The Wingless Helmets?

Could it simply be that he was using a different helmet that day?

Maybe he had the winged helmet on for video shoots, but when the cameras go away, the blue one went on. Maybe BTN saw something they shouldn't have ...

I don't think it's necessarily this complex a situation.  Maybe Tate was trying out a new helmet and the plain model was what was on hand.  Maybe that was just a random helmet on the sideline near where Tate took a knee.  Relax and wait until September 4th.  At that point we should have a pretty good idea of the QB situation.

Maybe he was really underperforming the first few days and RR realized it was due to a lack of summer work ethic.  As a result, he took away the wings.

I just had a severe case of deja vu.

I am already expecting the announcers for the first 5 games of the season to talk about the offseason "controversy" about how T-Wolf called out Tate, and how practice photos "surfaced" showing Tate with a wingless helmet.  This will be mentioned EVERY single game (much like Denard's famous shoelaces), because the commentators need to fill air and don't have anything of real substance to report. 

EDIT: Wichitan said it quicklier and brief-er-li-er

Since we don't have confirmation that the wingless helmets mean anything.  The coaching staff told BTN not to be concerned with it

But if continued rumor mongering is what internets are for... the taking of wings cannot be tied to lack of participation in summer workouts.  Those are voluntary.  They certainly could be tied to lack of preparation, i.e. you didn't come to camp in football shape and ready to compete/win. 

This would take at least several days to discern, hence the delay

I'm guessing this is RichRod's way of slowly rolling out our new look for 2011 - hideous maize jerseys and wingless helmets.  He's a foul-mouthed hick who doesn't care about Michigan traditions at all, anyway.

Also, I think that the number 1 jersey will henceforth be reserved for backup kickers.

Or, this is meaningless, and no one has thought it was important to a sticker on a helmet when it is just going to be repainted and restickered before the first game.

One or the other.

If you pause at 0:02 , 0:33 and 2:15 in todays countdown to kickoff video, you see players with RED jerseys and solid blue helmets.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vdnbQzCxAw

has greatly slowed down since Coach Rodriguez changed the policy.  It seems that as of this weekend, it now costs a player one of his own wings to remove the wings of another.  In the case of Tate's helmet, there may have been a mass attack enacted by the other players, otherwise known as a wing-bang.  This may or may not have prompted the coaching staff to change the policy, and most players have since been reluctant remove someone's wings at the cost of their own.  Still, some players, such as MGoShoe and Blazefire, have over 20,000 wings on their helmets and can afford to be more aggressive with them.  The entire process continues to stabilize.

Nowhere moreso than radio, on a slow-news Friday.

And, the notion of "taking away wings" has a kind of a ring to it, doesn't it?  Like a court-martial in some western U.S. Cavalry outpost in the 1870's, right?  

Literally, it is untrue insofar as Tate has a helmet that is properly painted in maize and blue, as well as, clearly, an all-navy blue helmet.  There is no helmet with anything "taken away."

Multiple people have reported (and of course this part got almost NO play on the radio) that there were about half-dozen guys with navy helmets.  With "their wings taken away," to quote a hysterical and technically inaccurate phrase.  The half-dozen guys includes an unlikely collection, including not only Tate but freshman Austin White(?!)

There were pictures of Tate in both a standard helmet, while playing in a contact scrimmage, and a "wingless" helmet, while not in a contact situation.  That tells me that his real helmet is the one that is carefully fitted for him, and he must wear it in a contact drill, and that the other one is for some cosmetic/shaming purpose.  But does anybody know, and is anybody saying?  And if so, is it at all significant?  Apparently "no" is the answer to all of the above.

I had speculated on a large number of plausible atlernative explanations.  Injury protection, as with red shirts, red numbers, or black shirts.  Player identification from high up on the Skyjack platforms, for coaching and filming purposes.  Equipment testing, for guys who might want to try out different prototype helmets.

But in the end, this story is all about the reporting of the story.  And how the media, especially the local media, is on a hair-trigger alert for anything relating to "controversy" or "conflict" in the regime of Rich Rodriguez.  The best and purest example of that were the talk-radio callers, who were completely freaking out over this story.  They've all been conditioned to take any story about Michigan and translate it into a murder mystery, featuring Rich Rodriguez as the villain.

sent a few blue helmets this year.

The helmets normally come in yellow (a.k.a. "Green Bay Gold") and are painted to maize and blue. See MVictors on this process. Having yellow underneath the maize means dings in the maize don't show, while dings in the blue are yellow. This is preferred to the other way around.

I asked Hawkins if he ever shipped all navy helmets to Michigan, that is, helmets without wings.  Answer?  Nope.  He did say that Schutt sent over 3 all navy helmets this year and that this was an oddity.  They painted the wings directly onto the navy and shipped them up to Michigan.

Seems like a small number of all-navy helmets made it to Michigan without being painted. I wouldn't read much into that -- presumably it costs money to paint them, so it could just be that there's no sense in painting them if they aren't going to be used for games.

I wonder if M is experimenting with new helmet designs wrt concussion issues/research that has come out.  I think there is a massive culture change going on under the surface at all levels to get the best equipment and procedures to prevent life limiting injury.  Mich uses the revolution for some positions at least - (it looks like that in some photos).

I heard some hearsay from coaches at the NFL and HS level the key to preventing these injuries is to hold the kids out as soon as possible, and not encouraging any player to take one for the team.  Secondary hits are what really causes the long term injury.   This is going to be a long battle given the nature of the game and culture as it stands.

Wings would seem to be a final line of defense (/sarcasm.)  We need to get these painted pronto.  I doubt wings are being used to motivate - IMO only.

...that Tate needs to quickly show marked improvement, or they will make him play in the scrimmage in a vintage helmet: