Exit Dennis Norfleet
the last of the famous international playboys
This rumor had been floating around for a couple weeks now, picked up steam on Rivals this morning, and has now been confirmed by Nick Baumgardner:
ANN ARBOR -- Dennis Norfleet is no longer a part of Michigan's football team, according to his former high school coach.
Martin Luther King High School football coach Dale Harvel told MLive on Tuesday that Norfleet has been dismissed from Michigan's program by coach Jim Harbaugh.
"Evidently he was dismissed from the team, Dennis informed us he was no longer on the team," Harvel said Tuesday afternoon. "Something about a disciplinary thing between him and coach Harbaugh. Whether it was academics or something internal, I'm not sure. He just said they had a disagreement and he was let go."
I have heard it was academic. Not sure if that's a slackness that is now verboten under the new regime or a Norfleet morale issue leading to breakdowns elsewhere. [UPDATE: Steve Lorenz says he skipped "more than one final."]
The writing was on the wall as far as Norfleet's career went when he featured as a tiny cornerback in the spring game and was mercilessly picked on for the only offense of the day. With that secondary and that WR corps, the fact he was on defense was a death knell. He may have continued returning kicks and punts; even that job was going to be put under major threat by Jabrill Peppers.
This does get Michigan to 85 scholarships, give or take a walk-on. With a couple of medical hardships likely to be on the way, there should be room to add a fifth-year WR or two, as Mike Spath has suggested might happen.
I will now go sit by myself in a dark room and listen to the Smiths.
that his reaction would be to graduate early and go somewhere else as a grad transfer. It will be harder for him now, and that is a shame.
Godspeed Dennis. Fare thee well.
Sadly Norfleet didn't represent many yards, or catches, or TDs. He didn't represented a huge chuck of the offense or a viable winning strategy.
He represented hope, that we could maybe catch lightning in a bottle. Hope that we'd have a homerun threat on every touch of the ball, despite all his shortcomings. Hope that we we never out of a game, as long as we had a kickoff coming our way.
I hoped Norfleet would be great. In truth, he never was.
While Dennis was liked by many I don't think his dancing really reflected favorably on a struggling Michigan football team. Win or lose I didn't care for it. He brought a little attention to himself, far more than his return game did and I don't get my Brady let him do it. Never seen OSU, MSU, Penn State or Nebraska players do it. Signed // Crotchety Old Guy
There's nothing more pathetic on this earth than loud-mouthed incompetence.
How about we just become good at football again, let our play on the field do the talking, and keep our fucking mouths shut in the bargain?
If you're gonna lose, lose with some passion. If you're just gonna meekly accept it, might as well pack it in and go home.
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Maybe I'm way old school but I'd rather have someone productive in the lineup as opposed to someone who dances around during TV timeouts before making a weak return or (more the case) letting punts go so they can get downed 10 yards further behind him.
I'd like to see fire via productivity. Maybe Norfleet wasn't properly coached but the fact that he couldn't make himself useful to JH belies that to me.
It's too bad because I wished he could have been another Jeremy Gallon.
I agree in principle, but what exactly does that "passion" or "fire" consist of, and where? Does it consist of delivering the hardest hit possible on every play, blocking your man to the whistle and maybe a second or two beyond, and making sure that an opposing player who cheapshots your QB is going to pay a within-the-rules price on every remaining play he's in the game? I'm all for that.
If it consists of dancing around while waiting for a kick and running your mouth on the sidelines and on twitter, that's mistaking sizzle for the steak.
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Assumption: He skipped finals because he was already off the team.
Thank goodness. Unpopular around here I know but his dancing made me very sad and well, he never scored. Ever. Never.
Norfleet was so popular around here. To me, he accurately represents the Hoke years: the triumph of hype over reality.
I'll also never understand athletes on full scholarship pissing away the opportunity to get a degree from one of the best public educational institutions in the world.
Don, completely agree with you.
I dont know what transpired, but it makes me happy that Harbaugh cleared out a bunch of long tenured coaches and folks that just didnt get results
I totally agree. His main asset was quickness and elusiveness, which would have made him perfectly-suited for a slot-like position where he gets the ball in space with the field already spread out. He wasn't a burner by any stretch, but he had sufficient speed to be pretty effective in that situation as long as it wasn't mind-numbingly predictable.
It was the lack of really good speed that made him less than dangerous on KO returns. Ace Sanders he wasn't.
This incident, Josh Furman playing well last year and getting drafted, Thomas Rawls going elsewhere, doing well and now in the NFL.....its hard for me not to think this about Hoke...and it really bothers me.
Mentally they should have given up on the year already and his "antics" (or what I would consider his upbeat personality) helped keep last years team in more games then a screaming coach ever would. I always thought Brian over hyped him, until the energy I saw that guy brought to the Team. I wish him the best of luck and am sad to see him go.... I would love to see him not give up and do everything possible to get back on the team, like a certain former QB did.
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I didn't see Norfleet do anything that taunted people, which to me would be over the line. I think he's just an emotional guy.
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This is only a dream. Norfleet represents me and he has either showed up too late for his exams or he showed up nude and the whole class laugned at him. Over there is Brian Cook crying to The Smiths. Man this is one weird dream.
but may I suggest "Heaven knows I'm miserable now"?
But I was never a fan of Norfleet's actions between the whistles. It came across to me (watching on tv . . .) as woofing and showboating.
He was an exciting player though. Hope he lands on his feet.
Saturdays won't be the same without him dancing. Now I'm a little sad. But I hope he lands on his feet.
But in my heart, it was so real
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Because he's "overrated"? How is he even "overrated"? Brian wishes we used him more because Brian likes quick slot bugs, and Norfleet seems like a prototypical quick slot bug. That hardly makes him "overrated" and in any case is hardly Norfleet's fault.
He was quick enough and sure handed enough to be the starting returner. He never (officially) scored - on a team with terrible special teams and in an era where returns are increasingly rare.
Even that's more than most players who wear Maize and Blue ever get to do in their careers, so let's maybe go a little easy on the guy?
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we will miss your boogie down productions
Think of all those big plays he almost made though. Those punts, those kickoff returns that he almost took to the house. Never did though. Never got a TD.
Seriously though, he had the swagger and quickness to make you think he could be a good returner. But he wasn't. He shied away from catching punts unless they kicked it right at him and we often lost field position. He had exactly 10 punt returns last year with an average of 3.8 yards. They can do better.
I wish him well.
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This sucks, I loved Norfleet, way more than you'd expect for someone who had so little gameday impact.
I feel bad he didn't just gut it out, but I know that can be really difficult. I hope he can still get his degree, here it somewhere else.
I'd always hoped he'd be like a college Mel Gray for us, coming through with a clutch return.
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It's always sad to see an active player leave, especially when he didn't do anything to harm anyone else or himself. However, I can't say I'm upset we're losing a guy who barely made an impact on the field. I hope he lands somewhere that can use his skill set well and gets him a degree. He's probably too small for NFL, even in the slot, yes?
EDIT: yes, I know I will probably get negged, but I'm tired of hype. I'd rather see results than dancing.
I mean, I wish the dude well, but let's be real about what he was for this team.
Ha, goteeem!
I wish him the best wherever he ends up. If he did skip several finals and self destruct academically, he isn't the first and won't be the last. Fortunately he is a skilled enough football player that some school will have a spot for him. It probably won't be the same caliber as Michigan, but he has an opportunity to right himself and get on a positive trajectory.
our KO returner and ninja slot receiver. Each year I was hoping he would break out but he never did. Still fun to watch. I wish he would have worked harder in school and even if he did not play as much as he wanted, he would have still had a great degree. Hopefully he can start over at a smaller school, get his degree and play more. Best of luck to him.
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