2000 Michigan Roster - most NFL players of all time?
So I'm watching the replay of the Michigan vs. Alabama 2000 bowl game, and I'm blown away with how many of our guys from this roster played in the NFL. Is it the most star studded team in the history of our program? My criteria is simply how many guys played in the NFL vs other UM rosters. I will list all the guys I can remember, and it's up to you mgoexperts to find guys I'm missing and maybe another team that had even more.
In no particular order...
Tom Brady, Steve Hutchinson, Anthony Thomas, Jeff Backus, David Terrel, Ian Gold, Rob Renes, Josh WIlliams, James Hall, David Baas, Justin Fargas, Drew Henson, Chris Perry, Larry Foote, John Navarre, Cato June, Marquise Walker ,BJ Askew, Bennie Joppru, Shantee Orr, Victor Hobson
That's 21 by my count, and that's even more than I expected.... thoughts?
Thanks to the worst pass-interference call ever.
UM did a great job of moving the ball between the 20's against OSU in 2002 but could only get 3 FG's out of it.
on a TD catch by Braylon? The Big Ten wasn't ruining anyone's undefeated season, especially in Columbus.
The 1997 NC team had 28 players that made NFL rosters, which was more than the 2000 team. Most of the names are up on the wiki page for that team. It was a remarkably talented team.
I actually posted on this last year:
I've been wondering what we would need to do in order to catch USC's top recruiting class in that era. It's amazing to think that's something even remotely likely.
Ronald Bellamy? Looks like he didn't have any receptions in '99, but he had some kick returns/punt returns. Didn't have much of an NFL career but played for the Dolphins in '04. His stats show he played in 2 games with no starts but had 1 reception for 8 yards. Other than that just practice squads for him (Ravens and Lions).
Bellamy moved to cornerback that year to add depth. He returned to WR in 2000.
My good friend Tommy Hendricks was on the team. He played for Miami and Jacksonville!
Miami 2001 is just disgusting.
Look at how many of those players not only went and played in the NFL but were/are franchise stars.
I think he was one of those kids that msitakenly declared early. He was poised for a great senior year.
>And while Michigan's loss to Illinois was awful
Jeez, how'd you blow a 20 point lead in the second half like that?
(missed assignment>touchdown, missed assignment>touchdown, missed assignment>touchdown)
....
Oh.
FFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUU!!!!!
Realistically, you could do this with plenty of Michigan teams, both good teams and bad/mediocre. For example, I give you the 2004 Michigan Wolverines. All of these guys played at least special teams for a season or two in the NFL. Bolded are guys that have actually been decent contributors/starters.
Jamar Adams, Adrian Arrington, Jason Avant, David Baas, Alan Branch, Steve Breaston, Prescott Burgess, Shawn Crable, Braylon Edwards, Matt Gutierrez, Leon Hall, David Harris, Mike Hart, Chad Henne, Marlin Jackson, Tim Jamison, Jake Long, Tim Massaquoi, Ryan Mundy, Morgan Trent, Gabe Watson, LaMarr Woodley, Pierre Woods
Michigan flipped that into a B1G title and a narrow loss to Texas that looks about as good as any loss we've ever had in retrospect.
The real disappointment was that the incredible promise of '04 was never realized. And I think that defines Carr's legacy almost as much as '97 does.
had under Carr. Terrel and Walker were both 5* high school receivers, plus they had the A-train, Tom Brady at QB, and an NFL caliber offensive line. Trouble is they had Mike DeBord as offensive coordinator. Enough said. But, Carr didn't help things sometimes either. In this game at the end of regulation, he squanders almost 40 seconds off the clock while holding several timeouts. Instead of attempting to score a TD or get a lot closer for Epstein, he picks the most ultra-conservative course of action and it almost costs us the game. Fortunately, Alabama's kicker inexplicably misses the PAT.
But we scored 29 and 31 in the two games we lost.
The problem wasn't the offense that year, it was the defense.