Exit Carvin Johnson
Man the Never Forget banner: Carvin Johnson is out of the program. Now I believe that Troy Woolfolk was moving to safety permanently.
Johnson flirted with starting jobs at spur (last year) and safety (this year) before getting displaced by Thomas Gordon (both years). As a freshman his displacement was due to injury; once he got healthy Michigan decided that Cam Gordon was not actually a safety and threw him in at spur, because if you ain't panickin', you ain't coordinatin'. He started the year as the nickel safety but eventually lost that job to Courtney Avery.
Johnson was not a big recruit but he was one I was irrationally optimistic about, and one that found some early playing time. Not sure what the deal is with his departure.
Losing him is a shot to the secondary's depth. With Kovacs questionable for this weekend and possibly longer, the depth chart after Woolfolk and Gordon is walk-on Andy Jared Van Slyke, Marvin Robinson, and possibly Josh Furman. Next year Michigan will get three safety recruits and loses only Woolfolk, so the pressure eases somewhat.
By my count, two obvious fifth-year nonrenewals now gets Michigan to 28 in this recruiting class; with some attrition inevitable between now and signing day they'll probably go into 2012 light. Again.
November 1st, 2011 at 10:20 PM ^
Carvin is a good athlete, however in his time here always seemed a step slow behind the play...his football instincts were not quite there yet and as a result, he was constantly out of position. Those things are critical for a safety to be good at... Carvin didnt have those skills, to this point in time. Best of luck to him moving on.
November 2nd, 2011 at 10:08 AM ^
nose for the ball when he found himself on the field. Also,I don't recall him being consantly out of position neither. Carvin made plays when he was in there. Hate to see him leave...
November 1st, 2011 at 10:20 PM ^
I'm worried that Cam might be next. With the incoming linebackers for 2012, the love for Morgan & Ryan .... I hope im wrong.
November 1st, 2011 at 10:20 PM ^
November 1st, 2011 at 10:22 PM ^
I see this as a sad continuing trend in college football that is reflective of our culture. It used to be an honor to be part of a Div 1 college football team, and young men upheld (either due to family upbringing or social pressure) their commitments out of principle - even when things did not turn out the way they thought it would. There was a sense of pride being part of a team. Now it's all about ME. 'If I'm not starting then I'm not playing.' Of course not everybody shares that attitude, because they are players like that I just described - Denard being one. But for the most part this type of mindset and action is only increasing throughout football.
November 1st, 2011 at 11:29 PM ^
*cough* best game EVER!!! LSU/BAMA *cough cough*
November 2nd, 2011 at 1:33 AM ^
Nobody knows exactly why he left.
November 1st, 2011 at 10:22 PM ^
Those who stay will be champions!
November 1st, 2011 at 10:24 PM ^
Wish the kid the best, but a tough loss. I'm still surprised he didn't stick around until the end of the year; stuff happens, and playing time is always available. It's not like he can go start and play for some other team; stick around, get to a nice bowl game, then leave. But whatever, everyone can make their own decisions. I liked him and still remember how bummed he looked losing in the HS championship game; just a nice competitor.
November 1st, 2011 at 10:37 PM ^
November 1st, 2011 at 11:12 PM ^
As far as the slew of "under the rader" types we've had the past few years, I honestly only ever thought highly of two of those, with the other being Jake Ryan. I am a much bigger believer in offer sheets over star rankings, and it's nice to be getting guys again with nice offer sheets, but it sucks that we lost out on Carvin. Again, I thought him and Jake Ryan were different, but like someone mentioned above, luckily we still have Jake Ryan.
November 1st, 2011 at 11:49 PM ^
Less attrition, please!! I don't want FR on the field anymore - few, if any, can beat a SR no matter how many stars they have.
Damn.
November 2nd, 2011 at 2:01 AM ^
to have a season with a full compliment of scholarship players.
Discipline? grades? This late in the season it has to be one of the two. I don't know man, I thought we past all of this junk.
November 2nd, 2011 at 9:50 AM ^
I guess the team and graduating from Michigan is not that important to this young man. Fine. Just don't get it. Not everyone can start.
November 2nd, 2011 at 10:33 AM ^
I wonder if the coaches also saw this coming and it played a part in Jeremy Clark's status change? Whether they did or didn't have advanced notice, that grey shirt offer that was questioned by some is looking smarter and smarter.
November 2nd, 2011 at 11:51 AM ^
It's not a HUGE blow, but this one does sting. Let's hope Jerrod Wilson gets here in the winter and is able to play right away. Also, Tamani Carter is redshirtting, hopefully he can step up and step in.
I don't get this one at all. Gregg Brown was a kid who (and I know this for a fact)...has always been "feeling himself." He expected to start from day 1, and if not day 1...day 2. And due to Woolfolk and Floyd's injuries...he did get a lot of PT in the spring and summer. So when they came back and pushed him to the bottom of the depth chart along with Countess and Taylor, two guys that just showed up over the summer. That had to hurt the ego. Especially his. Brown was a kid that had good success early in high school, got a lot of attention and coasted...nice kid, smart guy, nothing but good things to say about him. He just has that CB mentality, which is good and bad...so I wasn't shocked when Gregg left.
Carvin on the other hand. Here is a kid that no one expected to play early and he worked his way up the depth chart and has been playing consistently if not significantly his whole career.
I know many thought he was going to start this year alongside Kovacs until Thomas Gordon came out of nowhere, but still...he was seeing time. Marvin Robinson seemed to beat him out as the #3 safety when Gordon went to Nickel, but after than ND game...it was Johnson as the #3 safety.
What happened was Avery came in and took the Nickel spot from Gordon, freeing up Thomas to stay at FS and we roll with 3 CBs rather than 3 Safeties now.
Still, he's in a young career. He easily could replace Kovacs over MRob once he's done. And he truly was an injury away from STARTING let alone seeing major time.
For a kid that likely wasn't expected to play until his RS Sophomore year...and start until his RS Junior year. I thought he was getting all he could ask for.
...I was wrong.
November 2nd, 2011 at 3:17 PM ^
This is my very first blog! I have been following mgoblog for months now and finally decided to get in on the blogging. I was born and raised an hour away from Columbus and have had to deal with ignorant Ohio fans my whole life. As much as i dislike them, i have always followed thier team closely. What bothers me so much is that Michigan in the last four years can never develop depth and experience with all the loses we have had. I know we have had a rough past four years with coaching changes but even when Ohio has gone through all this crap that they are going through and still there players stay. Yes it is hurting their recruiting, and once we find out their punishment we will see how loyal they really are. They still have 4 and 5 stars at third string who are not transfering. I strongly believe that coach Hoke, and the players he recruits will stop this from happening. Recruiting players closer to home will help this problem, but until we live by Bo's words we will not be able to content for championships year in and year out. Our players have to care more about the TEAM and its goal then there own.
November 2nd, 2011 at 3:18 PM ^
This is my very first blog! I have been following mgoblog for months now and finally decided to get in on the blogging. I was born and raised an hour away from Columbus and have had to deal with ignorant Ohio fans my whole life. As much as i dislike them, i have always followed thier team closely. What bothers me so much is that Michigan in the last four years can never develop depth and experience with all the loses we have had. I know we have had a rough past four years with coaching changes but even when Ohio has gone through all this crap that they are going through and still there players stay. Yes it is hurting their recruiting, and once we find out their punishment we will see how loyal they really are. They still have 4 and 5 stars at third string who are not transfering. I strongly believe that coach Hoke, and the players he recruits will stop this from happening. Recruiting players closer to home will help this problem, but until we live by Bo's words we will not be able to content for championships year in and year out. Our players have to care more about the TEAM and its goal then there own.
Comments