Magnus

May 12th, 2015 at 1:08 PM ^

Well, I have to disagree that Pipkins looked good. I liked him coming out of high school, but I really never saw anything out of him in college. I'm not sure where the idea came from that he was looking like a good college player.

Anyway, yes, the injury is what's causing him to take a medical hardship. I'm not sure if he would have been very effective even if he had stayed healthy, though.

JamieH

May 12th, 2015 at 12:41 PM ^

ANY kid get dismissed from the program, but I'm having a hard time getting really worked up about this.

 

I know he was a "blog favorite" and all but I never really felt it was due to football.  His career stats:

 

15 carries for 134 yards

21 catches for 157 yards

94 kickoff returns for a 23.4 average (long of 44)

15 punt returns for a 6.0 average (long of 42, but nothing longer than 9 since his Freshman year)

No touchdowns.


I feel bad for the kid, but I don't see this as having a material impact on Michigan football.

 

 

MGoBrewMom

May 12th, 2015 at 12:47 PM ^

It is also being discussed and word is it doesn't have to do with his on field performance. Also, that whatever is going on is contributing to SE Michigan recruiting and the slowing, or cooling interest by some of the local kids. Also, that the staff is in touch with those schools (King?), but they aren't happy with the Norfleet situation. So...bummer. wonder if we'll ever really know what went down. Good luck to him, but I hope he's not badmouthing the program.

Magnus

May 12th, 2015 at 1:11 PM ^

I don't really think the two things are related (Norfleet to recruiting). Players get dismissed from football programs, and recruiting continues to happen. Cissoko from Cass Tech was booted and we still recruit the school heavily, and we got Tyree Kinnel from Huber Heights (OH) Wayne after not-so-great experiences with the Talbott brothers.

boliver46

May 12th, 2015 at 2:11 PM ^

while also being polite...

If it's true he skipped multiple finals, those coaches have nothing to be pissed about - at least about Michigan.  They SHOULD be pissed that a P5 player decided he was above the academic portion of SCHOLAR-ATHLETE (allegedly).

If they are upset with Michigan about this, then they should not be molding our leaders of the future.

Harbeezy

May 12th, 2015 at 12:49 PM ^

Even if he under performed he still gave the fans and team something to cheer about. Loved his energy and thats something you cannot teach. He will be missed for sure. 

go16blue

May 12th, 2015 at 12:49 PM ^

Everybody saying he couldn't have contributed on returns because of his poor stats in the past don't understand just how bad our blocking has been on returns the past few years. Kid was elusive as hell, and with better blocking (read: any blocking) I think his stats would be a whole lot different. That all seems to be a moot point if he was dismissed, though.

stephenrjking

May 12th, 2015 at 1:38 PM ^

Yes. Elite returners need speed to hit holes when they form and punish mistakes. The best returners make at most one cut and rocket upfield to open space, getting through before e holes close. The exceptionally rare moments where a great return happens after a major reversal of field require speed even more, because slower guys get swarmed by backside pursuit. Norfleet was elusive, but he was not particularly fast. That's why his ceiling was always just "adequate."

MGoClimb

May 12th, 2015 at 12:50 PM ^

Tough news. I know he wasn't the greatest return guy, but I felt like he added a good deal of leadership and enthusiasm to the team, even when they were struggling.

Best of luck, Norfleet.

Gentleman Squirrels

May 12th, 2015 at 12:51 PM ^

Is this the offensive transfer that was rumored (on rivals i think) to happen last week? I thought that was a QB transfer. There were rumblings that a defensive transfer was also likely

timmons15

May 12th, 2015 at 12:51 PM ^

May have been a good kid...but never produced on the field.  I felt you were always waiting for something to happen with him but it never did.  Also wasn't a big fan of him dancing around when we were getting destroyed by teams!

FreddieMercuryHayes

May 12th, 2015 at 12:56 PM ^

Could be he got into trouble.  Or violated team rules/expectations?  A lot of possibilities.  Harbaugh is an intense guy with high expectations.  And the performance on the field under Hoke seems to suggest that Hoke did not as much.  This could be a similar happening to what happened under Charlie Strong at Texas his first half year where they lost like 13 guys or something as the "country club atmosphere" (to borrow other's words) disappeared that had fostered under Mack Brown in the end years.

gbdub

May 12th, 2015 at 3:54 PM ^

I always figured "country club" referred more to practice, and a general sense of entitlement for certain players. Did Hoke have lax standards for academics? I hadn't heard anything like that, maybe Norfleet would have gotten bounced by Hoke as well.

I was more referring to the implication that Norfleet couldn't handle Harbaugh's tough practice attitude, which would be surprising.

Anyway none of it matters now - I'm surprised but it's not like I knew the players personally.



Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad

the Glove

May 12th, 2015 at 1:12 PM ^

I could see it happening. The coaches might have been honest with him and said hey you're not going to really be utilized in the passing game. Hell maybe he even seen the writing on the wall. It's not official until it's official.

Jimmyisgod

May 12th, 2015 at 1:21 PM ^

http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2015/05/hs_coach_dennis_norfl…

"Evidently he was dismissed from the team, Dennis informed us he was no longer on the team," King Coach Harvel said Tuesday afternoon. "Something about a disciplinary thing between him and coach Harbaugh. Whether it was academics or something internal, I'm not sure. He just said they had a disagreement and he was let go.""

Not good.

jcorqian

May 12th, 2015 at 1:25 PM ^

I think it's worrying that King's former high school coach is speaking so much to the media about this - it seems that indicates relations have further soured between King and our coaching staff, boding poorly for us to pull recruits from there.

Obviously a high school coach would stickup for his former player, but the tone of his statements almost seems like a mistrust of Harbaugh's reasoning, whatever it might be.

Jimmyisgod

May 12th, 2015 at 1:30 PM ^

This is bothersome and you know that Dantonio and his coaches are just looking to uise something like this against Harbaugh, by the time they tell the story their version will have Harbaugh kicking Norfleet off the team because he didn't like the way he looked at him.