OT - Favorite Overshadowed UofM Player
We all hear about the big names that have come through UofM athletics; Woodson, Brady, Webber, Peppers, Harbaugh, etc.
When these types of players were currently at the University of Michigan, which of their teammates did you thoroughly enjoy watching, but they were potentially overshadowed by the popularity of someone else on the team?
I always enjoy hearing mgobloggers perspective and stories on these types of questions so I would love to hear your thoughts!
Definitely Marcus Knight.
Fun fact: he recruited me in high school (he's at CMU now), and when he came to my school and introduced himself and I totally fangirled for a second. "Wait, like Michigan's Marcus Knight?!" He didn't want to talk about his college days, and then it was awkward when I clearly wasn't interested in his current school.
Are you talking about when he was at NMU? I live up in Marquette and helped him out at my previous employer once or twice. He was always pretty nice and talked to me a bit about his time at Michigan, though the interactions weren't very long. Still, cool guy and I'm glad he's moved up from NMU to CMU.
John Navarre. About as overshadowed as a starting qb could be. I included him in my UM application essay. True story.
That's awesome. I was also thinking of starting a thread that talks about players that were bashed far more than they deserved during their playing days. I think he also falls into that category in my book.
I liked Navarre too, but oh boy was I sick of 30% of his passes getting batted down at the line when he was 6'6".
Did John get shorter or taller since then?
Spinal compression as you age... so shorter.
Good one. John was really good. He is also the last QB to beat a really good OSU team.
<searches for noose>
Was Wormley overshadowed? Because I loved watching Wormley kick ass on the line. Wasn't flashy because he didn't have the pass rush moves that the big sack number DEs had, but he would wreck your shit and mess up your run game. Had the biggest ass I've ever seen.
I think Wormley definitely counts. Particularly if we consider that down the line, his name will most likely not be discussed much when talking about the 2016 team. Also, I completely agree with your sentiment. He was so damn reliable.
Was Wormley overshadowed? Because I loved watching Wormley kick ass on the line. Wasn't flashy because he didn't have the pass rush moves that the big sack number DEs had, but he would wreck your shit and mess up your run game. Had the biggest ass I've ever seen.
Obviously you never met one of my old girl friends. She was from Puerto Rico and that thing was glorious man. Glorious!
BASKETBALL
Ray Jackson
Jordan Morgan
Loy Vaught
FOOTBALL
Glen Steele
Rob Renes
Jermane Tuman
Channing Stribling
Tom Brady!!!
Is Jermane Tuman any relation to Jerame Tuman?
Agreed - obviously not overshadowed since, but Tom Brady was definitely overshadowed at UM!
Yeah for Glen Steele...he was my choice! My extended family is from Northern Indiana/ Elkhart County, and I watched Glen play HS ball...from little, rural West Noble HS. He was a terrific 3 sport star but the thought that he was a big-time athlete never crossed my mind until his Michigan offer hit the local news.
Jordan Morgan is a GREAT one. So many NBA draft picks on the teams he played for, but he came up so huge in so many games. Played way taller than 6'8" on defense and was instrumental in some of the best Beilein offenses off the pick and roll.
Ray Vinopal
My username gives mine away. I sit in the endzone staring straight down the center of the field. Sione used to line up right next to the kicker on kickoffs and murder return blockers. I never watched anything but him on those kickoffs. Then Harbaugh came and he became a staple on the offense which was awesome. My wife still makes fun of me for how happy I was when he scored his first touchdown.
Nice try THE_KNOWLEDGE
Although he was very good, I still think Derrick Alexander was overshadowed since his career was overlapped by both Desmond on one end and Amani Toomer on the other. He finished with over 2,000 yards receiving and 23 TDs, but the team still had dominant RBs like Wheatley that got all the press during his time.
Good one, he came to mind for me as well.
Going to have to go with the Jason Avant/Braylon Edwards combo here.
Same, I was right about to say 'as crazy as it is, Avant'. He was great.
Jason Avant comes to mind for me. Most of his career was overshadowed by Braylon.
Fab Five-era, Jason Bossard. The world just wasn't ready for his talent.
Dugan Fife.
Steve Breaston. While I don't think he was REALLY overshadowed, I don't think he was as popular as someone like Braylon, which makes sense because Braylon was amazing.
Breaston would have been so much better if he remained a slot WR his entire career. Instead, Lloyd put his best guy on the outside no matter what and Breaston just couldn't adjust to the deep ball nor was he ever one to high point in coverage.
His main strength was YAC and that would have been much more exploitable out of the slot position.
Hayden Epstein- 99-02
He was an excellent kicker and punter. He had multiple game winners, I remember being at Camp Randall in 2001 when he hit the game-winner there. He had a cannon for a leg, and made multiple kicks over 50 yards. His kick-off’s could go as far as he wanted them to go. (This is coming from a guy who was just accused of not respecting punters!)
As far as kickers, my favorite would be Blake O'Neil. Go ahead and neg, but it is unfortunate his only mistake came at the worst possible time (but why was the game so close???), but he was amazing. He consistently nailed punts inside the 20 unlike anyone else that i can recall and had a great leg. Would've been great for him to have played for 4 years.
Kenny Allen was also fantastic in 2016 punting and kicking.
Both O'Neill and Allen were outstanding. Last year was a big regression in the punting game.
Brian Griese.
I loved Allen Jefferson and Tripp Welbourne inspired me to wear #3 when I 'played' high school football.
Excellent observation!
Bernie Leggette! Yeah, I;m old! All purpose FB: Road grader and dependable smasher.
Mike Griffin. Starting shooting guard and National Champion '89.
Easy answers: Navarre, Avant, Graham
Offense is Avant. Dude carved out a nice NFL career as well. But since he has already been mentioned, I'll also toss out there Jamie Morris. A bit overshadowed by Harbaugh but a star in his own right.
Defense is Sam Sword. Led UM in tackles 3 straight seasons but Woodson got most of the hype (rightfully).
Thad Garner. I know you are asking yourself, "how could a guy they named an award after be overshadowed?" I think he was overshadowed because he played during that stretch of basketball after the really good Johnny Orr teams and before the really good Bill Frieder teams. When you name the greats from my lifetime, it's Phil Hubbard, Mike McGee, Rumeal and Mills, Glen Rice, and Howard, Webber and Rose. But Thad was Mr. Everything. He could fill up a boxscore like Scottie Pippen.
Maybe a more fitting answer to your question is James Voskuil. He and Pelinka were the two guys who could play on the same court as the Fab 5. Everyone remembers Pelinka now because of his fame as an agent and his present role with the Lakers. People forget Voskuil went on to have a great movie career under the pseudonym, "Billy Baldwin."
Rob Pelinka
Tommy Hendricks. Everyone knows Woodson and Ray, but Hendricks made many big plays in '97 also.
Good Call on Tommy/loved him, I might go with Andre Weathers from the 97' team honestly, super solid weak side corner that didnt get much praise. That whole defense was loaded though.
Zoltan Mesko, duh.
It is rather difficult to forget The Space Emperor Of Space.
Jason Avant
David Harris
Garrett Rivas
Chad Henne is probably one of the 5 best QB to play at Michigan but probably isn’t mentioned enough when discussing the all-time greats.
2 RB that are probably underrated are Butch Woolfolk and Jon Vaughn.
Hence was the first to come to my mind too. When he trotted out as a freshman in the first game of the year a lot of bad things could have happened. He was extremely poised as a Fr which was impressive. I still cant believe he never beat OSU. It is probably his largest ding in his 4 years.