2022 offer: 3* TX QB Alex Orji
Oklahoma supposedly has interest. Could be a nice prospect to sit behind JJ.
And here's a little middle digit to the inevitable football thread jackers
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ME:
What did I miss, OP?
If it wasn't clear, I've been openly critical of posters who feel the need to clutter up every football thread with pining about how "they just can't maintain interest anymore" or "are just sick of the hype" or simply try to use the success of basketball to bitch about football. It would be better if they just didn't click on football threads if it's that much of an inconvenience for them. Let the rest of us who are interested in honestly discussing the team do that.
Thanks, I must have ignored the messy commentary in prior threads.
No problem! That being said, I thought the 90 seconds of Orji highlights on Google were pretty titillating! They really ended with a bang. Luckily I had a few minutes to myself this morning, so I had the opportunity to squeeze that in.
Pun intended?
Bummer you were by yourself. Sounds like it might've been more fun as a group activity, no?
March 26th, 2021 at 10:53 AM ^
He's obviously married - duh!
I guess you need to change your username to Fixed Brilliance.
Maybe it's a generational thing. I grew up in the 90s, and during my formative years there was football and only football. I guess hockey was there as a reprieve during the winter months.
Now whenever there is a new post on the front page the first thing I do is scan to see if there is football content. I'm always drawn to football threads immediately when they appear on the board.
However for someone who is in their 20s and most of their Michigan sports experiences during their younger years were the latter Carr years, Rich Rod, Hoke and Beilein, I guess I could understand why they'd be less inclined to care about football now. But for me it's just permanently imprinted into my psyche to care deeply about every little thing that happens with the football team.
I was a student for both the NC in '89 with Glen Rice and the Fab 5. None of this registered with someone who grew up in the 90s? That's surprising.
This is the first thing I thought of. I grew up in the 90s but don't recall 1989 or the Fab 5.
I grew up in the 90s and remember none of '89, but the Fab Five was right around the time I starting paying attention to sports. I was young, but I vividly recall watching Chris Webber do the thing.
So, for me, basketball has always been relevant. (Un)fortunate enough to have experienced some highs for both programs as well as post-high dips of excruciating seasons.
The Fab Five was a HUGE deal and even out in the middle of nowhere Nevada everyone knew about them. Honestly, its why I have always thought of Michigan as being normally good in both football and basketball. There was some time in the wilderness thanks to the infamous car accident, but in my mind if Michigan can stop stepping on its crank football wise, what's going on now is not that much of a surprise.
Way OT here, but it's funny that you mention Nevada in the early 90s because I've always thought of the 89-90 and 90-91 UNLV teams as some of the funnest basketball to watch, ever. Greg Anthony, Stacey Augmon, Anderson Hunt, Larry Johnson, Moses Scurry... They certainly filled the void for me between the 89 championship and the Fab Five.
I was always torn about that team because I am from Northern Nevada and HATE Vegas, those teams were fun to watch, but I never root for Nevada Southern and the Nevada Southern-Duke battles back then were my version of the meteor games.
March 26th, 2021 at 10:13 AM ^
Ha! I'd never heard them referred to as Nevada Southern. That's a good one.
March 26th, 2021 at 12:09 PM ^
What's funny about all this is that the OP was considered about the thread being high-jacked to basketball and it immediately gets high-jacked to basketball.
I'm genuinely sorry if you remember nothing of the '89 run, because it was fantastic. Starting with the drama of Bo naming "Michigan Man" Steve Fisher as coach, to Glen "I Never Miss, Just Watch Me" Rice, to Sean Higgins' last-second putback to knock out Illinois, to Rumeal Robinson stepping to line as thousands of Michigan fans (me included) were mumbling "PleaseGodPleaseGodPleaseGod!" - and then watching our prayers get answered as he hit both.
I can honestly say that the '89 title in basketball was just as satisfying as the '97 title in football. Maybe more so, because we didn't have to share it with Tom Osborne and his Cornshucker jackoffs, who got the National "Retiring at the Right Time" Championship. (Not that I'm still bitter or anything.)
March 26th, 2021 at 11:04 AM ^
And Michigan beat USC in the Rose Bowl a few months earlier. I was college freshman in 88-89, a good year for the Maize & Blue.
March 26th, 2021 at 11:15 AM ^
That '89 run was something! Unfortunately, I remember it as scores in a newsflash whenever we came up to periscope depth in the North Atlantic. I learned about the final game win during a small boat transfer to off-load some civilians before we took off to chase down a Soviet sub that was sinking somewhere out in the open ocean. All I had for the next 6 weeks was that Michigan had won.
I was able to find recordings of the various games since, and have watched them all. That was some good basketball...
(FWIW, we never did get to that sinking boat. While enroute, we learned that, essentially, the entire Soviet fleet inventory was also on its way to the scene. Sometimes, discretion is the better part of stupidity. The boat was K278, Komsomolets - Mike class to NATO. She was silent underwater, a worthy adversary - may her crew RIP. I had the pleasure of tracking her on the surface during an earlier run, and she disappeared completely once she dove. Scary thought, at the time...)
March 26th, 2021 at 11:34 AM ^
A Russian sub that went silent and couldn't be tracked by American subs? Man, that would make a great movie!
March 26th, 2021 at 11:55 AM ^
Same here. Born in 84. I have no memories of 89 unfortunately. But my earliest memories of Michigan fandom are the Fab 5 actually. I'm still a bigger football fan than basketball, but I certainly don't just take a great basketball program for granted.
For me, it's an "other shit to do" thing.
Football is Saturday afternoons in the fall. When UM is bad, there's a billion things to do outside that I very much enjoy.
Basketball is weeknights in the winter. When UM is bad, there's... other stuff to watch on TV?
Of course the flip side of that is all of the people who feel compelled to get in a hoops thread and post stuff about football and their infinite misery with the program. It’d be nice if the fans could learn to separate the sports and enjoy the individual successes and lament their respective failures on their own.
March 26th, 2021 at 10:03 AM ^
Not to thread jack, but I noticed that Penn St's Pro day was televised by the B1G network yesterday, does anyone know if Michigans will be televised?
We know. It was in Seth's recruiting roundup yesterday.
Shucks
Mods delete if necessary.
Youre good. I read it, only reason I knew. I'm sure informative to others who didn't read it.
Nope, keep it up—Seth's mention leads only to a paywalled 247, whereas the Maize n Brew article has a link directly to Orji's highlights.
As for Orji, his highlights are as entertaining for a QB as I've watched in a long time. Caveats about the level of his HS competition aside, his ability to keep his eyes downfield when under severe pressure is impressive, and his ability to escape what seem to be certain tackles is Houdini-like.
He doesn't look terribly fast, but he keeps outrunning defenders even when they have the angle on him. He's got really nice instinctive broken-field moves, and uses quick cutbacks to free himself from impending contact.
He doesn't have a particularly quick release and has a bit of a windup. He seems to be pretty accurate, although that could be deceiving due to highlight video selection bias.* (see below comment)
Here's a 2018 article about the Orji family, with a photo of then 14-year old Alex. They're driven, focused on education, and committed to family both in the U.S. and back in Nigeria. Do want.
Orji's most high-profile offers are from OK and Michigan, but I wouldn't be surprised if Vanderbilt is the stiffest competition, since that's where his two older brothers play:
Looks like a developmental guy in the mode of a faster McNamara maybe?
I like this as the offer for the QB the year after McCarthy, between him and Nate Johnson I like a QB with a slightly different skill set who can sit, develop, and learn and also offer something a little different for teams to adjust to if they come in as a backup.
I can't recall ever watching Joe Milton's highlights, but his low completion percentage suggested he was a legit developmental recruit. His main attribute I remember reading about was his cannon arm, which Orji doesn't appear to have in the normal usage of that term.
Whether Orji is any more developmental than most HS QB recruits depends to a great extent on what his completion percentage is, his TD-INT ratio, and how sophisticated an offense he runs. Does his offense require him to read coverages? A lot of his highlight passes are downfield as opposed to quick dink and dunks thrown to receivers just a few yards past the LOS, but highlight videos can be deceptive.
* I just checked out Orji's season stats for 2020, and he had a 52% completion average with 10 TDs and 7 INTs. Not eye-popping stats, so his 3-star ranking makes sense. I'll be curious to see how he does in his senior year this fall.
March 26th, 2021 at 10:02 AM ^
Orji looks like Milton if he remembered to throttle the velocity and throw a catchable pass with some arc. I'm actually way more impressed than I expected to be watching the highlights. He looks smooth and in control of his feet-- much more like McNamara. I kinda get the "project" label because he hasn't been playing that long and his stats aren't eye-popping in the least, but he looks like a natural.
March 26th, 2021 at 10:58 AM ^
MGOBLOG's information was literally "tons of excitement" which was hyperlinked to a paywalled site.
For readers to get updates on this blog we have to rely on the other readers to post links to other Michigan blogs with actual information.
I can hardly wait to hear calls for a touchdown Orji.
Do not want. I'm sure this kid is great, and would be an asset, but I can't stand 4 years of Orgy puns. We are not collectively mature enough to handle it. Linguist is bad enough. It takes a smooth talker to bring and Orji to the big house...
6am here. Hadn't had time to think of orgy puns. Now I'm really looking forward to them. I'm 51 but 15 on the inside.
Just out of curiosity, why did you capitalize Orgy? I don't think that usually starts with a big "O"...
March 26th, 2021 at 10:13 AM ^
But hopefully ends with a big "O"? Is that where you were going with that?
March 26th, 2021 at 11:05 AM ^
‘tis indeed, it just loses a bit of subtlety if I had spelled it out :)
March 26th, 2021 at 10:53 AM ^
Too bad Jake Butt has matriculated.
An Orji to Butt connection would be brilliant.
March 26th, 2021 at 11:10 AM ^
Along with some cunning play calls by Linguist?
3*? 3*? we talking about 3*?
(invoking Maizen)
May he rest in peace.
Please sign him. I promise I will not get tired of the puns.
March 26th, 2021 at 10:01 AM ^
I ain't ever been to no Orji before.
OK, anybody get that reference?
March 26th, 2021 at 10:54 AM ^
Chances are diminishing.
Isn't that book banned now.
March 26th, 2021 at 10:04 AM ^
Looking forward to that Roman-Orji connection.
Ugh.
