Wednesday, June 9, 2021

Wolverine Wednesday: You'll Bet Your Butt

Let me take you back to the Orange Bowl - Michigan vs. FSU.   One of Harbaugh's most talented teams with even a Heisman finalist Jabrill Peppers. 

I think most people in the Midwest or East, don't know that Florida can get cold in December and January.   Like in the 40's cold and the Orange Bowl was one of those days.   I got tickets for my entire family for our first time at Hard Rock Stadium.    We are seated in the nose bleed section and near an open side of the stadium.   The wind was blowing through that open area and freezing us out.   My wife and daughter made it a quarter before they left to find someplace warm.  

Prior to the kickoff, two things happened.   The FSU horse fell down on the field and Peppers was ruled out for the game with a hamstring injury.   Both were pretty shocking.   Then the game started and the Wolverines started slow, finished strong, but lost by 1 point.    The day for me took a terrible turn when Jake Butt blew out his ACL, a few months away from getting drafted in the 1st or 2nd round of the  2017 NFL Draft.   Putting his entire NFL career in doubt.  

chat sports

That prediction ended up being accurate, in 4 seasons with the Broncos including another ACL injury and a hamstring, Jake only saw action in 8 games.   After his rookie contract expired, the Broncos' moved on and made Jake a free agent.   When it happened, I again was concerned for his future in the NFL and wrote this might mean retirement. 

Maybe I was wrong.  Jake worked out for the Cardinals last week and ESPN Field Yates believes Jake will find a new NFL team soon.   If anyone deserves a healthy few years in the NFL its Jake, good luck big man! 

  • After a good visit last weekend USC Transfer DT Jay Toia has committed to UCLA.   Well, that was fast.  I guess his position coach moved from USC to UCLA recently.   Hard to get kids from California.
  • Someone donated $550M to Western Michigan.  Largest donation to a University ever.  No word if WMU has a new starting QB with the last name Gates or Bezos. 
  • Luke McCaffrey who transferred from Nebraska to Louisville, but didn't attend a class or participate in Spring Practice has now left Louisville.

1 comment:

szanreno said...

Yes I went to that Orange Bowl as well. Sounds like my night freezing your butt off. I'm not sure Peppers was injured or if he was just ready to move on to the NFL but his presence was worth at least two points. Especially on that last kickoff. Glad to hear the update on Jake. His injury in that bowl game put that scenario in the minds of a lot of kids. So that kid flew all the way to Michigan from California only to go back and commit to UCLA. God I hate that BS and recruiting ass kissing...