Fake Unverified Voracity Gives this Thing a Whirl
Walkons? Walkons.The always-awesome Jim Stefani has sleuthed out a number of preferred walkons for Michigan's class of 2009, and he has anointed New York Offensive lineman Tom Lindley the catch of the bunch. Lindley may have been deserving of a full ride elsewhere:
“Though he would have merited a ride somewhere else, lineman Tom Lindley of William Floyd will attend Michigan as a preferred walk-on next fall and try to earn a scholarship down the road.”
but will join Michigan's football team with the benefit of academic scholarship money, and will try to play for a scholarship in the future. Lindley was unranked by Rivals and Scout, while ESPN named him the nation's #131 offensive guard prospect and gave him a grade of 74.
Rodriguez, a former walkon himself (as I'm sure most Michigan fans are already well aware) has long championed having a robust walkon program at Michigan (again, most Michigan fans already know this). Lindley and AA Pioneer's Nader Furrha are the notable walkons for 2009, and the program will undoubtedly continue to grow in the future. As I've said before on Varsity Blue, I would love it if Michigan's program became renowned like that of Nebraska pre-Callahan, and prospect were turning down offers from the likes of Michigan State to try their hand in Ann Arbor.
Because mock press conferences haven't gotten old yet, I say! Presented without further comment:
Numbers. An unnecessarily high amount of fan attention and angst seems to go into which numbers the incoming freshman will sport in the fall. In MGoBlue's Wolverine Welcome series, the already-enrolled freshmen give a little insight as to (a phrase which here means "reveal") which numbers they'll sport come September.
Will Campbell - #73.
Vladimir Emilien - #5.
Tate Forcier - #5.
Mike Jones (obligatory "WHO?") - #27.
Brandin Hawthorne - #7.
Anthony Lalota - #90.
Vincent Smith - Hasn't been Wolverine Welcomed yet. Informative update when the information is available.
Basket-ed Ball. The Wolverines travel to Evanston on Sunday to take on Northwestern. The Wildcats may be a bit vulnerable, as they chocked away their tournament dreams, for all reasonable scenarios, with their EPIC FAIL against Illinois last night. They led by 14 in the second half, and by 6 with under a minute to go(!) before falling to the Illini. A Michigan win would go a long way towards ramping up toward a tournament push.
SMQ on M. Rivals' Dr. Saturday takes on the Michigan issue. Synopsis: Expect better next year, but certainly not a Flowers for Algernon-like leap.
The author's work can usually be found on his site, Varsity Blue.
I was under the impression that if you're on the football team and you're getting scholarship money, you count towards the scholarship total. Does that walk-on guy getting an academic scholarship now count towards our scholarship total. If so, why not just give him a football scholarship. Is this a money issue?
For instance, I believe all the service acadamies give all students scholarships but can still field more than 85 players.
Nebraska's walk-on program, whose hallmark was 180-pound freshmen weighing over 300 pounds by they time they were seniors, went down the crapper the same year the NCAA started getting a little more serious about steroids.
What an amazing coincidence.
Misdemeanor State University: dominating instate recruiting one criminal at a time.
What? Nebraska's walk-on program went down the crapper when Callahan put an unceremonious end to it.
Varsity Blue
Not commenting about the steroids that were in every program to some degree I would imagine. Nebraska had homegrown kids that didn't get much attention playing 8 man football and they were the leaders in strength and conditioning in the 80's. The only reason the walk on program struggled was Callahan....not testing.
Thanks for the number update. I apologize on behalf of all of us Michigan fans for giving "An unnecessarily high amount of fan attention and angst" to what numbers the freshmen will wear. Forgive us, your highness.
Tate and Vladimir sharing the same number?
Maize & Blue...nothing better!
Offensive and defensive players can share numbers. It is rather common.
Reading those comments on Dr. Saturday's post made me appreciate mgoblog commentators all the more. Yikes...
One guy suggested that he would have rather Michigan hired pre-2008 Brady Hoke rather than Rich Rod. That's just mind-boggling.
MMB Altos
Good job at the UV. Content-wise is on par with Brian's UV. Like the comment about the overwraught discussions about uni numbers as well. Great first effort.
We can't run. We can't pass. We can't stop the run. We can't stop the pass. We can't kick. Other than that, we're just not a very good football team right now. - Bruce Coslet
That video is not good.
...turning down offers from the likes of Michigan State to try their hand in Ann Arbor.
OK, that's stretching it a bit, isn't it? EMU, CMU, WMU, GVSU sure.
Harvard: The MICHIGAN of the East
We're not arrogant, we're just better.
too bad he didnt get (and accept) an offer from some low level school instead of trying his hand at ND. then we would never have to hear about em...