denard robinson

[Patrick Barron]

Previously: The Story 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008.

The internet (and probably some sacred documents) say that the Buddha found enlightenment after sitting under a Banyan tree for seven days. Cool! Way to go, Buddha. Ever try some goalposts?

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om [Fuller]

I cannot exactly elucidate why these images have burned themselves into my head, and the heads of many Michigan fans. Maybe it's that the happy-go-lucky McCarthy seems like a breath of fresh air to a Michigan fanbase that was, until recently, beset by woe. Maybe it's just nice to have a guy who's a little different because it makes things more interesting. Maybe, I dunno, it's a different mode of leadership fit for the 24th century:

On J.J. McCarthy’s leadership:

It’s vibrant. It’s infectious; it rubs off on everybody.

Last summer, we took a team trip around Michigan and we got into this wiffle ball game. My kids were playing — a bunch of nine-year-olds, some of Jack's friends. And you couldn’t tell who the nine-year-olds were and who the 18-year-olds were. He's running, he's diving, he’s sliding. One ball gets hit out into the street and he's running out, doesn't even look. Dove into first base one time and barely missed this tree that was planted and had the bricks around it. He missed it by that much.

He's got the enthusiasm of a 10-year-old guy. It’s a beautiful thing. It's that vibrant, it's that infectious and it rubs off on the team.

Maybe next time demand McCarthy wears pads, but… maybe not. In fact, let's not.

I know what it is now.

[After THE JUMP: what it is]

cade mcnamara is not mentioned in this post[Bryan Fuller]

Sponsor Note. Start a business! You're overwhelmed with joy, now is the time to do the thing! Look, they did the thing, now you can do the thing, all that malaise you were walking around with has evaporated like so many takes in the sun. And when you start your thing, call up Richard Hoeg to make it legal and official.

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He will do the documents and the paper wrangling so you can get to the business of your business. Hit him up today, he's in a good mood.

Here is a video. You will enjoy it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ak9Uxtntfk

Please do not damage the defensive ends. We have a need for them.

No, I don't think I will. I have not been here. I do not have to act like I have been.

Also: 13 YPP!

[After THE JUMP: Iowa is bad at offense but good at defense]

what could have been [Eric Upchurch]

The gap.

This is a fascinating question. I'm going to leave out guys who saw their careers derailed by injury (Antonio Bass, Tarik Black) and also guys who the recruiting industry airballed on (Kevin Grady, Derrick Green) and limit this folks who clearly had something to offer and did not get to display it for whatever reason:

  1. Devin Gardner. Gardner looked like a Heisman contender at certain points (ND UTL II, the two point conversion game against OSU) and was battered to pulp by the worst pass protection of all time at all other points. Not too hard to see him in the NFL if he hadn't ascended to nirvana in the middle of an MSU game.
  2. Ernest Shazor. Electric hitter, five star recruit, repeatedly ran the wrong way at incredible rates of speed. He must have had some personal issues because he went from a projected second-round pick to completely undraftable in a couple months in which no football was being played.
  3. Donovan Peoples-Jones. Five star wide receiver with massive athletic talent who saw his QB exit the pocket repeatedly and avoid downfield shots even when they were blitheringly wide open. Might as well file Nico "60 targets" Collins in here too.
  4. Denard Robinson. Had just established himself as the most electric player in college football when Brady Hoke came in and brought in a guy who wanted to put him under center. Nerve injury had a lot to do with his late-career fade, too, but seeing Denard run a waggle will remain a crime against man and panda forever.
  5. Evan Smotrycz. Smotrycz was coming off a 53/44 shooting year and was a career 41% three point shooter on ~200 attempts when he decided to transfer to Maryland. A major reason for this was the fact that he got drafted into playing a bunch of center, which he openly loathed. He ended up being redundant with Jake Layman at Maryland and faded into being a bench player as a senior. There's an alternate Smotrycz history where he gets to be a stretch four under Beilein for four years and has an absurdly efficient statline as an upperclassman.

Protests?

That's impossible to project but I do feel like that day is coming closer every year. Getting garbage meals while quarantined in a hotel so that everyone except you gets paid buckets of cash does seem like a potential tipping point. At some point a team is going to realize that they have a considerable

I've advocated for teams to adopt a mini-boycott where they don't play for 15 minutes—and if the network cuts to commercial the counter starts over. That would be a wake-up call that could escalate if necessary.

[After THE JUMP: ravoli rebels]

Michigan dominates the corners 

Denard: calm down. You're too excited.

He's like a square.

It's time for a football season. A great football season. A classic football season. A completely made up football season.

for a long time it appeared this game peaked with the pregame fanfare

This was hard.

The little guys' turn