Ray Vinopal leaving Michigan?
comes first. Sad if true, but let us wait and see if it is indeed true. Hope not.
GO BLUE!!
March 22nd, 2011 at 11:32 AM ^
I'm sure Vinopal will be welcomed back if this all works out. Wish him the best.
i was hoping for a "hello" post before receiving a "goodbye" one. I wish him the best.
Is this is true I wish him and his family well and I thank him for the hard work he put in last year.
Do what you need to do, and then come back to your new home.
...if it is for family reasons, couldn't he take a year off and come back?
Possibly, but there are many reasons why someone may need to stay for a prolonged period of time with the family. Especially if someone needs prolonged care. I wish he didn't have to leave (we need as much experience is the secondary as possible), but if this is true, then he needs to take care of the most important things in life first.
I hope this whole undersized-white-guy-leaving-for-family-reasons isn't starting to become a trend. First McGuffie, now Vinopal. Sucks.
These are separated by what, three years? Two guys, what aobut the black guys who left? CONSPIRACY! BLACK GUYS NO LOVE MEECHIGAN...
March 22nd, 2011 at 12:17 PM ^
@TIMMMAAY Really the comments made about black and white need to stop because we all know it takes a full team of all colors to make this work. We have a coaching staff who doesn't see colors so we have no reason to seperate the players by color. I was born and raised in Texas but I love the Wolverines 100%. I'm a black man walking around in maize and people think im crazy following a school so far away. I drive on the weekends with my flags out and never miss a basketball or football game because I love Michigan. Yes our school may have more white fans but you best believe blacks love Michigan the same. I love the Big House and can't wait to travel up there for the spring game on Delta a long flight from Texas. Go Blue!
March 22nd, 2011 at 12:18 PM ^
joking...
TIMMAY was joking, but this was still a nice message.
Keep fighting the good fight in cheering for the Wolverines in Texas. Go Blue.
from Texas differently after that dumb and preachy reponse to an obvious joke.
Didn't sound preachy to me.
I hope the family issues work themselves out Ray. I will be rooting for you at YSU if indeed you end up there.
Comment about over-signing here.
If this was Friday Night Lights, some booster with a heart of gold would offer to move Ray's family to Michigan....
The SEC
March 22nd, 2011 at 10:01 AM ^
Or OSU. And they would throw in a car, too.
Ray, thank you for that huge tackle on Leshoure on that huge third and one play, you may have saved the game for us on that play. I will never forget that gritty gritty play that helped us become bowl eligible. Hope it's not true but, your doing the right thing if you have to go home to take care of some family problems. Good luck to you #20, you have the support of Maize and Blue nation.
One of the most technically perfect tackles I've ever seen, and I don't know anything about form tackles.
Best of luck if this is true, Ray!
Ray stepped up into the hole and absolutely stoned him in his tracks, even though Leshoure had at least 25 pounds on him.
Damn.
It has to be a gut-wrenching decision for a 19 year old kid to have to put his hopes and dreams on hold while he takes care of family matters. It also shows what kind of man he is for doing just that.
Good luck Ray. I hope we see you in pads for us again in the near future.
If this is the case, I hope everything is ok with Ray's family. He is the Novak of the football team, a ton of grit and heart. Good luck Ray and you will always be a Wolverine.
March 22nd, 2011 at 12:04 PM ^
Kovacs is the Novak of the football team. Vinopal is the Douglass.
Yeah that's a better comparison for sure.
hoping for an offseason without any exit posts, but family does come first. We support you regardless of what your decision is, Ray.
I'm sure Rodriguez is behind this somehow.
Return if you're able, Go Blue
After reading this i went out and checked twitter and he is gone from there. Not looking good. I wish him the best and hope thing work out for the best.
Not that I want to discredit the internet, but can we wait on the eulogies? This doesn't seem to pass the smell test. Ray's family is in Ohio. This is not like his family is in Texas. I don't see a lot of scenarios where the parents would ask their child to leave Michigan when he is only 2 hours away if he needs to get home.
I could be wrong as well, but let's take a breath and see how things play out. This seems a little strange.
If it's a caretaker situation it wouldn't matter if they lived right next to campus. I'm not sure if this is true either but I'm just saying there are legit family reasons for kids having to leave college.
March 22nd, 2011 at 10:13 AM ^
I understand people have all sorts of situations, but as a parent I can't imagine a scenario where it would be better for my son to be sitting at home vs living his dream at Michigan. Since I imagine most parents are the same, this must be a really unique and sad situation and I hope the best for Ray.
March 22nd, 2011 at 12:16 PM ^
It seems so odd. As a parent, I would do ANYTHING ot preserve my child's free ride at U of M. I could not take that from them. If that meant an assisted living facility for another family member, and the financial burden that goes with that, so be it.
After all, if he leaves for a year or two or however long, two things happen. First of all, his football dream is almost certainly over. Very few people are talented enough to make it back after a true layoff. Secondly, the team will have to recruit to replace him, and they very well may not have a scholarship for him, so his Michigan dream would be over.
March 22nd, 2011 at 10:03 AM ^
at least 5 hours away.
Youngstown is a 3.5 hour drive to the stadium. Needless to say its not exactly a short drive. I am going to hit up some contacts I have back at home (youngstown) to see what the story is if I can.
Go Blue
You are obviously a woman and need to be disallowed from drinking ANYTHING before getting into the car for a drive.
And you need to eat before you get into the car. There is no stopping for lunch on a 3 hr drive. You pack snacks.
March 22nd, 2011 at 10:35 AM ^
Let's let things play out. If he leaves, I'm sure it is what is best for his family. I do believe he was committed to Michigan! I'm sure he is devastated if he has to go, but let's put the distance in perspective. Just trying to remain optimistic something will get worked out.
March 22nd, 2011 at 10:06 AM ^
I'll wait for something official, but if so I wish him the best.
March 22nd, 2011 at 10:14 AM ^
If this is true, it's seriously terrible. Vinopal was someone I was really looking forward to watching. I thought he actually looked pretty good when he came in last season, and had the potential to be a very solid and reliable player.
If he has to go, good luck to him and his family. Here's hoping that things will work themselves out, and he can stay or at least come back.
March 22nd, 2011 at 10:19 AM ^
For all the crap the kid got, I'll never forget him being one of the few guys willing to go toe-to-toe with the Badger running backs in the hole. Despite the less than stellar hype he had coming in, this hurts our defense in the short term quite a bit if we can't find yet another young guy to come in and be able to make a tackle given our depth.
March 22nd, 2011 at 10:26 AM ^
"one of the few guys willing to go toe-to-toe with the Badger running backs in the hole"
Whoa...... I didn't realize that.... who were the DBs who were shying away from those RBs???
This is important to know, for I did not watch that Wisconsin game.
I believe that is how many times Wisconsin lined up and ran the ball down our throat. I am pretty sure that just about everyone on the defense were shying away from contact. I will also say what everyone else is thinking - Vinopal may have tried to tackle the Wisconsin RBs, however I would rather have a guy in there that would actually be able to make the tackles.
March 22nd, 2011 at 10:22 AM ^
best of luck to him if he has to leave.....
March 22nd, 2011 at 10:51 AM ^
I guess he just couldn't continue to go to school at MIchigan if Darius Morris was leaving for the NBA.
But seriously folks, I hope this is either wrong or temporary. I like that kid. Very gritty, much moxie.
March 22nd, 2011 at 12:14 PM ^
who is billi gordon and why do we believe him/her?
March 22nd, 2011 at 12:23 PM ^
this has legs
Who is Billi Gordon? Better question, "Oriental" Andrew? Are you a rug or a vase?
http://www.billygordon.com/ http://www.facebook.com/billiclub
Okay, seriously, who am I? A member of the Michigan alumni cheerleaders who communicates with a lot of the guys on the team, among them Ray Vinopal. MGoBlog was quoting from a personal message that I received from Ray on Facebook.
And fyi: when I'm not being an alumni cheerleader... I'm a doctor who researches the human brain at UCLA...
As for him or her? Undoubtedly by virtue of your mentioning that.. i am more woman than you'll ever have and more man than you'll ever be. But since we're not about to mate, I don't see why that's an issue...
Peace out brotha
Go Blue!