Most Underrated UM Player of All Time?
"If you need five yards, I'll get you three." Leroy lived next door to my brother in South Quad. He was a great guy. One of my favorite Minnesota Vikings too!
Calip is the bench player who was urging CWebb to call a timeout we didn't have.
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The opposite is probably true. Because Spike has occasionally shown the ability to go all Criss Angel Basketballfreak out there, we expect him to do so constantly.
Denard is King.
Denard is King.
You're like the 4th Wire account I've seen on here
Denard, in my opinion, is overrated. Not that he shouldn't be. An amazing athletic talent. One of the most exciting players I have ever watched. And he single handedly carried us through the years that he was here.
But that is the problem, the myth of Denard Robinson will always be better than his actual gameplay. NTTAWWT.
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He was great, I was young and still don't understand why he left early.
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Basketball: Henry Wilmore
He's never talked about as one of the 5 or 10 greatest Michigan players of all time, but he was unstoppable in the early 1970s. Averaged something like 25 points a game.
Football: Ron Johnson
Also unstoppable. You could make an argument he was our greatest running back ever.
Great topic, OP.
47 years later......his record of 347 yards against Wisconsin in 1968 still stands as the Michigan single game record.
Not just a Michigan record, it was the college football record for 20 or more years and he also scored 5 touchdowns in that game, which is worth noting I'd think!
He was my first Michigan hero. I grew up calling him my all time favorite player and he still holds a special place in my heart but the truth is that I was 7 in his senior year and can't actually visualize his running any more :(
He was also the Giants first 1000 yard rusher, did it twice.
Henry Wilmore, as someone mentioned him with Johnson above, was my 2nd Michigan basketball hero, after Rudy T.
Neither of those guys, or several of the ones mentioned, were actually underrated in their times, but are underrated in Michigan history I guess, but more like forgotten.
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You're not saying you're Cazzie----or are you?
/not sure if "s"
I was but a young lad in Upstate NY watching one of those college all star games where the guys all wear their college helmets. I saw Johnson the distinctive Michigan helmet and my imagination was captured. I went on to follow his career with the New York Football Giants, my favorite pro team. And I became a fan of Michigan football.
Most famous for his amazing 100-yards-in-2-plays drive the beat OSU down in Columbus in '88, Kolesar was under-utilized otherwise, considering the speed and the sure hands he posessed. It seemed he saved his best and was seemingly saved---or sometimes forgotten--- by Bo until we most desperately needed him to make big plays (like the Hall of Fame Bowl last-minute game-winningTD catch vs 'Bama).
I just looked up his stats: 61 catches total in 4 seasons, 12 of those catches for TD's and 23.4 yards/catch in his career. He also averaged 11 yards per rush, running the ball 12 times in his career. Kolesar played as a frosh and soph with Jim Harbaugh; as a junior and senior he had the Demetrious Brown/Michael Taylor tandem as his QB's. Only a guess, but if he had played just a few seasons later under Mo or Lloyd, I bet he'd have a lot loftier stats. As it was, he was a very well-rounded player---a very good blocker, and returned punts and KO's in addition to his wideout duties.
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my battle was between Griese and Kolesar.
I still remember him injuring himself when he got launched into the student band. Kid had CLUTCH catches.
I'm stunned that he had so few catches! It seemed like he was making great catches and runs for TD's every time you looked up! Wow. He had some great kick returns for TD's too as I remember it. I was at all his home games plus that crappy '87 Rose Bowl. Boy he was great!
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Kolesar did play one game with Gary Moeller as coach. The Hall of Fame Bowl game against Bama was coached by Mo because Bo was out with, I believe, but don't exactly remember, a heart problem, and once again, in the clutch, Kolesar made the game winning catch.
Most famous for his amazing 100-yards-in-2-plays drive that beat OSU down in Columbus in '88, Kolesar was under-utilized otherwise, considering the speed and the sure hands he posessed. It seemed he saved his best and was seemingly saved---or sometimes forgotten--- by Bo until we most desperately needed him to make big plays (like the Hall of Fame Bowl last-minute game-winningTD catch vs 'Bama).
I just looked up his stats: 61 catches total in 4 seasons, 12 of those catches for TD's and 23.4 yards/catch in his career. He also averaged 11 yards per rush, running the ball 12 times in his career. Kolesar played as a frosh and soph with Jim Harbaugh; as a junior and senior he had the Demetrious Brown/Michael Taylor tandem as his QB's. Only a guess, but if he had played just a few seasons later under Mo or Lloyd, I bet he'd have a lot loftier stats. As it was, he was a very well-rounded player---a very good blocker, and returned punts and KO's in addition to his wideout duties.
I'm gonna go with David Baas.
He became one of my favorite Michigan players during his junior year just by his post-game interactions with my then 8-year-old son Kevin. That particular day, probably early- or mid-season, was a beautiful day for a noon kickoff and game, and for taking my 3 kids, post-game, to the parking lot just outside the Michigan Stadium Tunnel for some autograph-seeking.
Baas wasn't one of the most sought-after players, but seemed to enjoy the attention more than some of the other players, striking up small talk with many of them, including my son. My son, normally a little on the shy-side, responded well to Baas and seemed to take a liking to him. After getting his autograph, Kevin came back to me and told me he was going to challenge "that really big guy" to a race. Baas immediately agreed to race, the race being up the steps from the parking lot to the Big House east midfield entrance gates. Baas then directed Kevin to take a lead of about a dozen steps, as he put it, "to make the race more fair". He then shouted, "On your mark, get set, GO!" and Kevin raced up the steps. Baas didn't move (mind you, several other Michigan players by then were watching the "race") as Kevin made it over half-way to the top before looking back to see how close his challenger was. Baas (along with his teammates) was still at the bottom, cheering Kevin on! Surprisingly, my son wasn't at all embarassed but loved it---and so did I !
Basketball is harder, but maybe Daniel Horton for recent vintage.
"Armani Toomer in"
Maybe you were thinking of him on a red carpet and you meant "Toomer in Armani"? But if you mean Amani Toomer, what a great combo of Toomer and Hayes! Boy could we use them now! Another guy that was by no means underrated though during his time.
I met him a few years ago when he was back in town for one of the charity golf events. Super nice guy but one of the few Michigan alums I've ever met who said he didn't really like Ann Arbor!!!
Jeremy Gallon. You could argue that he's the best WR ever to play @ UM.
Leads in Single game yds, Single season yds
Top 3 career yds
Top 2 in single season receptions
Oh and he had Denard, DG and Forcier throwing him the ball.
I like that choice. Gallon, Hemingway, Roundtree & Odoms all were kinda unheralded guys sans Gallon's senior year.
someone already mentioned Avant and I'd throw Adrian Arrington in there too. I remember both guys made a lot of tough catches look easy and you don't hear them discussed often.
Gallon was underrated and a very effective guy, but to call him our greatest receiver is ridiculous. Stats don't always tell the story. I'm not going to even bother listing the greats ahead of him. Come on.
David Harris. Co-MVP with Hart in 2006.
I think we'll never see another QB like Denard in terms of having incredible rushing stats.
If we do, it won't be for a very long time.
I never see him brought up, but I remember him being involved in SO many plays during my growing-up days. Checking his wiki seems like he was pretty darn good, though he never had much of an NFL career.
Would have to go with Jason Avant or David Harris, both have gone on to have long NFL careers as well.
Overall though I'd say David Harris.