Michigan Friday: UTL Scrimmage and BBall 2016 Commit

Michigan is on a roll right now in getting football and basketball commits, but before we hit the new 6'11 John Beilein commit, I would like to talk about a major change at Schembechler Hall.

Albert Einstein said on Insanity:  It's doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

That was Michigan Football until RR game in.   Then it got really Crazy and now were back to Insane again.    

So when your program has been under preforming for what seems like a decade, how do get your team to achieve success?    By changing things up, taking a chance, doing something new.   Coaching to the strength of your players but also preparing them the best you can.  

I have been critical of Brady Hoke the last two years, but this off season he has really made some new critical decisions to see if he can "shake up the apple cart" a bit.  

#1 He fired Big Al - had to be done
#2 He shook up the defensive coaches responsibilities
#3 He is holding an open scrimmage at the Big House for the public at night (8/16 at 8:00 PM)

#3 might be the most surprising and huge switch.  Michigan barley lets the media into practices and now Michigan is going to do a practice and scrimmage and let everyone in that wants a seat for free? Two weeks before the season opener?

I love the idea and wish there was an NCAA rule that allowed a local team to scrimmage the Wolverines, like the Basketball Team plays Concordia or Ferris State every year.   This will get the team used to playing at night (they have 3 night games this year)  and will also get them used playing in front of fans.   The weather will be much warmer then the Spring Game and I hope the fans attend.  

For those worried about showing ND or OSU too much, I'm sure they will run some very vanilla sets, etc. 

Way to mix it up Coach Hoke!  Great Idea and a way to give back to fans who might not be able to afford taking their family to the Big House for a game.  Update:  you need to register for your free tickets here.

BBall Commit:

John Beilein's program received an commitment from 6'11 center Jon Teske for the 2016 class.   Jon is from Ohio and has started to receive a number of offers this summer.  His early offer list included Ohio State, Xavier, Dayton, Miami and West Virginia.      Michigan has been in need of a true center and it sound like Jon is a prototypical John Beilein big guy, who can shoot and block a bunch of shots.

Jon impressed the coaches at Michigan's camp, got offered and accepted.   Since it's very early for the 2016 class, Jon is not ranked yet as only the top guys in the nation are.   This is a nice early pick-up for the Wolverines!  Since he has a few years to get to campus, I expect Jon's game to continue to advance as he adds some low post moves and maybe a mid-range jumper to his game.

If you want to see him block about 4 shots and hit a couple of jumpers, check out this very short You Tube video highlights from one game. 

• Greg Oden gets arrested for punching his girlfriend and takes his mug shot with this T-Shirt on.    A picture says a thousands words..................................