Exit Dennis Norfleet
the last of the famous international playboys
This rumor had been floating around for a couple weeks now, picked up steam on Rivals this morning, and has now been confirmed by Nick Baumgardner:
ANN ARBOR -- Dennis Norfleet is no longer a part of Michigan's football team, according to his former high school coach.
Martin Luther King High School football coach Dale Harvel told MLive on Tuesday that Norfleet has been dismissed from Michigan's program by coach Jim Harbaugh.
"Evidently he was dismissed from the team, Dennis informed us he was no longer on the team," Harvel said Tuesday afternoon. "Something about a disciplinary thing between him and coach Harbaugh. Whether it was academics or something internal, I'm not sure. He just said they had a disagreement and he was let go."
I have heard it was academic. Not sure if that's a slackness that is now verboten under the new regime or a Norfleet morale issue leading to breakdowns elsewhere. [UPDATE: Steve Lorenz says he skipped "more than one final."]
The writing was on the wall as far as Norfleet's career went when he featured as a tiny cornerback in the spring game and was mercilessly picked on for the only offense of the day. With that secondary and that WR corps, the fact he was on defense was a death knell. He may have continued returning kicks and punts; even that job was going to be put under major threat by Jabrill Peppers.
This does get Michigan to 85 scholarships, give or take a walk-on. With a couple of medical hardships likely to be on the way, there should be room to add a fifth-year WR or two, as Mike Spath has suggested might happen.
I will now go sit by myself in a dark room and listen to the Smiths.
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Tremendous use of ellipses.
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He skipped multiple finals...
seems like skipping multiple finals is a thing you'd do if you knew your grades didn't matter i.e. you were planning on being outta there anyway.
Those grades may well matter if he wants to transfer and/or to earn a degree. I suppose they don't matter much if he could blow off the finals and still pass. I hope he knows what he's doing in that regard.
Wasn't Norfleet described as one of the main leaders on the team? What happened? I don't get it. Unless this really is just a huge difference from the last coaching regime to Harbuagh.
Wasnt Hoke struggling to find leaders? After 2013 he tried new things to find leaders to avoid complacency and he got 5-7.
Well, that's one way to get booted from a team...
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Pretty decent odds that he's the latest in the string of former wolverines who play well elsewhere. His frustrating under-use will always be emblematic of the Hoke regime for me.
Maybe, but I always saw his lack of speed as the big thing holding him back...
A few more on the way. Transfers/Medicals.
It's sad to see him gone, but he might have been the worst fit possible for the two most recent eras of this program. Wish him the best, obviously, and hopefully he lands somewhere that is a better fit.
Now I really wish he would have gotten credit for that punt-return TD against Maryland.
he was going to be graduating soon wasn't he?
It will be out soon enough. He knew his fate.
Dennis, see those alluring lights?
Today will be your very last on the team
Sweet Prince...you and your Atomic Dog will be missed!
just too soon. . .
His enthusiasm, effort, and general happiness were extremely fun to watch on the field. I hope he finds a new home soon.
He says it wasn't academic, but he skipped more than one final... seems to be academic.
Time to have a good cry and let it out.
Zero TDs.
Awesome kickoff return yardage because he played on shitty teams that got scored on.
In football terms this means little. And it's possible that his morale regarding football influenced his academic performance.
I will say this: a lot of people rooted for him to succeed as an underdog, fun player kind of story, and he never quite had the speed to do it. And that's ok. But IF (and it's a big "if" with any coach) Harbaugh achieves elite status with Michigan in performance and recruiting, we will look back on this era of players amused at how middling the team's talent used to be. The way Bama fans look at the Shula era, LSU fans at the Dinardo era, and so on. Nice teams, but nothing compared to the 11-and-12-win NFL factories they've become.
Some day when we've got a 4.3 guy housing TDs and massive receivers embarrassing cornerbacks and a DE eating QB lunches every week we might see Norfleet the same way. Maybe.
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We'll always have this.
I'll miss all those punts and kick offs he ran back for TDs.
He thought everyday was Sunday.
Who skips a final? I mean, seriously. I work with undergrads every day and I've experienced this phenomenon a couple of times with my students. And it never ceases to just boggle my mind.
I guess this probably merits the obligatory "less dancing, more class" comment.
Somebody who doesnt give two shits what their grade will be in the class.
Now the question of why he didnt care given the downside of flunking out of school is a whole different unanswered question.
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