Diaries

Michigan Daily

Ann Arbor, February 6, 2011.  New WikiLeaks documents surfaced in Cheyenne, Wyoming this morning that shed fresh information on AD Dave Brandon's decision to fire Coach Rich Rodriguez.  To protect the identity of the leaker [editor's note:  retired Wolverine's lyricist Stan Jones], the decisive moment has been redacted in lyrical form].

The AD's office was contacted this morning but refused comment.  Coach Brady 'Hoss' Hoke at the Schembechler Spread was unavailable.  Text of the lyrics follows.

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Ghost Buckeyes in the Sky

A new AD went riding out by Stadium and Main
A Process he did Ponder as he thought of old A-Train,
When all at once a mighty herd of Buckeye fiends he saw
A-plowing through Ann Arbor’s sky and up the Big House draw

Yippie yi yaaaaay
Yippie yi Ohhhhh
Ghost Buckeyes in the sky

Their Bribes were still on fire and their cleats were made of Steal
Their Nuts were gray and crimson and their hot breath he could feel
A bolt of fear went through him as they thundered through our sky
For the Wolverines were coming hard and he heard their mournful cry

Victors yi yaaaaay
Victors yi Ohhhhh
Ghost Buckeyes in the sky

Their faces gaunt, their eyes were blurred, their jerseys soaked with sweat
They’re riding hard to catch that herd, but they ain't caught 'em yet
'Cause they might just ride forever on that range up in the sky
On horses snorting fire as they ride on hear their cry

Victors yi Ohhhhh
Victorsy yi yaaaaay
Ghost Buckeyes in the sky

As Wolverines loped by him he heard one call his name
If you want to save your team from Hell a-riding on our range
Then Brandon change your Coach today or with us you will ride
Trying to catch the Tressel’s herd, across Ann Arbor’s skies

Victors yi Ohhhhh
Victors  yi Yaaaaay

Ghost Buckeyes in the sky
Ghost Buckeyes in the sky
Ghost Buckeyes in the sky

[Ed-M: Edited and front-paged for great content.]

Now that National Signing Day 2011 has finally come to a close, the Michigan coaches have been reviewing film and sending out offers to 2012 prospects. As mentioned many times before, the 2012 class is extremely strong in the midwest, including Michigan and Ohio, as well as Illinois and Indiana as well.

Here are some local and regional prospects to look out for, on offense.

Note: Sorry for the massive wall of text as well.

QB Gunner Kiel – 6'4, 220 lbs, Columbus, Indiana.

With Michigan’s move to a more pro-style offense Kiel becomes an even more important prospect. Kiel was offered by the previous staff as well, and he has some mobility (600 yards rushing) to go with his big-time arm (2,700 yards passing). However, Kiel is an Notre Dame legacy recruit, and he’s also been offered by Alabama, Cincinnati, Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Michigan State, Missouri, Oklahoma, Purdue, TCU, and Tennessee among others.

QB Robert Gregory – 6'3, 180 lbs, Chicago, Illinois.

Gregory is the teammate of 2011 signee Chris Bryant and 2012-super OL Jordan Diamond. Though Simeon ran a spread offense, Gregory possesses very good arm strength and could develop into a solid pocket passer. There are rumors out there that schools are looking at Gregory as an athlete, but he is only interested in playing quarterback. An interesting note as well, as Gregory recently said in an interview he and Jordan Diamond would be attending the same school.

RB William Mahone – 5'10, 200 lbs, Austintown, Ohio.

There is some serious talent at running back in the state of Ohio next year, and Ohio State has already locked down two studs in Warren Ball and Bri’onte Dunn. Michigan’s coaches are looking for another big-time back, and Mahone visited the campus twice last year, so there is mutual interest in both parts. Other offers: Bowling Green, Cincinnati, Miami (NTM)

RB Juwan Lewis – 5'11, 200 lbs, Muskegon, Michigan.

Many of you Michigan west-coasters will recognize the name, as Lewis starred on a very good Muskegon Big Red football team this year. Interestingly enough, Lewis played fullback in Muskegon’s shotgun/pistol offense. Like Mahone, Lewis has good size, but deceptively good speed as well. Lewis camped at Michigan last year, and is very interested in the Wolverines. Offers: None

WR Aaron Burbridge – 6'0, 175 lbs, Farmington Hills, Michigan.

Burbridge was one of the stars on a 14-0 Harrison squad that captured the state title this year. An excellent athlete, Burbridge played RB, WR, CB, and KR and excelled everywhere, though he will be a receiver at the next level. He reminds many of fellow Harrison alumni Mark Dell, and it is rumored Burbridge is very close to Dell as well. That is not true. Michigan State has offered and appear to be the early leader for this top 10 player in the state next year [Ed-M: Farmington Hills Harrison (Drew Stanton, Agim Shabaj) was a Michigan State feeder in my day, but haven't produced a Spartan since Dell; M got Charles Stewart from there] , but there is no doubt he will be interested in Michigan.

WR Amara Darboh – 6'2, 190lbs, West Des Moines, Iowa.

A big athlete with great speed, Darboh has the ability to stretch the field vertically and is very dangerous in space as well. Darboh will likely be the #1 player in Iowa, and that may not mean much but he is a very talented player. He has yet to narrow down his list, but if Michigan offers I fully expect Darboh to visit in the fall. Other offers: Iowa, Iowa State, Notre Dame, Wisconsin.

WR Stefon Diggs – 6'0, 175 lbs – Olney, Maryland.

Diggs is the teammate of 2011 signee Blake Countess. While he doesn’t possess great size, Diggs does have blazing speed and great hands to boot. He’s a crisp route runner and has dominated every camp he has shown up at. Diggs, along with Dorial Beckham-Green, will likely challenge for the top receiver spot in the nation in 2011. Just a few weeks ago Diggs said he was interested in Michigan, with Countess signing with the Wolverines. I don’t expect Michigan to land him, but there it is good to see interest there. Other offers: Cal, Florida, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Miami (YTM), Rutgers, Virginia Tech, Pitt

TE Sam Grant – 6'6, 230 lbs, North Royalton, Ohio.

Grant only caught 16 passes last season, but that’s because St. Edwards ran a primarily run-based offense. Grant has already tripped to Ohio State and Michigan State, and he will be a premium talent at the next level. With Michigan looking for more Tight Ends in their offense, look for them to get Grant up on campus soon. Other offers: Toledo

Athlete Drake Johnson – 6’1, 205 lbs, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Johnson is a very talented athlete at Ann Arbor Pioneer, who played running back this season and excelled as a national track runner as well. In college Johnson’s career may take a number of possible routes, as he could play running back, wide receiver, or even linebacker. Being right across the street from the Big House, I expect Johnson to be very well-scouted by the Michigan staff and definitely a possibility for an offer down the road.

As for offensive linemen, I haven’t spent enough time looking at all the film, but there are a lot of talented linemen in the Midwest this year. It’s not quite as talented as the past, but there is much better quality throughout the area. I fully expect Michigan to stock up on at least 3-4, maybe 4-5 this recruiting cycle. Along with Jordan Diamond, whom we’ve known about for a while, here are names to watch.

OG Kelby Latta, 6'4, 295 lbs, Battle Creek, Michigan.

OT JJ Denman, 6'6, 305 lb, Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania.

OT Jake Meador, 6'6, 280 lbs, Whiteland, Indiana.

OG Caleb Stacey, 6'4, 275 lbs, Cincinnati, Ohio.

OT Ben Bradem 6'6, 285 lbs, Rockford, Michigan.

OK, after reading for the 1,234,123rd time that someone feels "queasy" about Gardner's application for a Medical Redshirt and comparing it to what Saban does at Alabama I thought we could do a brief overview of the two things and get them out there in the open. If this debate comes up again, point the person to this post. (Mods, if this should be board rather than Diary throw it there)

First, the terms themselves:

Redshirt: An extra year of eligibility to play collegiate athletics. Most linemen redshirt in order to spend a year in a college weight program without playing any games. Student athletes are allowed 1 RS year. You cannot play in any games and get a normal RS. This scholarship counts against a team's total (85 for football)

M Example: Taylor Lewan RS'd his Freshman year to build his hatred for donkeys

Medical Redshirt: An extra year of eligibility to play collegiate athletics - determined by a governing body. A player receives an injury that is not career ending, but they will miss a long chunk of the season. The player can apply for a medical redshirt and gain another year of eligibility, the thought being "let's not punish kids for getting hurt and have the whole year on the field be a loss." The injury has to happen early in the season and the player cannot participate after the 1st (3 or 4?) few games of the football season. I'm not sure the rules for other sports. Occasionally across the college football landscape this practice will be used to get someone young some playing time in their first year without losing a RS year/whole year of eligibility. Many people are skeptical of Gardner's back injury - and this is why there is the application/vetting process. This scholarship counts against a team's total (85 for football)

M Example: Devin Gardner tweaked his back this year and could not play after the injury. He is applying for a Med Redshirt. 

Medical Exemption: A Medical Exemption is a failsafe for athletes who have career-ending injuries and can no longer participate at all in collegiate athletics. A Medical Exemption allows the AD to continue to pay for a (now former) Injured Athlete's scholarship. This is a protection for athletes such that if you can no longer play, your scholarship does not disappear. The Athletic Department continues to pay for the scholarship but the scholarship does not count against team scholarship numbers (85 for football) or Title IX Numbers, or anything like that. 

M Example: Antonio Bass destroyed his knee in like 300 ways. His playing career was done. His playing career was paying for his education (I don't know if he could have afforded Michigan one way or not without it). Rather than lose his scholarship he received a Medical Exemption and the AD paid for the Scholarship without the football team being punished.

Those are the terms and their definitions. The issue with the SEC and Saban and Oversigning is they are forcing kids who with injuries but NOT career ending injuries to take medical EXEMPTIONS (not RS). Saban is ending these kids' college careers, but still paying their tuition. Essentially he is kicking kids off the team, but sending them on their way with a scholarship... they just are off the football team and can't play NCAA sports ever again. If you look at the graph below, either Bama had 12x the career ending injuries of every other SEC team, or he's abusing the system.

I hope this provides some clarification as to the different terms and the issues and how they are different. When the Med Redshirt system is "abused" it benefits the student athlete by giving them another year of eligibility (Devin gets out from behind Denard for an extra year. Yay!) When the Med Exemption system is "abused" it benefits the program/team at the cost of the student athlete. The athlete is off the team and the team has another scholarship to hand out the next recruiting cycle.

Hope this helps the debate. See here also for more details: http://mgoblog.com/content/axeman-publicized

http://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/ot-u-f-president-weighs-oversigning-and-greyshirting

Also see the comments, some great points brought up as always.

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Everyone on these very pages knows that the primary goal of THE KNOWLEDGE is to reveal the future to anxious folks

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but, in this post, THE KNOWLEDGE shall take a look at some of the events in the recent past and identify various scenarios that could have happened

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yes

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but first, THE KNOWLEDGE would like to once again emphasize the power of his predictions

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two years ago, before G. Robinson was hired as the Def Coord, THE KNOWLEDGE had revealed that the new DC would be the current DC of the Baltimore Ravens (Rex Ryan then)

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this, of course, happened - but two years later

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the power of THE KNOWLEDGE is so great that the prediction was done two years in advance

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the only thing greater than the future-revealing-power of THE KNOWLEDGE is the ability to actually comprehend this power

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yes

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onto the main point of this post

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most people consider that Brandon screwed up the decisions on the head coach. many believe Michigan would have been better off keeping Rodriguez as the HC, but making sure he hired Manny Diaz as the DC and not interfered with the defensive side of things

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and, of course, Hoke was the least popular choice among fans at the time of his hiring

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yes

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Two things Hoke could have done to immediately unite the fanbase and provide great potential and assurance for the future are:

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1. Hired Rich Rod as the OC instead of bringing along Borges. This would have ensured continuity in the offense, and ensured a great leap forward in production in 2011.

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unfortunately, Hoke was against this idea, although Rich was readily available and willing to fill the OC spot

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hence, we are left with another change in the system and subsequent dropoff in production

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yes

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2. Hired OSU's Tressel as the DC. This would have been a great step up for Tressel both in terms of challenge and in terms of job prestige

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it would have been an easy sell, but Hoke was unable to pull it off

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instead he hired Mattison, the great friend of former S&C goach Gittleson

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while Mattison is a good NFL coach, it remains to be seen if he can adapt to the college game where spread offenses rule. Tressel would have been the better choice here

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yes

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Now that we have taken a look at what could have gone better, we will take a look at what the future holds in the next post

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Hint: It is quite rosy

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Signing day is almost upon us, and there are roughly six recruits to keep an eye on.This staff has done an excellent job keeping kids committed  and adding additional pieces to fill gaps. Here's a look at what to expect, and when to expect it.

As always you can find more updates from me on Twitter, and also feel free to email me with any tips or questions at tomvh@mgoblog.com.

Thomas Rawls

5'10", 215 lbs.

Running Back

Flint, Michigan

Rawls is a three star prospect, which most people assume is because of the concern with his grades. Most people assumed he would not qualify, which led to a not so impressive offer list. Also, since his high school coach is Fred Jackson's son and he's made no secret of the fact that if he qualifies he's going to Michigan other schools may not have bothered.

Don't let that list fool you, because Thomas is the kind of back Brady Hoke is looking for in his offense. I can only imagine the conversations about Thomas between Fred Jr and Fred Sr. [ed: "Son, you are the greatest coach in the world and you have created a combination of Herschel Walker, House, and Bo Jackson."]

Rawls recently came back from his trip to Ann Arbor with an offer and a plan:

I wouldn't say it was the dream offer, Michigan is the dream school. I grew up watching them, and I just worked to get there. I basically had the offer, but I just didn't say much. I don't want to say too much about academics, but I will be eligible for the 2011 season. I want to keep some stuff for my press conference, which will be at 9:30am on signing day at Flint Northern.

Thomas is "deciding" between Michigan and CMU on signing day. This should be an excellent pick up for Michigan, and an excellent job by Thomas to get eligible.

Jake Fisher

6'7", 270 lbs.

Offensive Tackle

Traverse City, Michigan

Jake Fisher is fresh off a visit to Oregon, and it's coming down to the wire. Chip Kelly is pretty strict when it comes to prospects visiting and offers they hand out. They like kids to visit if they are seriously thinking about coming to Oregon, and I think Jake is. I spoke to him after his visit, and he had this to say:

Everyone is fair game right now. I'm going to sit down with my parents and talk everything over. I'm either going to announce the day before signing day, or on signing day.

He also told me the visit to Oregon went well, but not much more than that. Jake is really tough to read, so this could go one way or the other. The Michigan coaches have made him a priority. Will it be enough?

Who's Signing When

Signing day is Wednesday. As mentioned earlier there are roughly six prospects that Michigan has honed in on. They would have enough room for all six under certain circumstances. Here's who's left, and when they plan on announcing.

• MI RB Thomas Rawls: Signing Day at 9:30am.
• CO LB Leilon Willingham: Signing Day at 7pm MT. Michigan is in great shape still with Willingham. He'll be choosing between Michigan, ASU, Colorado, Washington, and UCF presumably.
• OH LB Frank Clark: Signing Day around 10 or 11am.
• MD DT Darian Cooper: Signing Day.
• MI OL Jake Fisher: Either announcing the day before signing day, or on signing day. Visit to Oregon went well. He plans on talking it over with his parents and then deciding.
• TX TE Chris Barnett: Will announce on Saturday. Wants to weigh out all the options rather than think on emotion. The Michigan visit went very well. He is deciding between Arkansas and Michigan.

Prediction: I don't like predicting, but Michigan has a legitimate shot at landing all six that are left. I don't know if they will, but they have a shot. I am confident about three of them, somewhat optimistic about one, and usure about two. I think when it comes down to it they will most likely land 3 or 4, if they get the 5th or 6th it's a bonus.

Extra: 

• Texas tight end Chris Barnett talks about his official visit.
• Maryland defensive tackle Darian Cooper talks about his official visit.