Harbaugh media tidbits 8/15: Ahmir Mitchell & Shelton Johnson suspended

Submitted by Wolverine Devotee on

Harbaugh "Rashan Gary is a REALLY good player"

— angelique (@chengelis) August 15, 2016

Harbaugh says team is playing better at quarterback now than at this point last year.

— Jake Lourim (@jakelourim) August 15, 2016

Harbaugh says Mike Onwenu is 'one of my favorites.' Chris Evans might be the most impressive frosh right now he says.

— Nick Baumgardner (@nickbaumgardner) August 15, 2016

Ben Bredeson has played guard and tackle, Onwenu is playing both ways.

— Nick Baumgardner (@nickbaumgardner) August 15, 2016

OK, so Harbaugh says two players out of Ahmir Mitchell, Shelton Johnson and Kareem Walker are suspended. But he won't say which two.

— Jake Lourim (@jakelourim) August 15, 2016

Kareem Walker is practicing, so it's Ahmir Mitchell and Shelton Johnson that are suspended.

Asked how long they'll be suspended, Harbaugh again declines to answer, then says "Good?" and walks out.

— Jake Lourim (@jakelourim) August 15, 2016

Harbaugh really gushed about Mike Onwenu. Says he can play both sides of the ball (and he has been).

— Josh Henschke (@JoshHenschke) August 15, 2016

Michigan spokesman says Shelton Johnson and Ahmir Mitchell are the suspended players Harbaugh referenced.

— Adam Schnepp (@aeschnepp) August 15, 2016

Harbaugh said he'd handle the matter internally.

— Adam Schnepp (@aeschnepp) August 15, 2016
MGoBoard

Mr. Yost

August 16th, 2016 at 3:52 AM ^

it's a drug test.

Pretty cut and dry if ti's a drug test or something like cheating.

It's when it's a team rule that it would be weird to see a hard length put on it like a year.

If it is 1 year...it's definitely a university, NCAA or B1G rule in my eyes. Somethere where's they're very specific on what happens if you break the rule.

Joined: 07/25/2011

MGoPoints: -9898220

UMProud

August 15th, 2016 at 8:09 PM ^

+1 thank you kind sir

Really like how JH handles the reporters especially at the end with the guy not getting the fact that he wasn't going to get answers.  Level of competence & confidence so much greater than anything we've experienced in years.  Lovin it....

Joined: 12/18/2014

MGoPoints: 2705

gwkrlghl

August 15th, 2016 at 9:49 PM ^

I play it both ways in my head "Dude. Why'd you have to be dumb and do that? Thanks for not murdering anyone though"

Though sometimes I think you're more likely to get benched by the NCAA for weed use than if you were on trial for murder

Joined: 04/13/2012

MGoPoints: 72

JayMo4

August 16th, 2016 at 6:35 AM ^

I realize the murder bit is a joke, but it does seem to me that they're much tougher on weed than most forms of violence.  McGary was suspended for the season.  That guy at Mississippi State that beat on a prone woman was given one meaningless game by the MSU coaches and no additional punishment from the NCAA.

I can't begin to see how anyone could argue that getting high is worse than beating on someone defenseless, but when you look at the way rules are enforced at this level it appears that it must be.

Also, it's basically customary at this point to suspend players one game for a DUI.  I don't care what you think about pot, whether you think it should be legal or not.  Drunk driving puts people's lives at risk.  If smoking while watching Adult Swim and eating Doritos is worth multiple games, then one game for DUI is laughable.

Joined: 04/19/2013

MGoPoints: 12070

cheesheadwolverine

August 15th, 2016 at 10:18 PM ^

I mean yeah the NCAA is outrageous about this (it's a half-year IIRC from McGary) if they catch it in their very-limited screenings, but usually this is dealt with in-house with like a half-game suspension or a talking to.  I would guess half the team smokes weed and gurantee 95% of the team drinks before they turn 21 (which is equally iagainst the law if not equally banned by the NCAA).  So the difference between Mitchell and the rest of the team appears to be that he had the bad luck to get caught. That's a pretty stupidly arbitrary way to strip a kid of 25% of his college career, to be honest. (edit: "strip 25% of the year is a strong way to put it, I guess, since it will just be his redshirt year).

Also does anyone else enjoy the juxtaposition between this comment ("well, he broke the law") and this username.  I like to imagine this is actually Avon.

Joined: 10/25/2008

MGoPoints: 7515

Mr. Yost

August 16th, 2016 at 4:03 AM ^

It's most certainly a University or NCAA violation.

#1 No college coach in his right mind would suspend a player a full year for hitting the blunt once and getting caught

#2 The hard timeline is a dead giveaway

It's like McGary's situation. Team/University rules are typically more like 3 strikes - you can fail a team drug test, you CANNOT fail an NCAA drug test, especially repeatedly.

Weed is treated as an illegal substance, just like steriods or a PED.

It's stupid, but there are stupid laws all the time and you have to be smart enough to avoid breaking them. Hopefully it gets changed over time if it is weed, because I think most would agree that it's diff from other drugs or PEDs.

Joined: 07/25/2011

MGoPoints: -9898220

JamieH

August 16th, 2016 at 12:45 PM ^

The NCAA rule on weed use is reallys stupid.  But you know what ELSE is really stupid?

Using weed when you know it stays in your system and you might be getting drug tested by the NCAA, and getting caught means you face a massive suspension.


C'mon.  Every kid likes to party.  But obviously their priorities were really out of whack. 

Joined: 09/05/2009

MGoPoints: 28331

Mgodiscgolfer

August 16th, 2016 at 5:03 AM ^

I really had high (no pun) hopes for Mitchell. I really hope he can work his way back and not transfer or worse. Kelly Baraka would be the worse scenario if you were wondering how does it get worse than a being suspendid for a whole year. He was a very highly sought after recruit that commited but never played a down at Michigan with the same rumours swirling around him.

Joined: 01/13/2011

MGoPoints: 5322

blueday

August 15th, 2016 at 8:11 PM ^

Days of the year. Start of camp when the August sun forges the body and mind ... Not exact but he makes me laugh with confidence that the payback is coming.

Joined: 11/04/2014

MGoPoints: 6493

Perkis-Size Me

August 15th, 2016 at 8:29 PM ^

Tough to hear about Mitchell and Johnson, but hopefully this serves as a wake up call for the both of them. They'll get a second chance to prove themselves, but they're going to have a lot of work to do to get back into Harbaugh's good graces.

That being said, kind of excited about Onwenu maybe taking some snaps on the DL. He looks like he'd be a huge, space eating DT that would demand a lot of double teams. Pairing him with Gary would be fun.



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Joined: 11/30/2011

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Blue in Fishers

August 15th, 2016 at 8:30 PM ^

I love this blog (aside from the extreme negativity from time to time) but don't post often. However, I'll say again that Chris Evans is a far better athlete than most realize. If he stays healthy (caveat for all and don't want to jinx anything), he will be one of the biggest pleasant surprises of this Freshman class. I predict a Steve Breaston-like career for him.

Joined: 11/15/2015

MGoPoints: 480

Wood_Chuckson

August 15th, 2016 at 8:37 PM ^

What I heard has me on TEN right now!! Other than the suspensions there wasn't ONE negative thing said in this interview. He didn't say "there's still some things we have to work on...blah blah blah..." he gave the team HIGH praises. Said they were building a callus! He said the QB camp (I'm paraphrasing) is intense and no one is screwing up. He said it's a big improvement from spring. I can hardly wait til this season starts. He didn't hold anything back in this interview. He's thoroughly impressed with where the team is at this point of fall camp.

Joined: 01/18/2015

MGoPoints: 1528