Rivals Michigan Season Preview
So glad MGoBlog is back. It wasn't fun having to do actual work today.
Along with their Ohio rankings coming out, Rivals also continued their countdown of their top preseason 120 teams, with Michigan coming in at No. 36. They give their season preview, along with the first of many two deeps we will see in the next couple months.
http://collegefootball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1240004
The biggest discrepancy for me, at least, came with the omission of Courtney Avery.
Here from ESPN talk about Michigan
http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/29219/video-state-of-michigan-…
Go Blue.
until they went to Drew Sharp for insight.
I agree with you.
I hate Drew Sharpe. Did anyone else hear that? He said Michigan will not be a National Championship contender again in the foreseeable future, and the only thing we can shoot for is 8-4/9-3 seasons and occasionally challenging for a Big Ten title? Bullshit
I puked in my mouth when I saw that Drew Sharp was on there... The guy is such a douche.
"They will be content going 9-3 and playing in the rose bowl every other year."
The hell we will
Yeah, to hell we will.
He doesn't like SEC football because they cheat. He thinks M sucks because we don't cheat (and he blames the establishment/old blues). When M is good again he'll say we suck because we sold out or (as in 97, got lucky) He's just a contrarian. I have no problem with it in theory. My problem wthat he's a really shitty writer and his contrarian opinions spill into pure blather as he struggles to fill newsprint. He sucks.
Playing in the Rose Bowl every other year would be a bad thing? That would mean we won the B1G and thereby had to be in the conversation for the championship game.
He's probably right?
No. No he is not.
He's also not right that 2006 was the only season we were close to a BCS title - in 1999 we finished the season 5th, I believe, at 10-2. One of those losses goes the other way and we've got a shot at the BCS title game.
I read any of these posts i was thinking the same thing. I absolutely hate Sharp. He is a MSU fanboy and it comes seeping out everytime he talks about Big Blue. ESPN shoulda just went straight to some hick from columbus for his expert analysis instead.
I could have atleast got a chuckle outta that. instead I'm left with that empty, angry feeling about Drew Sharp again.
he's only an msu fanboy when hating on U of M. he usually hates on all michigan teams and believes the worst case scenario is the most likely.
also, i see by your points that you're new to posting on the board. a word of advice: avoid using 'big blue'. there are people here who will crucify you for it. in fact, i'm shocked it hasn't already incited a flamewar that hi-jacks the entire thread.
guess my sarcasm didn't translate. I remember Sharp calling them that a few years ago on fsn. I have never actually refered to U of M in that manner. I put it up there with people saying " blue and yellow" that really chaps my ass.
They say our impact newcomer is a kicker... and they are 100% right. Sigh.
That depth chart has to be incorrect, right?
Where is Courtney Avery?
Rivals lists Floyd as a starter, but I remember the conventional wisdom was that he still had a long way to go. Any clarification?
Also, Al Backey is listed at backup CB. MGoBlue says he played as a redshirt Freshman on special teams last year, but I don't remember ever hearing his name. Maybe Avery was an accidental omission?
Must have missed that "Hello" Post.
Could you repost it Tim?
He's a walk-on, odds are there wasn't a Hello post for him.
A close second is Joey Burzynski (?) on the 2-deep at guard instead of Mealer.
to Yerden this year, but yeah, Mealer will play, and maybe Bryant will play right away if they're worried about depth. They also skipped a few LBs, one of whom will start. Marell Evans, JB Fitzgerald and Mike Jones will likely split time at WLB, with either Jones starting, or if he's unhealthy still Evans, maybe with Gordon moving over in rotation from SAM from time to time.
Where did you hear/read that the coaches promised Yerden time in the 2-deep? And what does that even mean? At practice? I have a hard time believing the coaches promised anyone time anywhere, let alone a true freshman walk-on.
I agree that it'd be very weird to promise time to a true freshman walk-on, but I'm actually very excited about Yerden. The guy's an absolute monster, and just started playing football. Could be such a nice diamond in the rough pick up
I'm also very interested in what Yerden can bring. I'm not excited, necessarily, because I'm not excited about Tony Posada, for example, who actually got a scholarship offer. But I agree with you that there are reasons to be interested in how Yerden pans out since he's one of the strongest players Michigan has had as a freshman in a while and his level of improvement should be sharp since he hasn't had much coaching and playing experience yet.
My point is, I'd be surprised if the coaches made a similar promise to Posada, who is also a true frosh but actually one we extended a scholarship offer to.
there is no way that anything like this happened
(2nd to last quote)
But he's got a lot of things going for him other kids playing 4 years + of football don't. On his upside he's been a record setting power lifter since his freshman year (pretty much a gym rat) so of all our kids he's the most likely to excel in the college weight room, he may already be the strongest player on our team. He's 330 lbs and it's all muscle. He not only played OT, but DT in high school so his motor and stamina are very high, and he played on his Varsity basketball team (which won games in the class C state playoffs this year) so his athletecism and footwork might be raw but have a great foundation to work from. I love what coach Funk said about "A lot of freshman come in and they don't have that. They can't squat 500 pounds, and Gary doesn't just squat it, he reps it." He could very easily earn one of the 2013 scholarships if he plays this year. :)
EDIT: If you'll even bother to look we only have 3 scholarship tackles right now anyways. Scofield, Yerden, and then regular walkons are the only backups. We'll have a walk on in the 2 deep no matter what.
no way that anything like this happened
"In many cases, you come in as a preferred walk-on, you might be No. 6, 7, 8, 9 down on the depth chart. Well, they only have a handful of tackles. He's going to get a chance to run with the 2s and 3s."
Getting a chance is not at all the same as promised time in the 2-deep.
There isn't a 3 deep, there isn't even a full 2 deep at Tackle. There's Lewan and Hyuge, then Schofield. That's it. How will Yerden not play in the 2 deep? Unless you think walkons Gunderson and Mateus will get played over a preferred walkon with scholarship potential...Are you just looking for an excuse to bicker over technicalities here? The article said "he'd get a chance" because in the previous line it said "they only have a handful of tackles."
Backey, a walk-on, was a coverage team regular, but why they would list him on the two-deep is a mystery. Especially considering a senior walk-on, Tony Anderson, started this spring scrimmage and played in last year's goal line defense.
Other oddities include Furman over Marvin Robinson at backup SS, especially considering Marvin's big hits and extensive time in the spring game.
Burzynski was the second team center in the spring scrimmage, with Molk injured; Rocko was first-team, though he would reportedly be first off the bench at center or either guard position. Pace played guard in the spring scrimmage.
In a lesser sense, it's surprising the put Furman ahead of Marvin Robinson as the back-up SS. Marvin actually played a lot last year when Furman was redshirting, and reports from bowl practices were very positive. I doubt Furman has already passed him since some thought Marvin would pass Kovacs.
It is more odd considering Furman was a FS all spring and in the Spring Game.
I really appreciate what GRIT has done for us these past few years and of all the walk-ons that have played during these godforsaken years, he's probably been the most effective. But I really would like to see Marvin Robinson start at SS this fall... Our entire group of scholarship safeties are mindnumbingly athletic. They've got size AND speed (and man Marvin can lay some hits!)
They omitted Mike Martin from the returning defensive starters at the beginning!
Don't panic. These guys who do national previews either are understaffed or lazy. Keep that in mind when you read their reviews of other teams. Even so, Dinehart scores better than CFN; he at least gets it mostly right.
I agree, but the reason I get so upset reading the Michigan one is now I know that I can't rely on any of the other ones at all either. I read some of the other teams and drew conclusions from these previews, and now I know I wasted my time. One of the things I would do is assess how big a team's DL or LB group is, but now that I see all of the weights are a year old, that probably doesn't mean much.
I know these are national guys doing these, but don't you think they could get some insight from someone local to do these? At least for some of the bigger teams that lots of people will be paying attention to. Hell, he could have asked any random MGoBlog poster and he/she could have given hiim at least a dozen corrections to this.
Just because it says "spring roster" doesn't mean the heights and weights are from the spring. Mgoblue.com says spring roster, but none of the heights and weights are different than they were in the fall so I'm sure they just transferred them over. I have to assume the same is true for many other teams.
I've honestly never heard of Al Backey in my life. I'm assuming he's a walk-on, but there's no way he'll be ahead of Courtney Avery in the depth chart.
He is a walk-on and I've heard of him only from reading the mgoblue roster.
Is it possible to ban that douchebag from Ann Arbor for like... ever
I also just found out that walk-on safety Charlie Zeller is in the fraternity I was in so I'm hoping he gets some PT on special teams.
Advantage: Hoke
Sorry, wrong thread.