Unverified Voracity, Free… Pretty Rapidly, Actually
Arnett: free'd. Derek Dooley backs down from the torrent of terrible PR, grants DeAnthony Arnett a full release. Clearly he is transferring to either Michigan or Michigan State at this point. There's conflicting information out there about his eventual destination; Kyle Meinke says "everything he's hearing" is MSU; earlier in the week Sam Webb said essentially the opposite on GBW before this all went down. We'll find out soon.
CEASE PANIC. You probably weren't panicking about the prospect of a QB like Denard Robinson making an early exit for the pros, but he has submitted paperwork to be evaluated. Remain calm.
Michigan junior quarterback Denard Robinson has filed paperwork to the NFL Draft advisory board, but he made one thing very clear Friday morning.
He expects to return for his senior season.
"Oh yeah, I expect to be back," Robinson said. "That's it."
The mean streets of Whitehall. Seriously.
I just don't even know.
Winning more hearts and minds. Dooley's quest to piss off every high school football coach in the country continues unabated:
“Coach Dooley said there is a ‘possibility’ you might not be coming to Tennessee,” Henderson told the AJC. “He said you have two options: ‘You can stay committed to us, wait it out and see what other players do. Or you can de-commit and try to get some attention from other schools but that doesn’t mean you can’t come to Tennessee’ or whatever. He was very iffy about everything. He wouldn’t say anything concrete. He kept on using that word ‘possibility.’”
“I thought it was a bunch of crap. I guess if Tennessee is out there looking for other linebackers, then I can go find another place to go. Tennessee is where I wanted to go, and that’s where I’ve been loyal to ever since June. But it is what it is.”
Henderson spent six months committed to Tennessee and now has about a month to find another landing spot. Derek Dooley's pants are still stupid and Clay Travis claims he is incensed when people order Chick Fil A instead of hamburgers. This is almost certainly false but we're done fact-checking negative things said about Derek Dooley at this here blog.
FWIW, about two thirds of UT fans at Rocky Top Talk say Arnett should be set free and UT's DC and best recruiter jetted for Washington. The Huskies, not the Redskins.
Emerging youngsters (and a fifth year senior). Kevin Koger talks up a few members of the team he believes will make some noise next year. Your winners are Jerald Robinson, Thomas Rawls, and Darryl Stonum. Stonum:
"He's been great for the defense," Koger said. "He's embraced what happened and grown from it.
"They talk all the time about how great a look he gives them on defense. I was talking to [cornerback] J.T. Floyd yesterday or two days ago about how he got beat a couple times by Stonum. We've got a lot of guys giving great looks."
Borsething. AA.com's pictures of the year capture somewhat insane women's basketball coach Kevin Borseth tebowing in agony:
Tim Hardaway also features, because of course he does. There is an M-football-specific gallery as well.
Stauskas balling out. I linked the video from Nik Stauskas's impressive weekend, what with the assists and being more than a 6'6" shooter described as a country's best. Here they are frontpaged:
UMHoops
follows up with some impresssions from Rivals, Slam, Dave Telep, and the like:Southborough (Mass.) St. Mark’s senior Nick Stauskas is the perfect replacement for the scrappy Novak. Like Novak, Stauskas plays with a huge chip on his shoulder and is willing to scrap it up a bit with opponents. Stauskas is also an excellent shooter with deep range, a flashy passer and a guy who takes the floor with a significant amount of confidence.
Currently ranked No. 79 nationally in the class of 2012, the four-star wing is part of an excellent Michigan recruiting class and he should be able to contribute right away.
He's still outside of the Scout 100, something their primary analyst has said will be fixed when they redo their rankings. It appears Michigan's 2012 basketball class will be three consensus top 100 four-stars. This is exactly what everyone expected last January.
There's an 18-minute reel of one game Stauskas featured in; it still doesn't have Stauskas missing a shot but does give you a fuller picture of his game. Has some work to do on defense.
We need to cram some more stuff on those jerseys.
NEEDS MOAR ITEMS.
Etc.: Even more on the VT defense. VT walk-on says get rid of bowl fooferaw. Campbell says lack of effort is holding him back. Senior picture tribute from Holdin' the Rope.
January 3rd, 2012 at 12:43 PM ^
In the realm of all possible uniforms, is there even a single one that you would like Brian? You seem to dislike every option. If you are upset about a BCS bowl patch, just take a breath and think we are in the BCS bowl.
January 3rd, 2012 at 1:30 PM ^
For me, it's not the BCS bowl patch. It's the Adidas stripes on the sleeves, which really are there for one reason: to help Adidas sell more crap. They don't look good, they have no meaningful historical precedent, and they violate the quirky but uniquely Michigan principle that we should prevent corporate advertising from too deeply penetrating our football experience.
January 3rd, 2012 at 1:52 PM ^
If we start justifying these jerseys on the basis of the decisions Nike makes in outfitting K-State, then the terrorists have already won.
January 3rd, 2012 at 2:14 PM ^
I think the point is not that Nike uses them for K-State, but that these are not "Adidas" stripes. Lots of teams have been using these types of shoulder stripes for longer than Adidas (or Nike for that matter) has been making football jerseys.
And besides, if these were "Adidas" stripes, there would be three of them:
January 3rd, 2012 at 2:03 PM ^
No offense, but this is a ridiculously weak defense of the stripes.
Kansas State has had stripes for decades, and they've resisted Nike's attempts to bring them into the Pro Combat world. Bill Snyder won't let Nike do it. Here's a very recent link:
http://www.kansascity.com/2011/11/02/3244946/as-college-football-teams-….
January 3rd, 2012 at 2:49 PM ^
No offense, but bashing the stripes just because we have Adidas uniforms is a pretty weak criticism of them as well. There are many, many football teams with uniforms that feature stripes on the shoulders.
If you don't like them, fine, but the stripes aren't something that are unique to Adidas. If you don't like them because they aren't traditional enough, well, our away uniforms aren't traditional enough to begin with.
January 3rd, 2012 at 5:49 PM ^
So if anything, they'd fight against diluting their identity with only 2 stripes. That's totally not brand compliant.
January 3rd, 2012 at 2:31 PM ^
Look at all the stuff!!! And look, it has Adidas stripes!!!
I AM ANGAR!!!
January 3rd, 2012 at 2:51 PM ^
Only way you can improve that jersey is by putting it on Gisele
January 3rd, 2012 at 4:34 PM ^
Thank you for pointing out how many years Michigan has been swinging and missing at putting their team in a quality away jersey.
January 3rd, 2012 at 12:47 PM ^
It's great for Michigan and for Campbell to see that he's growing up. That's what college is for, after all.
January 3rd, 2012 at 12:49 PM ^
Obligatory complain about jerseys post, rabble rabble rabble, get off my lawn rabble rabble rabble.
January 3rd, 2012 at 12:50 PM ^
that MIchigan's recruiting class will be two consensus top 100 4 stars and a consensus top 5 overall 5 star.
Which is absolutely what everyone expected last January.
January 3rd, 2012 at 12:52 PM ^
a little worried that Denard looks like he is limping a bit
January 3rd, 2012 at 1:03 PM ^
There are rumors that Denard injured his ankle last week during practice. I hope it's not true.
January 3rd, 2012 at 12:54 PM ^
A close friend of mine who is close with a prominent member of the MSU-related media was told that MSU is not interested in Arnett becuase of the way his original recruitment went down and that Dantonio doesn't like the kid and would not take him even if there was a need at WR, which there definitely seems to be. According to him, the ball is in Michigan's court; if they want him, that's where he will end up going.
I wouldn't post this unless I knew my buddy talked to his source. This guy is usually spot on when it comes to MSU stuff. He says they feel good enough about Bennie Fowler and Tony Lippett as future WRs anyways. I also know he wanted Arnett to play for MSU so he's not exactly excited about possibly conceding him to Michigan.
Again, grain of salt, FWIW stuff, but he's been right about 95% of the time with MSU stuff. I've also never posted anything of the sort and wouldn't unless I was confident in what I was told.
January 3rd, 2012 at 1:17 PM ^
Are you willing to "aquaman it?"
January 4th, 2012 at 9:07 PM ^
Not end up with a funny gif below it.
January 3rd, 2012 at 12:55 PM ^
Maybe I'm in the minority, but I like the M on the shoulder. In fact, I really like this jersey. I hope it becomes the new away jersey.
January 3rd, 2012 at 1:05 PM ^
The away jersey has always been kind of shitty. I really don't mind if they experiment with it. As long as we don't go full on Oregon. Hopefully we settle on a final away design that lasts the tenure of Hoke. Stripes on this jersey are ugly, but the M isn't bad.
Now if I see a bunch more UTL type gear for home games, then I get the pitchfork. Or I think we're the home team for the game at Jerry World next year. So if we pull out some special jersey design for that, I'll be pissed.
Home Gear: Untouchable
Away Gear: Keep it within reason.
January 3rd, 2012 at 1:29 PM ^
Tinker with the away, don't touch the home jerseys.
But... this is the SIXTH!!!one1!!! Frickin jersey we've worn this year! That's not full-on Oregon but it's close. If they tweaked the away jersey every year I wouldn't care. But 6 Jerseys in 13 games is pretty dumb IMO. When I watch Michigan on TV, I want them to look like Michigan. The Michigan MSU Game should look like this:
Not like Baylor vs. The Bumblebees
January 3rd, 2012 at 2:19 PM ^
The State game was terrible. I feel like when Brandon was buying UTL gear the factory said "Hey we can throw in an away version for 40% off" and Brandon figured "Heck yes, I can sell them."
Maybe a good rule would be that for away rivarly games (tOSU, ND, and MSU) the away is kept standard. For bowls, out of conference play, and the like we can tinker with the away jerseys.
January 3rd, 2012 at 2:06 PM ^
Couldn't agree more. The home jersey is sacred, or at least it should be.
January 3rd, 2012 at 1:14 PM ^
I prefer the circa-2000 Nike jerseys that the Brady/A-Train teams wore, but these aren't bad and are a definite improvement over the previous away jerseys with the slashies. Also, I like that the players like them.
January 3rd, 2012 at 12:56 PM ^
In a wonderful array of fantastic Michigan coaches, the pointy and unflappable Brady Hoke, the haircut you can set your watch by and stern glare of Red Berenson, the we just keep winning run of Carol Hutchins, and the "I have a plan!" notions of John Beilein, the somewhat insanity of Kevin Borseth is rapidly becoming a favorite. He walked by me and my seatmate well after midnight in Michigan Stadium after the UTL game, shook our shoulders and said "Heck of a thing boys, heck of a thing..." and all we could get back with was "You bet, coach."
Plus, total excuse to post this:
January 3rd, 2012 at 1:07 PM ^
ugh...jerseys ugly
January 3rd, 2012 at 1:11 PM ^
The away jerseys have never been that great. These are definitely no worse than any other away jersey- complaining about these amounts to just wanting to complain.
January 3rd, 2012 at 1:24 PM ^
from this post is best away jersey we've had.
http://mgoblog.com/content/were-not-sure-what-uniform-means
If you took the number off the shoulder - have them on the helmets now, is a bit of an overkill - and just kept the rest of it simple, then it looks pretty simple while also modern. I'm debating on whether or not a block M on the shoulder would be a good look.
January 3rd, 2012 at 1:15 PM ^
Please let this be Big Will's coming out party.
January 3rd, 2012 at 1:37 PM ^
I really hope so. We need him to step it up for next year and this is hopefully the game that he shows everyone what he is capable of.
January 3rd, 2012 at 4:48 PM ^
My guess is he will have a solid game, but next year is when he is really going to blow the lid off. I can see him being next year's RVB - an honorary captain who really steps up to the plate when the team is looking for senior leadership not named Denard.
P.S. THE SUGAR BOWL IS TODAY! I am excite.
GO BLUE!
January 3rd, 2012 at 1:17 PM ^
Is that Brian is right to complain in this case.
I thought they actually looked pretty cool by themselves when they were first introduced, but they look horrible on the players in that video.
Having both the block M and the Sugar Bowl logo is too much, its a very crowded look. The stripes look slightly less comical than the shoulders against MSU, when I first saw them I thought they would not wrap around the way they do. Very disappointing.
If Michigan is going to create special jersies for occasions such as these, they need a better design team in place through Adidas or consider switching brands.
January 3rd, 2012 at 1:32 PM ^
There aren't enough >'s in the world to put in between Sam Webb and Kyle Meinke's names when it comes to inside information.
January 3rd, 2012 at 1:53 PM ^
Thanks to that video, my crush on RVB is officially dead.
January 3rd, 2012 at 1:50 PM ^
* Those unis look better up close than they do from far away. More colorful and interesting up close, but cluttered from a distance.
* Martin was funny doing those pushups, it looked like Coach Hoke was trying his best to not bust out laughing.
* That scissor lift that those 2 guys were on looked unstable and dangerous.
* There is a lot that goes in to taking a team photo.
January 3rd, 2012 at 1:51 PM ^
This is my first post weighing in on the jerseys, I think. Here goes:
Holy Mother of Christ those jerseys are horrific. They have blue collars a la Penn State, blue stripes a la Nothing Except the Twisted Mind of Some Graphic Designer Who Heard that one of Michigan's Colors is Blue, and numbers with yellow around them that don't really match with all that other blue shit. And then there are logos aplenty. Fuck.
Also, I'm fine with tinkering with the away jersey, but then once we find one we like, why can we not stick with it? Why SO MENNY JERZEEZ? Fuckity.
January 3rd, 2012 at 4:04 PM ^
The issue is that we haven't found one we like. The fans hated the 2008-10 ones. The players hated the 2011 ones. The fans hated the MSU game jerseys. So we're back to the drawing board once again.
Personally, I don't have a big problem with these new ones. If these become our standard away look, that's fine with me. The only thing I don't care for is the M on the shoulder.
January 3rd, 2012 at 2:05 PM ^
If Michigan pulls off a big win tonight, these jerseys will be instant classics, just like the UTL jerseys from the ND game. I love the UTL jerseys now because they are synonomous with one of the most exciting games in the history of Michigan Football.
January 3rd, 2012 at 4:51 PM ^
I liked the UTL jerseys even before they won the game in spectacular ' DID YOU SEE THAT!' fashion. The same cannot be said for their away counterparts from the MSU game. I hated those the instant I saw them and my eyes started bleeding.
January 3rd, 2012 at 2:11 PM ^
I know I'm supposed to be talking about football with a big game coming up and everything but....
am I the only one that watched Nik Stakuas highlight video and came away extremely impressed? Holy shit I am excited for the future of basketball. The kid can shoot and disk like it's no one's business.
Beat VT.
January 3rd, 2012 at 2:13 PM ^
I'm dissapointed. I was hoping the uniforms would have a minimum of 37 pieces of Flair
January 3rd, 2012 at 2:57 PM ^
You have to wonder what Danny O'Brien is thinking. First, Dooley is looking like a major ass-hat and then the entire D coaching staff leaves. Does he still really want to go to UT? 5-1 Dooley isn't there by his junior year.
January 3rd, 2012 at 3:02 PM ^
Where is that Desmond patch (with too many words in it, BTW) going to go on Junior's jersey?
I don't mind the stripes, but I agree that the maize-trim on the names/numbers seems to be a mismatch. The adidas logo is huge (should be on the collar), but not too bad overall.
What I do like is the lack of maize bra straps on these. Anything that gets rid of those and the maize armpit stripes is okay by me.
January 3rd, 2012 at 3:44 PM ^
What's wrong with pieces of flair?
January 3rd, 2012 at 3:50 PM ^
Does Molk rip one at 1:45 of the jersey video?
January 3rd, 2012 at 4:43 PM ^
For sure
January 3rd, 2012 at 7:24 PM ^
I didn't know Isaiah Bell was still with the team. Jeremy Gallon's mention of Bell in the video was the first I've heard of Bell this season.
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