BRCE

January 28th, 2012 at 5:16 PM ^

Was this rumored for awhile or is it out of the blue? Seems like we should have been interested in him if he was in us.

Michigan's current roster makeup is very ripe for a WR transfer, particularly one that could play in 2012 if anyone good out there graduates and has a Russell Wilson situation.

PurpleStuff

January 28th, 2012 at 6:48 PM ^

Lee and Woods had monster seasons, but after that there isn't much in the way of Prater getting playing time.  The next most productive wideout on the team had 18 catches for 153 yards this year (he's graduating) and the 4th guy had just 12 catches (he's transferring to SDSU for PT and because the coaches want to clear room to stay at/under 75 scholarships).  Those guys only accounted for one TD on the season.

Not sure what he'll be able to do if/when his injury issues improve but the SC coaches were more than happy to get him off the scholarship books despite the fact that they don't have any production coming back other than Woods/Lee at the position.

 

 

NorthwesternFan

January 28th, 2012 at 5:21 PM ^

If there's one team in the Big Ten other than Michigan that I love to see get great talent, it's Northwestern.  Fitzgereald runs a great program in Evanston, and it's hard not to root for the Cats. This is a huge pick-up, and will be a great target for Colter to throw to.

kehnonymous

January 28th, 2012 at 5:24 PM ^

And why should we worry? It's *JUST* Northwestern....  :)  Seriously though - great pickup for Northwestern and hopefully they win a bowl game next year and do well in every game except the one at our house.

BrownJuggernaut

January 28th, 2012 at 5:58 PM ^

Great pick up for Northwestern! For what it's worth, the midwest schools that offered Prater originally for college were Illinois, Michigan, and Notre Dame. Northwestern didn't even offer him, probably because they probably could not have gotten him. What a difference a couple years makes. Fitzgerald is doing a fantastic job.

Don

January 28th, 2012 at 6:24 PM ^

ESPN Insiders has a paywalled article titled:

"Five recruiting underachievers:

Michigan, Notre Dame, FSU among the teams that fail to play up to their talent level"

I'm really curious what data they're using to put us in that category.

ForeverVoyaging

January 28th, 2012 at 6:45 PM ^

Since 2007 Michigan has managed to lose to: Appalachian State,Toledo, MSU (4x), Purdue (2x), as well as various other middling B1G teams, none of which had a roster as talented on paper as Michigan's.

Also, in 2007, Oregon was not a very good team, while Michigan was #5 in the preaseason and one bad series away from playing in the BCS championship the year before.That loss pretty much removed Michigan from the elite of college football, and it came at the hands of a team stuffed to the gills with 3* slot ninja types.

Yeah, I'd call that underachieving.

PurpleStuff

January 28th, 2012 at 7:00 PM ^

Oregon was probably the best team in the country in 2007 until Dixon got hurt.  They were #2 in the country when he tore his ACL early in a game at Arizona that the Ducks led.  They ended up losing that game 34-24, losing a week later 16-0 to UCLA, and lost in 2OT against Oregon St. 

If Dixon doesn't go down they win all of those games and are playing Ohio State for the national title.  With Boeckman at QB, I think the Ducks roll in that game.

lilpenny1316

January 28th, 2012 at 8:25 PM ^

...if they're going based off the recruiting rankings.  Since 2001, we have underachieved based on the "perfect" recruiting rankings.  Before the RR years, we pulled out some miracle/referee aided wins wins against PSU (2x), MSU (2x) and Illinois.  There were others as well, but those games were the difference between a 9-3 season and 7-5 or 8-4 seasons.  Just looking at the 2005 season, that very easily could have been a 5-7 season if we lose the two OT games to Iowa and MSU.  That doesn't even include the last second TD against PSU.  So yeah, if that's their basis for over/underachieving, we fit the bill.

jethro34

January 28th, 2012 at 6:37 PM ^

The Prater thing was talked about in a thread weeks ago, so no, it's not new that he was at least looking at Northwestern.  He had declared he was transferring about 3 weeks ago.

Leg injuries have plagued him so far.

Illinois and Wisconsin were the other schools he was considering.  His release prevented him from transferring to other Pac-12 schools or Notre Dame.

Like others, Northwestern is a school I don't mind cheering for, and would be happy to see them having winning seasons each year, even get up to 8 or 9 wins, but I wouldn't want to see them become a powerhouse that now challenges heavily for Midwest talent. 

Also, if they ever get to the point that they beat us like the 2000 game, babies will be punched (not by me, of course, I would never do such a thing - in fact, I'd rather not even joke about child abuse so needless to say I would beat the snot out of a stuffed animal instead)

Perkis-Size Me

January 28th, 2012 at 7:00 PM ^

if there's one other coach in the B1G that I can root for, its fitzgerald. i had the privilege of getting to meet him this summer for about 20 mins, and he really showed he's a player's coach, and 100% committed to northwestern. i will root for him 11 of the 12 weeks of the season.

lhglrkwg

January 28th, 2012 at 10:32 PM ^

Outside of Michigan or Ohio State, you really don't find elite (5*) skill position talent in the big ten. This is at least marginally good for the league