Michigan football over the scholarship limit? [Ed-S: no.]

Submitted by Blue boy johnson on

Unless I am mistaken Michigan is two over the 85 scholarship limit as I type today.

Some combination of attrition, RS SR's not coming back, or current signees not getting admitted, adding up to two, must occur relatively soon.

I am counting Sypniewski amongst the 87.

[Ed-S: Two guys aren't returning because of injury. Out of respect for them I ask that you not speculate on the board. EDIT 2: And lo people speculated. Locked. Sorry.]

current 2013 scholarship football players:

1 Kyle Bosch OL FR
2 Jake Butt TE FR
3 Taco Charlton DE FR
4 David Dawson OL FR
5 Reon Dawson ATH FR
6 Ross Douglas DB FR
7 Jaron Dukes WR FR
8 Chris Fox OL FR
9 Ben Gedeon LB FR
10 Derrick Green RB FR
11 Delano Hill DB FR
12 Khalid Hill TE FR
13 Maurice Hurst Jr. DT FR
14 Da'Mario Jones WR FR
15 Patrick Kugler OL FR
16 Jourdan Lewis DB FR
17 Mike McCray LB FR
18 Shane Morris QB FR
19 Henry Poggi DT FR
20 Dan Samuelson OL FR
21 Wyatt Shallman ATH FR
22 Deveon Smith RB FR
23 Channing Stribling DB FR
24 Scott Sypniewski OL FR
25 Dymonte Thomas DB FR
26 Logan Tuley-Tillman OL FR
27 Csont'e York WR FR
28 Matthew Godin DE RS FR
29 Jehu Chesson WR RS FR
30 Erik Magnuson OL RS FR
31 Ben Braden OL RS FR
32 Willie Henry DT RS FR
33 Kyle Kalis OL RS FR
34 Blake Bars OL RS FR
35 Tom Strobel DE RS FR
36 Kaleb Ringer LB RS FR
37 Chris Wormley DE RS FR
38 Jeremy Clark DB RS FR
39 Drake Johnson RB RS FR
40 Allen Gant DB RS FR
41 A.J. Williams TE SO
42 Amara Darboh WR SO
43 Ondre Pipkins DT SO
44 Mario Ojemudia DE SO
45 Royce Jenkins-Stone LB SO
46 Sione Houma FB SO
47 Joe Bolden LB SO
48 Dennis Norfleet RB SO
49 Jarrod Wilson S SO
50 Devin Funchess TE SO
51 James Ross III LB SO
52 Terry Richardson DB SO
53 Keith Heitzman DE RS SO
54 Jack Miller OL RS SO
55 Chris Bryant OL RS SO
56 Antonio Poole LB RS SO
57 Russell Bellomy QB RS SO
58 Blake Countess DB RS SO
59 Justice Hayes RB RS SO
60 Brennen Beyer DE JR
61 Frank Clark DE JR
62 Matt Wile PK JR
63 Desmond Morgan LB JR
64 Thomas Rawls RB JR
65 Delonte Hollowell DB JR
66 Raymon Taylor DB JR
67 Jordan Paskorz TE RS JR
68 Jake Ryan LB RS JR
69 Richard Ash DT RS JR
70 Kenny Wilkins DT RS JR
71 Josh Furman S RS JR
72 Jibreel Black DT SR
73 Will Hagerup P SR
74 Jeremy Jackson WR SR
75 Devin Gardner QB SR
76 Drew Dileo WR SR
77 Courtney Avery CB SR
78 Marvin Robinson S SR
79 Taylor Lewan OL RS SR
80 Quinton Washington DT RS SR
81 Michael Schofield OL RS SR
82 Brendan Gibbons PK RS SR
83 Thomas Gordon S RS SR
84 Fitzgerald Toussaint RB RS SR
85 Mike Jones LB RS SR
86 Jeremy Gallon WR RS SR
87 Cameron Gordon LB RS SR

 

Mlaw2010

February 7th, 2013 at 3:51 PM ^

I'm pretty sure that since he signed and delivered his letter of intent that he will be receiving a full scholarship - there's no conditional aspect once that thing is signed.  That was a rumor that got started a while ago, but he was always a full scholarship player.

MichiganStudent

February 7th, 2013 at 3:48 PM ^

My guess would be Hagerup and a RS Senior LB but Im not sure how some of those guys who were injured have recovered.

Son of Lloyd Brady

February 7th, 2013 at 5:21 PM ^

Like I said in Brian's front-page post I talked to Hagerup for about 20 minutes down here in Dayton at a bar (his gf goes here and knows my friend) and he seemed excited about next season. Real cool guy, was perfectly happy to humor me.

On another note, his hands are absolutely gigantic. He may be about 2 inches taller than me and I felt like this: 

 

Also, I'm sure he doesn't appreciate people speculating he has been kicked off the team.

Young John Beilein

February 7th, 2013 at 4:32 PM ^

Pretty sure it's widely assumed Mike Jones will not be playing a RS SR year.  I don't think it is unreasonable to assume that one more person will leave the team for whatever reason before fall.

ypsituckyboy

February 7th, 2013 at 3:50 PM ^

After all that decision and announcement hoopla, Lewan is gonna be totally bummed when he finds out that Coach Hoke isn't going to have him back for his RS SR season.

ish

February 7th, 2013 at 4:03 PM ^

bingo.  probably not.  that's one scholarship.  also, let's keep in mind, the staff KNOWS where the other one is coming from.  they might know that someone who is injured might not be able to play again.  they might know that they're not letting hagerup come back.  but they KNOW something.

Moleskyn

February 7th, 2013 at 3:54 PM ^

I'm not concerned about it. Isn't the deadline in August or something? Between Spring Practice and summer workouts, I'm sure a couple will drop out. That doesn't even take into account guys who may not get renewed for their redshirt senior years. This will likely work itself out, without the coaches even having to intervene.

Blue boy johnson

February 7th, 2013 at 3:55 PM ^

Interesting tidbit (to me)

only 4 players from the 2009 class made it through in 4 years and graduated from Michigan

class of 2009 4 year players
William Campbell DT
Denard Robinson ATH
Craig Roh DE
Vincent Smith RB

 

Seth

February 7th, 2013 at 6:51 PM ^

They walk the next December usually.

I was a December walk because they gave me just 6 "elective" credits for a full load at the Sorbonne, because apparently taking regular 300-level French literature and history classes from the top francophone school in the world isn't good enough to count as *real* Michigan history and language courses. I had to drop my French minor and finish up my history major to get done in 4 1/2.

This, by the way, is why Michigan gets so few transfers, because they have to come from a good school or basically start over unless they came from a Stanford (Grant Mason) or Georgia Tech (Steven Threet). Guys managed it anyway and Mo and Carr were finding ways to get guys in during the mid and late '90s, so it's not impossible. It's just a tricky and long process of matching the classes you took to classes at Michigan, with the beancounters always erring toward not counting it.

Skiptoomylou22

February 7th, 2013 at 3:56 PM ^

if the coaches didn't renew Khoury or TRobs last year, I highly doubt JP would get a nod to stay a 5th year while were on the subject. Which reminds me of another end in that class, whatever happened to consensus 4-star Army All-American Anthony LaLota?

Mlaw2010

February 7th, 2013 at 3:57 PM ^

It's not uncommon for teams to do this and it is completely within the rules so long as the University notifies the B1G with where the scholarships are coming from.  I have to imagine that the coaches are well aware of what needs to happen to get to 85.  Mike Jones will most likely not get a 5th year.  I'm sure that the coaches know about injuries that may end a player's career (hopefully not) or a kid or two who would like to transfer because they are not getting the playing time they want. 

joeyb

February 7th, 2013 at 5:07 PM ^

I'm not going to count the actual players in each class, but that's ~18 scholarships for the next two recruiting classes. That assumes that you have no transfers, no career-ending injuries, no players kicked off the team for rules violations, no players leaving for the NFL, and all RS Juniors receive a 5th year. That's a lot to happen. Generally, we see 2-3 leave the team, 1-2 get injuries, and 2-5 players not use their last year of eligibility (NFL/cut), so it's really not going to be that small of a recruiting class.

To put it in perspective, I believe that we were expecting to have 18-20 scholarships at this time last year and we ended up with space for 27. Also, 85 scholarships points to taking 22 recruits per year (assuming 4 years per player). 22 might seem like a small class, but it's fairly normal unless you are making up for attrition, which we have been.

Seth

February 7th, 2013 at 4:08 PM ^

See this is why I hate this. Out of respect for the players it's not cool to say who has injuries that are career-ending. There have been enough hints along to way to guess with relative accuracy, and not say it aloud. Believe me when i say I know for a fact the coaches have enough scholarships available for this class plus the players returning next year.

Blue boy johnson

February 7th, 2013 at 4:17 PM ^

No need to hate. It's all good. Went a little sensationalistic to get Brian more page hits.

I found it interesting M being over the schollie limit. If the coaches know, as some are asserting, who the non returning players are, then I'm willing to speculate the players know as well. I'm not trying to hurt anyone's feelings and don't think I am.

What really caught my attention is the scholarship count for next season. Many are expecting a minimum of 16 because we have 16 SR and RS SR, but if two of the 5th year don't get renewed, M is down to a min of 14

Blue boy johnson

February 7th, 2013 at 4:56 PM ^

When you sign 27 and you have 25 openings speculation springs up uncontrollably.

I understand and appreciate where you are coming from, but it comes off as a bit sanctimonious for my liking. Michigan signs a class of 27 when they have 25 openings. I understand what is going on, however if Alabama or some other school does the same thing, Mgo will assume the program is dirty and just cutting players. We have no empathy for the players on other teams.

Really, I think the football program would be better served to announce the unfortunate news of a couple of players being unable to continue due to injury and nip speculation in the bud. What is the stigma, if in fact, as you assert, they know who the players are?

 

BiSB

February 7th, 2013 at 5:05 PM ^

Is that we signed 27 with 25 openings THAT YOU KNEW OF, and you jumped to the conclusion that there were only 25 openings. In reality we signed 27 with probably 28 or 29 openings.

People didn't assume Bama oversigned because they signed 27 with 25 known openings. People assumed they oversigned because the signed 28 with like 18 known openings. Was it possible that there were 10 guys who had all secretly decided to leave for legitimate reasons? Sure, but its a hell of a lot less likely.

Blue boy johnson

February 7th, 2013 at 5:13 PM ^

I'm not jumping to any conclusions. M has 87 scholarship athletes on the football team with 85 openings. 2 or more are leaving. Facts are stubborn things. You can spin it any way  you choose, but at least 2 of the 87 aren't on the team next season.

Seth

February 7th, 2013 at 6:13 PM ^

Sanctimony wasn't my intention. But like anybody who's being a prig can say "I didn't intend to be a prig." The best I can do is apologize for the necessity--I don't want to say "this kid and that kid are hurt" and I don't want readers to spend the next month and a half thinking Michigan oopsed and now has to trim its roster when I know for a fact that that's not the case. So I tiptoe and it comes off holier than thou. Believe me it's not personal and it's not prancing--it's me trying to be helpful while squeezing into a narrow gap between two damneds.

Maybe if I expound?

As mentioned above: teams usually hit February 1 or 2 over the scholly limit. Roll this for every team in a BCS conference and I bet it's like 75% of schools are in this position right now. All of those I ever profiled at this time were. What differentiates that from what Bama and LSU and South Carolina and Nutt's Ole Miss and some other teams were doing is the volume. Saban would routinely be 15 or 18 players over the limit right now. There isn't a school in America that will lose less than 2 players between now and the start of next season, but nobody drops 17 unless they mean to.

By the way I ought to point out the reason they were signing those huge classes in the SEC wasn't just greater numbers; it was a novel way to make use of a large number of kids who are at risk of not academically qualifying who might otherwise be too big of a risk for a big school. Georgia, who doesn't oversign, let Nkemideche's older brother, who was a major academic risk, go to a Houston Nutt Ole Miss team, not because his talent wasn't good enough for Georgia's backfield (he was a corner I think at the time) but because Georgia couldn't afford a hole. Ole Miss however was taking 30 kids like that and had another 40 like that on the roster, and fully expected many to academically wash out.

The reason there's no announcement about players whose careers ended this year is because you don't want to be in the habit of announcing them as they come, which then gets into sticky stuff. You don't want to make the call too early if there's a chance of healing, and that scholarship is already taken for the year, so standard practice is to have an injured guy always be on the team until the first spring practice of the following year. That, not so coincidentally, is when the coaches can again be in contact with their players, thus the player is able to, in person, inform the coaches at that juncture that he can't continue. It's a far better system for the kids and the program, and the really serious ones the coaches already know about they can plan for in recruiting. The biggest downside then is a six-week period between signing day and the beginnig of spring practice when the public isn't made aware, and the people who know or figured it out just kind of keep our mouths shut out of respect for the system.

energyblue1

February 7th, 2013 at 4:09 PM ^

Ricardo Miller is transfering to Umass.........That is one....so rather or not any 5th yr player is invited back you can figure one more will leave before fall camp.   Some attrition happens...

Remember last yr had 25 signed and they still offered 7 walk-ons schollies.....  so attrition happens, and keeping close to te 85 number even with a full class is the game these days. 

Streetchemist

February 7th, 2013 at 4:10 PM ^

Didn't he have a possible career ending weightlifting accident? Also Ringer had a knee injury, but he's RS FR so he's less likely to get a medical scholarship at this point than Poole.