Nebraska had the third best class in the big ten and a top 20 class nationally. This year's class is different but the ripping of Nebraska's recruiting is quite frankly puzzling to me.
...led to our coaches having the do gain too much weight. Our 270 and up ends are too slow while other teams have that quick 240-250 rush end that, while they might get washed on the occasional run, will still get a sack or better a game.
the spellchecker correction of H one. my sincerest apologies as I used the app which apparently won't let you change. If it does please explain to me how.
blind faith is the worst thing you can have as a fan. If fans had lost faith and stayed away the Lions would have been sold to ownership with a clue long ago. Just as a for instance. And I repeat I AM. NOT AGREeing with him,
them gain too much weight. Joke and Pattinson are unwilling to have that light weight speed end that you need to rush 4, apparently due to fears against the run. Run defense wasn't as bad as people think but pass d will be terrible due to lack of rush unless a miracle occurs.
Horror III, everyone forgets Toledo in 2008 (which was the worst Toledo team in 20 years) was II. Toledo will go down as the first M A C team ever to beat Michigan
if it happens to a Lion its alright. if the lions gets within a foot of doing something illegal its the worse thing ever. And if it's Clay Matthews trying toe clothesline someone? That's just good aggressive play. Welcome to Roger Goodels NFL
The NFL officiating is a wholly owned subsidiary of Roger" King Roger I" Goodell Inc. and the Packers are one of his boys. Remember how the Pack got away with internationally taking out D el mas knees a few thanksgiving ago and no comment. And Dietch-Smith's line play (which is how he's a starter in greenback but somehow gets cut in Carolina...oh wait Car isn't part of the Goodell club)
just as an FYI the" forearm shiver" to the head of Cutler was a shove in the back. look it up on YouTube as" s u h shoves cutler" and note that there a no comments that think it was a blow to the head. And lets not forget the legal tackle of Rhondda barber that was laughably called a horse collar. So that's 2 myths busted
...that I expected him to play. Heck, in the right system I still believe he could actually excell. Though I'd need to see where he ends up to say anything for sure.
...about will be how the team is able to run the ball with its Running Backs as its impossible to say based on the Spring Game (a team lacking its best linemen, particularly at key positions like LT and C) is not going to show a running game that we can competently evaluate.
A good running game allows for things like Denard Robinson bootlegs, which should be good. A bad running game leads to too much Denard running (last year) or too much passing (likelier in this offense). Most of the running backs were fairly highly recruited (Shaw was being presuded by Nebraska, Penn State, and Iowa for instance). So they should have the talent for it. And if you added up the RB's combined numbers last season they didn't do that badly when they had chances overall (a lot of the issues in short yardage had to do with using Vincent Smith in a role he simply wasn't suited for particularly less than a year after ACL surgery).
...the prevalence of the one and dones (and two and dones) is really leading to the deterioration of the quality of both the NBA and NCAA games (and I believe I read an interview with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar a year or so ago where he said that some of the behavioral issues in the NBA in the recent past were due to 19-20 years being able to declare and get ultra-rich at that age).
Though I initially wrote what I did because I didn't think Tate would play much at Miami (like his brother at Stanford), however, upon further review, all Miami has at QB after next season is Stephen Morris (and, in the 2012 class, David Thompson) and in hindsight I could see Tate beating out both of them (since Jacory Harris graduates after next season).
...I think between the last class and the current incoming freshmen that we do have decent depth at Cornerback (Woolfolk, Floyd, Avery, Talbott, Browns, Countess, Hollowell, Trayloer) and Safety (Carvin, Furman, Carter for FS). So at least this wasn't at a position of near term need in terms of numbers. Though its never a good thing for a highly touted recruit to not work out (Christian had an offer from Ohio State, UCLA, Pittsburgh, and West Virginia, so he difinitely had options).
...if memory serves he was the corner who committed that *really* dumb penalty that got Notre Dame in position to win at the end and ended up in Rich Rod's dog house for doing so.
Also, I think Christian got left put in positions where the fact that his average speed got exposed last season.
I still think he'll be more likely to play where ever he transfers to than Tate is likely to play in Miami (that's not a knock on Tate by the way).
I lost my potential post on this subject when the old laptop started producing smoke, however, the idea that Michigan is way down in the talent standings is not nearly as true as some like to think. Most of the guys on the roster had offers from at least one other big time school and many had offers from numerous bigtime programs (if we look at the much maligned defense we have Mike Martin, Kenny Demens, Jibreel Black, MRob, Craig Roh, Kellen Jones, Blake Countess) and a lot of the non-highly rated guys are looking surprisingly good (Carvin, Courtney Avery, and Jake Ryan). Are we the most talented team in the world? No. However, I'm going to put down the majority of our struggles (maybe even 70%) down to a combination of scheme, coaching, and playing predominantly true freshmen (who didn't early enroll) in the secondary.
...a lot of this complaint is directed towards the defense (I agree that this isn't the case with the offense). But we generally had a D-Line comprised primarily of Mike Martin and a bunch of 280lbs or less guys, LBs who were converted safeties (thus being smaller, speedier players), though the secondary wasn't as undersized as you'd think (Kovacs being only a little undersized, the corners being average, the Gordons were not undersized, etc.).
I don't know that Rodriquez deliberately chose undersized players, but we did seem small this year on D, and in a way that had nothing to do with having freshmen playing.
...doesn't a brand new coach have some level of stability? Otherwise, yeah I kind of agree. However, I will say that we stand up very well with the other three programs in his final 4 (Iowa, Georgia Tech, and Michigan State).
...the sort of critical mass of cheating that led the NCAA to crack down on the old Southwestern Conference in the 80s (everyone remembers the SMU death penalty, but people forget the crackdowns that Texas and I believe Baylor also received). The NCAA is, for the most part, willing to play ball with big schools. But once the cheating reaches a certain level, the NCAA knows that it has to do something. The only reason that college football exists in its present Division I form is because of the last surviving thought of the "student athlete". Take that away and you have tax payer dollar supporting money losing pro-teams (I believe something like 75% of college athletics departments lose money, with football being among the surprising money losers...note that Michigan's Athletic Department is self-supporting, but this isn't the norm).
The SEC is rapidly approaching the casual cheating that the SWC did in the 80s, and the NCAA is going to have to rouse themselves before it hurts college football as a whole.
...I should note that he's a 4-star recruit on 2 of the 3 major recruiting services (Scout & ESPN, Rivals has him as a 3-star) and said 3-star has an offer list as long as your arm (with offers from not only Michigan & MSU, but also Georgia Tech, Iowa, Florida, UCLA, and Wisconsin).
...if some of those FGAs turned into FGs. So we're still on pace to improve assuming that either Wile works out or that Ferrigno is correct in that he can work the kinks out of our other kickers.
...seems to be more about filling in some holes that are existing in terms of long-term depth (thus the pick-up of a QB, pursuing a number of OL, a TE to replace Webb, etc.). SOme of the skill positions (WR for instance) had enough depth that I think Borgess/Hoke felt we could go a year without a pick-up.
...University of Michigan has what is universally considered the worst basketball facilities in the Big 10 (and some claim worst in the country, but I'm not going that far) which is considered to make it much more difficult to recruit. Fact, Beilen went to the NCAA Tournament *and* won a game in his second season (the equivalent of which Rich Rod did not do in his second season).
But by all means continue to act with an unwarranted and annoying sense of being unduly wronged, it makes you soo appealing.
...the big beef regarding in-state recruiting came during 2009 & maybe 2010 when Michigan State got a ton of Rivals 4-stars (particularly 2009-Gainer, Carper, Norman, Spencer, Sims) from Michigan, many of whom apparently got completely ignored by UM (though not all, and there were some of MD's Renaissance commits, but not all). Rich Rod did much better in in-state recruiting this year, but the previous 2 years were not great.
...right now we have a certain number of priority position slots (Rodriquez's commitment from only 1 OL last year really forced us to recruits 4 this year, we need a DT in this class, etc.) combined with the stunning success of this year's class in terms of numbers has us in a position of having a "good problem to have" (at least for non-SEC schools who have...ways around this) in choosing between top priority guys and having to try to think of place for a guy we really want even though he's at a position where we do have talented guys (the footage I've seen of Rawls is really good...though Flint's all Red uniforms are kind of disturbing looking).
...We do apparently have Posada coming in and Jack Miller is expected to play OL (despite the recruiting sites listing him as a DT). If we do get Chris Bryant we will have some depth for the future.
...many (including Chris Speilman) hold Kovacs to. The kid has done nothing but go out there and make plays. And on the occassions that he has gotten hurt its been primarily due to having to be the only guy in the secondary who can make a tackle. I think both Kovacs and Vinopal (Vinopal against certain teams) should be taken out in certain situatons (Kovacs in passing, Vinopal in short yardage running situations) but should be heavily in the rotation.
A. Rich Rod made bad decisions, and didn't adequately gage the mindset of certain key recruits. His foilables made the program what it is today, not a failure of fan support. Any claims that we'd be contending for national championships under him is laughable at best.
B. WIth the exception of Carter (who was committed to Stanford under Jim H), most of the recruits now have offers from at least 2 other B1G programs. Further, we are looking to be in a good position with Willingham, a Rivals 4 * LB and still in good position with Chris Bryant. We also got a kicker to replace the kicker who decommitted (who wouldn't have stayed if RR was the coach, he committed in the expectation that Jim H would be our new coach). So we'll have a good shot at about 18 commits, among them around 6-7 4 *. That's not bad considering that about 80% of the blog was all DOOOOOMED (following the lead of Brian,).
...Zettel's comments on Michigan started going soft well before the burner on RR turned from "uncomfortable" to "Blazing hot" (around the time of the Iowa game was when Zettel started down playing Michigan, while the "Fire RR" movement didn't reach critical mass until after the Wisconsin game). So I question whether it was just the coaching change.
...that had nothing to do with Hoke or U of M: Lawrence Thomas, the kid that MSU had been staking its whole idea of "We are Dominating In-State Recruiting" just lost his 5th star on Rivals. That decision drops him down to the same ranking as Justice Hayes and Brennan Beyer, and considering that the rest of MSU's recruiting class outside of Thomas is actually worse than ours (albeit larger), this doesn't look as good for "MSU's Hammerlock recruiting".
...Despite what the media and coaches are saying its not like Hoke is going to focus exclusively on Michigan. Just substitute "California Pipeline" for "Florida Pipeline" with the same level of focus Rich Rod placed on Ohio (where RR got Jibreel Black, Roy Roundtree, and Patrick Omaheh) and you've got Hoke's focus (I believe both Hoke and Rich focused/will focus on Texas but that's a darn hard fortress to get people out of...).
...Hoke has a kicker in line to replace Goudis, Chris Bryant seems like he might be back on board, we have people lined up to replace the lost Crawford commit (McClure, Raven, Taylor). And Flowers isn't out of the question.
Considering Alabama rebuilt his HS football field or some such, I doubted that Hart was going to Michigan, RR or no RR, especially with Mark Ingram declaring. So I don't think it'll be significantly worse than it would have been anyways except for losing out on Frost (and I'm curious to see what the Mattison hire does for that...).
...he's had a long track record as a successful college DC and was co-defensive coordinator for one of Florida's National Championships, so he has college success to go with the NFL pedigree, so its certainly a good hire, and not just for the Ravens connection...
Recent Comments
...that I expected him to play. Heck, in the right system I still believe he could actually excell. Though I'd need to see where he ends up to say anything for sure.
A. Losing.
Combined with...
B. Said Talent that leaves excelling elsewhere (see Family Values becoming an All-Big 10 Lineman and Ryan Mallett exploding in Arkansas).
...about will be how the team is able to run the ball with its Running Backs as its impossible to say based on the Spring Game (a team lacking its best linemen, particularly at key positions like LT and C) is not going to show a running game that we can competently evaluate.
A good running game allows for things like Denard Robinson bootlegs, which should be good. A bad running game leads to too much Denard running (last year) or too much passing (likelier in this offense). Most of the running backs were fairly highly recruited (Shaw was being presuded by Nebraska, Penn State, and Iowa for instance). So they should have the talent for it. And if you added up the RB's combined numbers last season they didn't do that badly when they had chances overall (a lot of the issues in short yardage had to do with using Vincent Smith in a role he simply wasn't suited for particularly less than a year after ACL surgery).
...the prevalence of the one and dones (and two and dones) is really leading to the deterioration of the quality of both the NBA and NCAA games (and I believe I read an interview with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar a year or so ago where he said that some of the behavioral issues in the NBA in the recent past were due to 19-20 years being able to declare and get ultra-rich at that age).
...just saying.
Though I initially wrote what I did because I didn't think Tate would play much at Miami (like his brother at Stanford), however, upon further review, all Miami has at QB after next season is Stephen Morris (and, in the 2012 class, David Thompson) and in hindsight I could see Tate beating out both of them (since Jacory Harris graduates after next season).
n/t
...I think between the last class and the current incoming freshmen that we do have decent depth at Cornerback (Woolfolk, Floyd, Avery, Talbott, Browns, Countess, Hollowell, Trayloer) and Safety (Carvin, Furman, Carter for FS). So at least this wasn't at a position of near term need in terms of numbers. Though its never a good thing for a highly touted recruit to not work out (Christian had an offer from Ohio State, UCLA, Pittsburgh, and West Virginia, so he difinitely had options).
...if memory serves he was the corner who committed that *really* dumb penalty that got Notre Dame in position to win at the end and ended up in Rich Rod's dog house for doing so.
Also, I think Christian got left put in positions where the fact that his average speed got exposed last season.
I still think he'll be more likely to play where ever he transfers to than Tate is likely to play in Miami (that's not a knock on Tate by the way).
I lost my potential post on this subject when the old laptop started producing smoke, however, the idea that Michigan is way down in the talent standings is not nearly as true as some like to think. Most of the guys on the roster had offers from at least one other big time school and many had offers from numerous bigtime programs (if we look at the much maligned defense we have Mike Martin, Kenny Demens, Jibreel Black, MRob, Craig Roh, Kellen Jones, Blake Countess) and a lot of the non-highly rated guys are looking surprisingly good (Carvin, Courtney Avery, and Jake Ryan). Are we the most talented team in the world? No. However, I'm going to put down the majority of our struggles (maybe even 70%) down to a combination of scheme, coaching, and playing predominantly true freshmen (who didn't early enroll) in the secondary.
...a lot of this complaint is directed towards the defense (I agree that this isn't the case with the offense). But we generally had a D-Line comprised primarily of Mike Martin and a bunch of 280lbs or less guys, LBs who were converted safeties (thus being smaller, speedier players), though the secondary wasn't as undersized as you'd think (Kovacs being only a little undersized, the corners being average, the Gordons were not undersized, etc.).
I don't know that Rodriquez deliberately chose undersized players, but we did seem small this year on D, and in a way that had nothing to do with having freshmen playing.
If you held a gun to my head and asked for my best guess I'd say the following predictions:
Will See Significant Playing Time (and in some cases signficantly more than previously too):
Stephen Hopkins
Fitz Toussaint
Michael Shaw
Will See Significantly Less Playing Time
Vincent Smith
Unpredictable X-Factor
Mike Cox
Will Probably Redshirt
Thomas Rawls
WIll Redshirt Unless...
Justice Hayes (if he establishes himself as the best receiver out of the backfield I can see him being a third down-type back as a freshman).
...remembering assignments. That's is supposedly what led to his extended stay in the Dog House.
...doesn't a brand new coach have some level of stability? Otherwise, yeah I kind of agree. However, I will say that we stand up very well with the other three programs in his final 4 (Iowa, Georgia Tech, and Michigan State).
...the sort of critical mass of cheating that led the NCAA to crack down on the old Southwestern Conference in the 80s (everyone remembers the SMU death penalty, but people forget the crackdowns that Texas and I believe Baylor also received). The NCAA is, for the most part, willing to play ball with big schools. But once the cheating reaches a certain level, the NCAA knows that it has to do something. The only reason that college football exists in its present Division I form is because of the last surviving thought of the "student athlete". Take that away and you have tax payer dollar supporting money losing pro-teams (I believe something like 75% of college athletics departments lose money, with football being among the surprising money losers...note that Michigan's Athletic Department is self-supporting, but this isn't the norm).
The SEC is rapidly approaching the casual cheating that the SWC did in the 80s, and the NCAA is going to have to rouse themselves before it hurts college football as a whole.
...I should note that he's a 4-star recruit on 2 of the 3 major recruiting services (Scout & ESPN, Rivals has him as a 3-star) and said 3-star has an offer list as long as your arm (with offers from not only Michigan & MSU, but also Georgia Tech, Iowa, Florida, UCLA, and Wisconsin).
...if some of those FGAs turned into FGs. So we're still on pace to improve assuming that either Wile works out or that Ferrigno is correct in that he can work the kinks out of our other kickers.
...seems to be more about filling in some holes that are existing in terms of long-term depth (thus the pick-up of a QB, pursuing a number of OL, a TE to replace Webb, etc.). SOme of the skill positions (WR for instance) had enough depth that I think Borgess/Hoke felt we could go a year without a pick-up.
Damn it, the image was too wide...
...University of Michigan has what is universally considered the worst basketball facilities in the Big 10 (and some claim worst in the country, but I'm not going that far) which is considered to make it much more difficult to recruit. Fact, Beilen went to the NCAA Tournament *and* won a game in his second season (the equivalent of which Rich Rod did not do in his second season).
But by all means continue to act with an unwarranted and annoying sense of being unduly wronged, it makes you soo appealing.
...the big beef regarding in-state recruiting came during 2009 & maybe 2010 when Michigan State got a ton of Rivals 4-stars (particularly 2009-Gainer, Carper, Norman, Spencer, Sims) from Michigan, many of whom apparently got completely ignored by UM (though not all, and there were some of MD's Renaissance commits, but not all). Rich Rod did much better in in-state recruiting this year, but the previous 2 years were not great.
...we have Brennan Beyer, Chris Rock, and Keith Heitzman in this class. We need another DT but I don't think Hoke will take another D-End.
...right now we have a certain number of priority position slots (Rodriquez's commitment from only 1 OL last year really forced us to recruits 4 this year, we need a DT in this class, etc.) combined with the stunning success of this year's class in terms of numbers has us in a position of having a "good problem to have" (at least for non-SEC schools who have...ways around this) in choosing between top priority guys and having to try to think of place for a guy we really want even though he's at a position where we do have talented guys (the footage I've seen of Rawls is really good...though Flint's all Red uniforms are kind of disturbing looking).
...We do apparently have Posada coming in and Jack Miller is expected to play OL (despite the recruiting sites listing him as a DT). If we do get Chris Bryant we will have some depth for the future.
...many (including Chris Speilman) hold Kovacs to. The kid has done nothing but go out there and make plays. And on the occassions that he has gotten hurt its been primarily due to having to be the only guy in the secondary who can make a tackle. I think both Kovacs and Vinopal (Vinopal against certain teams) should be taken out in certain situatons (Kovacs in passing, Vinopal in short yardage running situations) but should be heavily in the rotation.
A. Rich Rod made bad decisions, and didn't adequately gage the mindset of certain key recruits. His foilables made the program what it is today, not a failure of fan support. Any claims that we'd be contending for national championships under him is laughable at best.
B. WIth the exception of Carter (who was committed to Stanford under Jim H), most of the recruits now have offers from at least 2 other B1G programs. Further, we are looking to be in a good position with Willingham, a Rivals 4 * LB and still in good position with Chris Bryant. We also got a kicker to replace the kicker who decommitted (who wouldn't have stayed if RR was the coach, he committed in the expectation that Jim H would be our new coach). So we'll have a good shot at about 18 commits, among them around 6-7 4 *. That's not bad considering that about 80% of the blog was all DOOOOOMED (following the lead of Brian,).
...Zettel's comments on Michigan started going soft well before the burner on RR turned from "uncomfortable" to "Blazing hot" (around the time of the Iowa game was when Zettel started down playing Michigan, while the "Fire RR" movement didn't reach critical mass until after the Wisconsin game). So I question whether it was just the coaching change.
...Notre "God Wants us to Win" Dame?
...that had nothing to do with Hoke or U of M: Lawrence Thomas, the kid that MSU had been staking its whole idea of "We are Dominating In-State Recruiting" just lost his 5th star on Rivals. That decision drops him down to the same ranking as Justice Hayes and Brennan Beyer, and considering that the rest of MSU's recruiting class outside of Thomas is actually worse than ours (albeit larger), this doesn't look as good for "MSU's Hammerlock recruiting".
...if we can get our secondary in a position where Kovacs starting is our biggest problem we'll be in a significantly better position.
...Despite what the media and coaches are saying its not like Hoke is going to focus exclusively on Michigan. Just substitute "California Pipeline" for "Florida Pipeline" with the same level of focus Rich Rod placed on Ohio (where RR got Jibreel Black, Roy Roundtree, and Patrick Omaheh) and you've got Hoke's focus (I believe both Hoke and Rich focused/will focus on Texas but that's a darn hard fortress to get people out of...).
Mike Martin, Kenny Demens, Ryan Van Bergen...
...Hoke has a kicker in line to replace Goudis, Chris Bryant seems like he might be back on board, we have people lined up to replace the lost Crawford commit (McClure, Raven, Taylor). And Flowers isn't out of the question.
Considering Alabama rebuilt his HS football field or some such, I doubted that Hart was going to Michigan, RR or no RR, especially with Mark Ingram declaring. So I don't think it'll be significantly worse than it would have been anyways except for losing out on Frost (and I'm curious to see what the Mattison hire does for that...).
He's been coaching since 1993, though he's only been coaching in D1 since about 2001 so I'm not sure if that counts or not.
...I recall Tom saying that Tim had eliminated us, at least under RR, because of the type of defense we ran.
...Ferrigno has been around since 1980, and at least 14 of those years featured coaching ST in some way.
...he's had a long track record as a successful college DC and was co-defensive coordinator for one of Florida's National Championships, so he has college success to go with the NFL pedigree, so its certainly a good hire, and not just for the Ravens connection...