Michigan Football Roomies

Submitted by Jeffro on

I was wondering what players on the team room/live together?

  • Who formulates these arrangements?
  • How long are players required to live on campus?
  • Does the team pay for players who go off and get apartments etc. after a few years, or is that the responsibility of the players?

 

I was just curious but I think this could get interesting.

FRIEDjellyWALNUT

September 27th, 2010 at 11:37 AM ^

Denard is dating a girl named Sarah (as per his last Tweet on his [unfortunately] restricted Twitter account). Apparently she is quite the looker, but I've never seen her on campus with Denard.

Edit: darn this was supposed to be a reply to the comment above me.

MAgoBLUE

September 27th, 2010 at 11:37 AM ^

During the broadcast on Saturday they said Denard and Devin Gardner room together.  I think Roh and Lewan room together too if I remember the CTK video correctly.  That is all I know.

slaunius

September 27th, 2010 at 12:01 PM ^

St. Patrick's Day Nerd Massacre was in West Quad, which is where the football players now live.  Some of the athletes...track, baseball, etc., still live in South Quad, along with the Honors College, but the revenue sports are all in West Quad.  Aside from the SPDNM, West Quad was also the site of the Justin Feagin arsonist debacle.

I can tell you that with a few exceptions (cough Ryan Mallett cough) when I was there most football players didn't want too much attention, so I wouldn't go bugging/searching them out.  While the whole NCAA "students first, athletes second" thing is a little tired/bullshit, it should still hold true within the confines of campus at least.

Bando Calrissian

September 27th, 2010 at 12:09 PM ^

I used to see Mallett in the WQuad cafeteria almost every day the semester he enrolled early. (kind of hard to miss someone  that big wearing a backpack with MALLETT 15 written on the back of it)

And dude looked cold.  All.  The.  Time.  Kind of felt bad for him when those last couple weeks of February rolled around, which in Ann Arbor seem to get about as cold as is possible without going to the south pole.  

Then I found 20 dollars.

DubbaEwwTeeEff

September 27th, 2010 at 12:14 PM ^

I always found it amusing that Michigan put a bunch of the athletes and the Honors College all in South Quad.  Combine that with the fact that C.C. Little  was big on eugenics (and later became president of the American Eugenics Society) and you've got all the elements of a rather disturbing conspiracy theory.

Deep Under Cover

September 27th, 2010 at 12:05 PM ^

Yeah man, I saw him at Skybar when he was a freshman before it closed... Don't remember if that place was 18+ or 21+, but I can say I really didn't see him doing anything wrong at least...

Anyway, I mostly hate it down here during football season.  I walked in to Champps saturday with my Devin Gardner jersey on (I forgot I even had it on) and EVERYONE stared at me.

pdgoblue25

September 27th, 2010 at 12:26 PM ^

I wore a michigan shirt / jersey every saturday in our front lawn and nothing substantial ever happened to me.  Luckily my freshman year was 2003 so I layed it on thick to my buddies in my dorm.  I put my stereo in the hallway and blasted the fight song after the win.  Needless to say I got back everything that was coming to me and more over the next 4 years.....My only good sports memories at school after that were the Capital One bowl, and their 3 national championship losses.  Skybar was 18 and up, then pretty much every bar went to 21 besides Paninis which ended up closing anyway.  Didn't Sky close as well?  I never really liked that bar to begin with, when Gateway opened up we pretty much went there every weekend, so the few years after that I was kind of sick of it.  Of course we still rolled to the Stube though!

virgilthechicken

September 27th, 2010 at 12:22 PM ^

I know, given recent history, citing Southern California for any rule interpretation is suspect, but I was trying to back up your initial claim. I also believe that it is standard practice for universities to give stipends for off campus housing, food, books and other costs associated with attending school (see larsonlo and others below).

Guess I should have added a "regardless of Reggie Bush" tag

Space Coyote

September 27th, 2010 at 11:57 AM ^

Most places strongly urge players to stay on campus the first year (some places in may be required, but I know not at all).  After that they get a stipend for food and rent, plus I think a little for spending money (not enough to buy cars and stuff, but for other "necessities" as they say).  They can pretty much live where ever they want, if the stipend covers it then great.  IIRC there was an article in SI about an OSU linebacker who basically lived in their nice University hotel throughout the year.  Needless to say, the stipend is usually a pretty substantial amount, enough for them to eat and live probably a little nicer than most students.

Michigan Shirt

September 27th, 2010 at 12:04 PM ^

The players have to live in the dorms their first two years with the freshman year just getting stuck with another player and their second year I believe they can choose their roomate. After that they can rent a house with a monthly rent upto $850 (at least thats what it was when I lived next to a few players), but they only get the amount of their rent. They also get a lot of food coupons that work as money, but for the most part they eat dinner with the team in a special cafeteria right next to the south quad cafe.

Edit: Larsonlo may be right about the 1 year, but I was told two; however it was a freshman player so he may not have known for sure.

MgoblueAF

September 27th, 2010 at 12:11 PM ^

Players are required to live in the West Quad Residence Hall their first 2 years.  If you decide to go serious stalker on them, they list their room numbers on the student directory on the umich.edu site, along with all other students.  Their Freshman year they're roomed randomly with another Freshmen, but they get to choose their roommate Sophomore year. Even though Devin is a Freshman, Denard and Devin ended up together because Devin started school a semester early.

They have their own cafeteria in South Quad for dinners, but they eat wherever is convenient for lunch.  As far as I know and have seen, no player has stayed in the dorms after Sophomore year. 

I'd imagine they're authorized and reimbursed up to the same amount that the dorm would cost, but I can't verify that part.  Good luck in your continued "knowledge" search lol.

Feat of Clay

September 27th, 2010 at 12:20 PM ^

For clarification purposes, anyway--

The stipend that players get is paid by the Athletic Department, just as their tuition is paid by the Athletic Department.  When they live on campus, money is transferred from the AD to student accounts to cover tuition and housing and whatever meal plan they get.  I am not sure how the stipend is handled once they leave campus (in terms of how it is paid out).

I mention this because I think sometimes people believe that a scholarship means that the University just "writes off" the tuition, etc.  for the athlete.  In fact, there is an actual transfer of funds from the Athletic Department to the University's General Fund.