Spring scheme bits. A little drill-down into Michigan's approach in the spring game-type substance. First, ground:

Q pin/pull concept paired a flare RPO. @UMichFootball ran this a ton out of 22 personnel. Good stuff @Coach_Gattis! pic.twitter.com/FHsaG96S95

— All-22 Film Breakdown (@All22_Breakdown) April 19, 2019

This is the kind of stuff I was referring to when I compared the spring approach to Frost's UCF offense. When the LBs make one false step they're dead:

A pin/pull concept paired with the flare RPO. Watch both ISLB’s. pic.twitter.com/BYEQaTjlpv

— All-22 Film Breakdown (@All22_Breakdown) April 19, 2019

Threaten both edges of the field simultaneously and you turn single mistakes into touchdowns. Michigan will still have plenty of straight-ahead in its offense; these plays are likely to be occasional thunderbolts instead of every-down staples. I'm assuming there will be a lot of play action attached to these already-stressful actions, and that's where the offense should separate from last year's, which seemed to be two completely different things grafted together without much thought to deception.

And here's a longer piece focused on the passing game:

The RPO slant at about 5:40 is what I'm talking about. Patterson looked very comfortable executing these throws, and again the stress they put the defense under is a problem.

[After THE JUMP: Michigan tangentially mentioned at a trial!]

They're saying our name. Two items out of the latest NCAA corruption-type substance trial mention Michigan. I don't think either is going to amount to anything, but let's talk about it. The first one is extremely tangential:

More names on those screenshots: Preston Murphy, Jamal Walker, Chris Caputo,Dennis Felton, Mike Morrell, Saddi Washington, Tony Bland.

— Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach) April 24, 2019

That could mean anything. Dennis Felton is the head coach of Cleveland State and was at Tulsa before that; zero shoe companies are laying out cash for anyone headed to those schools. Dawkins seems to talk up his connections in an attempt to seem important in an industry where appearance is everything. This hilarious, but sadly false, assertion caught on wiretap is a prime example:

Most random thing today was Dawkins on wiretap talking up his connections to Tom Izzo/MSU, talking about how Izzo “has been in my fucking house crying and shit before when my dad didn’t give him Draymond.”

Dawkins’ dad is a CBB coach; no insinuation of foul play, to be clear.

— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) April 24, 2019

Green was committed to Tubby Smith at Kentucky for a while but didn't have an MSU offer at the time. It is vaguely possible that there was a window in there where Green was maybe headed to Michigan—which offered before MSU—and that this tantrum occurred when the elder Dawkins wouldn't guarantee Green would go to MSU. But probably not.

The second is certainly true and probably common:

Marty Blazer, a former longtime Pittsburgh-area financial planner who has pleaded guilty to defrauding clients, testified Tuesday for the government. Blazer discussed that from 2000-13, he routinely paid top college football players in violation of NCAA rules in hopes they would let him invest their money when they made the NFL. He cited, without naming names or specifics, players at Pitt, Penn State, Michigan, Notre Dame, Northwestern, Alabama and North Carolina.

The Marcus Ray, except none of these players got caught. That's also incredibly unlikely to be anything more than a footnote unless evidence surfaces that a coach was involved. Blazer did bring up one coach, but he's currently at Ohio State:

In more detail, he discussed the time in 2008-09 when he said he had an NFL client whose father was also an assistant football coach at Penn State. The only person on the Nittany Lion staff at that time who fits that description was longtime assistant Larry Johnson Sr., who now works at Ohio State, and whose son was an NFL running back.

Blazer said the assistant coach set up a meeting in State College between the assistant, Blazer and the father of a Penn State player who was considering entering the NFL draft rather than return for another season of college football.

At the meeting, Blazer testified the assistant asked him to provide $10,000 to the player’s father to take some financial stress out of the decision. Blazer said he did it. The player, according to Blazer, turned pro anyway and was drafted 11th overall.

In the 2009 draft, the Buffalo Bills drafted defensive end Aaron Maybin out of Penn State. Blazer said the father of the player returned the $10,000.

“The coach wanted the player to consider staying,” Blazer testified. “The player was leaning on coming out. The coach, in an effort to convince the player to stay in school, set up a meeting with me and the player’s dad.”

Johnson "adamantly denied" this extremely specific story about something that happened a decade ago, told under oath by a guy who is facing further prosecution if he's found to be lying about anything. The NCAA is currently set up to force people to lie through their teeth about banal financial transactions that would draw zero comment in literally any other field of endeavor.

tl;dr: meh.

Good? Maybe probably good? Or potentially bad. Brian Snow is reporting on 24/7 that Michigan has axed Lester Quinones's visit, which was supposed to happen this weekend. There are two reasons this might happen. One is that they feel like they've got a bird in the hand and no longer have the spot. With Justin Pierce headed to UNC this weekend, Bones Hyland yet to get on campus, and Beilein in Germany, well… that could be good.

The other reason Michigan might suddenly pull out of a recruitment they're in with LSU, Memphis, Maryland, and a head coach named Miller is obvious and less salutary.

I must have missed this? I somehow missed the fact that hockey picked up a goalie commit:

2000-born goaltender Erik Portillo (Frolunda HC J20) has committed to Michigan. 6-6, Goteborg, Sweden native, has .931 save percentage this season. He's a huge get for the Wolverines.

— Jeff Cox (@JeffCoxSports) April 16, 2019

Portillo is giant but that .931 Cox cites was in just 26 games and is shakier than, say, Strauss Mann's consecutive .930s in the USHL. Those did not translate, at least not so far. Portillo drew some late-round draft chatter last year, his first year eligible, but didn't end up going.

Check out this outlet pass up the boards! pic.twitter.com/nwSOakZAtQ

— Prospect Shifts (@ProspectShifts) April 4, 2019

Elite Prospects lists Portillo as a 2019 recruit, which seems unlikely since Michigan gets both goalies back this year. Making it a little less unlikely: those goalies' performance a year ago.

Hughes-ish. Cam York moving up through the slot and dishing a slick pass for a slam-dunk one-time goal:

.@Turcotte__71 ➡️ @camyork2 ➡️ @colecaufield.

That's a hat trick for Cole Caufield and #TeamUSA leads, 5-1.#U18Worlds pic.twitter.com/ziHF59lVBR

— USA Hockey (@usahockey) April 18, 2019

He's going to provide needed offense. He's got a PPG with the U18s.

Soon to be overturned. A few weeks after approving a Tate Martell waiver because a coach didn't call him back, the NCAA's Wheel Of Justice is spun again:

Virginia Tech transfer Brock Hoffman has not been granted immediate eligibility by the NCAA, he has informed 247Sports.

Hoffman, an offensive lineman from Coastal Carolina, will enroll at Virginia Tech at the conclusion of the spring semester and will have two-years of eligibility remaining on the field as well as a redshirt year available that can be used in 2019 if his appeal does not overturn the NCAA’s decision.

Because of NCAA transfer regulations, Hoffman had to submit a waiver to avoid sitting out a year after transferring from one division one institute to another prior to graduation. Due to a family illness, Hoffman petitioned the NCAA to allow him to move closer to home.

Hoffman’s mother has an acoustic neuroma, a brain tumor, that was removed recently.

The NCAA has at least quickly overturned these decisions immediately after the media gets hold of them, but you'd think someone in the office would pop their head up and say "uh, remember the last six times this happened?" and they could skip the bit where they get raked over the coals.

Etc.: Basketball assistants to stay around for another year. More trial details. I mean he is Jeff Brohm. David Long is good. UMHoops on Jordan Poole's departure.