Unverified Voracity In Sensible Heels Comment Count

Brian

Senior day fluff. But somtimes fluff is okay:

Please don't do this. People of the internet: UFR numbers are dangerous things when taken too seriously, and while I think they're on track most of the time—or I wouldn't do it—the place where they're shakiest is in the secondary, where players rarely get on screen unless they've screwed up. So if you're making a case for James Rogers as Michigan's best defensive back it makes me wince when UFR totals get brought out. MNB Dave doesn't go hog wild with it or anything but just to re-iterate, please take all numbers in the secondary with a grain of salt. I can't see the guys back there most of the time. I do the numbers because they're better than nothing at describing what happened but the why and how are not included.

As an aside, I actually kind of agree with Dave that Rogers has been Michigan's best corner by a nose since his wide receiver allergy hasn't been ruthlessly exploited by McFarve. That's the Michigan secondary in a nutshell.

Is this for real or for roster? A followup on ideal cornerback height finds that All Conference guys in the Big Ten have been 5'11", or at least listed at 5'11", far more often than any other height. Does this mean Michigan is recruiting guys too short to be big time corners? I'm doubtful. The table of filthy lies also known as Michigan's roster displays the scholarship cornerbacks like so:

Number Name Pos Height WT Year Hometown
5 Courtney Avery CB 5-11 174 FR Mansfield, Ohio (Lexington)
12 J.T. Floyd CB 6-0 183 RS SO Greenville, S.C. (J.L. Mann)
18 James Rogers CB 6-1 188 SR Madison Heights, Mich. (Lamphere)
22 Terrence Talbott CB 5-11 179 FR Huber Heights, Ohio (Wayne)
24 Cullen Christian CB 6-0 188 FR Verona, Pa. (Penn Hills)
29 Troy Woolfolk CB 6-0 195 SR Sugar Land, Texas (Dulles)

Avery is listed at 5'9" by ESPN, and Scout with Rivals giving him 5'10". He is not 5'11". Scout's number is from a combine. Talbott is listed at an exacting 5'9.5" at Scout, also a combine number. If you're 5'9" on a college roster you're truly tiny, because they let you wear sensible heels when they put these things together.

When almost half the All Conference guys are one exact height that says short guys get fibbed up to 5'11", I'm guessing.

In the year 2013  Stupid people at Oklahoma newspapers. Our kicker situation could be worse. Doc Sat links a post at the most-loathed Oklahoman, which auto-plays inane banter between Jenni Carlson, the author of the terrible cheap shot that spurred the "I'm a man" rant from Jeff Gundy, and perpetually hungover Barry Trammel. So that's not so good. But after you shudder, hit pause, and think seriously about noscript, you find this out about the Oklahoma roster:

Bob Stoops has granted scholarships to four kickers, with a fifth promised to yet another kicker.

I can hear the jokes now. How many scholarships does it take to screw in a field goal?

But it's true. Jimmy Stevens, Patrick O'Hara, Tress Way and Bryce Easley have scholarships, and Michael Hunnicutt has been promised one next year. None of the five are seniors.

There's an element of typical middle-aged white sportswriter misrepresentation in here since Tress Way is the punter and a very good one, but dude Oklahoma's going to have four kickers on scholarship next year… aww goddammit. I just fact-checked this dip. (Don't click any of these links unless you like inane banter.) Stevens is the starting kicker. O'Hara is a walk-on. Easley is a walk-on. Hunnicutt is not an incoming recruit but another walk-on. It's understood that if a walk-on gets a scholarship one year that's not guaranteed to continue unless the kid establishes himself a starter or major contributor. Oklahoma's going to have maybe two kickers on scholarship next year. BFD. The lesson, as always, is ignore Barry Tramel.

This was going to have something to do with Michigan's kicker situation, I promise, but then it degenerated.

Well, that could have gone worse. The basketball team moved the competition level up slightly yesterday and still made easy work of Bowling Green, winning by 19 and giving up just 29.6 eFG. This is not terribly exciting because last year BG was 14-16 in the MAC and checked in #206 in the Kenpom ratings. A final warmup against Gardner Webb (awful) is followed by tests against Syracuse and some other team in Michigan's preseason tournament.

Etc.: Troy Woolfolk explains the origin of "T-Woolf" in the Daily. I'll translate to internet: "Tloy Woorfork explains the origin of 'T-Woorf' in the Daily." T-Woorf sounds like a Klingon who raps in Dutch. Another Michigan Man podcast, this one previewing Wisconsin. Ricky Stanzi's pro-America stance takes a "darker, Nixonian turn." Soony Saad fluff and a reminder that there's an NCAA tournament game against hated UCF on Sunday.

Comments

UMAmaizinBlue

November 19th, 2010 at 2:38 PM ^

Really gotta feel for them. They've been through possibly the worst stretch in Michigan history, starting with The Horror, then following it up with 3-9 and 5-7. But there's still a chance for it all to end with awesomeness by winning game against Wisconsin and/or OSU. Hell, just beat OSU and send these boys out with that. They've been through enough.

 

Also, Lloyd Brady sighting at 1'34".

joeyb

November 19th, 2010 at 2:47 PM ^

I couldn't find any measurements for Tloy Woorfork, but Richard Nixon measures in at 5'11.5", which is doubly important considering he's on our depth chart twice.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heights_of_Presidents_of_the_United_States_and_presidential_candidates

 

Sam: "I'm starting to realize how much I am my father's daughter when it comes to my temper: It's short and loud, but lasts only about 10 minutes before I'm over it."
 
Me: "Are we really talking about tempers?"

JeepinBen

November 19th, 2010 at 3:14 PM ^

or at least i'm 5'10'' and change. But on depth charts in high school i was 6' 210lbs

(really probably 185-195 ish)

Sounds like we just found our new... Who am I kidding, i've never played football, hockey and lacrosse though

bronxblue

November 19th, 2010 at 3:30 PM ^

I can any size you want me to be, baby...oh wait, wrong context.

BTW, anyone having trouble listening to the Michigan Man podcast without iTunes?  Link on the site doesn't seem to work.

Baxter

November 19th, 2010 at 3:35 PM ^

ESPN, Rivals, and Scouts may all have the correct height for the last time they saw a person measured (they don't update scouting profiles once people are enrolled in college).  Talbott is also the younger of 2 brothers in the same grade, so he was reaaaally young the last time he was measured for a scouting website.  And a combine-measured 5'9" or 5'10" is probably incredibly accurate... for the summer before their senior year.  Most men continue to grow until they are 19 or 20, and adding an inch or 2 from the start of senior year is not that rare.  (I was 6'2" when I started senior year, I was 6'4" by the end of my freshman year of college).  And, no, this isn't stuff pulled out of my ass, I'm a doctor who's actually studied development...

bronxblue

November 19th, 2010 at 3:46 PM ^

Just kidding.  I totally believe that guys can gain significantly in the height department at the end of HS/beginning of college.  I remember Scottie Pippen grew something like 4-5 inches from college to the pros, so it definitely happens.

ironman4579

November 19th, 2010 at 7:35 PM ^

Just to point out, I'm the one that did the research on the height of CB's on the All Big 10 teams.  I didn't use players listed college height, as we all know those tend to get fudged a little/a lot.  I looked up each individual CB's official height as taken at either the combine, Senior Bowl or Pro Day.  So officially measured by a guy who knows how to do it, taken after their senior or junior year.  The heights are completely accurate.  The number of 5'9" CB's would have been 3 less (there were 5 total, so 2, which would have been the lowest of any individual height) had I gone with the listed college height.  One of the guys was listed at 6'0" by his college, and two were listed at 5'11".

You can downplay it all you want, but short CB's do not tend to have as much success at the Big 10 or pro level.