So far, the recruiting year has gone pretty well. Michigan’s recruiting class is currently ranked 13th by Rivals.com and 6th by Scout.com. I’ve never been too heavily into recruiting, but judging by how some prospects were rated that panned out well (and poorly), I’d say that Scout is more accurate, though the real value should be somewhere in between the two.

So far, we have 15 commits. 2 of them, Justin Boren (OL – Pickerington, OH) and Carlos Brown (RB – Franklin, GA) have decided to graduate high school early, and are currently enrolled at the University.

Rivals has our recruiting class as currently having only one five star recruit in Brandon Graham (LB – Detroit). Scout, on the other hand, has four of our recruits as five-stars. The additional recruits are Boren, Jai Eugene (CB – Destrehan, LA), and Marques Slocum (DL – Philadelphia). However, Slocum was a commit from last year who needed a year of prep school to meet academic standards. As a 2005 recruit, Rivals deemed him 5-star worthy.

I won’t go too much into other recruits right now, but they are definitely all worth mentioning a little something.

Posted under Recruiting

I think the group of receivers that we will have should be pretty good next year. From last year, we will have Mario Manningham, Steve Breaston, Antonio Bass, Doug Dutch, and Carl Tabb returning after being major contributors. Also, Adrian Arrington will be back after taking a medical redshirt because of an ankle injury suffered in the Northern Illinois game. As far as tight ends go, Tyler Ecker and Mike Massey should be pretty solid at the position.

As far as positions go, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Arrington as the #1 guy, since when he came in, he was supposed to be the next Braylon. This is especially ture, because with his height and speed (6’4″ and 4.46, respectively), he should be a pretty decent deep threat. Manningham had an amazing freshman year, and will probably be delegated the #2 man. All I really have to say about that is the marching band better start learning the theme to “Super Mario Brothers.” Although Breaston has the most seniority of any of the main receivers, I’d like to see him at #3, only because he seems to flourish in the slot, and not do so well on the outside. Obviously these positions will be shuffled around in different packages, but as far as main sets, I think this should be the way we want to go.

I’d also like to see Antonio Bass continue to get reps at other positions than receiver (i.e. QB and RB). Even if he doesn’t end up getting the ball on the play by way of QB Draw, toss sweep, swing, etc., he would certainly serve as a distraction back there. I see him as the same sort of player as Breaston, utilized a little better to show his versatility.

With our current depth at wideout, I don’t foresee a whole lot of action from incoming recruits, unless we have a bad year with injuries.

Posted under Personnel

According to an Ann Arbor News article. He’ll probably be a beastly I-AA QB. I wish him the best of luck.

Posted under Personnel

I’m a couple days late, but here’s a Free Press article saying that the coaching staff is likely to get shaken up.

Posted under Coaching

No, the title of this post is not my attempt to suggest that the official names of the school colors be changed. It’s a reference to the Alma Mater (no wonder you were confused). My concern with the alma mater is its lack of presence pretty much anywhere. I’ve never even heard the song, except when I made the active attempt to search for it online. Here it is as sung by the Glee Club (real audio).

Now, where is my gripe coming from? It has long been a college football tradition that, win or lose (but mostly win), the school’s alma mater is played at the end of the game. This is something that, for some reason, doesn’t happen at this fine institution. When I e-mailed the directors of the marching band about it, they responded that the song is played at the end of the band’s postgame show.

To me, this is not acceptable for a variety of reasons.

1. First, as I have already stated, is that it is tradition to play upon the conclusion of the game.
2. Second, is the fact that everyone leaves the stadium after the game, except after a big win, when they celebrate with the players. This delays the start of the postgame show, so an equally low number of people hear the song.
3. One of my biggest complaints about the lack of playing the alma mater is the fact that it has the potential to provide so many cool moments. Michigan is missing out on these because the alma mater isn’t properly utilized.

Think of some of the greatest recent postgame images in college football. Most include the alma mater being played/sung. For example, after the 2004 OSU/UM game, the Ohio State fans stormed the field and stomped on roses. While everyone in the middle of the field celebrated, the marching band began playing “Carmen Ohio,” which created a really magical moment. And how many times this season did we see Matt Leinart conducting the USC marching band in their alma mater? I’m sure USC fans would say one time too few, but still, every time I saw it, I thought it was one of the coolest things going on. And then there’s the most recent, with the Texas linebacker pumping his fist with the student section, as the Texas alma mater played through a rain of confetti.

To my knowledge, pretty much nobody (at least in the student body) even knows the words to “The Yellow and Blue.” This can be pretty easily changed, as well. The words to the song (and most other official UM songs) can be found here. In addition, copyright-free sheet music is located in the UM Library’s music collection. When I was but a young boy, I went to a Notre Dame football game, and still have the souvenir cup with the words to “Our Mother, Notre Dame” emblazoned on the side. How hard would it be to do something like this?

It’s not like I’m asking multiple verses to be played or anything, but to not hear the alma mater at all upon the conclusion of the game, to me, is simply not right.

Posted under Misc.

Here are all of the players on the roster who have used up all of their eligibility.

5th Year:
G Leo Henige
G Matt Lentz
CB Grant Mason
TE Tim Massaquoi
DE Pat Massey
LB Scott McClintock
LB Lawrence Reid
OL David Schoonover
T Adam Stenavich
LB Pierre Woods

4th Year:
WR Jason Avant
PK James Bloomsburgh
LB Chip Cartwright
WR Brad Cischke
RB Jason Eldridge
RB Scott Hamel
PK Craig Moore
LB Kyle Myers
DT Paul Sarantos
P Mark Spencer
QB Matt Wilde
DT Gabe Watson

The players from that list on the 2-Deep are Henige*, Lentz*, Mason*, Massaquoi*, Massey*, McClintock, Stenavich*, Woods, Avant*, Watson*.

*Starter

Other people may also leave though, who have eligibility remaining. Lamarr Woodley is NOT one of these people. He wants another year to prove himself & improve his draft status after being hurt for a lot of the year.

Seniors with eligibility remaining:
P Ross Ryan
CB Darnell Hood
QB Matt Gutierrez
QB Jeff Kastl
WR Steve Breaston
WR Carl Tabb
S Willis Barringer
RB Alijah Bradley
S Mike Carl
FB Brian Thompson
S B.J. Opong-Owusu
FB Obi Oluigbo
LB David Harris
OL Mark Bihl
LS Turner Booth
DT Paul Sarantos
OL Reuben Riley
OL Mike Kolodziej
TE Tyler Ecker
DE Rondell Biggs

Most of these people will likely be returning, with definites being those who are major contributors (i.e. Breaston).

Posted under Personnel

Well, after a moderate disaster of a season, I think it’s best to just try to move on instead of dwelling on all the things that could have happened just a little differently. Yes, there were coaching issues in just about every loss. Yes, there were reffing issues in some games (one of which is being reviewed by the NCAA). However, this season is past us, and it’s time to look ahead to next year.

Posted under Analysis

I’m too let down to say a whole lot more than stating that I witnessed the worst-reffed game in the history of major college football (and Mike Tirico, who is paid to be unbiased, agrees).

Posted under Analysis

Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve posted. My computer blew up, so I haven’t been able to.

Anyway, I watched Michigan Replay this morning, and here were a few key points that Lloyd and the players talked about:

1. Lloyd brought up the practice schedule, which included practicing through today, then resting tomorrow.
2. Nebraska’s West Coast offense was a topic of discussion. Unlike traditional Nebraska teams, they are a mainly passing team (gaining twice as many yards through the air as on the ground this season). It is still Michigan’s plan to stop the run, forcing the Huskers to beat them with the pass.
3. Nebraska’s D-Line was a topic of discussion, as they led the nation in sacks. However, it didn’t seem to be a main focus, and the healthy O-Line should be able to handle them.
4. Garrett Rivas brought up the fact that this game is being played in a domed stadium. The lack of environmental features has apparently done a lot for his confidence.

The game is at 8PM on Wednesday on ESPN, be sure to watch it.

In related news, I will be at the game, in row AA of the Michigan student section. I’m leaving for San Antonio tomorrow morning. I will probably post again after I get back on Thursday. After a recap post, I will start looking forward to future seasons.

Posted under Analysis

Some of this is likely to change in the meantime, but as of right now, here is how the lineup looks:

Offense:
QB Henne, Gutierrez
FB Paul, Thompson
HB Hart*, Grady, Jackson
TE Massaquoi*, Ecker, M. Massey
WR Avant, Tabb
WR Breaston, Manningham
OT Stenavich, ?
OG Riley, Mitchell
OC Kraus*, Bihl
OG Lentz, Mitchell
OT Long, ?

Defense:
DE: Branch, Biggs
DT: Massey, Johnson
DT: Watson, Taylor
DE/LB: Woodley, Woods
LB: Graham, McClintock
LB: Harris, Thompson
LB: Burgess, Crable
CB: Hall, Trent
CB: Mason, Hood
S: Barringer, Harrison
S: Englemon, Adams

*Player is questionable.

Posted under Personnel