Hello: Stephen Hopkins

When I think Stephen Hopkins I think: "well-meaning, but cantankerous, maverick politician and drunkard, whose force of personality helps keep the Continental Congress together," as in 1776. That may make me a giant nerd but it also allows me the small pleasure of hoping Hopkins will shout "RUM!!" at some poor overworked student manager on the sidelines.

Where you're drawn in by Victorian Zombine talk and stick around for obscure historical lessons.

Good stuff, as always.

In watching the video of Hopkins run I thought of two players in recent Michigan history. The first was BJ Askew circa 2002 when he played at HB because Chris Perry was in Lloyd's doghouse. He had a great game against MSU running for 150 in the 49-3 win. The other player I thought of was Anthony Thomas in his style of bull you over but also takes great angles to negate some lack of speed. I know Thomas was a lot higher ranked coming out of HS and came in to contribute as a freshman on the NC team - but Hopkins has a similar style.
I think Askew and Thomas are better comparisons than Minor.

is not doubtful for this class

What former wolverine I'm reminded of...L Hoard. Maybe not the speed out of a cut...but the same determine running ability and the same angle type of running style. I like what I saw when this kid get to the next level...arm tackles aren't going to take me down guys. Need to keep those pads down when approaching the line.

Another nice piece to the puzzle,imo.

Wahoo, that doesn't make you a nerd. I makes you a well bred individual with excellent taste. A man who "has never seen nor heard nor smelled an issue so dangerous it couldn't be talked about!"

Ok, now I am off to the necessary. You'd think Congress would have its own.

That's what sticks out to me... if he can maintain that habit at Michigan he'll break lots of tackles every game.

I'm a little more excited about Hop. I thought he looked good on film. Powere backs don't give you the Mcguffie Mix tapes, but football is not about hurdles, most of the time it is about getting the extra yard when it's not there and picking up the 1st down. I saw hard running with kust a hint of wiggle. Perry and Minor are good comparisons......they worked out pretty well. Give him 2 years with Barwis and we might have somrthing dangerous. Plus he fits a need perfectly.

http://twitter.com/bighouse

Cool I guess. Not all that relevant, just something I noticed.

drop his 40 time a bit. He has nice power, but people are faster at the next level. Granted, he was getting chased down by 5A Texas players, but I would like to see some better top end. I think he shows some good promise. Just because of the body type and uniform, he screams Beanie Wells, but he would be a much slower version.

Question: Minor was considered a fullback in HS. If he was graded as a straight tailback, would that have lowered his rating? I was not sure if being compared to fullbacks helped him.

I know it's a cheap shot to go after a kid's uniform. I mean, what say does he have over whether his school makes him wear pink polka-dotted dresses, let alone this ungodly getup!

But this isn't just a bad football uniform. It's a direct insult to the students who are made to wear it.

I think perhaps we have a better recruit than we think here. Consider this: this kid picked up all those numbers while dressed like a sugar plum fairy whose head got stuck in a drill bit press, and that's before they covered his helmet with stickers of a shriveled, hairless nut.

Think back to high school. What you wore was important. If you felt you looked ridiculous, you'd get self-conscious, and you wouldn't perform to the best of your abilities.

I think if you put this guy in a real football uniform, with a sleek helmet and bruisin navy blue jersey, you'd see a side of Stephen Hopkins that would make Pequots shudder.

As for his school, I aim to write a strongly worded letter about this putrid, hateful, barbaric method of trying to break the will of their young teenage football players by dressing them in overstriped, half-technicolor clown costumes. I know it's Texas, but hasn't our society come too far for us to tolerate a school putting young people in such unbecoming, un-dignifying outfits?

Can we make it three?

The comments are dead on about the downhill runner part. But that might be as much part of the scheme, looked like they were running I-form Iso's so there's a designed hole for him to go to. So I can't really gauge his vision or his lateral cuts. But he has a really good pad level when running through the muck, and then extends and accelerates once he gets to the secondary.

Also noticed a lack of breakaway speed for the college level. But he seems like a good bet to be introducing himself to DB's frequently.

Good body control and balance. He's not going to be ankle tackled, and he bounces off contact with a lot of forward momentum.

Maybe it's the jersey, but he kind of reminds me of eddie george or beanie wells, minus about two notches off the top end speed.

I'd like to see what he can do as a blocker because he might be doing a lot of that out of split backs. Can he pickup a blitz? And we've got no indication as to his hands.

So those things, along with his speed are some things for him to work on once he gets here. But I'm pretty enthused. He looks like a great fit with us losing Minor and Grady this year.

I'm actually pleasantly surprised by his film. I was expecting more of a TJ Duckett type but this kid actually seems more fleet of foot. He does seem like he could be more of an ATrain or Hoard type. I agree with the other poster, if this kid can pick up a little speed via Barwiss and not just simply get heavier, as he would have surely done with Gittelwhatever, he could be a pretty damn good back.

Also, It's refreshing to me to see that RR and staff still want these types of backs on the team. I figured after Minor graduated we'd see nothing but 5'8" 170 burners in the backfield for years to come. Nothing wrong with a little thunder to go along with all of that lightning.

Good pick up.

Those have to be the BEST H.S. Uniforms EVER! Too bad he chose to go from the best looking uni's in H.S. to the worst one in college, LOL!

As far as the kid goes, he looks like he's a decent runner, at least in H.S.

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BlockO-CEO

I think Tony Drake is more of a slot guy, and not necessarily a RB for us. I still think we will take 2 more RB's in this class.

Beware the TX commit curse...

UofM 72 LSA Grad 75 JD. Attorney in Michigan.

BAAM.

5'10" 205lbs. 59 years old.

Sign him up.

I like Hop, he runs good and can find the hole well. He runs like a smaller Chris Wells, and we all know how that worked out aginst the big ten. Give 2 years and he will be as good of a back as Grady is. And what ugly uniforms for a Texas team!

The Pilgrims founded what is now the Congregationalist Church, considered a pretty mainstream denomination.