Derrick Green Granted Release

Submitted by Doctor What on

Derrick Green granted release. He will graduate in the Spring, hence be eligible to play this upcoming season. Good luck to the 5 star recruit who once reduced a grown man to tears.

http://www.si.com/college-football/2016/02/19/derrick-green-leaves-michigan-wolverines-football-roster-jim-harbaugh

 

**Edit--  I accidently linked an old story. I edited to link the latest story of Harbaugh confimring his release. 

 

 

DreisbachToHayes

February 19th, 2016 at 10:07 PM ^

Hopefully he can catch on somewhere and get an invite to the underwear olympics (combine).

Shit, you gotta believe he's better than Eddie Lacy! Goddamn I fucking hate Eddie Lacy. Fantasy team killer.

bacon

February 19th, 2016 at 10:13 PM ^

He's graduating in the spring, so good for him. I'm not sure why he needs a release of he's graduated, but there's probably some stupid rule that keeps him from going somewhere else without sitting otherwise.

WeimyWoodson

February 19th, 2016 at 10:27 PM ^

I selfishly hope Peppers is taking his time and going the four year route. Know he said he wanted to graduate before going to the NFL, but graduating in three years only give us one more fall...

LSAClassOf2000

February 19th, 2016 at 10:34 PM ^

The one thing that no one can argue with is that he will always have that Michigan degree and that means quite a bit. I know we've had many debates about what we believed would happen regarding Green versus actual production, but he can take that degree with him to many, many places, and hopefully the journey only begins at whatever school he chooses. Good luck to him. 

1VaBlue1

February 19th, 2016 at 10:36 PM ^

I watched him play a game in Richmond when I heard he was favoring UM, and he looked pretty good.  I had really high hopes for him.  It wasn't all-star competition, hell, it was barely VA State Championship quality.  He bulked up after high school thinking it would make him stronger.  It was the wrong kind of weight, apparently.   I wish him well, too bad it didn't work out here...

CoverZero

February 20th, 2016 at 1:34 AM ^

He seems like a great kid.  That M degree will be worth all of his efforts.  I hope he goes somewhere next fall and lights it up. 

Maul

February 20th, 2016 at 1:41 AM ^

Not sure how he was rated a 5-star RB according to his HS film?

I do appreciate that he committed to M.  Hopefully he will get more playing time with his new team.

G. Gulo of the Dale

February 20th, 2016 at 3:29 PM ^

He was a composite 5-star and a 5-star on Scout and Rivals, but at least at the time he signed with us, he was a 4-star on both ESPN and 247, and the 8th best RB in his class on 247.  I'm not disputing that he was very highly ranked, but there wasn't the sort of consensus regarding his elite status that there has been for players like Fournette, Peppers, Gary, et al.

JamieH

February 20th, 2016 at 2:09 AM ^

So are all thses kids just loading up on credits and going to school all-year round to make it out in 3 years?  I had to work summers and I could never have gotten out in 3 years just doing fall and winter semesters. 

Rasmus

February 20th, 2016 at 7:23 AM ^

They stay on campus for both of the Spring/Summer half terms, and while strength and conditioning is a big part of that, they also take the required course loads.

I doubt it is possible to do it without the half terms, even taking maximum course loads. You'd have problems with prerequisites and class schedules.

AAisaWhoa

February 20th, 2016 at 3:14 AM ^

Kid was a 5 star never got coached up to contribute. Elliott turned out to be a gem for OSU. Wonder if Green would be heading to the NFL now if he would have been coached better.

Wolfman

February 20th, 2016 at 4:30 AM ^

although because I witnessed Grady live, I was actually more surprised at him not meeting expectations than I was Derrick. Grady was an absolute monster, and as everyone on site who resides in Michigan is aware, he was the product of a program that accepts all challenges, and any concern about his level of competition, should have been answered by his totals in playoff games and his performance on the biggest stage high school allows and doing so facing more than a small amount of adversity.

Watching the first half of that state championship game, and although the opposition had no one close to possessing the talent level Kevin did, they had three or four young men headed to, in some cases, the MAC, and in a few others, Div II schools. A pretty solid challenge, one in which EGR faced a deficit at half-time. I kept waiting, during that first half for him to show why he was so highly rated. It never came. Obviously, either self realization convincing him of the need to step up his level of play, or possibly brought about by a wake up call from the head coach, basically he started answering every question I asked myself during the firs half.

He was simply unstoppable, showing a burst of speed at the mesh point that allowed him at least three yards of penetration past the first level of defense and in almost every case, the first defender to hit him was met with an unambiguous definition of what separated the 5* from the 2 and 3*s. He was absolutely punishing and gained, I believed close to nearly 200 yards in the secong half. It was clear their coach had decided on a second half adjustment that consisted of nothing more than challenging Kevin to prove his ratings correct and provided him every opportunity to do so. Suffice to say, his seconld half performance convinced me he was the absolute real deal and would be a super star at UM.

Derrick was a completely different story, but I did not question his ratings, realizing that VA had produced an impressive number of RBs, correctly judged as a superior RB. However, early on his career at UM, I realized something that basically relieved the staff from consideration as cause for under performing. Despite the time he put in attempting to increase strength, losing weight, thereby becoming quicker, achieving both goals and although you pondering the consideration the coaching staff played a role in development certainly contains a degree of merit, because he was actually talented enough to have been more than a complete failure and if provided actually openings, he would have realized a few runs of impressive length.  But the same thing I realized and I was certainly not alone in this realization, Derrick, unlike most high schoolers sharing the same ranking, possessed one obvious weakness, almost impossible to pick up at the high school level, but impossible to hide at this level, and it was one of two things. It was either lacking the balance that all great runners seems to have, and in his case so pronounced despite his other skills, make it absolutely impossible to ever come close to meeting expectations. The other possibility is so absurd, I will not ever present it as an option. Let's just say we were all witness to something defenders use normally out of nothing but desperation, but in his case, everytime they did, he fell immeditely.

With that said, I wish the young man nothing but a successful future, and as always thank you for your decision to attend the University of Michigan.

Magnus

February 20th, 2016 at 8:39 AM ^

You seem to be implying that he *was* a complete failure, but I would argue otherwise. For all of Brady Hoke's failings, he actually got decent production out of Green. Green was Michigan's leading rusher in 2014 before he broke his collarbone, and he outpaced De'Veon Smith by almost a yard per carry. He was on pace for about 900 yards rushing or so before he got injured.

MGoClimb

February 20th, 2016 at 6:41 AM ^

My first ever post on the MGoBoard was about Derrick Green's recruitment. Wish things could have worked out. Congratulations on graduating in three years and good luck with your new team.