baquer sayed

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The 2012 Football Media Guide was released last night. Like all media guides it has lots of information reporters will Google/Bentley anyway if they ever need it. This one also comes with an extensive section on 100-yard rushers and 100-yard rushing duos in case, you know, anyone needs to write an article this year about two guys rushing for over 100 yards in a game or something. It also has a roster. A ROSTER!!! OMIGOD OMIGOD OMIGOD OMIGOD, OBSESSIVE ATTENTION TO ROSTER NUMBERS, GO!

Notable non-bullets:

NO position switches: Everybody who was a thing in spring is still that thing. sayed

Baquer Sayed not on it again. This same thing happened last year and then he turned up back on the team so this could be nothing. (UPDATE: Confirmed he has left the team.) Baquer was in the Spring Game and caught one of those passes listed as "unknown" in the box score. He was a 2010 preferred walk-on, one of those tall, loping-type receivers who look like they're hunched over until they extend to unworldly lengths. He turned down MAC offers to walk on here. Tim Sullivan interviewed him on MGo a few years ago. Yes, that Fordson.

Devin Gardner a junior, not RS soph. You shouldn't expect him to be since they won't say until he applies following the 2013 season, but I always look anyway.

WDEs the Biggest Gainers. Brennan Beyer is now 252 lbs., up 27 from the Spring roster, meaning he has gained the mass of the world's biggest lobster. Space fact: it now takes as much extra energy for Beyer to jump as it takes an astronaut in his space suit to jump from the surface of the moon. Frank Clark is up 32 lbs. for a listed 260. In other guys moving down the line, Jibreel Black is up to 276 (+16) and Roh is listed at 278 (+9).

Holy Ondre! Ondre Pipkins, at 337 pounds, is the biggest dude on the entire roster. For reference, Will Campbell arrived at 309, Richard Ash was 320, and freshman Gabe Watson was 358.* Other freshmen arriving much larger than advertised are Willie Henry (6'3-302, from 6'2-270), Ben Braden (6'6-319, from 285), Erik Magnuson (6'6-290 from 275), Amara Darboh (6'2-218 from 190), A.J. Williams (6'6-282 from 270), The Funchess (6'4-225 from 6'5-205), and James Ross (6'1-225 from 6'0-209). Only RJS arrived smaller than sites said (6'2-206 from 215).

* "That's all?" —everyone my age who ever played against Southfield

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On to the fully digit-ed freshmen!

No. Name Pos. Ht Wt Note
12 Allen Gant S 6'2 196 Nice compromise btw dad (14) and cousin (2)
13 Terry Richardson CB 5'9 154 154 pounds = 11 stone, $239 U.S., "small"
15 James Ross LB 6'1 225 Much closer to LB size than as a recruit (209)
19 Devin Funchess TE 6'4 225 Much closer to TE size than as a recruit (205)
22 Jarrod Wilson S 6'2 195 Spring
26 Dennis Norfleet RB 5'7 161  
29 Drake Johnson RB 6'1 203  
34 Jeremy Clark S 6'4 191  
35 Joe Bolden LB 6'3 224 Spring
39 Sione Houma FB 6'0 221  
43 Chris Wormley DE 6'5 268  
49 Kaleb Ringer LB 6'1 230 Spring - up 11 lbs. since
50 Tom Strobel DE 6'6 250  
52 Royce Jenkins-Stone LB 6'2 206 Winner of "I'm Ray Lewis" sweepstakes among Mattison LB recruits. Guessing redshirt.
53 Mario Ojemudia DE 6'2 223 Wore 53 in high school
56 Ondre Pipkins DT 6'3 337 He asked for 56 - for Woodley
62 Blake Bars OL 6'5 282  
67 Kyle Kalis OL 6'5 292  
69 Willie Henry DT 6'3 302 How did they miss a kid that size at a program like Glenville?
71 Ben Braden OL 6'6 319 Is this OT depth is see? Size: yes. Technique: unlikely.
78 Erik Magnuson OL 6'6 290 Same as with Braden.
82 Amara Darboh WR 6'2 218 I was so sure he'd take 15
84 A.J. Williams TE 6'6 282 Is it legal to make a guy that size an eligible receiver?
86 Jehu Chesson WR 6'3 183  
99 Matthew Godin DT 6'6 270  

You are welcome to see how wrong I was at guessing. Or you can burn that. You know what, burn that.

Number Changes:

Not as many as in years previous.

Name Pos. Was Now This is not the reason
Drew Dileo WR 26 9 Step 1: Get assigned locker next to Gallon. Step 2: Steal cloaking device.
Devin Gardner QB 7 12 Bought a Gutierrez jersey in '04 before he got his Henne one. Recently discovered it in back of the closet.
Paul Gyarmati FB 99 31 Inaugural "Name Legends" jersey, will include patch honoring Herman Everhardus (1930-'33)

Meet the Walk-Ons:

The new guys. Those listed were not on the spring roster.

No Name Pos Ht Wt Elig Hometown (H.S.)
3 Bo Dever# WR 6'2 189 FR Lake Forest, Ill. (Lake Forest)
6 Brian Cleary# QB 6'3 202 FR Detroit, Mich. (Detroit Jesuit)
18 Devon Micou WR 6'0 184 RS FR Ann Arbor, Mich. (Huron)
31 Andrew Offerdahl S 5'11 192 FR Fort Lauderdale, Fl. (Cardinal Gibbons)
46 Chris Maye# DB 5'11 178 FR Union City, Mich. (Union City)
59 Mark Lawson# LB 6'2 207 FR Ada, Mich. (Forest Hills Eastern)
63 Ben Pliska OL 6'3 267 FR Kirkland, Wa. (Lake Washington)
79 Dan Gibbs# OL 6'7 311 FR Birmingham, Mich. (Seaholm)
91 Kenneth Allen# P 6'3 205 FR Fenton, Mich. (Fenton)
91 David Mitropoulos-Rundus TE 6'2 242 RS FR Ann Arbor, Mich. (Pioneer)
95 Anthony Capatina K 5'9 181 RS SO Novi, Mich. (Detroit Catholic Central)
96 Ryan Glasgow# DL 6'4 285 FR Aurora, Ill. (Marmion Academy)

# = preferred walk-on. Interesting note: Glasgow is listed at DL, though the little chatter about him on the interwebs expected him to be an interior offensive lineman.

Counting Things on Scholarship

brandonandcount

(note: Brink, Heininger and Kovacs counted as scholarship players)

31! Thirty-one scholarship players with junior (19) or senior (12) eligibility, ah ah ah! Last year was 18 juniors and 15 seniors; 2010 was 14 and 11. This year there are only 11 sophomores (since few redshirted in '10 and many did last season.

38! Thirty-eight players left from the '08-'10 classes, ah ah ah! This roster is already mostly Hoke's. Show? Show.

Class of: 2012 2011 2010 2009
2005       6
2006     8 16
2007   9 11 12
2008 8 17 17 18
2009 15 17 18 22
2010 15 18 22  
2011 15 19    
2012 25      
Total on Scholarship 78 80 76 74

7! Seven receivers on last year's August roster who are now gone. Odoms, Grady and Hemingway by graduation, Stonum by action, Stokes and Williamson by volition, Terrence Robinson by unrenewsion. AHHHH!

14! Fourteen scholarship players at defensive back, ah ah ah! As opposed to nine on the roster in 2009.

44! Forty-four of the guys pictured in the Media Guide with facial hair, ah ah ah! This has to be a new record since the '70s.

Team 133 Photo Day

THE THREE STAGES OF BEARDLINESS:

kennydemensnateallspachEliottMealer

They are Demens, Allspach, and Mealer.

TEAM DREAD-FLOW 133!:

JTFloydChrisEddinsbrendangibbonsDenardRobinsonCraigRohStephenHopkins

(EDIT: Almost forgot:

JakeRyanJoeBolden.)

They are Wolverines with lions' manes sticking out of their helmets, soaring through the air in much the same way Odre Pipkins doesn't. They are: J.T. Floyd, Chris Eddins, Gibbons U PUT IT THRU THE UPRITES, Denard with something on his upper lip that shouldn't be there, Roh's left eyebrow, Roh's right eyebrow, Hopkins, the Jake (love the Jake), and Bolden. Here's some dudes trying to get into the club:

ThomasGordonjeremygallonJarrodWilsonDennisNorfleetJusticeHayessethbroekhuizen

T-Gordon, Gallon, Jarrod Wilson, Dennis Norfleet, Justice Hayes, Seth Broekhuizen.

NO LONGER PART OF TEAM DREAD-FLOW:

JoshFurman

Josh Furman.

I KNEW THERE WAS A REASON I CHOSE HIM AS MY TOTALLY UNREASONABLE NAME ON NOBODY'S LIPS TO GET ALL EXCITED ABOUT

DelonteHollowell

Delonte Hollowell. Somebody get this man a bow-tie.

sayedallstar.JPG

A trio of 2010 Michigan commits participated in All-Star games over the weekend. The Brothers Talbott played for Team Ohio in the annual Big 33 Classic against Pittsburgh, while preferred walk-on Baquer Sayed (#4 at right) was on the East team in the Michigan High School Football Coaches' Association All-Star game. Paul and I took in the MHSFCA game in person, and I watched the Big 33 on NFL Network.

East-West Game Report

The MHSFCA All-Star game was without many of Michigan's best players (ironically enough). The likes of Nick Hill and William Gholston from Michigan State didn't play in the game, and the Wolverines' quartet of Ricardo Miller, Austin White, Jeremy Jackson, and Devin Gardner all enrolled early, so they couldn't play. Gardner in particular could have made this a much more entertaining game to watch. The QB play was iffy at best.

The East team had nothing going offensively in the first half, finishing with 7(!) yards of total offense and giving up a safety. The West took advantage, building a 16-0 lead going into the break, courtesy of two Chris Robinson (Ovid-Elsie - Grand Valley State) touchdown runs. Field position played a huge factor, as the East team rarely even made it into opposing territory.

After halftime, however, the East offense came alive, partially due to a little more aggressive play calling. While pass plays functioned as scramble drills in half one, they became part of a functioning offense in the second with Jason Fracassa (Sterling Height Stevenson - Northwood University) able to move the ball through the air. The East scored 20 unanswered points with Fracassa touchdown passes to Eric Cogan (Petersburg-Summerfield - Saginaw Valley State) and Torico Searcy (Warren Mott - Grand Rapids CC) before a last-minute West penalty allowed East coach Jim Sparks (Clawson) the opportunity to forgo a game-tying field goal to go for the win. Jeremy Langford (Westland John Glenn - Michigan State) lined up in the I-formation and sealed the victory for the East.

With such a sloppily-played game, few players truly impressed, but Spartan-bound wideout Tony Lippett (Detroit Crockett) was HUGE in comparison to the rest of the All-Stars. West running back Chris Robinson was somewhat impressive behind a sketchy offensive line, and West QB Jordan Beachnau (Holt - Grand Valley State) showed very good elusive abilities in traffic. I was not impressed at all by Jeremy Langford.

Photo Gallery

Sayed Report

Also impressive was Michigan's lone representative in the game, Baquer Sayed. He was routinely open on the occasion that a pass play was called, but he was often missed (either the quarterback threw a bad ball or didn't throw it his way at all , often because he was running for his life) or interfered with. On top of one key pass interference drawn, he caught 3 passes for 45 yards, with a long reception of 22 yards. He was thrown to two other times, but both passes were uncatchable.

Big 33 Game Report

The Big 33 Classic annually pits some of the best in Ohio against some of the best in Pennsylvania. A number of college commitments participated (Pitt led the way with 10 commits, though Ohio State and Penn State each had 4), and like the Michigan game, it was a defensive battle for much of the contest.

It's very rare that you'll see two separate games start with 2-0 scores in an entire year, much less one day, but that was the case Saturday, as Pennsylvania took that advantage all the way into halftime. Missed field goals from both teams (including onetime Michigan preferred walkon-turned-Vanderbilt kicker Carey Spear of Team Ohio) and generally sloppy play limited the scoring, and quite honestly, fan enjoyment of the game.

After halftime, the game opened up somewhat, as Pennsylvania QB Anthony Gonzales (Liberty - Pitt) threw a pair of touchdown passes, one to PSU-bound Alex Kenney (State College) and another to future teammate Andrew Carswell (Sto-Rox). Ohio was not to be outdone, as Ohio State commits Verlon Reed (Marion Franklin) and Christian Bryant (Glenville) scored TDs. Reed's came on an 80-some-yard scamper, and Bryant's was a 26-yard reception with less than a minute on the clock to put Ohio up for good.

I was impressed with the performance of Alex Kenney and Andrew Carswell from Pennsylvania. Carswell should be a big target for Pittsburgh in the coming years. Wisconsin-bound Mannesah Garner (Brashear) was a terror on the defensive line, though he's expected to be a wideout in Madison. The surprise star of the day was Rich Gray (Woodland Hills) who's headed to Kent State, of all places. He was constantly in the Ohio backfield, and if he can stay on top of his conditioning, the Golden Flashes have uncovered a serious diamond in the rough.

A few Ohio players impressed as well. Verlon Reed and Christian Bryant showed good athleticism, though Reed couldn't pass the ball well at all, and Bryant looked lost in coverage at times (in man, he let Andrew Carswell get free by about 15 yards for one of Pennsylvania's touchdowns). JT Moore (Youngstown Boardman - Ohio State) got good pressure on the quarterback as well.

Talbotts Report

Michigan's representatives in the game, brothers Terry and Terrence Talbott, had mixed results. For the record, their jerseys both said "Talbott"—the organizers probably figured that 6 inches and 75 pounds would be enough for observers to differentiate between them.

Terry had one sack (@ 2:59 in the video below) and a couple other QB pressures, but no other real production. Terrence had a fumble recovery on special teams, one pass breakup and a couple tackles. Terrence was also responsible for one of Pennsylvania's touchdowns, however, as PSU commit Alex Kenney ran a streak down the sidelines, finding himself  a step past—and a lot bigger than—Talbott.

Big 33 Video

That wraps up Michigan commits' All-Star performances for the year, and Friday Night Lights will go into hibernation until late August, when the Class of 2011 gets its time to shine.

It's a doubleheader Saturday for Michigan's Class of 2010. The Big 33 All-Star game takes place in Hershey, PA with Michigan's Talbott brothers playing for the Ohio Team. Taking place in East Lansing is the Michigan High School Football Coaches' Association All-Star game at 3:30PM. (The game will be aired on TV on Comcast 900 on Monday at 7PM and Tuesday at 8:30AM.)

Though Michigan doesn't have any scholarship players participating in the game, a number of other Big Ten schools do (Ohio State, Michigan State, Northwestern, and Indiana). Michigan's sole player in the game is preferred walkon Baquer Sayed. I caught up with him and East coach Jim Sparks at media day for the game.

Baquer Sayedsayed_trieu.jpg

Tim: When are you getting up to Michigan?

Baquer: I'm moving up there in like two weeks.

Tim: Why did you pass up scholarship offers from MAC schools to walk on at Michigan?

Baquer: Family-wise [the media guide says Sayed is one of 9(!) kids in his family], and school, and degree, and everything. It's made up for by the school. If the NFL doesn't work, Michigan's better than all those offers I got in the MAC.

Tim: How would you describe your game?

Baquer: Speedy, long-ball quickness.

Tim: What can we look forward to seeing from you on the field Saturday?

Baquer: Just getting the ball and going in a scoring. Catching the fades over the corners, that's what I like to do.

East Head Coach Jim Sparks (Clawson High School).

Tim: You're running a spread offense on Saturday. Is it more run-focused or pass-focused?

Sparks: What kind of coach would I be if I told you what we're going to do? I'm just gonna say "yes."

Tim: Am I gonna see Baquer Sayed catch some passes though?

Sparks: Yeah, I would expect him to. He's a tremendous athlete, and that's why we run the offense that we do. We have so many athletes that the trick to the spread is just get those kids the ball in space and let them do their thing.

Tim: He told me he likes to go up and get the fade. Is that what you see in him?

Sparks: It's a huge part of his game. He's serious. I told him after you interviewed him that I've never seen a kid that has the ability to adjust to the ball and go up, and play that deep ball the way he does.

Thanks to Baquer Sayed and Coach Sparks for taking the time to talk to me. Here's Baquer's highlight video, for a taste of what to look forward to on Saturday: