Speculation on Minor not making trip to Illinois
October 30th, 2009 at 9:47 PM ^
Um, he's sick. My best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who's going with the girl who saw him pass out at 31 Flavors last night. I guess it's pretty serious.
October 30th, 2009 at 10:01 PM ^
Maybe he ate the wrong flavor.
October 30th, 2009 at 10:05 PM ^
....Save Ferris..
October 30th, 2009 at 9:47 PM ^
I think we should win this one... But fuck!!! I hope this isn't true we really need to come out and have a solid performance. Damn you Michigan RB hating God Damn you!!! (if this is true)
October 31st, 2009 at 9:02 AM ^
but man, this guy is starting to be more of a headache than he's worth. Either play or don't play, he's been "day to day" since 2007.
October 31st, 2009 at 11:59 AM ^
than you're worth.
November 1st, 2009 at 1:12 AM ^
bacon.
October 30th, 2009 at 9:49 PM ^
superman is going as brandon minor for halloween
* i heard that from a guy named clark kent
October 30th, 2009 at 9:49 PM ^
This popped up on rivals as well. If you watch the MGoBlue.com video from today's walk-through you hear RichRod talk about Minor warming up tomorrow and then deciding if he's healthy enough to go. So he made the trip, or RichRod is super sneaky.
http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/m-footbl/mich-m-footbl-body.html
October 30th, 2009 at 10:57 PM ^
but I do know that R2 is very tuned into every aspect of media there is. You should know that by now.
October 30th, 2009 at 9:51 PM ^
Minor is not very important in games against poor run defenses. Minor is very good at getting yardage after contact and getting yardage in the box. This is very important against good run defenses. However, against poor defenses, our fast backs (Brown and Shaw) can just get into the open field and create havoc. The coaches seem to feel the same way, as Minor has got the bulk of his carries against Iowa and Penn State, unlike the rest of our games.
October 30th, 2009 at 10:02 PM ^
"Minor is not very important." I understand what you were getting at, I just don't like seeing Minor titled as "not very important."
October 30th, 2009 at 11:08 PM ^
I don't think there's a better blocking back in Division I football. He had very key blocks against ND this year but his best was when he destroyed the sparty LB at the goal line last year. There's no tougher RB in college and I hope that gets him to the next level.
October 30th, 2009 at 11:16 PM ^
You wrote:
There's no tougher RB in college and I hope that gets him to the next level.
I respond:
Your proof? I disagree. Mark Ingram has played every game and run over 20 times a game. He hasn't been injured every game this year either. Minor has played about half of the games. I'm not questioning his toughness, he is tough. But there is no way you can claim he is the "toughest" RB in college.
October 30th, 2009 at 11:27 PM ^
I'd argue that there is no running back in CFB who hits harder than Brandon Minor. And I agree with the guy above, I hope the NFL sees the way he hits, blocks, etc. and gives him a chance based on that.
To be honest, every time I reflect on Minor's career, it makes me really sad. Carry-for-carry he is every bit as impressive as some of the great Michigan tailbacks. His limited number of carries will make him unmemorable to most fans. Not to me. He will always be one of my favorites.
October 30th, 2009 at 11:35 PM ^
The only game Minor didn't log a stat in was Western Michigan. Ingram is a great back but is he playing injured? Also, submitted for your inspection is Dion Lewis, FR, RB, Pitt. That dude is awesome. Ingram he gets considerably hype/coverage by being on arguably, or not so arguably, the best team in the country.
October 30th, 2009 at 11:57 PM ^
I wasn't arguing Mark Ingram was the toughest RB in college football. I don't think there is a way to quantify that. That would be an intangible. Now, Brandon Minor may have all the intangibles, but I think all these guys are tough to take the abuse they do.
I think Brandon Minor, Charles Scott (LSU), Ingram, Lewis, Devine, Demps, Bradford (USC), and most RBs in general are very tough dudes. I just find it very myopic to claim that the "toughest" RB in college football is also the one who has never had a consistent run of more than 3 games as the featured back for this team. Isn't Kevin Grady just as tough a guy?
October 31st, 2009 at 12:48 AM ^
I could take all those guys. Bring 'em on! Except, of course, Brandon Minor. No thanks. I want no part. [/shudder].
To be fair, the original comment didn't claim Minor to be the toughest back either. Just that there was no tougher back than he.
October 31st, 2009 at 2:08 AM ^
He might not be the best back, but I have never seen a college RB run as violently as he does. He takes an absolute beating, mostly because he doesn't care much about shielding his body from hits. He just wrestles for more yards. This may make him injury prone, but no way is he not tough.
I feel the same whenever people try to tell me Brett Favre is the toughest QB they've seen because of his durability. I disagree because Favre is amazing at side-stepping rushers, back-pedaling out of the pocket after throws, etc. He is great at avoiding hits. But I've always thought the toughest QB I've ever seen is Steve McNair, and he was always injured. He just took a beating like Minor.
October 31st, 2009 at 10:05 AM ^
There is no doubt, as long as he can stay healthy. I'm surprised at some of you who say "I hope" the NFL recognizes his quality. Guys that run hard every play thrive in the often poor tackling NFL, and guys that do that and can block great in pass protection play early as rookies. I think he'll be an immediate second team back who plays a few carries a game right away.
October 31st, 2009 at 12:54 PM ^
Staying healthy in the NFL is not that likely for someone who's been injured a lot in college when the hits aren't as hard.
October 31st, 2009 at 10:07 AM ^
Relative or parallel major? D Major would be the smooth, convenient change, but B Major would keep the tonality nicely.
October 30th, 2009 at 9:55 PM ^
That's not good news. I hope Carlos is ready to rock.
October 30th, 2009 at 10:09 PM ^
But Shaw and Vincent Smith, too.
But hell; give him enough carries, Carlos can run for 150 yards. He's a guy who can average 6 or 7 yards a carry, proven, in the Big Ten.
I hate to lose Brandon Minor because he's so awesome, but we've got other guys to carry the ball as long as everybody else does their job.
October 30th, 2009 at 10:12 PM ^
Carlos destroyed the Illini last time they were in Champaign, I'm sure he'll do the same this time.
October 30th, 2009 at 10:24 PM ^
Eh, of all the weeks to miss, this as good a one to miss as any. Sure, it is nice to have Minor on the field, but Shaw, Brown, and Vincent should provide enough in the backfield to get a win, and maybe this means Minor is 5% better against Wiscy and OSU. Of course, I may just be overly optimistic.
October 30th, 2009 at 10:51 PM ^
RR said during the walkthrough interview from Champaign that Minor was a game time decision.
October 30th, 2009 at 11:02 PM ^
flu strikes and strikes hard.
Pray it isn't OSU weekend.
October 30th, 2009 at 11:37 PM ^
Had it in July and August. So maybe they've had it run through already, in dribs and drabs.
October 30th, 2009 at 11:05 PM ^
At some point, it may be worth moving Shaw into that rotation and just giving him Minor's reps. Minor's injury seems chronic. We're in the last 5 games, and Shaw could get some great experience playing this year in anticipation of 2010. I especially believe Michigan should do this once they are bowl-eligible.
October 31st, 2009 at 2:09 AM ^
I do think Minor is one of the hardest runners in the ncaa... regardless of injuries or toughness... the dude runs like he's pissed off
October 31st, 2009 at 5:55 AM ^
paid content, but Rivals game preview mentioned that he may not make the trip.
What are the odds Kevin Grady sniffs 8 or 10 carries today?
Go Blue!!
October 31st, 2009 at 8:06 AM ^
Rich Rod is going to have to be careful, otherwise folks are going to accuse him of gaming his own injury report. If in fact Minor didn't travel today, this will be the second time a guy has not even been on the injury report despite a known injury, and then didn't even travel to play (the other being Carlos Brown at Iowa). How can the guy not even be, at a minimum, "probable"?
October 31st, 2009 at 8:59 AM ^
RR said that he tweaked his ankle/foot again in practice this week. That could have happened after the injury report was released.
October 31st, 2009 at 2:18 PM ^
I thought about that, but my point was that the injury - even if not the tweak - was known. So shouldn't he at least be listed as probable if he's in a position that a little tweak could leave him behind from the trip entirely?
I just don't want to see Rich Rod called out.
October 31st, 2009 at 8:47 AM ^
if he can't stay healthy for more than three games in a row at the collegiate level, it's hard to see how he would be able to even make it through training camp in the NFL.
October 31st, 2009 at 9:30 AM ^
While I agree that Minor's recent injuries do not portend a long career in the NFL, I still remember Adrian Peterson struggling to stay healthy in college but still becoming an elite NFL player. Sometimes nagging injuries are a result of poor conditioning or some undiagnosed medical condition that is caught by a professional staff. Not saying that is the case, but a nagging injury that goes untreated, or poorly treated, does not mean a player is never going to recover.
October 31st, 2009 at 9:46 AM ^
Well, Adrian Peterson had that one really catastrophic injury that cost him an entire season.
Brandon Minor has had ticky-tack injury after ticky-tack injury to the extent that, as someone mentioned earlier, he's been day-to-day for like 3 years. The tandem of Carlos Brown and Brandon Minor could very well have missed more games due to injury than they've played over the years.
October 31st, 2009 at 10:33 AM ^
He's played through most of those injuries that's an NFL quality. He's only not played in 1 game this year, 1 game last year, 1 game in 2007, and 2 games in 2006.
http://web1.ncaa.org/mfb/playerDetail.jsp?yr=2009&org=418&player=4
October 31st, 2009 at 3:07 PM ^
Tim tweeted that Minor made the trip.