Michigan Thursday: Bob's Random Thoughts

Sherrone is close to rounding out the defensive side of the football after Jim pillaged that entire coaching staff.  Let us not forget, this is Michigan's #1 unit next season.  The likes of Graham, Stewart, Grant, and Johnson will be 4 of the best players in college football next season. 

I like the hire of Texans Safety coach Stephen Adegoke, when he was in Ann Arbor as a GA in 2021.  He impressed coaches and players with his football knowledge.  He then went to the 49'ers and last year with the Texan's.  Reports are his interview was a home run and sounds like a perfect fit for the staff.  

The last spot at LB coach is Brian Jean-Mary's for the taking.  Reports are Tennessee is really trying hard to keep him him but Michigan's financial package is strong.   Update: Sam Webb reports BJM has been hired! 

You know how I feel about the Wink hire but the rest of the hires have been very solid and happy with the replacements.  When you see Steve Wilks fired from the 49'ers yesterday, my mind went to, he would've been a better option then Wink,  But, I'm trying to move on. 

Speaking of moving on, Tony Petitti says he and Warde have moved on.  Guess what Tony, we haven't.  You showed incompetence as a leader by suspending Harbaugh hours before the Penn State game and Michigan fans haven't forgot.   If I were you, I would still continue to polish up that resume. 

Random thought: There are a lot of Buckeye fans excited about Chip Kelly having elite talent mixed with his offense.   My thought is, when was the last time Chip coached an elite offense?  Has the defense caught up with his scheme?  Don Brown used to have an elite defense, until smarter coaches found a way to beat it. 

• OSU fired its head basketball coach, Chris Holtmann on Wednesday.  Juwan got a vote of confidence from Warde.  I don't mind giving Juwan another year with his health issues to begin the season.  Though he needs to have a huge season next season.

• Will Michigan break Georgia's record by having 16 players drafted?  Having the NFL Draft in Detroit won't hurt the local love for the Wolverines in the draft! 

• CFP will continue at ESPN, which is a smart move mostly with the 12 teams now.  Paid nearly 8B to keep it.  

• Michigan continues to expand their NIL program now with Learfield and Altius Sports.  

Michigan Friday: Looks to Speed Up the Clock

It's all most here folks, Michigan Football.   It will be hard to wait for the 3:30 kick off, I know you tailgaters like the later start so you can kill a few more bud lights.  Traffic will be a killer so leave your house early. 

Some random thoughts and info for the weekend:

• Something  I forgot to mention in my preview:  WR's and Kick Returners: Catch the Damn Ball!

• Skip Holtz vs ND:  Don't sleep on South Florida.

• TomVH now of ESPN tweeted RB Greg Garmon is expected to visit this weekend and maybe for the ND game as well. Greg is the 15th ranked RB in the country to Scouts.

• Best Games of the Weekend is Boise State vs Georgia and (the game Michigan will play in next year) LSU vs Oregon in Dallas.

• Vegas is betting that Western will cover the spread against Michigan.

• Sione Houma is now a 3 star FB now on Rivals.  He got a 1 star bump up.

• 5 star basketball prospect Mitch McGary is visiting Ann Arbor this weekend.   Michigan is in his final group.   He will make his decision in about 2 weeks.  

• Here is my prediction for freshman to play on Saturday: Wile, Morgan, Countess and Brown. 

• Look for a couple of shots deep for Roy and Jr. on Saturday.

• Danny O'Brein has cut his list to 4 which includes: UM, Tenn, MSU, and Alabama.

Random Thoughts: Monday Edition

• Does anyone want to be Jay Jacobs, Auburn's Athletic Director today? He fired a very successful head coach in Tommy Tubberville and replaced him with a guy that has been a head coach for two years at Iowa State that went 5-19. Gene Chizik was a very respected defensive coordinator for Auburn and Texas but you can't say he was ever a "respected" head coach and wasn't on anybodies short list. Just so I understand this, Jay picked Gene over Turner Gill, Brady Hoke, and Tulsa's Todd Graham? Not a very good move Jay and good luck with that decision. I can't wait to hear what Charles Barkley has to say about this one!
• Did anyone else think Ed Werder would be the fall guy in all the Cowboys "drama" that went down last week? I'm sorry but it looks like Ed got set up. I know the Cowboy's are "America's Team" but running that silliness as the lead story is ridiculous.
• Speaking of ESPN: Is it me or should be the colors on the ESPN ticker be reversed? When I'm checking for a score I aways think the team in white was the winner, but actually it's the tan color that won.
• Does anyone know where I can sell my un-wanted gold jewelry?
• Why do some guys wear their blue tooth headsets all day? I'm sure they are very busy and have important jobs, but wearing those headsets all day makes them look like a dork. Maybe they all have a CIA complex or something?
• Why do people go to malls or shopping centers, when you can order online from home get free shipping and not pay any tax?
• Great hire by San Diego State: Brady Hoke is a great choice for SDS and will likely triple his $240,000 salary by taking the job. Not to mention, maybe the nicest place to live in the entire country. Brady should have gotten the Syracuse or Auburn jobs but their loss is SDS gain. Brady was a former Michigan assistant coach and his brother was also an assistant for SDS from 87-88. Good luck Brady, Michigan has an open date on 10/17!
• Look for Stan Parrish another former Wolverine assistant be the leading candidate to replace Brady as Ball State's head coach.
• How drunk was Billy Simms at the Heisman presentation? Usually Mike Rozier is the person that does something "unique" during the presentation.
• The "rumor" on the street is that Michigan's Scott Shafer maybe out as Michigan's defensive coordinator after one year. Shafer's defense under achieved this past year and was thought to be Michigan's strength. Shafer has not been at the last two Michigan basketball games, both were big recruiting weekends for the Michigan football program.
• More info on McGuffie has come out. It seems the young man was having some very serious family problems back home in Texas. His position coach Fred Jackson said this on Saturday: “There was too much stuff there – he had to go home. There was a lot of issues as far as his sister and brother.” “The kid wanted to be here,” Jackson said. “It’s just that things happened with his family that weighed heavy he couldn’t concentrate.”

Wildcard Wednesday: Things I don't Understand in Sports

• Why doesn't Division 1 College Football have a playoff system? I don't want to hear the arguments about kids missing class, please! Other college sports travel more and miss much more class. D1A and D2 has playoffs, are those students academics worth less then a D1 athlete? Money - Come on, a D1 playoff system would generate more. The importance of the regular reason - How would that change? If you had an 8 team playoff system or even a +1, the regular season games are still very important. I do like the traditions of the bowl games, but there are ways to keep them involved. I think the only real losers would be the Motor City Bowl and Poulan Weed Eater Bowls if still around would become the equivalent of the NIT in Basketball. If you think about it, aren't they the NIT already?
• Al Davis? I'm know when you own the team, you can make any damn decision you want. But if this guy was my Grandfather, I wouldn't let him hold the TV remote! I saw on ESPN last night that he was taking away play calling from Greg Knapp, the team's offensive coordinator. Are you kidding me? I believe the only thing this guy has done right over the past 10 years was hire Jon Gruden. Then of course he traded him. I'm sorry, but the NFL or someone has to step in and relieve Al of his duties, he is making a mockery out of himself and his once proud franchise. What quality coach would want to coach the Raiders? I'm sure his head coaching wish list looks like this right now: #1 John Cooper, #2 Wayne Fontes, #3 Jerry Faust, #4 Greg Robinson current headman at Syracuse.
• Signing Day: Basketball vs Football: Did you know today is one of the official signing days for high school seniors to officially sign their letter of intent for the 2009 class in Basketball. Yes, today! Why is college football so behind college basketball? Most major college football programs have their 2009 class filled or close to full and have moved on to the 2010 class. There should be an early signing period for Football as well. This seems like a no brainier. Of course people will argue, what if kids change their minds, etc. Well don't sign early or make it easier for schools to let kids out without a penalty. Last point, with all these kids enrolling early, does it make sense that kids could enroll in college, start class in January and not have to sign their letter of intent until late February? It doesn't, change the rule and add an earlier date.
• Every play in college football is reviewed? Varsity Blue another fine Michigan blog, made this same point this week. It seems the guys in the booth only look at replays if: a catch is trapped, if a runners knee was down before the end zone, or did the ball come out on a possible fumble. I see at least two or three plays each game that should be reviewed but isn't. Michigan clearly recovered a fumble in the Minnesota game and it wasn't reviewed. Come on guys! Push the button and watch the game!
• Why do we care so much about Notre Dame? There was a constant stream on the ESPN ticker last night that Charlie Wies is going to take over play calling for his Offensive Coordinator who is at a funeral this week and will miss some practice time. Who Cares? How is this news? Information like this should be reserved for Notre Dame Blogs not a national news story on ESPN. Let's also be honest here for a second, the reason he is taking over play calling is because Boston College beat them 17-0. Not because his OC is attending a funeral.