines in addition to a solid number of skill players behind the lines.

I am only sweating ND, SDSU, NW and the Nebraska/OSU 2-week finale. Four of those are home games. Beat Notre Dame, and we are on our way to a 10-win season. Lose to them, and our second Big Ten game (Northwestern - away) becomes the lynchpin to making a BCS berth. We need 3 out of 5 of these "sweat games." I like our chances.

**Edit:  According to Scout.com's listing of WMU's returning starters there are 3 returning along the O-line/TE (including our very-own-former Dan O'Neill)and 7 (!) returning along the D-Front-7.  That's a massive difference from ESPN's reporting of 2 and 4.  They are one of the more experienced trench-teams we will see this season... I'm going to have to go back through Scout's analyses and see if there are any other examples of ESPN's poor reporting skills.

Dave Brandon appeared in Midland at an event for sports editors hosted by the Associated Press. In advance of the stories, here is some info on DB's comments from Angelique's Twitter feed:

• Demand for tix to UM-ND night game has been great. Could sell 150,000 [if that was possible].
• The night-game jerseys will be unveiled soon ... at night
• Foundations for new Michigan Stadium scoreboards being installed.
• 9-game Big 10 sked "several years" away
• 375 x-UM players were in night before spring game, said that was "historic".
• RichRod should not get blame for fracture.
• Said of course he wished Darius Morris would have stayed but wished him well.
• Said Hoke talked to him about Stonum suspension and he (Brandon) let Hoke decide on the discipline.

And here's the first article, from A2.com's Sports Director Jim Knight, "Big Ten Hockey Will Result in More Interest, Highter Ticket Sales" (quite the headline).

Brandon, speaking at a Michigan Associated Press Sports Editors meeting, said facing traditional conference foes such as Penn State, Minnesota and Wisconsin will enhance offerings on the Big Ten Network, strengthen the league brand and ultimately create more excitement on the Michigan campus.

“I will sell more seats at Yost Arena knowing that we are going to tee it up against our big competitors in the Big Ten,” Brandon said. “We’ll still have a robust nonconference schedule … but at the end of the day, student-athletes that come to Michigan come to win Big Ten championships.”

Jim Knight with his second story, "Dave Brandon takes no 'glee' in NCAA investigation of Ohio State and Jim Tressel"

“You don’t need anybody, particularly a colleague, poking at you,” Brandon said Tuesday at a Michigan Associated Press Sports Editors meeting. “There were some people out there who did it, and I remember who they are, and I remember what they said. Those people who took great glee in the fact that we got ourselves in that kind of situation -- I’ll never do that.  The folks at Ohio State have their hands full, obviously.” [emphasis added]

 Angelique Chengelis weighs in with her article on the event: "Michigan AD Dave Brandon: Rift was not Rich Rodriguez's fault"

"To point the finger at Rich Rodriguez would just be wrong as it relates to that. You could do a book on all the factions that split off, the camps — the (Jim) Harbaugh camp, the (Les) Miles camp, the (Lloyd) Carr camp, the (Rich) Rodriguez camp, there was just all kinds of splintering. And then, hey, you start losing, and now everything gets jumpstarted in terms of peoples' emotions and frustrations and then it boils, so it was a lot of different factors. It was no one individual or one incident. It was a combination.  It was an unpleasant chapter and hopefully we're writing a new chapter."

"There's no great way to measure (the mending), but there's a lot of good ways to measure it. When we had the spring football game and to have 375 football players come back — that's historic ... and Brady invited them. He said we're going to have a team meeting Friday night for a chance to get reconnected. Guys traveled in from all over the country. It was really remarkable. That was a very encouraging thing to see."

Hoke and his assistant coaches continue to reach out to former players for what Brandon called "socials" in 16 cities around the country. The meetings are informal, void of power-point presentations and there is no agenda.

"It's a chance to connect with the program, talk to the coaches and get a sense to see where the Michigan football program is going. That's an enormous sacrifice of time and effort, (and) that was their idea not mine; that was something they wanted to do. You're seeing a tremendous effort to reach out to the former players to bring the community back together. I couldn't be more pleased. The feedback I'm getting from former players has been enormously positive."

Regarding Notre Dame game throwback jerseys:

Michigan has yet to reveal the jersey design, but Brandon hinted it will happen soon. "We've moved up the schedule a little bit for that." He said they want to wait for the finished product, preferring that to showing sketches of the design. Brandon said the uniforms will be unveiled at night. "So you can see what they look like under the lights. We anticipate we're going to sell a lot of jerseys."

Other items:

Brandon believes it will be "several years" before the Big Ten goes to a nine-game conference schedule. He said several teams are booked through 2015-2016 and it would be "expensive and problematic" to unwind those schedules.

[Regarding "Legends and Leaders"]: "I think whatever they came up with was going to be a problem. The initial feedback generally speaking was negative. Something like this has to serve the test of time. Let's give it a year or two and see if it's working. If it isn't, we can go back and tweak it."

[T]he golf challenge initiated by Michigan State athletic director Mark Hollis via Twitter late last month has been set [for] July 25 at Eagle Eye in East Lansing. [Lion Kim will be part of Brandon's U-M team. I like our odds.]

The Rivals top 100 came out yesterday and there seemed to be a lot of confusion about the lack of midwest prospects. The complete 250 rankings are now out and it's looking a little more balanced. Here's a look at the top 250 prospects that Michigan is still in on with a little commentary as well.

By my count that's 45 prospects in the top 250 that Michigan is recruiting and has somewhat of a chance with. Before you ask, yes I'm surprised that Chris Wormley isn't in the top 250. That seems weird.

I think Michigan has a realistic chance with a good amount of these top 250 players. Among those are:

DT Ondre Pipkins, OL JJ Denman, OL Jordan Diamond, DB Terry Richardson, OL Shane Callahan, DB Armani Reeves, OL Kyle Dodson, DT Jaleel Johnson, DB Wayne Morgan, OL Paul Thurston, WR Aaron Burbridge, OL Erik Magnuson, and OL Zach Banner.

When last we left our beloved Wolverines, they had wrapped up a 3rd undefeated regular season in the past 4 years, and were getting ready to gear up for the CCLA Conference tournament. On the line at the tournament was the Conference Championship, and The #1 overall seed in the MCLA National Tournament.

Central Michigan

So, this wasn't much of a contest. Michigan is a lot better than Central Michigan in pretty much every way, and it showed on the scoreboard. The Wolverines emerged 23-1 victors over the Chips - who are in up-and-coming program.

If you want more details on the game, check them out here.

Michigan State

This was a much better contest. In fact, I'd go so far as to say Michigan's 11-10 thriller over the Spartans was one of the most exciting Michigan Lacrosse games I've seen in the past three years or so.

The Wolverines built up an 8-4 lead in the second quarter, but Michigan State managed to capitalize on a couple broken rides (essentially a full-court press), and knot the game at 10 late in the third quarter. However, with just seconds to go in the frame, Trevor Yealy put in the 11th goal, and the teams were scoreless throughout the fourth (despite up-and-down play and several exciting moments).

The game featured the standard chippiness of a rivalry, plus a semi-brawl on the sidelines that lasted 30-some seconds.

For more on the State game, click here.

MCLA Tournament

Going forward, Michigan has earned the #1 overall seed in the MCLA National Tournament. They'll take on #16 Seed Lindenwood in Denver on Tuesday the 17th at 4PM Mountain Time. The Lions earned a tournament berth by virtue of winning the GRLC Playoff.

Should seedings hold throughout, Michigan would face Oregon in the second round. The Wolverines beat Oregon in overtime in a neutral-site game earlier this season. The semifinal opponent would be Chapman, again a past Michigan victim this season. In the finals, Michigan would face Colorado State who, you guessed it, they've already beaten this season. The full bracket is here:

Michigan is the overwhelming favorite in what should be their last MCLA Tournament...

Varsity News

(They call that a segue, kids). Though there hasn't been much movement since the initial Inside Lacrosse report a couple weeks back, all the evidence seems to point in the direction of Michigan plying its trade as an NCAA Varsity team in the spring of 2012.

A couple interesting statements happened following the CCLA Tournament that lead me to believe everything is still on track. First, when presenting Michigan Coach John Paul with the conference championship trophy, the announcer said something along the lines of: "probably for the last time ever, Michigan wins the CCLA Trophy." JP played it cool when accepting the trophy, but certainly wasn't in a hurry to deny anything. Following the game, the official @UMichLacrosse twitter account dropped the following:

"Michigan finishes FINAL MCLA regular season with a 103-2 all-time record in CCLA competition."

While it may seem (or ultimately be) inconsequential, it is the first public statement from any official, on-record source that something is definitely going to happen for next season. For the record, Michigan Athletic Director David Brandon was in attendance at Saturday's victory over Central Michigan.

I'm covering the hell out of this story over at GreatLaxState.com, so if you're into every minute detail, check out my posts over there.

Mods please move if not diary worthy

Yesterday in Rescue_Dawn's Recruiting Map diary, someone commented that they hoped we wouldn't get to the point of having an interactive Google map for our recruiting... We just did.

I read the comment and thought it was a cool idea, so I got to work.  Being fresh out of school and not really having much of a life outside of work, I had the spare time.  I came up with a rough draft for the map yesterday, and today I have made some major updates to make the map a more powerful tool for tracking recruiting.  Features for the map originally included:

• Interactive Google map with interest points at each recruit's location

I have revamped it to now be a community-supported tool.  New features include:

• A list of links to recruits to help easier locate one particular recruit on the map
• Updated geocoding caches... Hopefully will make markers more accurate
• The ability for anyone to propose updates to existing recruit
• The ability for anyone to propose new recruits
• Email confirmation of approved changes or disapproved changes with reasoning
• List of recent contributors
• New additional info field for linking to articles, highlight videos, other info, etc.

Any changes proposed will be moderated by me.  I will not be verifying the data in the proposed changes, per se, this is just really to avoid system abuse.

What I need from people here is to look at the map and test it out.  There are a lot of aesthetic things that need to be changed (I got numerous ideas yesterday, thanks to everyone!), but I chose to focus more on functionality, and even then I am sure there is plenty out there that could still break (there is a lot of data-validation that needs to be done eventually).  If you have any ideas that would make this more user friendly, or if you notice something break, let me know and I will get to fixing it!

I think with everyone's help it could turn into a pretty neat community recruiting tool.

The Map is found here

To get started in adding info to recruits, click the Click to Contribute button in the upper-right (can be hard to see).

I hope everyone finds it useful and I look forward to getting some feedback!

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