Vlad Hypothesis
Fair warning: at first blush, this may sound absurd. My working theory is that Vlad did not make the travel squad for Notre Dame.
As I understand it, although Michigan (typically) boasts 85 scholarship athletes and a number of walk-ons, only a portion of the team attends away games (65, I believe). This does not afford Michigan the luxury of traveling with the entire 3-deep roster. As some have speculated in the comments on the front-page topic, it is possible that Vlad was third string even after the injury to Van Slyke (a seemingly absurd proposition given the state of our depth chart).
If so, it is plausible that Vlad was left off the travel squad. On the travel team, where certain positions by necessity must travel with only two players, free safety is a likely candidate to leave off a third-string player. In the unlikely event something dire happens to the first two free safeties, Michigan can move Kovacs or Robinson from Bandit and still field a functioning defense.
At some point this week, the players must find out who will be traveling to South Bend and who will be left behind. If in fact Vlad learned he would be remaining in Ann Arbor this weekend, it would go a long way toward explaining the timing of the transfer. When nothing at all makes sense, something that doesn't make sense must be the answer.
Or I could be way off base.
/dons flame-retardant jumpsuit.
September 8th, 2010 at 1:18 PM ^
hadn't thought of that possibility.
September 8th, 2010 at 1:19 PM ^
So If Vanopal travels with the team this week, your hypothesis will be proven wrong.
September 8th, 2010 at 1:24 PM ^
I am not sure who Vanopal is, but if you mean Vinopal then it may or may not disprove the hypothesis. Presuming Vinopal would be behind Emilien in all scenarios, you are correct. This may be a fair presumption, but is by no means certain.
September 8th, 2010 at 2:15 PM ^
I'm pretty sure he played on special teams covering kicks last Saturday so he could be on the travel squad for independent of his standing on the safety depth chart.
September 8th, 2010 at 1:22 PM ^
Not necessarily. If Vinopal travels, it could still have meant that Vlad was 3rd String.
September 8th, 2010 at 1:26 PM ^
that would be telling?
September 8th, 2010 at 1:34 PM ^
That is getting extremely old and annoying, so yes.
September 8th, 2010 at 1:20 PM ^
It beats the Gibson is a bad coach theory several threads down. But I feel like that is something RRod would sit down and explain to Vlad rather than be like "oh hey, you can go now".
September 8th, 2010 at 1:20 PM ^
It's still really disappointing news, though. But, I don't disagree.
September 8th, 2010 at 1:22 PM ^
makes me think it's also possible that Vlad was informed that Vinopal was going to be second string now.
September 8th, 2010 at 1:36 PM ^
IMO, this is the best case scenario.
September 8th, 2010 at 1:22 PM ^
Your hypothesis is Invlad. *rimshot*
September 8th, 2010 at 1:23 PM ^
I think that could be the case. You could tell in the spring that he just didn't have the speed anymore. It's sad, because he sounded like he was going to be a good player for us.
Plus he had a cool name. If his name was Dave Smith, he wouldn't have gotten as much attention. No offense to all you Dave Smiths out there.
September 8th, 2010 at 1:28 PM ^
Theories on the Kennedy assasination make more sense. I'm to believe he was told he's not going to South Bend, and he said, "OK, I'm out"? First off, I was just there a couple of weeks ago on my way to Chicago---the lucky charms guy and cheerleaders were out in force. It's not that big a deal. Second, he decided that quickly? I can't order dinner off a menu that rapidly. Geeze.
To be fair, just because it's a nutty hypothesis doesn't make it wrong.
September 8th, 2010 at 1:38 PM ^
but look at it this way, Carvin, Cam, Van Slyke (walk-on), and now Vinopal (who was "coming on as of late") were all above Vlad in the depth chart.
The writing has been on the wall for some time.
September 8th, 2010 at 1:44 PM ^
Because rash decisions are often well thought out and given time to sink in... riiiight....
If this was how it went down, the decision was more akin to Weiss in a buffet line, and less like the McGuffie situation - meaning it was fast and probably pretty emotional, not deliberate.
Also, the only people I've seen who ca't make up their minds at a restaurant are chicks.
September 8th, 2010 at 1:42 PM ^
I think you are likely right. Vlad's failure to emerge was making it look increasingly like he was never going to live up to his hype. I wish him well, hopefully he can catch on elsewhere. I will forever regret that we will never have a safety nicknamed "The Impaler".
September 8th, 2010 at 1:48 PM ^
His failure to emerge, as a true sophomore, less than 2 years after having an ACL tear.
Jesus.
September 8th, 2010 at 1:59 PM ^
Look at Sagesse, Banks and Patterson who as fifth year seniors are poised to get the most playing time of their careers. What was (or would have been said of them) when they were sophmores?) Sometimes it pays off in the end to stick it out.
September 8th, 2010 at 2:14 PM ^
don;t want to wait until their fifth year to get meaningful playing time. I don't blame them or him. However, it is fair to say he didn't "emerge." On our team, with its unbelievably open depth chart in the secondary, it is fair to say that a guy like him should have bee able to play more by this point.
September 8th, 2010 at 1:48 PM ^
Travel squads typically aren't announced/divulged until Thursday (after the conclusion of the"hard practices"). It's impossible to determine who travels until you know who's AVAILABLE to travel.
September 8th, 2010 at 1:48 PM ^
Since today is the day of absurd conjecture, why not speculate that HaHa silently committed to UM and word spread amongst the players, scared the shit out of Vlad knowing he'd never ever play, and he peaced. HaHa.
September 8th, 2010 at 2:10 PM ^
I like this as much as any of the other random, completely unfounded hypotheses floating around today
September 8th, 2010 at 1:48 PM ^
It seems obvious to me that this move was prompted by the fact that Vlad realized the coaches had zero intention of ever letting him see meaningful minutes on the field this season (as evidenced by depth charts that put Van Slyke and now possibly one or two true freshmen ahead of him). The travel squad decision (especially after Van Slyke went down with an injury that seemingly opened the door for Vlad) may have just brought the whole thing to a head and convinced Vlad he should look elsewhere.
September 8th, 2010 at 1:50 PM ^
Not sure, could be true. But I am worried about the number of transfers. I mean, all programs have guys that are not starting but the coaches find ways to keep them in the school. It is insane that so many players that are one injury away from starting are leaving the program.
Maybe its a matter that RR thinks that guys who consider transfering are nto buying in, but that needs to change. They are kids, they often feel down and act on impulse. how many times were players planning to transfer under Carr and yet most were convinced to stay (and worked out for them). I just dont like the constant transfers, it is hard to build consistency and depth with that.
September 8th, 2010 at 2:03 PM ^
I mean, all programs have guys that are not starting but the coaches find ways to keep them in the school. It is insane that so many players that are one injury away from starting are leaving the program.
I think its pretty fair to say that he was always one injury away and when that injury happened, he was still one injury away.
I think he likely did get passed by Vinopal, after having been passed by VanSlyke.
Would Robinson move back if more injuries leaving Vlad again one injury away.
That is not to say that over time, he could not move up. James Rogers probably never pictured being a starting cornerback, but can't really blame the kid for reading the writing on the wall.
September 8th, 2010 at 1:50 PM ^
RR throws so many OR's on the depth chart that most starters don't know until Friday. I doubt he would have the travel squad picked out on Tuesday (likely the way the news broke) and not give people a chance to earn their way onto the travel squad Wednesday, Thursday, and maybe Friday.
September 8th, 2010 at 1:55 PM ^
September 8th, 2010 at 1:55 PM ^
Whether officially announced or not, Vlad likely knew his travel options based on the depth chart. If he knew he was behind Vinopal, then he'd know he wasn't traveling?
So why would that matter? It would be disappointing, yes. But, is there something magical about the Notre Dame travel squad?
Maybe there is, IF NCAA rules allowed Vlad to transfer someplace now and have this year count as his sit-out transfer year. Given that schools are in various states of starting, he can probably still enroll someplace in the very near future, but that is an option that is quickly disappearing. That would certainly make this travel team - something which would tell him it was a lost year, anyway - more important.
But, I don't knwo about that IF, but I'm guessing some of you here do. Can someone transfer after playing in the first game and still have that year count as his mandatory "sit" year?
September 8th, 2010 at 2:03 PM ^
Imagine you are Vlad and you've seen Williams, Kovacs, and yet another walk-on firmly entrenched above you on the depth chart the last two years. Now one of those walk-ons gets hurt and the coaches are scrambling to promote true freshmen above you (basically looking for any way possible to avoid playing you). At some point you probably realize they just aren't going to give you a shot and you (understandably, in my opinion) decide to move on to a different situation.
September 8th, 2010 at 2:24 PM ^
I don't disagree. It simply seems odd that the timing is now. Why not stick the year out? The only reason to transfer RIGHT NOW is if there is something to be gained from doing so. Hence my question.
That said, kids also do things for dumb reasons - they're kids - but I'd like to think that if there was nothing for him to gain, then RichRod would have promised him the transfer at the end of the year, but encouraged him to stick out this season.
September 8th, 2010 at 2:45 PM ^
To me the reason to do it now is that the walk-on above you on the depth chart got knocked out for the season and instead of promoting you the coaching staff put a 2-star true freshman ahead of you. That could certainly be the final nail in the "I'm never going to see the field" coffin. I'm sure Rodriguez tried to convince him to stay, but I certainly understand Vlad wanting to just move on at this point.
September 8th, 2010 at 1:57 PM ^
Thinking of it from a need at Free Safety the OP makes sense, but he played a lot of special teams (kickoff team) last weekend. I imagine he'd make the travel squad for that reason
September 8th, 2010 at 2:16 PM ^
They've known the traveling squad for a while now...So your theory could be right. I know a few players on the team and they were talking about the traveling squad last week before the conn. game even. WIth that said, its always open to change, but they still had a good idea of what it was.
September 8th, 2010 at 3:06 PM ^
What do you do with someone who is given a tremendous opportunity but doesn't take advantage of it? If you are an employer do you reward the person for longevity but mediocrity or do you reward the person who may have less talent initially but worked their ass off to become better than the others?
I will miss Vlad because I loved his name. In his career at Michigan he never reached his potential and that is the biggest reason he won't be with us any more. These guys are just kids who are making life changing decisions. It can't be easy. I wish him luck wherever he lands.
September 8th, 2010 at 3:07 PM ^
Whatever it was that made him decide to leave the program I wish him the best. He always had a positive attitude and always gave it his all. He kept his mouth shut and kept on working hard. Hopefully we are able to fill the void and get some recruits in this coming class that can make this situation null and void.
September 8th, 2010 at 10:21 PM ^
Stupid, too-much-thinking-put-into-this-stuff threads would end when the season started.