Diaries

Lo Wood, a teammate of Michigan commit Jeremy Gallon, is a cornerback prospect from the 2010 class who recently received an offer from Michigan. Now that his junior year is over, Lo has been working hard on improving for next year, working out 3 days a week, 4 hours a day on Saturdays. Michigan is high on Wood, and he's high on Michigan as well.

First some highlights, then the interview.

TOM: How did your junior year go, compared to how you wanted it to go?

LO:  I did well. It was way better than my sophomore year. I improved on a lot of areas, and that’s really what I wanted to happen.

TOM:  How do you think you did at the combine?

LO:   I did well at the Army combine. I went against some new kids, so it was good to see how I would do against them.

TOM:  Did you get a chance to meet anyone new, any recruits you've kept in contact with?

LO:  Chris Beckman, the receiver. I talk to him, but that’s about it for new people.

TOM:  I know you're already good friends with Ricardo Miller (2010 Michigan commit), what has he been saying to you?

LO:  He’s just saying I need to hurry up and commit, and how much he loves Michigan. He’s been trying hard.

TOM:  You're also teammates with current Michigan commit Jeremy Gallon, has he been talking to you at all about the process?

LO: No, Jeremy’s kind of quiet. He said they need more Florida kids at Michigan. I guess everyone in Florida is talking about Michigan, since they’re going there.

TOM:  Who do you currently hold offers from?

LO:  Michigan, Georgia Tech, FIU, Stanford, and Duke.

TOM:  Do you have a leader right now?

LO:  My leader is Michigan.

TOM:  I know your family is involved in the process, what do they think, or say you should do?

LO:  They just tell me to make sure it’s the right choice for me, they’re just letting me do the process myself. My dad does certain things for me so I can focus on school.

TOM:  Do you have a timeline for how you see your recruitment going? Some guys like to wait; others just get it out of the way.

LO:  We’re going to sit down and figure it out. We’re still waiting; we’re kind of waiting to see what happens at signing day, and make our decision from there.

TOM:  What's your next step? Have you planned any visits yet?

LO:  Sit back and relax for awhile, then we’re talking about taking some visits. Michigan will get a visit, we’re just not sure when yet.

TOM:  What schools have you already seen, and what was the most impressive part of any of them?

LO:  Florida, Georgia, and Michigan too. Michigan, just the atmosphere, the stadium, and the fans. I really liked how everyone knew who I was.

TOM:  Describe what kind of player you are, what are you good at, and what do you need to improve on?

LO:  I’m going to improve on tackling better, doing basic things, and little things in my coverage. I’m best at playing man to man coverage, and jamming.

TOM:  What do you think about Greg Robinson becoming the new Defensive Coordinator?

LO:  It’s great to hear that a good DC is coming. It sounds like he’s got great experience, and the fact that he’s won Super Bowls is pretty cool.

It is getting a bit slow and since I learned a lot of good information from my last post on the Coaching Arms race, I decided to go back to the well. I also hate to admit the number of times I refresh this page in a given day looking for new content, so I thought I would bring content to me.

There are a number of things regarding UM football that never made any sense. That was because I missed good coverage(living in Texas), did not have good access to data (blogs, recruiting sites) or just was not on the "inside" in regards to the program. One of those mysteries that I still wonder about is in the early 2000s when our secondary was nicknamed "The Suspect". Why were we so awful in the secondary? Was it recruiting, transfers, coaching, all of the above? How did we get that nickname, I assume it was from the dreadful play? What solved it? (maybe it was not solved if you look at last year).

I just saw Whitley's nice article on his recent charges and it all started to come back again. I would appreciate some insight from our crack mgoblog community. I will be interested to see how the response turns out.

Hey guys,

I normally don't post, but just read; today, though, I've heard something that will interest all of you if it turns out to be true. A friend of mine that goes to Rider High School (Beaver's H.S.) in Texas says that a local paper has declared that Beaver will probably "Fickle Finch" out of his commitment and either - get this - recommit to Michigan, or make home at Texas Tech.

This was a local paper of which the credibility I don't know, as I'm not familiar with anything in that area. However, I thought it was worth posting for argument's sake. For a little extra, the columnist in their paper said he believed 60% in Beaver's recommitment to Michigan, but that TTU is on the rise and is, to sum it all up, a "sexier" choice for Beav.

I'd categorize this with rumors right now, but seeing as it's in a local paper, I wasn't so sure it shouldn't be given some attention and some thought, at least.

My friend knows a couple of the football players on their high school team personally, but doesn't directly know Beaver, which is why I have doubts as to the accuracy of this info at this point. We'll see, though.

There are some really good diaries that people post on here and its nice to read peoples opinions from time to time but sometimes you just gotta say STOP IT!!!

As a 32 year old fan of Michigan athletics and an absolute nut over our fooseball program I have to say I was just as devastated as most of you were when we lost game after game in 08. But seriously folks some of you got to stop making these ridiculous assumptions. The most absurd is about Tate Forcier. Look I hope this kid ends up great. But he hasn't played a down yet & so many of you are talking like were going to win 9 games in the Big easy next year.

Great. If that happens what a grand suprise that would be, but the likely outcome is that Michigan fans need to be prepared for another season of heartbreaks. Not like 2008, but definitely nothing spectacular. I think a 7-5 0r 6 win season is what were looking at as a realistic ceiling and anything more is a gift.

I guess i'm just getting frustrated with all the blah blah blah. Its sounding absurd. Plus that kid doesn't need anymore pressure on him than he already has nor does any freshman coming in. Its like Terrell Pryor. The kid came in with so much hype people forgot he doesn't have an arm, AND he may never get one. He came to a good team that was ready to win and he handled it like a freshman with a wayyyy above average set of athletic skills. But he was still a freshman and they went 10-3. And that 10 wasn't that impressive. So Tates coming in to hopefully help a team that only won 3 games and so many of you are looking at him like the Messiah. This past season has too many of you trippin......

Edit Message as for last year...lets go over each game and come up with a logical reason to have hope for 2009. game 1)Utah: first game with new coach, system and a walk on freshman QB starting because rrod thought he fit the system.tough game against the true national champion. yes, michigan did get most of the breaks but the second half was more indicative of the talent comps.Final 25-23 0-1--With Forcier or more experienced Threat 1-0 game 2)Miami: still learning complex system and this time started a r/s freshman QB. lackluster performance mostly brought on by embarrassment over home opener loss to a mid major team(who knew they were that good).Final 16-6 1-1--Forcier exp. Threat 2-0 game 3)Notre Dame: a little jump in their step. finally over losing to Utah, the best team in college football;-P but 4 fumbles and 2 int. later a tough loss to swallow. outplayed Notre Dame in South Bend but the errors and hard rain took it's toll. hope abounds.Final-35-17 1-2--Forcier exp Threat and less bad luck 3-0 game 4)Wisconsin: do miracles ever cease? this game saw Mich. turn the ball over repeatedly in first half and this led to one of the greatest comebacks in Mich. history.the 4th qtr. showed the promise of the spread. Final 27-25 2-2 Forcier exp Threat 4-0 game 5)Illinois: Mich. spurred on by great comeback against Wis. comes out strong, takes an early lead and just falls apart, exposing the truth...Michigan is led by a freshman Qb running an offense not designed for him. Juice see's blood, doesn't throw a pick and....Final 45-20 2-3 Forcier exp Threat 4-1 game 6) Toledo: threat makes another freshman mistake, Toledo comes out with an offense designed by their old coach Gary Pinkel, now at Missouri, and throws over 100 times...well, at least 50 and once more plays with more passion than the Wolverines.Threat gets hurt and Michigan gives away another.Final- 13-10 2-4 Forcier exp Threat 5-1 game 7)Penn St: #3 team in happy valley.Michigan once again starts strong, leads at the half and then Threat goes down...end of story. promising but still another loss. Final 46-17 2-5 Forcier exp Threat closer but still lost 5-2 game 8)Michigan St.:same old story. come out strong, lead or tied for most of game and fold like the young and now bewildered team they've become. Final 35-21 2-6 Forcier exp Threat 6-2 game 9)Purdue:Michigan's offense scored more points against Purdue's staunch defense than both Penn St. and Ohio St. in fact , Michigan's 42 points were more than Penn St. and Ohio St.'s combined scores of 36...problem was Michigan gave up 48. Final-48-42 2-7 Forcier exp Threat 7-2 game 10)Minnesota: this game showed a complete package of what the spread can do, even with a walk-on, when playing in perfect conditions and getting most of the breaks. the defense once again made an appearance helped by the offense actually limiting their three and outs and Michigan won that juggy thing.Final 29-6 3-7 8-2 game 11)Northwestern: Michigan come out in the snow and rain runs the ball for almost 200 yards, leads at the half 14-7 and loses. other than the elements, the 88 yards in passing and the defenses year long inability to stop 3rd and 30's did the Maize and Blue in...the pain...the pain....Final 21-14 3-8 Forcier exp Threat 9-2 Game 12)Ohio St.:Terrelle Pryor pass intercepted by Stevie Brown at the OhSt 47, returned for 34 yards to the OhSt 13. MICHOHST1st and 10 at OHST 13Carlos Brown rush for 2 yards to the OhSt 11.002nd and 8 at OHST 11Nick Sheridan rush for a loss of 2 yards to the OhSt 13. 3rd and 10 at OHST 13Michigan penalty 5 yard false start accepted. 3rd and 15 at OHST 18Nick Sheridan pass incomplete. 4th and 15 at OHST 18K.C. Lopata 35 yard field goal MISSED A.J. Trapasso punt for 33 yards, returned by Martavious Odoms for no gain, fumbled, recovered by ohio st.tuos 6 plays for 318 yards michigan intercepts pryor on first drive returns to 8 and sheridan puts a dagger in the maize and blue heart. game over Final 42-7 3-9 Forcier exp Threat and a witch doctor...10-2...just kidding;-P;-P 9-3 Next year 9-11 wins...yea seriously...Go Blue!!

I missed this one, but happened to catch it on Dr. Saturday (whose text is below). It is bad enough USC stomps the Big Ten, do they have to eff up the coaching ranks as well? Carroll's $1M OC, Sarkisian's $900k DC and now this with Kiffin at UT? $400k for an OLB coach? Isn't that more than we will pay our new DC?

"Clearly, though, UT is committed to fortifying that limb, as its final push to fill out Kiffin's coaching staff proved late last week. Consider that at the start of last season, the most expensive assistant coach in the country was Florida State's offensive coordinator/coach-in-waiting Jimbo Fisher, at a base salary of $600,000. Tennessee not only nearly doubled that for Kiffin's grizzled dad, Monte, to come on as defensive coordinator (he'll make a little more than $1 million), but also topped it for Ed Orgeron's noted recruiting prowess (Coach O will bring in $650,000 as recruiting coordinator and defensive line coach). Last week, they went for broke to lure Alabama's ace recruiter, Lance Thompson, for $400,000 -- as an outside linebackers coach who'll play second fiddle to Orgeron on the recruiting trail. That's well over $2 million for three assistants, more than most schools -- even SEC schools -- allocate for their entire staff of assistants."