BHB Review of: Hail To The Victors 2009

I'm not a big fan of those college football preview magazines. (Editors note: HTTV 2009 is not one of those magazines!) They give you one page of information on your favorite team in a magazine full of information you don't need or care about. Let me save you a couple of dollars and will highlight for you what they will say about Michigan this year :

Michigan was terrible last year in Rich Rodriguez first year. They didn't have a QB to run his offense and the defense played terrible and under achieved. Michigan is now in it's second year in RR's offense and the defense again has a new defense coordinator with the hiring of Greg Robinson, former Syracuse head man. Michigan will be better on Offense with a year of experience but beware! they again will have a new freshman QB with Tate Forcier under center. Tate was an accurate passer in high school but will that translate to D1 football as true freshman? Either way he will be an upgrade from last year combo of Nick Sheridan and Stephen Threet (transferred to Arizona State) . The defense will be better but not great. Look for Michigan to make a bowl game and finish 7-5.

Mable Street Press: Hail to the Victors 2009 is not one of those magazines. In fact, it's a very well written book on what the 2009 Wolverines will look like. It goes into deep discussion about the depth chart, Greg Robinson's hybrid linebacker position, a review of each opponent on Michigan's schedule, a interview with "savior" Tate Forcier, and some great stories about Michigan teams of the past.

The price is value at 12.99 per copy and the chapter titled The Last Autograph, Perhaps written by Craig Ross is worth the price of admission just for this chapter. If you are a fan of Bo and have a love for the Wolverines, this chapter will move you to laugh and cry all in a few pages.

Brian Cook is the editor and the proprietor of one of the best college football blogs called Mgoblog. Brian has enlisted his friends and colleagues to help him write the 2009 version of HTTV. So it's filled with things that will educate and entertain you. Some of the folks that contributed to this book include: Matt Hinton, from Yahoo's Dr. Saturday, Craig Ross author of Obscene Diaries of a Michigan Fan, Dan Feldman who has covered Michigan football for the Michigan Daily, John Bacon co-author of Bo's Lasting Lessons, and many others.

It's everything you need to know about 2009 Wolverines but were afraid to ask. It's a quick read so pick it before a long plane trip or take it to the beach on vacation. The only negative, I could see is the lack for information on future 2009 star and red shirt freshman Roy Roundtree, the favorite target of Tate Forcier in the Spring Game. Roy spent some time with Tate and his family in California this summer and I expect them to have a special bond as the season starts. Could he have a Mario Manningham like start in the ND game on September 12th? Let's hope so.

This is one of those preview magazines on steroids! (in this case, steroids are a good thing :-)) Go out and buy it.

Justin (Time) Turner - Qualifies!

Mgoblog and GoBlue Michigan Wolverines are reporting that Justin Turner has qualified and will be with the squad this Fall. The Ohio Exit exam results weren't due back until early August, but people close to JT are saying he is good to go and in A2 working out with his teammates.

As you can imagine, this is great news for the Michigan football team. The defense is lacking depth at corner and having him available will help with that greatly. Expect to see Justin in the Nickel early and backing up Warren and Cissoko.

Turner was an Army All American and 5 star cornerback from Scouts.

Werms Out, White in, and the Family Values Debate Continues

Former Michigan offensive lineman Kurt Wermers has decided to transfer to MAC champion Ball State. Like most offensive lineman that leave the program, Kurt had a departing shot: "I really didn't get along with the new coaches," Wermers said in the Web site report. "They were bringing in a lot of different kids that were not my kind of crowd. Coach Carr's staff was a whole different ballgame. It was like a family. But when Rodriguez came in, it was a whole different feeling. It was more of a business. - "I figured I'd get out while I could."

This debate "on family values" is something of a riddle to me. On one hand you have guys like Wermers and Ohio State Walk on Justin Boren that take one last shot heading out of Ann Arbor.

Then you have guys, who aren't even part of the program yet, make a statement like this: "I was with Vladimir (Emilien)," Grimes said of his time in Ann Arbor. "That's my boy. He told me one difference (at Michigan) is once you get there, you are not just a piece of meat, you are a part of the family. That's something I can believe because he didn't play none of his senior year after he tore his ACL, but they didn't just cut him off. They kept his offer and he committed there. "

The above statements are from Tony Grimes, a 2010 FL CB that is considering the Wolverines.

Let me see if I have this right:

If you don't buy into RR's system and don't' want to put your work in (Barwis/learning a new offensive system) = Lack of family values

If you do want to get better and put the work in, compete with teams like USC and the SEC in a couple of years = Michigan's program is like a family.

I guess each Michigan fan needs to judge for themselves, if Michigan is better with or with out guys like that. I sort of take a Soprano's type of attitude towards it. "Your either in the family or out". There's no middle ground. BTW: Boren and Werms, you both "are now dead to me".

• Tony Grimes, (mentioned above) is planning a Michigan visit for the ND game. Tony is being recruited by Bama, OSU, Miami, Oklahoma State, Georgia, and Maryland. "I spoke with Coach Rodriguez," Grimes said. "I'm familiar with him from when he was at West Virginia. He is a cool guy. As a matter of fact, the whole coaching staff is cool. What separates them from most college coaches is they aren't going to just tell you what you want to hear. They'll be real with you." - "They're low on DBs right now. They've got six on scholarship and that's counting three corners. What they told me was that if there is any time to step in as a true freshman and get some playing time, now is the time." "Michigan is going to be tough to beat," he said. "It's a great program. The networking is on point at Michigan and the alumni system is amazing. The coaching staff is building something great over there." Tony doesn't plan to make a decision before signing day in February.

• Michigan commitment Tony Drake a running back from Skyline High School in Texas will compete at Nike's 7 on 7 tournament at Nike's headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon. It's a unique format with the top high schools across the country competing against each other.

White is a Wolverine: Michigan Football picks up it's 16th commitment for 2010

Question: Your one of the top running backs out of the state of Michigan in 2010. You have brothers currently on the Michigan State Football team. You were the recent MVP at the Nike Camp and have offers from Iowa, Wisconsin, MSU, LSU, Purdue, and Illinois. Your high school helmet has a spartan on it. Which school do you pick?

Answer: Michigan Wolverines

Austin White is a 4 star running back from Scouts from Livonia Stevenson in Michigan. He is listed at 6"0 190 pounds and runs a 4.5 in the 40. Austin has been very productive as a high school player; as a sophomore he rushed for nearly 1,700 yards and 30 touchdowns. As a junior, he rushed for 1,610 yards with 28 touchdowns also catching 21 passes for 310 yards and 4 more touchdowns. Austin is a good fit for RR's spread offense and is Michigan's 16th verbal commitment to the 2010 class.

As always here is the write up from Varsity Blue:

Recruiting Notes:
The commitment of White completes the in-state switcheroo between Michigan State and the Wolverines, which saw Nick Hill commit to the Spartans. Coming into the recruiting season, Hill had been considered a strong Michigan lean, while White has serious family ties in East Lansing and was expected to end up there. However, as the recruitments got underway, White became more and more interested in the Wolverines. Throughout the spring, he started leaning towards Michigan, and enjoyed his visit for Michigan’s summer camp.


Player Notes:
Scout is a bit higher on Austin than Rivals, ranking him as a 4-star prospect and the #17 RB in the class (Rivals has him at 3 stars and #32). He has good vision, quick feet, and surprising ability to catch the ball out of the backfield for a high school prospect. He’s an upright runner who needs to get lower to avoid injury, though adding bulk in the weight room will help in that regard as well. White may not be coming in strictly as a running back, however. This summer, he played in the defensive backfield in 7-on-7 competitions, where he reportedly impressed. If he doesn’t foresee immediate playing time on offense, he may opt to try his hand on the other side of the ball

• Devin Gardner is invited to the Elite 11 QB Camp along with 2 other state of Michigan QB's: Robert Bolden and Joe Boisture.

• Al Glick gave close to 9 Million dollars to Michigan for it's new indoor practice facility. They most likely are going to name it after him. They better! For $9 Million they should throw in a free luxury box as well.

Michigan Football: 2010 Recuiting Wolverine Wish List

What? You haven't followed Michigan recruiting closely since the 3-9 debacle of 2008?

Maybe you need a re-fresher course? It's all about ball bearings these days..........

So Michigan has had a strong start to the 2010 recruiting season. They have a total of 15 verbal commitments with 11 on offense and just 4 on defense. On the offense side of the ball they need one or two more running backs (hint: Austin White) and one 5 star OT like Seantrel Henderson. :-)

After they receive another RB commitment Michigan should be done on that side of the ball (unless any 5 star recruit wants to join the Maize and Blue and/or there are any de-commitments). That leaves roughly 6-8 spots on defenses yet to be filled. With the biggest needs at Safety, Cornerback, and the Defensive Line.


With us here in mid summer and less then two months away from the football season starting, I thought it would be a good time to list, Michigan's top targets at each position and with some probability of them landing in the Maize and Blue.


The rating system will be as follows: Blue = great chance at becoming a Wolverine, Yellow = Neutral, Michigan has just as good as chance as anyone. Green = means Michigan was there at one point, but now it's not looking so good. Red = long shot

Let's take a look who's still in play for 2010:

Offense

Running Back:
Austin White: announcing his college choice this Wednesday.
Brennan Clay: former teammate of Tate Forcier, verballed to Oklahoma, still planning a fall visit to Ann Arbor.
Eduardo Clements: RB out of Florida - Michigan in top group
Brandon Gainer: also a RB out of Miami, FL - Has Michigan in his top group.


Offensive Line:
Seantrel Henderson: Michigan has just as good as chance as anyone.
Torrian Wilson: Visited Ann Arbor, Michigan fan from Miami, FL


Defense

Cornerback:
Dior Mathis: Local guy, favoring Oregon and MSU right now.
Nickell Robey: FL CB with lots of offers from major programs.
Cullen Christian: seems to been on the verge of committing to Michigan for some time now. Still a Michigan lean. The Wolverines hope for a solid verbal soon.
Tony Grimes: FL, CB Planning a visit to Ann Arbor.
Rashard Knight: another FL CB with a Michigan offer.
Travis Williams: tried to commit to the Wolverines but was told to wait. Has offers from IU, Kansas State, Miami-OH, and Michigan.

Safety:
LaTawn Anderson: from Cleveland is listing WVU #1 after camping and visiting Ann Arbor a couple of times. Doesn't look good for the maize and blue. OSU hasn't offered yet.

(Michigan has 5 other offers out (besides Anderson) to safeties across the country but it just might be Marvin Robinson in Michigan's 2010 class)

DT:
Shariff Floyd: a 4/5 star prospect that has Michigan still in his top group.
Terry Talbot: from Ohio, coaches talking to him about a visit.
Ricky Heimuli: from Salt Lake City has 21 offers across the country. He is in no rush for a decision.
Gabe King: Michigan offered but no real interest in the Wolverines to date.
Jonathan Hankins: local product without a Michigan offer. Reportedly has offers from OSU and Oklahoma. Report is he needs to work on conditioning and could get an offer this Fall.

DE:
Derrick Bryant: from Columbus was high on the Wolverines early. Been quiet lately.
Darryl Baldwin: from Solon, Ohio, most likely heading to the Buckeyes.
CJ Olaniyan: local product with 16 offers all over the Midwest with UCLA and Oregon out West. Many think he could head out of State.

Linebackers:
Josh Furman: a 4 star prospect, planning a Michigan visit.
Tony Jefferson: LB from LA is planning a Michigan visit in the Fall.
Jewone Snow: son of former Wolverine Garland Rivers doesn't have an offer yet. Maybe in the Fall.
Holmes Onwukaife: tried to commit to Michigan but he was told Michigan was full at OLB. He didn't want to play inside linebacker.

The other top LB's in the nation Jeff Luc and Jordan Hicks do not have Michigan in their top group.


Michigan Dream Wish List for the next (let's say 8 spots):

-Austin White

-Seantrel Henderson

-Torrian Wilson

-Cullen Christian

-Dior Mathis

-Shariff Floyd

-LatWan Anderson

-Josh Furman

(others include Clay and Bryant. Michigan would find room for them for sure!)

Michigan's more probable list for the Final 8:

-Austin White

-Torrian Wilson

-Cullen Christian

-Dior Mathis

-Jonathan Hankins

- Jewone Snow

-Travis Williams

-Tony Grimes

Michigan Wolverine Monday: Where are they going?

• Former Wolverine Dann O'Neill is heading West to play football. Some had wondered if Dann O'Neill really wanted to play football again after transferring from Michigan this Spring. Well, he decided to join his brother (at TE) at Western Michigan. "I don't think I fit as well (at Michigan) as I fit with Western Michigan's system," the 6-foot-8, 300-pound O'Neill told the Gazette, citing the Wolverine's new spread offense under coach Rich Rodriguez, which calls for smaller linemen. "In high school, we ran the spread, but we ran a different spread. I'm not sure it was the right offense for me to run.

• Update: Boise State is close to announcing it's opening opponent in 2010. Could in be the Wolverines? The betting money says, yes! We will see. What does the BSU President think? "It's going to be a good one," said BSU president Bob Kustra, who would not disclose the opponent or the game location. (HT: MSC and Maize n Brew)

• Elite 2010 Texas LB Corey Nelson had Michigan his leader for about 10 minutes. This weekend he became an Texas A&M Aggie.

• Justin (time) Turner Update: Some have suggested that Justin is in Ann Arbor working out with his teammates and will have his Ohio Exit Exam scores on 8/3. If the above is true, I'm assuming that good news is expected from the test. On the other hand, I'm not sure if a player would be eligible to work out with their college teammates if they officially haven't graduated from high school yet.

• One hole for the Wolverines to fill in 2010 will be a punter. All American Punter Zoltan Mesko will be punting for an NFL team in 2010. It seems the highest rated punter in the land is a guy from Wisconsin named Will Hangerup. He has scholarship offers from major programs including Michigan and Ohio State. I believe Michigan is waiting to see what Will does before they offer local Michigan product Mike Sadler. The rumor that Zoltan was "night punting" with the daughter of Dean was found to be un-true. :-)

• A mystery to many Michigan fans and both recruiting services is the un-ranked QB Cornelius Jones. Cornelius is Rich Rod's second QB commit in the 2010 class and a perfect compliment to Michigan's first verbal commit, Devin Gardner a 4 star QB prospect from Detroit. So why is Cornelius such a mystery? Well, he hasn't been playing QB for long and there wasn't much hype surrounding him. RR and staff liked his video and was willing to give him a offer. A mgoblog poster found some video on the Internet. Feel free to take a look and see what you think of him: http://www.athletevault.com/Videos/CorneliusJonesAV.html

• Seantrel Henderson is at Nike's (Basketball) Peach Jam camp in North Augusta, SC. If your not familiar with Seantrel, he is the unanimous #1 football recruit in the nation and very high on the radar of every major program. He has visited Michigan and hopefully will have the Wolverines in his top group when he cuts his list. He plans to make a decision at one of the HS all star games after the season.

• Michigan drops to #2 in the Big Ten 2010 recruiting rankings behind Penn State on Varsity Blue. Michigan has held the top spot all year. On Friday, PSU added Michigan QB Robert Boldon to an already strong recruiting class that included 5 star QB Paul Jones.

Michigan Football: Rumor Mill

There are 3 real important recruits in the 2009 class for the Michigan Wolverines and two are already enrolled in Ann Arbor; Tate Forcier and "Big" Will Campbell. So who is the third? Justin Turner a 5 star (per Scouts) cornerback/safety and the highest rated recruit out of the state of Ohio.


Justin is important to Michigan in many ways, he is a great athlete and plays a position of need for the Wolverines. Many expected Justin to contribute to the 2009 team as a Nickel or even a starting cornerback.

The rumblings on the street has been that Justin didn't walk with his graduating class and may have had some trouble with his Ohio Exit Exam. Again these are just rumors, but the "Mill" is saying that he took the exam again in June and will know in August if he passed. If he didn't pass (the "Mill" is saying) that he will probably head to prep school, which is not good for the 2009 Wolverines.

Let's hope the above is not true or if it is, that Justin passed his exam or can get a special waiver so he can be in Ann Arbor this August with his teammates. Michigan had a similar situation last year with Marcus Witherspoon, a Linebacker that didn't qualify and is now playing for Rutgers after sitting out the 2008 season.

• The top running back out of the State of Michigan, Austin White plans to announce his college choice next Wednesday, July 15. Along with Michigan, Austin has offers from LSU, MSU, Wisconsin, Purdue, Illinois, and others. Austin has family ties to MSU but most expect him to make a decision for the Wolverines.
  


• Kevin Koger, still hungry and ready to play as a Tight End in the Spread: "I caught a couple balls last year," he said this summer. "At West Virginia, they said they didn't have anybody to use. Now they feel like they do." ---"Yes, I played last year, but I didn't prove anything," he said. "We were 3-9 and didn't do anything. I still feel like I need to prove myself." If Kevin has a chance to contribute and I believe he will, he could one of the best tight ends in the Big Ten in 2009.

• Nate Lubick, a power forward that was considering the Michigan Basketball program for the 2010 season, has de-committed to Georgetown and will open up his recruitment. I'm sure Michigan would love to add Lubick to the class but I believe they only have one more spot open. Lubick is a 4 star power forward, he is 6"8 and 227 pounds.