November 4th, 2011 at 9:16 PM ^
Marquis Lee also looks good and has looked really good all season.
He would have been an instant impact here. Too bad we were considered a long shot for him last year.
November 4th, 2011 at 9:19 PM ^
Toney is a fucking coward. I hope he breaks both his legs and gets a concussion to knock him out for the rest of the season.
Everytime he catches the ball a devil baby is born.
November 4th, 2011 at 9:30 PM ^
There's no need for that. In fact, there's really no good cause for that. I feel sorry for Clemons almost as much as I feel for Stokes and Hawthorne. They were all used.
Let's just hope for the Buffaloes' sake that Clemons doesn't take his touchdown back in the 3rd quarter.
November 4th, 2011 at 9:37 PM ^
How did hawthorne get used?
November 4th, 2011 at 9:43 PM ^
Numerous players were used....to further besmirch and already embattled coaching regime. The Free Press is funny like that.
November 4th, 2011 at 9:45 PM ^
Wait...the freep made up all those comments?
November 4th, 2011 at 10:00 PM ^
More like took them out of context and twisted them to fit in with their wildly incorrect and preconceived notions of what was going on within the program.
Example:
Rosenberg: "So...you guys have been working hard, eh? I've heard the coaching staff has been really tough."
Wide-eyed Freshman: "Oh, man. It's been crazy. The coaches have be working us to the bone. I've never been pushed so hard in my life. It feels like we work a million hours a week. They're great though."
Rosenberg: " A million hours a week, huh?.............."
Rosenberg scribbles furiously in his notebook
November 4th, 2011 at 10:09 PM ^
Hmmmm guess I didn't know the whole story...I can see why my comments aren't too well taken now.
I'm just going to go sit...over...here.....
November 4th, 2011 at 10:50 PM ^
Just to elaborate (and I didn't realize just how bad it was either) Hawthorne came into RR's office in tears the Monday after the Freep story came out, in some terrible combination of frustration, fear and regret. Those guys quoted in Rosenberg's article are probably some of the most sympathetic characters in M football history.
As bad as the rest of Three and Out has been (the story, the book is first rate), that's probably the most heart-wrenching part so far.
November 4th, 2011 at 11:30 PM ^
the RR tenure make me respect the hell out of those guys. I know it looks like Hawthorne has lost his hold on the LB position, and other guys that are hold-overs will probably not see much more PT (especially when next year's class gets here), but I'll never forget their names and that they stuck with Michigan through a the proverbial "perfect shit storm."
November 5th, 2011 at 2:00 AM ^
I won't forget Hawthorne's play during the ND game.
November 4th, 2011 at 11:27 PM ^
Your comments would not have been taken well if he did what you though he did. Wishing injury upon a teenager who besmirched your beloved program is always frowned upon.
<br>
<br>A better response would be 'I hope he goes undrafted and spends the rest of his life plowing snow in an unsuccessful family business.'
November 5th, 2011 at 9:15 AM ^
Your comments aren't "well-taken" because most people here have a tacit rule that you don't wish broken limbs on a college student, even if he plays for Sparty or Brutus, or has badmouthed the program.
There is a gray area that coaches often straddle, where they teach their players to "knock the quarterback out of the game." I think it's part of football, but even that doesn't go over well on a civilized blog like mgoblog.
In other words:
Temporary boo-boo = gray area
Permanent harm = no-no.
This, however, is only one person's opinion out of however many thousand participate here.
November 5th, 2011 at 12:30 PM ^
I agree, it is gauche to wish actual harm on an opponent.
November 4th, 2011 at 11:18 PM ^
the lyrics to nightman, eh? Perhaps Rosenberg deserves more credit than i've been giving him....
November 4th, 2011 at 9:25 PM ^
How is this trolling? After the stuff he said about our program and our team, who wouldn't agree with me?
November 4th, 2011 at 9:27 PM ^
almost everyone
November 4th, 2011 at 9:32 PM ^
"After the stuff he said about our program and our team, who wouldn't agree with me?
"/Raises hand
November 4th, 2011 at 9:35 PM ^
I put both hands in the air, just in time for my daughter to kick Twilight Sparkle through the uprights. Future Gibbons replacement? I think so.
November 5th, 2011 at 12:06 AM ^
You expressed the wish that a college football player receive three severe injuries because of some comments he made to a reporter with an agenda.
November 5th, 2011 at 8:09 AM ^
If I were Brian Cook, I would drop the permanent BanHammer on your ass. Take those opinions over to Rivals or better yet, MLive. You'll fit in much better over there.
November 5th, 2011 at 8:38 AM ^
They have progressed to opinions on Rivals now?
November 4th, 2011 at 9:24 PM ^
That was a nice TD pass to Lee.
Is it just me or is getting past Colorado's secondary sort of a free pass?
November 4th, 2011 at 9:30 PM ^
It seems like it, but Lee seems like an elite talent.
November 4th, 2011 at 9:23 PM ^
You should just make it an open thread.
Central just tied up Kent State with a minute or so to go in the half 14-14
November 4th, 2011 at 9:28 PM ^
What's up with Kent State? They are playing football in this game.
November 4th, 2011 at 9:23 PM ^
What was his leaving scenario?
November 4th, 2011 at 10:03 PM ^
Clemons was an '07 recruit who decided to transfer in the spring of '09. He wanted to play more, and wanted to play in a more of a standard offense that would suit him as a true wideout.
By all accounts -- including Clemons' own account -- his departure from Michigan was amicable. He had made himself clear, he expressed nice thoughts about Michigan, there was no controversy and not even a lot of notice.
Then Stretchgate happens. After the Freep went to press on the weekend of 8/30/09, and the other sportsnews outlets are trying to catch up and hitch their own ride on the "scandal" story, some genius at ESPN thinks, "Hmmm, 'former' players... Like, uh transfers? I know some of those names... I think I'll give 'em a call..."
And apparently the only one who returned anybody's calls was Clemons. Who basically said that yeah everything he told the reporter was true. (I'm guessing it may indeed have been true; and it was the reporter who twisted the story. The incomprehensible treatment of Stokes and Hawthorne bears that out.) ESPN of course breathlessly ran with the story, "Newspaper story confirmed," after which Clemons later tried to back down from vouching for the story insofar as it made some very heavy allegations (Clemons would have been very smart, in hindsight to do that!) and thereafter Clemons just finally said, "Hey I am done talking aobut this whole thing."
Clemons essentially confirmed that he was interviewed by Rosenberg, and that he never asked for any anonymity. Which makes Rosenberg a confirmed institutional liar inasmuch as Rosenberg claimed (this is a technical newspaper/code of ethics thing) that Clemons (and all other players to whom he gave anonymity) asked to be kept anonymous. Rosenberg has never explained, and can't possibly explain, how or why he'd have given anonymity to somebody like Clemons, who had nothing to fear from Michigan coaches and who didn't even ask for anonymity, versus Stokes and Hawthorne, who were named... and apparently deviously abused and misquoted.
November 4th, 2011 at 10:16 PM ^
period. Now, he'll be an average Colorado WR and then sell used cars in Denver. Congrats!
November 4th, 2011 at 10:21 PM ^
But the simple fact is that his mere existence is now an even bigger problem for Rosenberg. By the way, if you ask Rosenberg about Clemons, he takes the position that he will not comment on whether any interview with Clemons was even used in the story.
November 5th, 2011 at 1:21 AM ^
From what I understand there is actually very good money in used cars. Dealin Doug is rich, rich, rich. . .
November 4th, 2011 at 10:28 PM ^
Thank you for that. Golden star for being one of the nicest message boarders ever to take the time and write that out.
November 5th, 2011 at 1:17 AM ^
November 5th, 2011 at 2:06 AM ^
This.
November 5th, 2011 at 11:34 AM ^
And what you correctly report would probably have left me feeling really angry about Toney Clemons. If the story ended there.
I said in my post above that I was trying to do the fast version. Even the fast version went for several paragraphs.
So here's the rest of the story.
Again, the quotes that you supplied were reported exactly as you say. But then there was this, which is substantially what I tried to report above, absent links and footnotes; from the Denver Post online:
Clemons played at Michigan in 2007 under then-coach Lloyd Carr and last season under Rodriguez. Clemons transferred to CU in the spring.
Quoted by Schad, Clemons said: “The allegations are true. Nothing is fabricated or exaggerated in that story. I was there on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., or 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., depending on if guys needed treatment. You were there daylight to nighttime.”
Perhaps realizing that this may create a firestorm of media inquiries, Clemons put out this statement through the CU sports information office on Monday:
“It was not my intention to come to the forefront of any situation dealing with the Michigan football program. I talked to a reporter (Schad) Sunday night, but did not answer any questions. Nor did I contribute any information. I don’t have any ties to the original allegations and my involvement in the matter doesn’t go any further than reading the (Detroit Free Press) article and confirming the allegations made by anonymous sources.
“If I am asked to answer questions by any official party, be it the University of Michigan, the Big Ten or the NCAA, I will be honest about my schedule while at Michigan. But for right now, I am a Colorado Buffalo and no longer associated with Michigan or its football program. It’s time for me to concentrate on my classes and my teammates here at Colorado.”
CU sports information officials told reporters Monday that Clemons did not believe he would be quoted by Schad and did not want to appear vindictive against Michigan. Clemons has not denied the quotes attributed to him, however.
November 5th, 2011 at 1:57 PM ^
Clemons talked Greg Mathews into participating in the call to ESPN's Joe Schad.
November 5th, 2011 at 8:41 PM ^
The very notion that Clemons "was there on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. or 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. depending on if guys needed treatment. [And that he was] there daylight to nighttime,” is really the essential problem with the whole story. Yes, guys may well have been at the football building for that length of time. Just like guys all across the country in other programs. Those are not countable hours.
It is the real crux of the whole insane problem with Rosenberg's story. He was taking stories about "hours" which were not countable, and shoehorning them into "Countable Athletically Related Activity (CARA) hours" We know damned well what the NCAA found with us; that they had to parse a few minutes of stretching each week, and the exact job-description language and responsibilities of some of the Quality Control non-coaching staff, in order to find any violations.
As I read all of this (and as I think Brian Cook, or any other informed reader would), what had dawned on Clemons was that while everything that he thought that he said to Rosenberg was true (Clemons sure as hell didn't want to be portrayed in the national press as a liar), the import of how his quotes were being used ("equals major NCAA violations") had probably not dawned on him, and as soon as it did, Clemons was outta there in about 4.49 seconds. With the help, perhaps, of a CU Buffaloes compliance officer who was whispering in Toney's ear, "Dude, that's what we do too! It's not a violation..."
Again, I blame Rosenberg first, foremost and last in all of this. Your point, Trogdor, about the gratuitous nature of the 'second part' of Clemons quote to Joe Schad does leave me feeling pretty cold. So you are right about that. Still, in the end, one would think that Clemons did indeed provide an accurate statement to the NCAA, and that there was not much to whatever was said. And so my sympathies with Clemons are only a little less than my sympathies for Stokes and Hawthorne.
November 4th, 2011 at 9:29 PM ^
Didn't stretch before the game. That would be a countable hour he would have to report to the NCAA
November 4th, 2011 at 9:37 PM ^
The Trojans are having the gravest difficulty stopping screens and up-the-gut style runs. Lane Kiffin special?
November 4th, 2011 at 9:53 PM ^
Tony Clemons.
November 4th, 2011 at 9:55 PM ^
Colorado's snapper isn't bad on tackles.
November 4th, 2011 at 10:21 PM ^
Regardless of what Toney Clemons did on his way out of the Michigan program he is having a hell of a game. Over 100 yards and a TD so far in the first half
November 4th, 2011 at 10:22 PM ^
dannggg clemons came to playyy
November 4th, 2011 at 10:25 PM ^
Ellison blocks a low kick. EIther USC has taller personnel on special teams or it really was a shorter guy that Colorado sent out to make the FG.
November 4th, 2011 at 10:49 PM ^
Can take the rule breaker out of Youngstown, but can never take the rule-breaker out of the man.
Suppose he's fixing any Saturday morning Jr Varsity games after the Saturday morning prayer breakfast?
November 4th, 2011 at 11:02 PM ^
he booted that endzone pass tho
November 4th, 2011 at 11:15 PM ^
Gotta say, these Colorado unis look terrible.
November 4th, 2011 at 11:35 PM ^
LOL, Clemons has played for 4 different coaches:
1. Carr
2. Rodriguez
3. Hawkins
4. Embree
November 4th, 2011 at 11:35 PM ^
Hollywood Trojans look good. I hate it, I hate it so...