Previously:

June 2008

So a couple notes to start with: I switched from Blogspot in last month’s diary to the normal site. In doing so, I discovered that there were a couple more post at the end of June. I included them here because there’s more information and because comments are visible. There are a few familiar faces in the there (some that you’ll find in this recent thread).

June 29 - Sunday

Welcome to MGoBlog 3.0! Actually it’s 2.0 according to Seth, but this is pretty interesting because it describes the site for the first time and some other ideas that never quite came to fruition.

June 30 - Monday

Monday Recruitin’. QB Kevin Newsome’s commitment is very uncertain. He probably has a higher ceiling than recruit Tate Forcier. Also. FL RB Vincent Smith gets his first mention.

Brian gives an update on a few bugs in the new site.

July 1 - Tuesday

Unverified Voracity Digs In. Michigan Replay is going away and not coming back with that name because the guy who created it owns the name. Brian laments the loss of the theme music.

No Darius Morris commitment yet, but there is still much hope. An open practice was the first opportunity for the public to see freshmen Novak and Douglass. A scouting report is included, but no mentions of aneurysms at this time.

Banner contest, final four.

Verizon adds the BTN.

July 2 - Wednesday

In the summer of 2008 there was much concern about what the jerseys (surprise, surprise) would look like with the change to Adidas. Given what was to come, there probably should have been more concern about QB play. However, internet sources are saying that earlier internet sources’ concern over the away jersey was overblow.

Kevin Grady got a DUI.

Unverified Voracity Finds Empty Grass. A Bruce Feldman article on the coaching change at ‘M’ includes a Brandstatter quote about how Bo would love Rodriguez's practices and how similar the culture change is. So much optimism…

July 3 - Thursday

Home jerseys have been revealed, and they’re ok. Hooray!

Will the football team be awful this year? Like 2007 Notre Dame awful? Brian says maybe, but gives his reasons why he doesn’t think so.

July 7 - Monday

Unverified Voracity is Over it. App St. has put the Horror score on their championship rings. Also, allegedly, Barwis has rechiseled Terrance Taylor.

NCAA Football 09 is out, and Brian includes an extensive examination.

July 8 - Tuesday

Tuesday Recruitin’. It appears that Michigan leads for IL OL Zach Martin. Also, Brandin Hawthorne shirtless.

July 9 - Wednesday

Max Pacioretty is at Motreal’s rookie camp and is impressing. He hasn’t made a decision yet about leaving college, but it’s not looking good for ‘M’.

Rodriguez and ‘M’ have reached a buyout with WVU. Hopefully everyone can focus on football now.

Mailbag, covering: how reliable are recruiting services? Can Jay Hopson really recruit Mississippi? Has anyone else succeeded with the zone read option?

July 10 - Thursday

Michael Rosenberg has started his attacks against Rodriguez. He went from respected writer to unbearable very quickly.

Dude, seriously: what's wrong with Michael Rosenberg? Over the past few years he's been one of the few Detroit sports columnists worth reading, but he's rapidly descending into Sharp territory.

Alabama had too many players on their roster, so they cut one.

Unverified Voracity Tinkers (Read: Breaks) Stuff. Sadly, Steve and Barry’s is going out of business. Apparently, this was expedited by ‘M’ breaking off a licensing agreement with them because Steve and Barry’s couldn’t pay their bills.

July 11 - Friday

A couple recent media reports have referred to how Greg Schiano had agreed to a deal to become the head coach last December but changed his mind at the last minute. Brian looks back at his sources from the time and agrees with the general sequence of events.

Kevin Newsome decommit watch is on.

A request for all CFB bloggers to join the blogpoll.  

July 14 - Monday

Monday Recruitin’. Slightly less worry on Newsome as he did not attend a Virginia Tech camp over the weekend. Zach Martin however did not visit ‘M’ as planned; instead he went to ND.

The road jerseys aren’t the worst, but maybe still a little too reminiscent of West Virginia. Also, it’s interesting to see posters who are still around. Glen Mason’s Hot Wife is featured prominently in this post.

Banner contest, the final battle.

Unverified Voracity Digs Up Old Feuds by detailing the animosity between Lloyd Carr and Ty Law and Lloyd and Amani Toomer.

July 15 - Tuesday

Blogpoll invitees are enumerated.

Unverified Voracity is Covered in EEEE. Barwis EEE that is. ESPN has lots of hype about him.

July 16 - Wednesday

Brian looks at the worst players who started regularly in the Carr era. First up is Defensive Line: DT Pat Massey, DT Shawn Lazarus, DE Dan Rumishek, DE Larry Stevens.

Unverified Voracity Has a New Favorite Stanford Player. It’s Jason Forcier because he wears a “Worst State Ever” shirt. Also, it’s surprising to see that the QB Force website was updated as recently as a year ago.

July 17 - Thursday

Max Pacioretty has signed with the Canadiens.

After many attempts to qualify, Marques Slocum’s time has come to an end.

July 18 - Friday

Even Unverified Voracity is Tired of Barwis Porn. So the “worst of the Carr era” team was met with opposition (a little too mean-spirited), so it is being discontinued. Also this:

The rest of it is per standard. Barwis makes grown men cry. Larry Foote can fly now. Player X came in a 200 pound fatty and now bends steel bars with his forearm hair. Barwis ate a baby once and crapped out Lawrence Taylor. Barwis got in a time machine, travelled back to the Indian subcontinent when it was still floating in the ocean and got the natives so fired up they threw it into Asia.

Barwis invented flour.

New Shirt! It’s a Che-styled picture of Bo.

July 21 - Monday

Monday Recruitin’. ‘M’ is losing too many head to head battles to ND. Zach Martin is the latest example.

Brian examines a couple more players that have left Alabama.

Hello DE Dequinta Jones. Also, Tom Beaver gets a little huffy about Rivals reporting it first.

July 22 - Tuesday

Unverified Voracity Takes Everything Not Bolted Down apparently this includes “Those Who Stay…” which Bear Bryant used in a book in 1960.

July 23 - Wednesday

Kirk Ferentz was nearly Michigan’s head coach, and now some pretty bad allegations have come out about the Iowa football team. Things worse that anything that has been alleged about Rodriguez.

July 24 - Thursday

Unverified Voracity Might be Set Upon. Brian is attending Big Ten media days; he hopes to ask Joe Tiller about gentlemen's agreements.

Rodriguez presser from media days, complete with Brian’s running commentary throughout. All of these pieces are highly entertaining.

July 25 - Friday

Brian sat at Rodriguez’s table hoping to get a question answered, but struggled against traditional media types, including Tom Dienhart of all people. If you ever wonder why Brian doesn’t travel to media days every year, here is your answer:

Why am I here? Have I gotten anything useful out of this at all, or would my time have been better spent in the Batcave (read: mother's basement) pounding out a preview of Minnesota or something? I have absolutely no better handle on how Michigan will do this year. I don't even have the barest smidge of news to bring you: the two pieces of actual news I've heard have been common knowledge on the internet for a month. I couldn't get anyone to say anything even remotely interesting. I'm pretty sure Travis Beckum thinks I have Down's Syndrome. A rousing success, this is not.

Brian did get two questions answered during his time there. One was about J Lehman’s tie and Rodriguez’s planned use of TEs in the slot.

Rodriguez: "You want to look for mismatches part of what we're experimenting with that with the tight ends. If they can prove to be a mismatch on the field we'll use them; if they can't, they won't."

This was not as revelatory as I hoped, but it wasn't about how he feels about leadership, man.

July 28 - Monday

Unverified Voracity Needs a Baby. Outside the Lines has reported on recent transgressions at Penn St. Except, not those transgressions. This is sadly ironic:

Except for the "To Catch A Predator" tone of the voiceover, that seemed pretty fair: mention of the high graduation rates and acknowledgement of how many charges actually resulted in convictions, something that the list flying around the internet failed to do.

Monday Recruitin’. Kevin Newsome’s commitment seems more solid, but maybe TX WR Bryce McNeal less so. FL QB Geno Smith had ‘M’ in his top five, but then got rid of a top five all together. Also, both TX K Anthony Fera and FL K Brendan Gibbons are being recruited.

July 29 - Tuesday

Mailbag covers what will McGuffie’s impact be? What else would Brian have asked Rodriguez given the chance? Is it possible that Threet would have started over Mallett if Carr were still in charge?

July 30 - Wednesday

Unverified Voracity Breaks Super Important News. That being that ‘M’ will have a male twirler this season. Also, Penn St. ended up kicking a couple players off their team after the recent investigative report.

July 31 - Thursday

Season Preview: Purdue. Brian predicts a 7-5 finish. They would end up at 4-8. Also, funny to see Ace and Brian interacting in the comments on this post.