Posted under Football, Recruiting

GBW is reporting that Michigan has gained the commitment of Florida safety Marvin Robinson. The rising junior won’t enroll until the fall of 2010, but is already Michigan’s ninth verbal in the class. Robinson, from Lake Region High School, measures 6-2, 190, with a 40-yard dash in the 4.5 range.

Posted under Recruiting

This is the only time (barring significant developments) that I’ll mention Greg Paulus today. He has been offered, wait no he hasn’t, the NCAA would have to grant him a waiver to participate (and they probably would). I think it’s a good idea, because he won’t beat out Tate, and it just adds depth while giving him a chance to continue his sports career, etc. Also, look at all the positive press it got Michigan over the past couple days (before Tate Forcier had to run his mouth about it). “Greg Paulus played basketball at Duke” could be the new “Tom Zbikowski is a boxer” or “James Laurinaitis’s dad is a former pro wrestler.” I guess “Jason Forcier tansferred back after going to Stanford for two years” could be similarly fluffy (and Jason would probably have more of a chance to be effective than Paulus).

If it happens, I’ll cover it. Otherwise, I’m really sick of seeing all the idiotic articles by columnists and similarly stupid writers. These people get paid to put out drivel like that. It’s pathetic, really.

Posted under Football, Personnel

As time goes by, it seems more and more inevitable that SC QB Cornelius Jones might pick Michigan. He’s going to visit this summer.

Removed VA QB Phillip Sims. He committed to Alabama, relieving me of my responsibility of looking for excuses to drop him. I’m comin’ for you next, Heaps.

ESPN recruiting fluff on GA RB Mack Brown. From the article it appears as though he’s more of a speed back than a big back, which I had previously pegged him as. Still, with 2 backs in the class, I wouldn’t be surprised if the coaching staff holds out for Marcus Lattimore or bust (“bust” here meaning “Austin White/Nick Hill“). Additional Brown mini-fluff from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

MD RB Marcus Coker, who was part of the mass offering of DeMatha players last week, has now confirmed that he’s received an offer from the Wolverines (info in header). Still no definitive word on any of the other four guys.

I’d kinda pegged IL TE CJ Fiedorowicz as a Notre Dame lock, but it appears as though he’s favoring Iowa and Ohio State at this point. Michigan doesn’t seem to be in the thick of his recruitment, but he’d be an awesome weapon in the spread offense.

OH DE Darryl Baldwin was scheduled to visit Ann Arbor on Monday, though there haven’t been any (free) reports on whether said visit was positive or not.

Michigan is still showing interest in IL DE Louis Trinca-Pasat. Sun-Times fluff on Trinca and his teammate OL Laken Tomlinson. I’ve added Tomlinson to the board.

It’s almost difficult to NOT read the tea leaves, as each day brings further evidence (in header) that FL S Marvin Robinson is going to commit to the Wolverines, and do so sometime soon. That would (hopefully) open the floodgates a bit for some other defensive recruits to hop on board. Speaking of which, Josh Helmholdt goes over the spoils of the spring game in the Freep, including a tidbit on Marvin:

“I love the Michigan fans and I love the support they give their players,” Columbus (Ohio) Brookhaven defensive end Derrick Bryant remarked. “I was thinking some college stadiums don’t have that many people that come for a regular game and they had that many people for a scrimmage.”

“It was definitely a great environment to see all the people there supporting Michigan,” added Livonia Stevenson running back Austin White…

The recruiting results of Michigan’s spring game weekend could be immediately seen with the Saturday commitment of Flower Mound (Tex.) Marcus running back Stephen Hopkins. Several more players, however, elevated Michigan on their list of favorites following visits this past weekend.

[Torrian] Wilson, a 6-4, 315-pound offensive lineman ranked as the No. 131 player in the country by Rivals.com, named Michigan his leader after finishing up a five-day visit in Michigan. Eagle Lake (Fla.) Lake Region four-star safety Marvin Robinson, the No. 99 player in the country according to Rivals.com, also named the Wolverines as his top team and expects to make his commitment official in the next 2-3 weeks.

The Wolverines were already Robinson’s leader, though the imminent commitment thing is new this week. FL OL Torrian Wilson enjoyed the spring game as well, but it will still be tough to pull him from the Hurricanes. The other two gentlemen enjoying themselves can obviously be nothing other than a positive.

Information on a few different guys from Phil Kornblut:

USC has offered RB Roy Finch (5-8, 170) of Niceville, Fla. He also has offers from Oklahoma, Alabama, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Southern Miss, Auburn, Vanderbilt, Stanford, Oregon, Michigan and Texas A&M.

DB Brashaud Breeland (6-2, 200) of Allendale-Fairfax also was at USC’s practice last Thursday night. He’s considering the Gamecocks and Clemson strongly along with Wake Forest, N.C. State, Virginia Tech, Maryland, Michigan and Tennessee.

So, Finch is now moved to “offered” on the board, and it appears as though Bashaud Breeland (first name sic in the quote, as I believe there’s no “r”) has Michigan in an unofficial top 8 of sorts. There was a bit more information in the article, but it was redundant from previous recruiting updates.

Posted under Football, Recruiting

Per ESPN’s SportsCenter, Rich Rodriguez has indeed decided to continue the saga of Greg Paulus by offering him a scholarship to play quarterback for the Wolverines.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – for Michigan, this is probably little other than a depth move. For Paulus, it’s a chance to get back into football in hopes of making the NFL, extend his college days, and hope to contribute for the Wolverines in case of injury.

Will Paulus accept the offer (and will he be eligible to play in ’09?)? That remains to be seen.

Posted under Football, Personnel

Spring practice is over, having officially ended with a final practice on Tuesday (yes, after the Spring Game). The players will continue working with Barwis as long as they’re in town, but organized practices have come to an end.

Shall we recap what we know from spring, then?

• Ryan Van Bergen, who was taken off the field on the Med Cart Saturday, should be fine.
• Maize n Blue Nation provides a handy chart of the individual stats from the spring game. Tate Forcier, for the record, graded out with a passer efficiency rating (not a perfect metric, but them’s the ropes) of 270.80. Michigan’s total last year was 95.13, and Steven Threet led with a 105.26 rating. Standard caveats apply about our own defense maybe just being terrible, no contact on QBs, and simulating situations rather than a scrimmage.
• VB Spring Game Recap.
• VB Spring Game Photo Gallery.
• MSC and MGoBlog recaps.

BTN Highlights:

Football news, other than that of the recruiting variety, should slow down in short order around here, unless something significant happens. Focus will shift slightly to baseball, general athletics, and other pursuits.

Posted under Football, Spring Coverage

Tate Forcier, Denard Robinson, and Nick Sheridan looked to be the only quarterbacks on Michigan’s roster by the time fall camp rolled around, however, recent news abounds that Michigan may add some transfers to the rotation, if only to build up a bit of depth.

First comes Jason Forcier. The former Wolverine and Stanford grad is looking to continue his education in Ann Arbor. Forcier the elder, who backed up Chad Henne for a couple years before Golden Boy Mallett removed any and all hope of future playing time (ha!), is the oldest brother of Tate, the odds-on favorite to be Michigan’s starter this fall. Under normal circumstances, he would be ineligible to spend 2009, his final year of collegiate eligibility, at Michigan. However, he may appeal to the NCAA to use the Mundy Rule (under which Michigan starting safety Ryan Mundy became West Virginia starting safety Ryan Mundy). The rule has since been repealed by the bureaucracy we all know and love, but the NCAA will look at individual cases to determine their merits. In Forcier’s case, he started out at Michigan, then managed to earn his degree at Stanford, and wants to return to Michigan for a post-grad degree (and likely a future in coaching), in addition to helping his little brother adjust to college life. If he is also granted the privilege of playing for the Wolverines, that would be a bonus, though a significant one for both Jason and the Wolverines.

The other transfer news, which was something of a hot topic yesterday, comes in the form of a potential switch by Duke basketball player Greg Paulus. Paulus was among the nation’s top QB recruits in the class of 2005 (in which he was also a 5-star point guard recruit). Paulus visited Ann Arbor for Michigan’s final spring practice on Tuesday, at which time he talked to coach Rod about potentially coming to Michigan as a QB (the Green Bay Packers have similar designs on Paulus). I’m not clear on Paulus’s eligibility status, as he’d be not only transferring schools, but also sports. However, as someone who’d be playing organized football for the first time in over 4 years, it’s safe to say he’d only be adding depth to Michigan’s sparse backfield.

So what’s the most likely outcome? I would assume Jason probably ends up in maize-and-blue either way, be it a uniform or the sweatsuit of a grad assistant. If Paulus wants to come to Michigan, depending on the eligibility status, it must be assumed that the Wolverines wouldn’t hesitate to take him, especially considering they have several scholarships available to hand out for 2009.

What say you, Michigan fans? Are you for these potential moves? Against them?

Posted under Football, Personnel

Posted under Football, Recruiting

…of course, it’s for a road game. This is actually fairly old news, but when the Wolverines travel to Iowa City on October 10th, they wont take the field until nighttime, according to Kirk Ferentz at his press conference last week:

Ferentz said Iowa will be playing three night games during Big Ten play: at Penn State (Sept. 26), vs. Michigan (Oct. 10) and at Michigan State (Oct. 24). 

Members of a certain subset of Michigan fans are undoubtedly saying “How come they’ll play 3, and we aren’t even willing to play a home night game once!” Stay calm, fans (and stop with the idiotic petitioning), it will happen sooner or later, and you’re wasting your breath for now, as the earliest Michigan will play a home night game is when the stadium renovation is complete for the 2010 season.

Posted under Football

Posted under Football, Photo Album, Spring Coverage