Although I try to avoid simply repackaging notes from the press conferences into a post, as I think regurgitating information is next to useless, when there are Actual Facts instead of just soundbites, it’s worth it:

• At this point, Brandon Graham is planning to return for his senior year.
• Corey Zirbel’s injury is career-ending. He will remain with the team as a student assistant (scholarship count updated accordingly).
• 7-8 players are expected to enroll early from the 2009 recruiting class, and the class should be around 23 guys (for the record, I have thought it would be bigger, but something tells me the head coach knows a little more than I do).
• Western Michigan and Notre Dame have been known as non-conference opponents for some time now. Eastern will fill one of the other non-conference slots, and there is still an opening in the schedule.

Graham’s return would be huge; Zirbel’s non-return is unfortunate, but the team played without him this year and should continue improving; The recruits I can think of who have mentioned enrolling early so far are: Shav Beaver, Tate Forcier, Vincent Smith, Brandin Hawthorne, Anthony LaLota, Vlad Emilien, Mike Jones, and (if Michigan lands him) Will Campbell. That’s 8 guys right there.

The 2009 Schedule now looks like this:

Western and Notre Dame have set dates from outside sources. Rodriguez said the remaining open date is in October, which means that Eastern must be taking the final September date. The October 17th date will likely be filled with a cupcake.

Posted under Football

After John Ferrara moved to the offensive line, there were questions about why it was necessary. The reason? Corey Zirbel appears to be out for (at least) the season:

The position move comes on the heels of the realization that guard Cory Zirbel likely will miss the season with a knee injury.
“It’s pretty significant,” Rodriguez said. “We’re not even hopeful he’ll be able to return this year.”

Though it was known that Zirbel and redshirt freshman Mark Huyge were injured, the extent of Zirbel’s injury is more severe than Michigan can really afford. Huyge is week-to-week with a high ankle sprain.

In other injury news, Freshman slot receiver Terrance Robinson will also miss a couple weeks with injury. This likely means that Michael Shaw, Sam McGuffie, Toney Clemons, and Very Horn will get more playing time at the position than was expected.

On a lighter note, the Bowling for Brock event to aid Elliot Mealer’s brother was last night, and the Free Press has a photo gallery.

Mixed reports out of Utah camp on whether the offense is struggling…
or doing as well as expected.

Just over a week away from the season, time to start getting really excited.

Posted under Personnel