Though many believed Kevin Newsome would be the only top-flight quarterback in Michigan’s class of 2009, improbably-named Texas QB Shavodrick Beaver has also committed to Michigan (Scout). Beaver (6-4, 200, 4.5), unlike Newsome, is not expected to enroll early.

Player Notes
Beaver is a run-pass quarterback, with a very good TD-Int ratio for a player with that distinction, especially at the high school level. As the second quarterback in this class, it will not be a surprise if he redshirts in 2009.

Recruiting Notes
Beaver was off the recruiting radar for Michigan fans for quite some time, despite his status as a highly rated dual-threat QB. Beaver wasn’t thinking much about Michigan either, as he was prepared to commit to TCU when his Michigan offer came. He quickly reconsidered, and Michigan moved among his top choices, sending TCU fans into a tizzy. After indications that a quarterback could commit this week, many Michigan fans were thinking it would be Tate Forcier yesterday. However, Beaver committed today instead.

It will be interesting to see what Beaver’s commitment means for Tate Forcier. Tate has said that Beaver would not scare him off from committing to Michigan, though he doesn’t plan to commit until a little later in the process. However, if Tate were to go blue as well, that may frighten Beaver into changing his commitment.

More on Beaver as it happens.

Posted under Recruiting

A lot of Michigan fans are wondering why everyone is talking about new Director of Strength and Conditioning Mike Barwis. There was never much discussion about the old guy, Mike Gittleson (except of the “ARGHHHHH GITTLESON I HATE YOU” nature), so why is Barwis on everyone’s mind all the time? Obviously he is a great S&C guy, but what makes him this way, and even still, what is so different about Barwis that it makes him a pseudo-celebrity, when I have never heard the name of a single other S&C coach in the country?

First, Barwis is a very good Strength Coach. He has unique workouts that focus on the core of the body, and are designed to help football players. While other gurus might train in ways that make guys bigger simply for the sake of having more size, or faster just to be able to run a better 40-yard dash time, Barwis designs his drills after football-specific movements, to make his guys better football players, rather than better weightlifters (or sprinters). Barwis takes a very scientific approach to everything he does, and won’t do a workout if he can’t explain the reason for it scientifically.

Another aspect of Barwis’s coaching that is noteworthy (at least to Michigan fans) is the fact that he holds every player accountable for their workouts, both in and out of season. If a player is too injured to work out, he is on the bike, or seeing the trainer, or doing something else to help him become a better football player. Under the old S&C staff, if a guy was hurt, he simply didn’t show up at Schembechler Hall for his scheduled workout. The offseason workouts are still nominally voluntary, but as Coach Rodriguez says, “so is their playing time.”

The results speak to Barwis’s prowess as a Strength Coach. West Virginia has been one of the most successful teams in the country over the past four years, despite not reeling in top recruiting classes. Thanks to a great conditioning program, the Mountaineers have been able to run other teams ragged, and outwork them over the course of four quarters to get a victory. For Michigan fans who say that the results for the Wolverines wouldn’t have been different with better conditioning (and that in-game coaching is instead more important), I point to the 2006 Rose Bowl, when the O-line was clearly out of shape, and the first two and last one game(s) of 2007, where the team was clearly not in game shape. They would have beaten App State, and at least not embarrassed themselves against Oregon and Ohio State. As further evidence, look at Ryan Mundy. He was forced out at Michigan because he wasn’t any good, and in the course of one year, Barwis turned him into an NFL draft pick.

The main reason Barwis has garnered so much fame, becoming a celebrity more than any other S&C Coach, is his personality. The guy is engaging and intense, as many interviews with him display. His players love coming to his workouts despite the difficulty, visiting recruits consistently say that he made them want to start working out then and there, and reporters are taken aback by his gravelly voice and intense demeanor. The famous video of Barwis giving a pregame speech to the Mountaineers before this year’s Fiesta Bowl (Thanks to commenter Max for furnishing a link and clarifying that it was actually the previous year’s bowl game) speaks volumes. Not only is the strength coach giving a pregame speech, it pumps the team up in a way that nothing else could, and is a perfect capsule of his motivational power.

When Rich Rodriguez came to Ann Arbor, many were excited for his unconventional offense and recent track record of success. Many were unaware that he would also be bringing along one of the best Strength Coaches in the country, and perhaps the man that is one of the biggest keys to his success. Barwis and Rodriguez seem to be linked for the long-term:

I was coming to work for Coach Rodriguez. He is a good friend and a tremendous coach. He is the one guy in the country that I really want to work for. Regardless of the situation, I want to work for Coach Rodriguez as long as he’ll have me. He’s my head coach. I have the utmost respect for him.

Michigan fans hope that the tandem can combine to bring the success they had in Morgantown to Ann Arbor.

Posted under Coaching

The Board.

New Information:
AZ DE Craig Roh will visit Michigan this summer.
VA QB Kevin Newsome participated (well) in the Penn Relays.
PA OT Eric Shrive. He has a Nebraska offer, and now one of his teammates will be a Husker.
Article on various prospects including Morgan Newton, Stephon Gilmore, and Quinton Washington.

Not a lot of action this week. Players that I haven’t seen anything about lately (in terms of link to Michigan) may on the cusp of getting dropped (a couple of the quarterbacks, maybe a running back or two, probably safety).

Posted under Recruiting

Since Michigan’s offense will call the zone-read option its bread-and-butter play for the next few years, fans are probably interested in how the play works. Slightly more interesting than “run left,” I assure you.

Most important to the smooth operation of the zone-read is not a quarterback who is blazing fast, but a signal caller who can make the right decision with the ball, and can at least do a little damage with his feet.

The play operates out of the shotgun, with either one back to the QB’s side or one split to either side of him. The running back for whom the play is called will start lined up on what will eventually be the backside of the play, since he crosses in front of the quarterback (this is not always the case in RR’s offense, but for the sake of the basic play, we will start with that). The offensive line will block down to the playside, leaving the backside defensive end unblocked. This is the player that the QB will read (hence the name “zone-read”).

The quarterback takes the snap, and the running back crosses in front of him. The QB puts the ball in his stomach, but does not hand it off. This is called the “mesh point” where either the QB or the running back can end up with the ball. It is at this point that the quarterback must be able to make a good decision with the ball, and read the defensive end. If the defensive end stays at home and holds contain, the quarterback simply hands off the ball to the RB. The offensive line is expected to outnumber the defenders, and block everyone for a good gain (or excellent depending on execution and the running back’s vision).

If the defensive end gets greedy, and decides to try to chase down the running back from behind, the quarterback pulls the ball out from the mesh point, and runs back past the end, and gets a decent gain (if the offensive line blocks well, the QB should be able to get to the second level without facing a defender). The quarterback makes this read if the defensive end turns his shoulders toward the running back, rather than keeping them parallel with the line of scrimmage, as he would if keeping contain.

For those who are visually oriented:

This is obviously the very basic play, so there are lots of other variations on it. For example, backs can be motioned into or out of the backfield, slot receivers can be used as pitchmen, the play can be designed to go towards the direction that the RB is lined up, rather than the opposite direction, etc. The option-pass can also be effective, with the play run the exact same way, but if the DE crashes, the quarterback, instead of trying to gain yards, rolls out for a pass, using the zone-read as a play-action.

If my explanation was confusing (and I hope it wasn’t), have Rodriguez explain it to you himself:

Posted under Coaching, Video

This will become a weekly feature for Saturdays henceforth. If there is no recruiting action during the week, I’ll either skip it or do something else informative.

Action since last rankings:
4-5 Northwestern gains commitment from Evan Watkins.
4-18 Michigan gains commitment from Fitzgerald Toussaint.
4-19 Ohio State gains commitment from Darrell Givens.
4-21 Ohio State gains commitment from Jordan Hall and Dorian Bell.
4-24 Michigan gains commitment from Kevin Newsome. Melvin Fellows switches commitment from Illinois to Ohio State.

New Rankings:

Ohio State has picked up three 4-star players and one 5-star player since the last rankings were given. They have a very strong start to their class. Adam Homan switched from FB to LB, where he will likely (not) play in college.

Michigan has continued a fairly strong (though not OSU-ian) start to the recruiting year. Kevin Newsome fills a huge need for the Wolverines, and is the right guy for this system. He will end up a very high 4-star or a 5-star (currently Scout’s #41 player (they had 50 5-stars last year), and Rivals’s #39 player (they had 30 5-stars last year)), though an early commitment to Michigan typically means death to a player’s ranking. Fitzgerald Toussaint is another RB/slot hybrid, with impressive film. High 3 or low 4-star likely.

No movement since the last rankings. Passed by Michigan because the Wolverines’ commitments will end more highly ranked, and fill positions of need effectively.

Losing Melvin Fellows wasn’t enough to drop the Illini below a couple teams with fewer commits.

No movement. Their guys aren’t yet ranked, but Wisconsin develops linemen like it’s their job (side note: it is, in fact, their job).

Minnesota is going through a big scheme change, and needs to recruit players to the new system. After a huge (and pretty good) 2008 recruiting class, Minnesota is not off to a fast start in 2009. Once a new batch of rankings come out, they might sneak past Wisconsin.

JoePa is death to Penn State’s ability to recruit.

A big QB. Curious to see whether he has the quicks to run Northwestern’s scheme, which requires some mobility.

T-9th – Indiana, Iowa, Northwestern, Purdue (0 commits)

Posted under Recruiting

Arriving in the fall: Kenny Demens, Marcus Witherspoon, J.B. Fitzgerald, Taylor Hill.

With a fair amount of depth here, and not much at DE, someone among the linebackers who played DE in high school may start bulking up and change positions. Michigan loses a few seniors, but only one of them (Johnny Thompson) is a projected starter. In recruiting, Michigan can probably hold out for a top guy or two unless they lose a couple players to defensive end.

After a very large 2008 LB class, this isn’t a huge area of priority. Michigan can hold out for higher-level prospects.

Posted under Personnel, Recruiting

After this past weekend, many Michigan fans were up in arms over the comparatively festive spring game atmospheres at rival schools (Notre Dame, Ohio State, and even Michigan State) as compared to the less than 5,000 fans who took in Michigan’s final spring scrimmage at a nearby high school. For the future, I would love to see a better spring game.

Why not this year? There were tons of extenuating circumstances (pretty much all out of Rodriguez’s control) that prevented a spring game from happening. Most of them will not be present, at least to their current magnitude, next year.

• Construction in the Big House. Even if they weren’t going to have a legitimate game this year because of other circumstances, they probably would have still invited fans to come to a practice in the Big House had it been available. Next year, the magnitude of construction won’t be as great (there is literally no East Concourse anymore, just steps that lead to a cliff – photo credit to UMGoBlue.com), and they’ll hopefully be able to use the Big House for the game, even though construction won’t be completed.
• Installing a new system. This year, Coach Rodriguez and his coaches were installing completely new offensive and defensive schemes, which is something that they probably won’t be doing again in their time at Michigan. Even upperclassmen are learning something completely new, which won’t be the case in future years.
• Playing catch-up. On top of a completely new system to teach the players, Michigan’s new coaches had other areas in which they were playing catch-up as well. They had to gain back ground on the 2008 recruiting class, start anew for the 2009 class, get to know each other (along with terminology and schemes in some cases), buy houses, and integrate themselves into the community in Ann Arbor. When they don’t have all these things to make up ground, they’ll be able to teach more effectively in the spring, and plan for a spring game.
• Rodriguez had other things to worry about. Including his lawsuit, which he has a stake in, regardless of the fact that his lawyers are doing all the actual legwork.

Is it likely we’ll see one in the future? Yes. Spring games give media exposure which is good in almost every way. It certainly helps with recruiting. Also helping with recruiting is being able to invite tons of top prospects to the game, and show them an exciting atmosphere. Also, Rich Rodriguez has had one in the past at West Virginia. Almost no school this day can sustain a great program without some form of popular spring game.

So what makes a great spring game? Several factors have to come together to make a spring game truly great. The event must be about not only the game, but a carnival-like atmosphere around it.

• First, the game must be entertaining. This means 1st team offense v. 1st team defense, backups v. backups on two teams, with standard timing, scoring, etc. No “offense v. defense” games with complicated and weird scoring systems that nobody can remember (much less decipher in some instances). If you don’t want to do special teams for the sake of avoiding injuries, they can be left out or limited.
• Inviting recruits is also important. Even if many of them can’t come, letting them know that you are thinking about them (a la a Pete Carroll text message) is important to prospects, especially those who won’t get an offer, but still want to feel like BMOCs. This is also big for keeping in-state coaches happy.
• Media coverage. I wouldn’t be surprised if BTN has exclusive rights to all spring coverage of conference schools, which hurts somewhat (it means no GameDay, and no national coverage on basic cable unless the network gets picked up by more carriers), but at least it is something. The game should be on live television, presented exactly as though it is a real game.
• Have other important people there. Invite back every football alum who is or has been in the NFL (photo of Lamarr Woodley, Pierre Woods, and ? thanks to MVictors.com). Invite other prominent Michigan grads (Lucy Liu, Michael Phelps, Steve M. Ross) to come as well, and make the whole thing into an event. The famous people can even come together and coach the teams.
• Band, cheerleaders, alumni cheerleaders, etc. Make it a clone of a real game.
• Have other events around the game, like Ohio State (Lacrosse game in the ‘Shoe) or Florida (sprints between students and players).
• Not sure if this is allowed per NCAA rules, but invite signed recruits to the game, and introduce them to the fans over the loudspeaker. That lets future recruits know how important they are to the program, and also helps fans know who will be on future teams.
• Advertise the game more. Statewide, via direct-mail lists, alumni associations, etc. Get fans in the seats.
• Have the parking lots open for tailgating, just like any other game.

Take a lesson from Don Canham, Mr. Martin (and Mr. Rodriguez) and advertise the event and the program, not just the game itself. Having a big spring game can only help the program achieve long-term success.

Have any other ideas? Drop them in the comments.

Posted under Recruiting, Spring Coverage

Arriving in the fall: Boubacar Cissoko (CB), JT Floyd (Nickel), Brandon Smith (SS).

A ton of safety prospects out there right now.

Michigan will like at least one super.

Posted under Personnel, Recruiting

Arriving in the fall:
Dan O’Neill, Rocko Khoury, Kurt Wermers, Ricky Barnum, Elliott Mealer, Patrick Omameh. Redshirts on the way for just about all of them except maybe O’Neill and whichever interior OL is most ready to play.

David Molk was out for most of the spring (with mono), but I think he’ll use summer camp as a springboard into a starting position. Though Michigan doesn’t lose anyone from this group, the departures of a few players mean that they are still a little thin at the position. Rodriguez likes to have around 16 linemen on the roster, and he will have 15 on the roster next year (including a couple who aren’t likely to ever have big contributions).

Not a ton of need here. They will probably be able to hold out for a couple highly-ranked guys (1-2 tackles, 1-2 interior OL).

Posted under Personnel, Recruiting

Not a lot of guys have updates, but some dudes got dropped. Board.

Added:
FL DT Antwan Lowery. He may be leaning towards Rutgers?
TN OG Alex Bullard. He is now reporting a Michigan offer.

New Information:
VA QB Kevin Newsome. A ton of people have e-mailed me with the MySpace thing, so I might as well post it. Apparently, he is blue? I wouldn’t read too much into it. Maybe he just likes 90s pop-techno. Also, interesting ESPN article that VT may redshirt Tyrod Taylor. That would have to make the depth chart here look even more appealing in comparison.
TX QB Shavodrick Beaver. Apparently TCU fans are up in arms over my post making fun of beloved member Zammers. I don’t harbor any resentment towards the guy, he just said a lot of dumb things championing TCU over Michigan. I don’t really care either way. Thanks to “mgoblu,” who apparently registered for the board just to defend my post. Also, TCU fans, all no huddle spread offenses are not the same. Sorry.

Removed:
FL QB Aaron Murray. He will commit on Thursday, picking either Georgia or Florida (probably Georgia over Florida). He never got a Michigan offer.
PA LB Dorian Bell. Lots of internets say he will commit to the Buckeyes today.
VA CB Damien Thigpen. Committed to Tennessee.

Posted under Recruiting