Michigan Tuesday: Jimmy Has Jokes

Ryan Day and every OSU fan thinks the only way Michigan beat the Buckeyes the last two years was due to stealing their signs.   As a reminder, sign stealing is not illegal and I'm sure the Buckeyes changed thier signs prior to the Michigan game and should've for every game.   Everyone got excuses when they lose a game.  Most don't hire Private Investigators to spy on other programs.  

When Harbuagh was asked about what he repects about Ryan Day and OSU.  His answer was about preparing for the game this week.   

Harbaugh also had a joke about the closeness of his team under these trying circumstances, that he likes his locker room like his mom's bathing suit, in one piece.  As you know, Ted Lasso was somewhat based on Jim Harbaugh.    To be fair, Ryan Day's hair dye is based off the actor who played Eddie from the Munsters. 

• UNLV Tracker: 9-2 #1 in the Mountain West 

• Sherrone Moore is a semi-finalist for the Broyles Award

• Giles Jackson plans to return to UW next season and The Big Ten

• Fox Big Game and Game Day will both be in Ann Arbor on Saturday morning.  I thought ESPN might skip Ann Arbor for a conference they cover. 

• Mikey was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week with his 2 picks

• Dino Babers was fired from Syracuse 

• Michigan is expected to have back all the starters that missed the Maryland game or was hurt during the game.   JJ mentioned a tough week last week but is feeling much better.  Most assume it was his ankle, but I wouldn't be surprised if he also had a virus or something. 

Michigan Tuesday: Recruiting Updates for Football and Basketball

Wisconsin's best running back might not be ready to play this weekend:  “Clay is still yet to be determined,” UW coach Bret Bielema said at his Monday news conference. “I haven’t seen him today but yesterday, he was moving as good as he has (since getting hurt against Purdue). I don’t know if we’ll have him for Tuesday, but we do expect him to get a limited amount of work this week.”

Recruiting Update:

• A name I haven't heard of regarding Michigan is: QB Tanner McEvoy (6-6, 205) of Oradell, N.J.  He is considering a visit to Ann Arbor.  As a senior, he has over 1,600 passing yards and 19 touchdowns and has rushed for another 700 yards and 10 scores.

• DE Ray Drew will shorten his list of 30+ offers to 5 this week or next.

• Basketball Recruiting news:  Amir Williams has dropped the Wolverines from his list and will announce between Ohio State and Florida next week. 

• Michigan has offered Glenbard West junior defensive tackle Tommy Schutt for the 2012 class

• Recent Michigan visitor Marquise Williams is still with UNC: "My commitment is still firm," he said. "I just went to N.C. State to see how it was. I'm just weighing things out. I'm not really having second thoughts."
  

• Carlton Brundidge will sign his LOI for Michigan Basketball today at 11:00.  

• Instate LB Desmond Morgan visited Northwestern this weekend and was offered by the Wildcats.  Desmond's stock is very much on the rise.

Former Michigan coach finding success at Syracuse:  Coordinator Scott Shafer — who already was earning a reputation as a guru in previous stops at Northern Illinois, Western Michigan, Stanford and Michigan — has added to it with his SU group, which has been led by linebackers Derrell Smith and Doug Hogue. SU is ninth in the nation in total defense (297.10 yards per game), 32nd in rushing defense (128.8), 11th in pass defense (168.3), 16th in pass-efficiency defense (110.72), and 13th in scoring defense (17.8).  Tyrone Wheatley is also on this staff.

Gator Bowl wants teams on a roll:  "We like to get teams that finish well and have gotten their fan base excited," Gator Bowl president Rick Catlett said Monday. "We think we have enough teams under consideration to have a good chance of that."

Michigan vs UMass Preview

Time: 12:00 EST
TV: Big Ten Network
Location: Big House
Weather: Isolated Thunderstorms, high 74
Line: None


I will start the preview with this line:  Don't Sleep on the Minutemen. 

When I looked at this schedule I thought UMass would be an easy win.  Similar to Delaware State last year - It's not going to be that easy.  This UMass team can play and is 2-0 and ranked #16 in FCS.  They have wins over two quality FCS opponents so far this year in the #3 ranked William and Mary and Holy Cross.  They have a senior JUCO transfer at QB and have picked up a number of kills players from Northeastern and Hofstra after their programs folded last year.   Greg Robinson should recognize a number of Syracuse transfers that are now starting for the Minutemen.

UMass runs a pro style offense with a power run game.  They like to lead with the full back and run between the tackles.  Which should run right into the strength of the Michigan strong defensive line and senior linebackers. UMass had to replace all 4 starters on the defensive line but the strength of their defense is their linebackers lead by Tyler Holmes an FCS All American.  UMass doesn't have any players that hail from the State of Michigan.

Let's go to the Tale of the Tape:

All levels of Michigan vs All Levels of UMass = Michigan

That was easy.  Let's hope the game is that easy as well.


What I'm looking for from the Wolverines this week:

• Less Denard and more Running Backs:  I would like to see Fitz Toussaint and Mike Cox get some snaps.  A running back with a 100 yards please. 

• Less Denard and More Tate:   I am still holding out hope they can redshirt Devin.  I know he has played and might have burned his redshirt but it's only been 3 plays and this game will go long way on that plan.  If Devin gets a lot of snaps my redshirt theory will die for sure.  I think it's very important for Tate to play and play a lot.  I have a feeling that Tate will need to win some games for the Wolverines this year during the Big Ten season.  He needs the reps.

 

• Less Mike Martin more Big Will:  We all know Mike is a great player.  I would like to see more snaps for Big Will because I think we will need him during the year.  This is a great team to have him in there against.  He is a big body run stopper against a team that likes to run.

• More experience for the DB's:  I would like all the freshman DB's to get snaps in this game.  The next two weeks is time to get some experience.

Sing Hail to the Victors if.......

• Michigan isn't thinking about Big Ten play.
• The defense stops the run and puts a ton of pressure on the QB.
• A running back steps up and gets a 100 yards
• If it's out of reach by the 3rd quarter
• Lots of play from the 2 and 3 deep players
• Michigan makes a field goal

Worry if...................

• UMass is App. State
• Michigan is just to vanilla on both sides of the ball which keeps UMass in the game
• Michigan has been watching ESPN and reading the newspapers all week
• It's still close in the second quarter
• Michigan thinks this is a bye week after UConn and ND

I expect Michigan to play hard on Saturday as the coaches have reminded the team about Toledo two years ago and what happened to Virgina Tech last week.   I also expect the coaches to remind the players that they have been home for Christmas the last two years because they didn't take care of business in games like this.  I want Denard to run only if he has to and more from the Michigan running backs and wide receivers in the passing game.  (sure his numbers might take a hit and there might be a few: what happened to Denard stories on Sunday?) UMass should not be able to stop Michigan's offense at any point during the game.  No line on game.  Michigan 42 UMass 7 


Go Blue!

Wolverine Wednesday: Players Transfer From Other Programs?

When Rich Rodriguez took over the Michigan program a number of media outlets went crazy when players started transferring to different programs. This must directly relate to Coach Rod and staff and their lack of family values, right? If you remember that was Justin Boren's famous line when he headed out the door to "pay his own way" at Ohio State. Other big names that left the program include Ryan Mallett, Sam McGuffie and back up QB Stephen Threet.

How could this happen at Michigan? Is what the media continued to voice. A player would leave and it would be one of the lead stories on ESPN's College Football Live. Well, folks it happens everywhere and mostly when a new coaching staff comes in. The latest example is Syracuse were this newspaper estimates that 28 kids have left the program. That's right 28 kids! Now that's some serious depth issues! So the point is, when a new coaching staff comes in: losing kids is not alarming, it's the norm.

• TomVH from Mgoblog has an excellent write up on the Offensive Line prospects in the 2011 class. I would say Michigan stands in the best position for Andre Yruretagoyena who is a former teammate of Taylor Lewan and State of Michigan prospect (West Branch) Anthony Zettel.

• Jamie Morris has left his role in the Michigan Athletic Department.

• There has been some recent talk from AD David Brandon about replacing the scoreboards at Michigan Stadium which might add a few seats.

• UMGoBlog runs down the list of 2011 Michigan prospects in the State of Florida.

Michigan isn't the only school that losses players due to a Coaching Change

Last year Michigan lost a few high profile players off it's team due to the retirement of Lloyd Carr. They lost a 5 star QB (Ryan Mallet) and an offensive lineman (Justin Boren) that would rather pay his own way at Ohio State, then face Mike Barwis in the weight room everyday. Justin even threw a blast as he was heading out the door at Rich Rod and staff by saying, "Michigan had lost it's family values". Which is funny because some may question that Justin choose to pay his own way at Ohio State so his lower rated brother could get a scholarship in Ohio State's 2009 recruiting class.

Anyway, this post isn't about Justin Boren, it's about player losses when a new coach takes over a program. Over the past two years, I have counted 11 Wolverines that have "left the program" for one reason or another: Zion Babb, Justin Boren, Artis Chambers, Avery Horn, Jason Kates, Ryan Mallett, Sam McGuffie, Quinton Patilla, Marques Slocum and the recent departures of Stephen Threet (Transfer Hall of Fame) and Toney Clemons.

There were 22 coaching changes in division 1 NCAA college football last year. Out of those 22 new jobs; 17 of them were hires outside the current coaching staff. So I thought I would take a look a few high profile schools (Tennessee, Syracuse, Auburn, & Washington) and see how many players they have lost so far this Spring.

We have all heard by now the "unique" coaching style that Lane Kiffin has brought to the Volunteers and none of us are surprised that he has lost the most players to date with 11. Lane is just going to be Lane and will continue to sign players with past rape charges and say "no thanks" to 5 star quarterbacks that had already verbally committed to his school. I thought Rich Rod got a lot of attention in his first few months. Lane has taken the media attention up a couple of notches. Keep up the good work Lane! The SEC needed some more coaches with strong personalities.

Next is Syracuse, where former Orangemen and New Orleans Saints offensive coordinator Doug Marrone took over the reigns from current Michigan defensive coordinator Greg Robinson. It seems Michigan and Syracuse worked some type of trade in the off season where Syracuse sent Michigan it's un-successful head coach and Michigan traded their un-successful defensive coordinator (Scott Shafer) to the Orangemen. So far the change in management in northern New York has caused at least 5 defections that we know of so far. We will see how the rest of the summer plays out.

Auburn who made one of the most controversial hires this past off season by hiring Gene Chizik, the former Auburn defensive coordinator and now the former head coach at Iowa State. Gene was an un-impressive 5-19 in two seasons leading Iowa State's rebuilding process. So did Aubrun get a guy on the verge of becoming one of the hottest candidates out there (if he turned Iowa State around in a year or two) or did they get a guy that really doesn't know how to be a head coach yet? Only time will tell, but being a good coordinator doesn't mean you will be a good head coach. Not everyone has leadership skills. So you ask, how many players have left the Auburn program so far? The list comes in at 4 at this point. Which is not too bad for a new head coach.

Maybe the most impressive job of keeping your players in tact is at U of W, where Steve Sarkisian replaced Tyrone Willingham and the win-less Huskies in 2008. Steve has manged to only lose 2 players, one to academic reasons and the other was to injury and not wanting to play football anymore. Those departures could be seen as a normal occurrence to any program across the nation. Well done Steve on keeping your guys in the boat, now let's see if they can all row in the same direction.

The moral of this story is that when you make a major change in leadership in college football or in any organization you are going to lose people. These changes could be good or they could be bad, but thinking that everyone is going to be happy with change is not realistic. Everyone will have their reasons, for Mallett and Threet it was because they didn't fit the system, for Boren it was because he didn't have Carr has his security blanket anymore.

I'm sure each player that leaves Kiffin's closet will have their reasons as well. I just hope for the boosters that are helping pay these million dollar salaries that these changes equal more wins and championships or these fellas are going to have a short lease.

Has Paulus been Offered a Scholarship by Michigan?

The answer is no, he has been offered a chance to join the team as a walk on at this point. Even Tate Forcier weighed in on this: "I've been talking to coaches all morning, and my position coach, Coach (Rod) Smith, he told me specifically that they have not offered him — they don't know why he would lie," Forcier said Thursday afternoon. "They said, 'We'll let you'll know what's up,' because right now, their specific words were, they haven't offered."

"I'm not worried about it," Forcier said. "A kid like that was good in high school, but it's nearly impossible to come back to this level and play. It might be possible, but not in the quarterback position. You have to know too much, you have to know the speed of the game."

Greg would have to get a special waiver from the NCAA to join the Wolverines or any other college football program. Here is what the NCAA had to say on the topic (which is surprisingly fast for the NCAA):


"Mr. Paulus has expressed an interest in competing in a second sport at another Division I school after earning an undergraduate degree at Duke University and competing on the men's basketball team. The NCAA encourages and applauds academic achievement and realizes this is an unique situation and opportunity for Mr. Paulus. Student-athletes seldom have the opportunity to transfer late in their college careers and compete in a second sport after four seasons of competition. The NCAA established a "students first" waiver process to address unique situations and extenuating circumstances such as this that are not outlined in our rules.

If a student-athlete wants to transfer and immediately compete as a graduate student, the college or university they are transferring to would need to seek a waiver, because in most cases they would have to sit out a year before competing under NCAA transfer rules and would not have any remaining eligibility. One of the factors our members have determined is appropriate for a graduate student waiver is if the transfer is academically motivated."


It also seems that Greg understands this rule and during his PTI interview on ESPN last night he mentioned looking into the different academic programs that U of M and other places offered. Michigan does have 3 scholarships left and if Greg in Michigan wanted to jump through all the hoops below, I'm sure RR would give him one of the 3 remaining but this still seems like a long shot for Greg to end up in Ann Arbor. Let's hope this old statement rings true, "there is no such thing as bad press" because Michigan and Paulus sure are getting a lot of it.


Bottom Line on the Paulus to Michigan Situation: Only 1 year of eligibility left + NCAA Special Waiver + not playing football for 4 years + trying to learn RR's system in a couple of months + wanting to start+ not having Tate get the experience he needs = Not worth it for the Wolverines.

• We all know Scott Shafer's defense played poorly last year. We also know that the rumors were that Scott didn't get along with the other Michigan coaches. This week he spoke to a Syracuse newspaper to give us some insight: "I took the job for all the wrong reasons," Shafer said. "I took it because it was Michigan, it was the Big House, the tradition. All great reasons. But at the end of the day, it's got to be a good fit for you as a coach, and the guys you're working with on a daily basis." BTW: The paper calls Shafer a "journeyman" since he has had 3 DC jobs in 3 years.
  


• 2010 DE prospect Darryl Baldwin (6"6, 250 lbs.) has cut his list down to 4 schools. ND, Michigan, OSU, and MSU. He plans to make a decision this summer.
  


• Add Syracuse to a team on Paulus list. He should go there and try to start IMO.

Robinson Out at Syracuse. Guess Who Might be Coming Over for Dinner?

As the "Coaching Wheel Turns"; Greg Robinson out as Syracuse Head Coach with two games to go. This firing wasn't a surprise with Coach Robinson's 9-36 record overall and 3-25 in the Big East in three-plus seasons.

The Syracuse job isn't as high profile as it used to be and they might be playing second fiddle for the top candidates with the Clemson, Tennessee, and Washington openings. So who might be the next man for the Orange? I'm sure even Syracuse Alumni: ESPN's Mike Tricio wants to know.

The Syracuse Post-Standard is reporting that Randy Edsall, UConn's head man is "very interested" in the Orange vacancy. Other names mention come from the regular list including: East Carolina's Skip Holtz, ex-Oakland Raiders coach Lane Kiffin (USC ties to the AD), Florida assistant head coach Steve Addazio (former Syracuse Assistant), and Buffalo's coach Turner Gill.

Even though, Daryl Gross, AD told reporters Sunday that head coaching experience is not a must, I am pretty sure they won't hire a current assistant. I'm sure Gross and the Syracuse faithful don't want someone learning how to be a head coach at the expense of the Syracuse Program. (If you need a reference of how that worked, take a look at current situation with Greg Robinson former Defensive Coordinator from Texas) So I would eliminate all assistant (with non-head coaching experience) from that list.

Former Michigan head coach Lloyd Carr has been working with Syracuse AD's Daryl Gross this past football season as a special consultant. I wonder what he has been "consulting" on?

No, I don't expect Lloyd to come out of retirement to coach the Orange, but I do have a feeling Lloyd will be involved in this coaching search and probably has made some a recommendation or two. My prediction is: The next Syracuse Orangemen Head Coach will be Brady Hoke, current Ball State Head Coach. Hoke is a "Michigan Man" who coached with Lloyd at Michigan. Brady has done a wonderful job this year with Ball State had has gotten them to a 10-0 record and a 14th ranking in the AP for the first time in school's history. Brady is a bargain and makes somewhere around $250,000 a year and would be a great fit on Syracuse's limited budget. I assume Daryl and the Orange Alumni will not be paying $2+ million a year for a top tier candidate.

I think it's a great fit and look for his name to be thrown around in the next couple of weeks. Syracuse will want to move fast (and I'm sure they have been planning this for months now), so they can recruit for the 2009 and 2010 class. That is the only reason to fire Robinson with two games left, they need to get their next coach in place soon, so they can try to salvage the 2009 recruiting class.