Bb011

November 24th, 2010 at 2:13 PM ^

We have had SO many injuries this year. I was calling them bad luck for so long....but how many does it take to make the "bad luck" turn to blaming the S&C coaches....

mgolund

November 24th, 2010 at 2:16 PM ^

I'm trying to figure out what Barwis & Co. could do to prevent concussion "like" injuries.  Also, I don't care how strong you are, if a joint gets hit just right, there's going to be an injury.

But, I forgot- the earthquake in Haiti and North Korea shelling the South are also RR's fault.

Bb011

November 24th, 2010 at 2:34 PM ^

Concussions are a totally different thing. I'm not including concussion like symptoms. However, all the other things over the past 3 years. There has been a lot more injuries in the last 3 years than lets say 10 years ago. I'm not blaming barwis and co(yet, i merely asked how many does it take to blame them), but there is definitely a correlation. That does NOT mean causation though.....

Ziff72

November 24th, 2010 at 3:13 PM ^

Mike Hart, Chad Henne and Jake Long were all fully healthy their 4 years here.  People are such fucking idiots I can hardly fucking breathe anymore without yelling.  Do you remember 05 and the main reason we were 7-5?   How about the reason why Henne even started in 04 was because our starting qb blew out his shoulder before we even played a game and on and on and on and on Anonio Bass's career, Cory Zirbel's career etc....     Yeah we never had bad luck with injuries before Barwis arrived.

His Dudeness

November 24th, 2010 at 2:36 PM ^

I was calling them bad luck for so long....but how many does it take to make the "bad luck" turn to blaming the S&C coaches....

I have read a bunch of really stupid things form our fanbase, but this is the most stupid thing I have ever read from any of them. Blame someone for anything because you can't go to your friends and brag about a team of young men that never owed you shit anyway. It has been written above, but it begs to be written again: HOW IN THE NAME OF FUCK IS A S&C COACH SUPPOSED TO TRAIN HIS PLAYERS NOT TO GET CONCUSSIONS?!?! I am so surprised you have the mental capacity to type on a keyboard. I hope you are 12 years old for the rest of our sake. I mean if you have a vote for president I should just end it all right now and get it over with. After reading this you make Hunter S. Thompsons suicide make sense. You have truly opened my eyes to how misinformed people can be.

kalamazoo

November 24th, 2010 at 3:33 PM ^

I think the concussions Michigan got this season are just by chance and could not have been prevented personally.  But I did find this which is the first link I found when googling to answer your question:

http://www.ehow.com/how_2155490_avoid-concussions-football.html

Even though head-on helmet-to-helmet hits are flagged, helmets are still smacking on many plays.  S&C coaches could probably teach kids to stay away from the head and tackle the body more and make sure to teach kids to be avoidant of others' helmets when getting tackled.  Maybe that seems like tackling techniques that belong to off/def coaches, but the S&C coaches should work with them on that. And also, never ever ever let your head hit the ground especially when landing backwards.  Really instill fear into the players about hurting their heads.  It wouldn't hurt is the way I see it and I believe they are already doing it.  You know, just be more defensive about your body.  Just like when driving - accidents are often the other's person's fault but that doesn't prevent some people from being absolutely paranoid and unbelievably defensive to anticipate and avoid other people's mistakes. 

Easier said than done when 12 helmets are converging on one player and M may be doing all it can so I think it was random this year.  And also, if you look around 5 times before catching the ball, chances are you won't be catching the ball.  But I do think there is probably some better training than the crap I listed here in 2 min.

MAgoBLUE

November 24th, 2010 at 2:21 PM ^

Seeing Smith stagger to the Block M at midfield and fall down last week was scary.  I definitely did not expect him to get clearence to play this week.  I'm glad he's gonna be out there.

Black Socks

November 24th, 2010 at 2:21 PM ^

Honestly I would like Vincent to sit this one out.  How can he be fine after he took that shot last week.  It was uneasy to say the least.  Sit it out for your long term health.

swdude12

November 24th, 2010 at 2:22 PM ^

When did Hemmingway get banged up? I dont recall....First im not even gonna get into the Gallon failure as a Kick Returner...but why is our starting WR returning kicks? There is no one else that can return kicks? DILEO? Stonum would not have gotten injured to begin with.

Blue in Yarmouth

November 24th, 2010 at 2:40 PM ^

Everything we have seen from RR to this point shows that if V Smith isn't 100% cleared by the medical staff to play RR will sit him out. I can't say the same thing for most coaches, but RR will make the decision based on the players best interest and not his own.

Tater

November 24th, 2010 at 4:12 PM ^

Sometimes I wonder if athletes like V Smith are able to "fool" the concussion test because their reflexes are so quick.  The basic test is to move a finger or pen around in front of their face and have them follow it with their eyes.  If the movements are smooth and they follow it around OK, they are deemed to not have PCS symptoms.  If the eye movements are delayed and jerky, they are deemed to have PCS symptoms. 

I have to wonder if it is possible for a person with very fast reflexes, ala Ali, an NHL goalie, or some football players who make their careers on fast reaction times, are able to test "borderline" and get approved by the medical staffs, while actually still having a concussion?

Hopefully, that is not the case with V Smith, but maybe a more definitive concussion test for all athletes, especially in contact sports, is warranted.  Maybe athletes should have to "pass," for example, a SPECT series geared to concussion detection before being approved to play. 

tdcarl

November 24th, 2010 at 11:32 PM ^

I'm pretty sure at a place with the medical reputation like Michigan that they are doing tests a little more advanced than the pen and eye test. Hell, my small high school had a much more complicated concussion test system. Players had to take the concussion test at the beginning of the year when they had no problems. After a concussion was thought to have occured the players had to take the test again. If there was a drop off in scores than the player received treatment and had to retake the test every day until they finished with scores close to their original test.

Captain Obvious

November 24th, 2010 at 2:26 PM ^

Our injury report is going to be 13 pages, double-sided, and single-spaced this week.

Starters out on D: both CBs, MLB

D starters hobbled/might play: NT, DE, OLB

Starters out on O: 1 RB (at least), 4 WR/Slots

O starters hobbled/might play: 2 RBs (at least), LT, RT, QB

This doesn't even get into backups.  But wait, RR has to use this team to win against a top 5 team on the road in order to save his job, according to some.  Sounds reasonable to me!

Ed Shuttlesworth

November 24th, 2010 at 2:39 PM ^

Nobody'd be complaining if Rod's freshmen CBs were Charles Woodson or Ty Law or Leon Hall.  Rick Leach started from Day 1.  And on and on.

Jesus, with all the whining and buck-passing, you'd think that no freshman ever played a down for Michigan until 2009.

azblue55

November 24th, 2010 at 2:50 PM ^

You can see on the tape where Roh got blindsided on a helmut to helmut hit by a second olineman then fell on his head on a chop block. Heard that he had no memory of the last two drives he played in the first half. 

Ed Shuttlesworth

November 24th, 2010 at 2:58 PM ^

And now the admissions office gets added to the list of scapegoats.  You're right, no coach in Michigan history or the history of any other school has ever had a player they wanted rejected by Admissions. 

Never happened.  Unprecedented.

jrt336

November 24th, 2010 at 3:40 PM ^

This "freshman" stuff is a reason we are so bad, but at what point are we going to put some of that blame on RR? Most of the attrition really wasn't his fault, but come on. We couldn't keep Vlad or Turner? 

jmblue

November 24th, 2010 at 4:41 PM ^

Colorado and West Virginia apparently didn't have a problem with their shortcomings.  Look, I think even RR himself would agree that the staff has probably made some mistakes in recruiting and player management.  Some transfers are inevitable, but when you lose guys at positions at which you have little depth, something's amiss. 

Ed Shuttlesworth

November 24th, 2010 at 3:53 PM ^

Right, Law and Woodson were "once a decade" players who started school at Michigan ... three years apart.

Freshmen play at Michigan all the time and many of them play very well.  Do we really need a complete list on a Michigan website?

The point is that Rod's freshmen obviously aren't Woodson or Law or Hall or Henne or the best of the rest.   If they were, this would be a different conversation.  Some freshmen just grow up to be ... James Rogers.