Unverified Voracity Marvels At Technology Comment Count

Brian

Holy pants. YouTube HD, people!

Sweet. Someone lock Wolverine Historian in a room with a computer and a stack of videos. (This may be redundant, yes.)

Pah. The New York Times' bottom-to-top rundown of I-A football has reached Michigan at an uninspiring #57. The meandering glory of the thing has 100 words in German, mentions Elroy Hirsch, cites Varsity Blue, and desperately needs more paragraph breaks. It > CFN.

But the thing that sticks out to your correspondent:

Who is No. 56?: The name of its first president graces our next university’s football stadium and library. There is no memorial to Jimmy Bob, his ever-present parrot.

A commenter solves the riddle:

#56 is Western Michigan, home of Waldo Stadium and Waldo Library.

Awwww, come on. There is no way that's not a hook for the WMU preview.

Up-and-coming. This doesn't come as a surprise to me since the Doc pinged me to ask whether Boubacar Cissoko was a reasonable pick for the team—I replied "if you don't have anyone truly inspiring," to which he said "I do not"—but Michigan features twice on Dr. Saturday's up-and-coming defense. You'll be able to guess the other member without reading the post, but what the hell:

Defensive Tackle: Mike Martin • Michigan
Aside from punting, run defense was the only halfway respectable aspect of the entire Wolverine operation last year, and the best aspect of the run defense may have been that Martin held his own as a regular part of the rotation as a true freshman -- with both starters graduating, the middle of the line remains one of the team's many red sirens. Most importantly, Martin earned the MGoBlog seal of approval, which is no small feat.

Hey, now: the rushing offense was (very, very slightly) above-average. That linked caused me to return to the Wisconsin UFR, in which Martin thwarted Wisconsin's second attempt at a game-tying two-point conversion by escaping a double team and crushing the QB as he released the ball; he is kind of a great interior pass rusher already. I just hope he can hold up against the consistent pounding of the ground game.

The Doc's offensive team is hyah; call me skeptical about the inclusion of a no-block tight end from Ohio State on the list. Ohio State tight ends have to block because they do little else except get death threats. One dollar says that Kevin Koger has more catches than Jake Stoneburner at the end of the year. (Stoneburner, naturally, will blind more messiahs.)

Find Pierce Brosnan. Jewel Hampton is the tailback on that DocSat up-and-coming offense, but his knee may have up and left:

Multiple Web sites are reporting that Iowa football running back Jewel Hampton sustained a knee injury during non-contact drills Friday. If confirmed, that would put a damper on the 4th of July weekend for Hawkeye fans.

BHGP links to stuff that suggests the injury is a torn ACL, which would knock Hampton out for the year. Yea, if there is any Angry BLANK Hating God as wroth as Angry Michigan Safety-Hating God, it's Angry Iowa Tailback-Hating God.

However, the second-wave word on the thing is much friendlier to Iowa and Hampton:

"I'm OK," he said.

When the 5-foot-9, 210-pound sophomore-to-be from Indianapolis was asked whether he would play in the fall, Hampton said with a grin, "Don't know yet."

FWIW.

Dude NFW. You know what? I really don't want to get into this again. But I find it amazing that this happens to be true:

Almost there! With two graduated, third-team seniors predictably (and acceptably) having left the team over the past week, Bama Sports Report reports that the Tide only has ... 10 more scholarships to free up over the rest of the summer! That's not too bad! Here, here's a handy alphabetical run-down of how many scholarships each SEC team still has to clear off the existing roster to bring in their full signing class in fall camp:

Alabama: 10
Auburn: 0
Florida: 0
Georgia: 0
Kentucky: 0
LSU: 0
Mississippi: 0
Mississippi St.: 0
South Carolina: 0
Tennessee: 0
Vanderbilt: 0

Say what you want about the man, Saban stands by his principles, such as they are.

Etc.: You will be SHOCKED at the #1 players on Ace's list of the top 15 players on both sides of the ball from the past 15 years.

Comments

Wolv54

July 7th, 2009 at 1:08 PM ^

already have a high attrition rate becuase they will sign anyone no matter their ability to get qualified or to stay eligible taking college courses. Some schools have a higher standard they hold themselves too, but Alabama is all about winning and those moonpie eaters care about nothing else, I know, I leave 20 miles from the 'Bama state line. They the epitome of an extremist college football fanbase where the ends justify the means. I have a buddy who is a diehard alabama fan and he hasn't missed a game in almost 20 years, bowls included, and when I mentioned this oversigning business to him, he just scoffs at it as what it takes to win. I hope our fanbase never gets to the point where winning is paramount; the costs be damned.

I think the Mike Martin will be a good one, but he needs to stay a DT and not a NT; move WC over the center in those 3 man lines and let him anchor that spot. I think you can get BG as a hybrid with more effectiveness that RVB at this point in his carrier. I would go with WC at NT, MM at DT, and RVB as a WDE, then have BG play the rush end/LB.

Blazefire

July 7th, 2009 at 1:11 PM ^

Michigan vs. WMU setup? Oh yeah.

There has got to be a strange moment where you question yourself when you're ranking teams and you put Directional Michigan U above Michigan, though.

mghorm

July 7th, 2009 at 1:38 PM ^

When Jon Tompson (probably spelled wrong) scored that touchdown it was the loudest i have ever Michigan Stadium. That may be because it was the quietest it had ever been at the half.

Sandler For 3

July 7th, 2009 at 2:14 PM ^

I love how at 3:10 in the video (on the int return) Terrance Taylor absolutely KILLS the Wisconsin O-Lineman. That video brought back memories of being at the game. What a great day it was.

mgovictors23

July 8th, 2009 at 10:09 AM ^

I remember watching that game at my house and just going crazy the whole fourth quarter. I remember thinking after Brandon Minor scored and when we went out on defense how awesome it would be if we picked off a pass and returned it for a touchdown. That very play Thompson did just that.