Hail To The Victors 2008

Last year, there was a book, and it was good. This year there is a book, and it's probably even a little better. You can order it here.

The book features:

Stuff by me. I preview the Michigan offense, defense, and special teams, which is even better than last year, when I totally forgot about special teams until the book was full. HTTV: now with special teams. Rad. I also take a quick trip through Michigan's recruits and reprise last year's zone running article with a version focused on the spread 'n' shred.

Stuff about opponents. Matt Hinton, who you probably know better as Sunday Morning Quarterback, provides a rundown of every Michigan opponent save Ohio State and Notre Dame. Those two get their own articles by Tom Orr, late of Michigan Monday at the OZone, and Brian Stouffer, Fanhouser and impresario of The House Rock Built.

Stuff about the new guys. Dan D'addona gives you the Rodriguez dossier from Glenville State to Pat White, Russ Levine takes stock of the program at a fulcrum point, and Christopher Paul Anderson looks at blitz-mad defensive coordinator Scott Shafer from his perspective at Stanford.

Stuff you won't find elsewhere. Michael Elkon of Braves and Birds took an in-depth look at how the top coaches in the country did in their first years out and Colin Johnston, who you may remember from the comments section of this blog or his own endeavor, expands upon the hours he spent researching/lamenting Michigan's linebacker play, breaking down in just what ways Obi Ezeh needs to improve if Michigan's going to avoid getting run over by Wisconsin and Ohio State this fall.

In the history department, Joel Pennington takes a look back at the 1969 Ohio State game and Greg Dooley of MVictors has a special Depression-era edition of his eBay Watch.

Just plain awesome stuff. Lloyd Carr's exit was a great boon to this year's edition of the book:

• It caused Rocky Mountain News columnist Paul Campos to pen an entertaining piece about the insane few weeks in between Carr's resignation and Rodriguez's hiring, during which any one of us would have beaten a man to death with his own limbs if it meant the coaching search would reach a satisfactory conclusion.
• It allowed local author Craig Ross to finally publish a piece about his attendance at a Scot Loeffler-run quarterbacks meeting.
• And it paved the way for Johnny of RBUAS to interview Carr himself.

All three pieces are terrific.

THERE IS ALSO A ROSTER. Sweet.

You can order it here, or here, or here, or here. Those are all the same place.

Over the next couple days I'll republish last year's zone article, which features heavily in this year's zone article, and provide a couple excerpts.