Vlad Emilien to Transfer Comment Count

Brian

never_forget-500

time for an update

Well-played, Angry Michigan Secondary-Hating God: Scout is reporting that Vlad Emilien is leaving Michigan. This is their Ohio recruiting analyst, FWIW, so it's not someone super-close to the program but he's not a random guy on the internet or bikini model. Details in the header:

Sophomore safety Vlad Emilien has left the Michigan football team, Scout.com learned Wednesday morning. Emilien, out of Plantation, Florida, requested, and was granted, his release Tuesday in a meeting with head coach Rich Rodriguez.

Emilien got some playing time against UConn on their final drive when Michigan went to a prevent package but did not play before that and may not have played at all if Jared Van Slyke had been healthy.

When you're on the depth chart behind a walk-on the writing is on the wall, I guess, but that walk-on is now out for the season, so the depth chart at free safety now reads

  1. Cam Gordon
  2. The Howling Nothingness of the Void

Realistically, it means any injury to a safety will see Marvin Robinson move into the starting lineup either at FS or bandit, with Kovacs moving to the deep safety spot that was not such a good idea a year ago. This may have already been the case, but losing Emilien just makes the secondary even flimsier than it is right now.

If I had to guess, this was just an injury/playing time washout. I'd heard persistent rumors that the knee injury never healed right and the Roundtree/Emilien/Jones sprint in the spring game was an eye opener. Hard to believe Michigan's secondary can suffer a PT transfer, but behind a walk-on and all that.

In addition: ARGH.

UPDATE: Tom confirms.

Comments

Firstbase

September 8th, 2010 at 12:16 PM ^

...runs counter to his recent action of vacating the team:

“I got to work my way back up,” (Vlad) said. “I got to prove to (coaches) that I’m the best. I got to prove to (coaches) that I’m worthy of playing, you can win with me.”

dollarbill

September 8th, 2010 at 12:28 PM ^

Listing a player as third string behind a player out for the year is a message from the coaches that the third stringer is not the second option.  Regardless of why, Vlad was not presently ready to contribute and, perhaps, never would have been.  I doubt RR tries to keep players for appearances sake.  Nor should he.  If Vlad is not an option this year, and is unwilling to compete to become one, then I can hardly fault him for not begging him to stay.            

Seth

September 8th, 2010 at 12:29 PM ^

Guy Left because Fishiness (1-5)
Artis Chambers Carr guy way down the depth chart, transferred for PT 1
Adrian Witty Couldn't get eligible 1
Boubacar Cissoko Personal problems uncovered after loosed from prison-like home life 2
Brandon Smith Carr recruit who hung on for awhile??? 3
Donovan Warren Got bad advice about NFL draft position, but was leaning that way regardless 3
Demar Dorsey Shouldn't have been offered 4
Justin Turner Not committed enough, fell down depth chart??? 5
Vlad Emilien Injury never healed, fell down depth chart??? 5
  • Cissoko can happen to anyone.
  • Smith can happen in the years following a coaching change.
  • Dorseys happen to other schools -- not very often at Mich.
  • Wittys happen to everyone, perhaps us less than most.
  • Turners happen at big-time programs that are choc full of talent.
  • Warrens happen at sinking ships.
  • Emiliens happen ???

Vlad Emilien didn't have an effort problem. His knee hasn't healed, but I thought there was a strong bond here due to Michigan keeping in contact when everyone else saw the horrible knee pop, realized it would be three years until he was useful, if ever, and backed off.

All of these guys had reasons to leave -- known and unknown -- but I am starting to see a pattern here of players departing at the first sign that there's reason to do so. I would like to see this investigated. If it turns out it's just horrible luck, I would accept that. But I have very tangible willies now that Tony Gibson is doing something wrong, and this is making our secondary not as nice of a place to play.

maizenbluedevil

September 8th, 2010 at 12:58 PM ^

Yep.  I agree 100%.  You did a diary recently asking if it's possible the staff is doing something wrong that's running kids off (granted that's a simplistic summary of it) and were basically hoping people would convince you otherwise...  Well, I think it's time to start asking this question now.  

As I said above, where there's smoke, there's fire.  At this point it seems like it's just too much to be coincidence.  I hope it's not, but the volume of this suggests otherwise. :-/

bronxblue

September 8th, 2010 at 1:12 PM ^

I wonder if part of it is the fact that most of these kids came to UM, at least in part, because they figured they would get some early playing time considering the depth chart.  When guys like Turner and Vlad saw that they were being passed over by walk-ons and the like, it must have been a rude reality check and led a couple of them to walk away.  Pure conjecture on my part, but at big-name programs kids expect to play early on, and it must sting when they are passed over.

maizenbluedevil

September 8th, 2010 at 1:32 PM ^

But as others have said, with Vlad...  Van Slyke is out for the year.  He's gonna get playing time.

Out of the schools he's considering...  the only places he's looking at getting PT right away are Duke and Virginia.  Yet, he's also looking at getting PT here at M - a place he says he loves, yet is leaving.  It really doesn't add up.

bronxblue

September 8th, 2010 at 1:07 PM ^

I agree with the trend.  While I doubt Gibson is actively driving kids away, the fact remains that the thinnest position on the roster has also undergone the most upheaval.  Some of those guys on the chart were outside of anybody's control - Cissoko, Warren, even Dorsey to an extent), while other guys were going to leave irrespective because of PT.

I am surprised that Vlad is out, but then again it sounds like he never fully recovered from the injury and, at some point, the coaches are going to treat you as damaged goods.  That is obviously not an outcome you want to see, but coaches are paid to win and to maximize the talent around them, and with such limited practice hours they are going to focus on the guys who can help them win now, not the kid who is significantly slower than everyone else.  I feel horrible for Vlad, but maybe this is the best.

I wish Vlad the best, and hopefully he'll find a better fit somewhere else.

tmotts62

September 8th, 2010 at 2:16 PM ^

Where do Shazor, Mundy, Johnny Sears, Chris Richards, etc. fit on your list?

I seriously do love your work, but this seems to be a "pattern" that has been occurring with some frequency even in the late Carr years.  I'm not sure that hanging it all on Gibson makes sense.

If you're looking for the one constant in all this, it's pretty obvious -- this is all Fred Jackson's fault.  (In case it's not obvious, that previous sentence is /s).

Seth

September 8th, 2010 at 5:25 PM ^

It's also the main reason I was excited for Gibson.

The Sears/Richards things brings up a thought though: perhaps this is an afteraffect of desperate recruiting....like the secondary got so bad that we were recruiting a lot on the promise of playing time, which may explain why the ongoing attrition from those not getting playing time.

markusr2007

September 8th, 2010 at 12:53 PM ^

"Look men, the season's off to a good start, but we face quite a few pass-centric teams this fall.  The UM blogs and Detroit press are going into meltdown the last few weeks - they're really hammering home the whole deal about our thin depth chart in the secondary, and.... well, there's no easy way to say this, and I know you had different ideas when you agreed to come here with our infamous 4 and 5 wide sets, but starting tomorrow a good number of you men will be hitting the tackling dummies like whoa....I'm sorry, but there's no other way."

arod

September 8th, 2010 at 12:57 PM ^

something is fucked up here.  Why would anyone transfer one game into the season, after the whole goddamn secondary already left or got injured?

PurpleStuff

September 8th, 2010 at 1:02 PM ^

The whole goddamn secondary already left or got injured and the guy was still nowhere near seeing the field (which seeing his physical skills on display in the spring game makes understandable as a coaching decision) so he got pissed and decided to bail.

I don't see what is so tricky about this. 

arod

September 8th, 2010 at 1:16 PM ^

everyone knows that he wouldn't see the field.  Vlad at least played five games last year, the other options are entirely unproven, even the coaches don't know how they'll perform in games.  The depth is so dire back there that I won't be confident in saying that anyone listed at safety won't play.     That's what is so tricky. 

PurpleStuff

September 8th, 2010 at 1:59 PM ^

The coaching staff has put Williams, Gordon (who they had to move from WR), not one but two walk-ons, and probably a new true freshman or two ahead of Vlad on the depth chart over the last two years.  If the coaching staff had any desire to put him on the field, they would have done it by now, but instead he continued to fall down the depth chart.  From this we can make a pretty strong assumption that the guy was never going to see the field, for whatever reason, under this coaching staff.  When a player realizes that to be the case, I don't think anybody can blame him for wanting to look elsewhere.

markusr2007

September 8th, 2010 at 1:07 PM ^

He probably didn't expect the loss of Warren, the loss of Witty, the Dorsey recruiting fiasco and then the ridiculous cracked ankle of his best player in the secondary group for 2010. 

Honestly guys, imagine a similar progression of events happening at your work.  With Crist, Cousins, Stanzi, Tolzien, Pryor and others up ahead, yeah, I would be shitting bricks right now.  Wouldn't you? As a result I might not be "on top of my game" either.

Yeah, it might be all MY FAULT, but the "pattern", if there even was one, started with that freaking No. 2 ranked recruiting class of 2005 that disintegrated into quark particles, not when Tony Gibson showed up on the scene.

wahlmc

September 8th, 2010 at 2:46 PM ^

the other day even before this Vlad news.  I really do wonder if Tate on defense could ever work.

I realize that it has probably been a long time since Tate has lined up on the other side of the ball (if ever), but I'm still intrigued.  I could see where a QB thrust into the seconday could be very instinctive because they have so much experience studying and reading coverages.

Again, probably not realistic based on athleticism, but still a thought.

TheOracle6

September 8th, 2010 at 2:12 PM ^

No doubt this sucks.  But I'm with the marjoity of the board on this one.  The kid seemed lost last year against Baby Seal U, can't get on the field until the end of a blowout, and it is obvious that his knee injury may have been a little more damaging then we all thought.  I wish Vlad the best of luck wherever he decides to go.  He worked hard while he was here and while he did not crack the starting line up he never complained or isolated himself from the team.  This opens another spot for this incoming recruiting class and I'm sure we're going to get some nice players to fill the voids left by Angry Michigan Secondary Hating God.