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Press Conference

Paul is attending the Rich Rodriguez press conference currently underway, and sending me updates to relay. Check back as I update this post with new information.

  1. Nick Sheridan has suffered a non-displaced fracture of his leg that will not require surgery. He will be out 4-6 weeks, and will be back with the team in time for summer workouts.
  2. To help deal with the dwindling numbers at the QB position, Justin Feagin (QB last year, slot this spring) will continue taking snaps at the quarterback position in Spring Practice.

End relevant information. Paul will update with video shortly.

 
icon for podpress  Rodriguez Talking about Sheridan: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Posted under Football, Personnel

Monday Presser Notes

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:

Michigan Schedule 2009
Date Loc Opp Notes
September 5 Western Michigan Source.
September 12 Notre Dame Source.
September 19 Eastern Michigan
September 26 Indiana Homecoming
October 3 @ Michigan State
October 10 @ Iowa
October 17
October 24 Penn State
October 31 @ Illinois
November 7 Purdue
November 14 @ Wisconsin
November 21 Ohio State

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

Media/Fan Day Photo Gallery

As suspected, the Morgan Trent 4.13 was an agility drill, not a 40yd dash.

Posted under Photo Album

RR Video from B10 Media Day

Posted under Coaching

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Rich Rodriguez Press conference: redux

Full audio from Tuesday’s press conference.

Click me.

Also. Arist’s rendering of the new practice facility:

Posted under Coaching

Rich Rodriguez Press conference

Video piece based on Coach Rod’s press conference yesterday. Only covers the most entertaining part of the presser.

Coach Rod also talked about a lot of other stuff, but this was the funniest part. Full audio tomorrow AM.

Posted under Coaching, Video

Mgoblue Spring Practice Video

Because I don’t feel like coming up with any real content this weekend.

Posted under Spring Coverage

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Signing Day Press Conference

See the full press conference on MGoBlue now. Afterwards, we had a chance to ask Rich Rodriguez a couple extra questions. He responded thusly:

We also asked new DC Scott Shafer a couple questions about the defensive recruits and defensive schemes. Shafer, by the way, is a REALLY cool guy, and said a couple off-camera remarks about expecting to have a run of success against OSU.

Posted under Coaching, Personnel, Recruiting, Spring Coverage, Video

Rich Rodriguez Press Conference notes

Staff
Coach Rod brought to WVU assistants along with him for the press conference. Expect Offensive Coordinator/Assistant Head Coach Calvin Magee and Secondary Coach/Recruiting Coordinator Tony Gibson to join the Michigan coaching staff. Conventional wisdom suggests that Rodriguez will also want to bring his (stellar) Strength and Conditioning Coordinator, Mike Barwis as well. The comments he made regarding summer conditioning, which implied a change in culture, certainly would give credence to this belief. He doesn’t have the entire staff in mind, but he will interview several UM assistants.

Team Intensity
“I don’t want our team to expect to win, I want them to deserve to win” He noted that offseason workouts will be “unpleasant.”

Offense
Rodriguez was asked several questions, and his responses were somewhat enlightening.
He said the staff would “do what we’ve done” offensively. However, he made note that this meant over the past 17 years, not just that past 7.
Rodriguez lamented the misinformation that has been perpetuated about his offensive schemes. He responded with the following points.

  • The scheme is not restricted to being a running offense. With the personnel they have now, that is the smartest choice.
  • The scheme aand gameplan are adapted to the offensive skill players that he has.
  • With great throwers and great receivers, it could be expected that they’d throw 55-60% of the time (as they did at Glenville State and Tulane (with Shaun King)).
  • With great runners like Pat White and Rasheed Marshall, the offense can be a running option.
  • The spread is a varied offense, and it’s not a “seen one, seen ’em all” system.

Defense
The “Odd Stack” (known ’round these parts as the 3-3-5) that he ran at West Virginia this year was 4th in the nation in total defense. He plans to run something similar, but not the same at Michigan.
Editorial Notes: Seeing as how Ron English loves the system, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him as one of the assistants sticking around with Rodriguez. However, I have concerns that the Big Ten requires some 4-3 or 3-4 defenses, with teams running more I-form and Twin-TE sets than Big East teams do.

The Coaching Search
Thanks Mike Wilcox, Mike Brown, BM, & MSC for making this deal happen. He doesn’t care if he was the third choice. He may have been his wife’s third choice as well, but in the end, he ended up with her.

Bowl Games
Rodriguez will not coach West Virginia in the Fiesta Bowl, because he will worry about Michigan and their bowl game. Bill Martin and MS Coleman offered to let Coach Rod coach the Capital One Bowl, but he chose not to out of respect for Coach Carr, and because some of the assistants he would want to coach with him will be unavailable. He will, however, talk to Coach Carr about being involved with the bowl preparations.

Job-Hopping
He plans to, and will tell his assistants to “take the job as if it’s the last job you’ll ever have.” Michigan is a “special opportunity that doesn’t happen very often.” He also claimed it would be his last job: “I will plan to retire here.”

Recruiting
The dead period started today. He is not allowed any on-campus or in-home contact with recruits, and is only allowed one phone call per week. He contacted some committed and uncommitted recruits yesterday, and may try to recruit a few guys they were thinking about taking at West Virginia.

Michigan/O-State Rivalry
Some guys were heckling him with that dumb “O-H” thing as he got on the plane yesterday. He understands that it’s one of the greatest rivalries in college football. However, Michigan has two other rivals (Notre Dame and Michigan State) to worry about, and every team that plays Michigan thinks of them as a one-sided rival.

Paul will probably have some stuff from the PC up later today.

Posted under Coaching

Big Ten Network Open House

Not a particularly illuminating event today, especially since there was a time crunch, but some interesting information nonetheless.

Big Ten Comissioner Jim Delany was there and bitched about SEC Speed for 20 minutes before BTN President Mark Silverman took the podium and gave interesting information. Some tidbits:

  • The Big Ten Network will never show infomercials.
  • To bitch at Comcast, call 1-866-WANT-B10, and they will be able to connect you to a live human.
  • People who go to events like this don’t know how the cable industry works (Why don’t you just let Comcast carry it for free?).
  • BTN will have both ESPN Classic-style straight replays of games, as well as produced pieces with interviews, etc. about past games.
  • During the summer, mostly academic (i.e. University-provided but non-sports) content will be played, except, presumably, for replays of events.

Paul was also there, so he’ll probably give a little more insight later. Also, audio/video from the event is forthcoming, as is a bit of video from football media day.

Posted under Misc.

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