Unfortunately, we had some technical difficulties, so we don’t have any audio on our interviews. All the players said basically the same thing, so we’ll try to get a loose paraphrase up at least. If anyone can read lips and wants to do a transcript, let us know.

We’re kind of tired and ready for a standard Saturday night in Ann Arbor, so look forward to the full review tomorrow or monday complete with pictures and moving pictures!

Just to whet your appetite, here’s a picture of the wide receivers with Verne Troyer:

Posted under Blog News, Spring Coverage

T-minus one day until spring practice. Finally, the public gets a chance to review what the 2007 Wolverines will look like.

However, keep in mind that the impressions you get aren’t always going to be accurate. A year ago, Carlos Brown and LaTerryal Savoy looked like they were going to be world-beaters. At the end of 2006, Brown had 16 carries for 41 yards, Savoy had a statistically-anomalous 0 catches for 7 yards (he recovered a fumble).

Here are some things I’ll be looking for at spring practice (some of them suggested by commenters, and I encourage you to continue making suggestions):

Things to ask players/coaches:

• Upperclassmen’s opinions of Ryan Mallett
• How the defense will react after losing 6 starters
• Ask everyone around if they think Beilein will recruit the PSL

Things to observe, take pictures, gather footage of:

• Young guys coming in (Mallett, Panter, Helmuth, Chambers)
• Recruits attending the final spring practice
• Effectiveness of the D-Line
• Presence of Grady, Carlos Brown, Arrington

If there is anything else specific that you want to hear, speak now or forever hold your peace.

Posted under Mail Bag, Recruiting, Spring Coverage

Ironically, though I follow recruiting to a near religious degree, I rarely post about it on this here internet blogsite. This is for various reasons (i.e. what am I going to post that isn’t either easily available elsewhere or premium information from a recruiting site). However, I’ll hopefully start getting a little more recruiting info out there, starting with this piece on Detroit WR Fred Smith, in which he speaks glowingly of Michigan.

Interesting things: He holds a Michigan offer, and loved Michigan growing up (read: it’s not unlikely he ends up a Wolverine). This article didn’t appear in a Detroit paper, or even a Michigan paper, for that matter. Rather it is in USA Today, so maybe Smith is a higher-profile recruit than some are giving him credit for, especially since they say he is one of the top wideouts in the nation. However, in four batches of “elite wide receivers,” Jim Stefani has yet to mention Smith, and he’s not in Scout or Rivals early top lists.

However, at a 4.4 (reported) 40 time, and with his size (6-3, 215), he certainly has some potential.

SIDE NOTE: Don’t forget to comment in the post below with your questions for spring practice.

Posted under Recruiting

Paul and I will be attending the final spring practice this Saturday, armed with cameras (video and still) and our comprehensive note-taking abilities. There is a high likelihood that we are able to interview a player or two, especially among those who won’t be participating in full (Nobody important: Hart, Long).

If you have anything that you want us to take a closer look at, something you want video or pictures of, or any questions you want us to ask, post them in the comments and we’ll do our best to accommodate you.

Posted under Mail Bag, Spring Coverage

Bill Martin has been in the media a lot lately (makes sense, seeing as how he, you know, just hired a new basketball coach or two). Some highlights from his interview with the Monroe Street Journal:

On accusations that luxury boxes threaten the tradition of Michigan Stadium:

“Think about Fielding Yost when he built Michigan Stadium in 1926… Many of the Alumni clubs fought him and said, “You’re going away from the traditions of Michigan”. He recognized the reality that Michigan must be up with the times. You know, you’re either moving forward or backwards in life… Minnesota is building a new stadium right now and for the next 30 years every student will be paying a $30 -$45 student fee each semester to help build it. We are going to do it all on our own. People have to understand the reason we are building premium seating is not that it’s the end-all-be-all, but it is a way of paying for renovating the bowl. Look at it this way: 5,000 people are going to pay to give 105,000 other people a brand new state of the art stadium without putting a nickel on their backs.”

He goes back to the old standby “Yost did it, so I can, too.” It works I guess, and as someone who’s not adamantly opposed to the boxes, I have no issue with it.

On potential increased crowd noise in the stadium:

“By the nature of our new structures, the sound will be reverberated back in to the field. We also have an older Alumni crowd. Many want to go to Ohio State game in the late November cold, but want to see the game in comfort, in warmth, and have a nice social experience.”

Getting all the lame old people who refuse to cheer out of the bowl is fine by me. I doubt the acoustics will be drastically affected, but replacing some non-noisemakers with people who will hopefully be a bit more rowdy can’t hurt.

Still, I think of the Notre Dame game. They fit less people into a similarly-shaped structure, with no luxury boxes, and it still manages to be louder than Michigan stadium on a level that’s not even comparable.

On scheduling for football:

“Scheduling is one of the toughest things we do at Michigan and that’s because nobody big wants to come play us here, and they often only will if we’ll do a return game. Every time that stadium stays vacant on a fall Saturday, there goes 4.5 million dollars that I don’t get to pay the bills and fix the place. I’ll tell you that my principle objective in scheduling today is to play a complete round robin in the Big Ten… While I’m around we’re never going to have a conference championship game.”

The “not able to pay the bills” argument rings a little hollow when the athletic department rings up $16 million in profit every year. A home-and-home with a big school is unlikely to cost us that much lost profit, when you take into account TV incentives, etc. The round robin in the Big Ten is something that I’ve been hoping for a while, though the decrease to 2 non-conference games would lose Bill 4.5 million every year (5 home conference games and 2 potential home non-conference games each year, against 4 home non-conference games and 4 home conference games each year). I am glad to hear that there is no desire from Michigan’s end to have a championship game.

On the feasibility of getting a round-robin conference schedule:

“Well, it takes a vote of 6 of the 11 ADs. I’ve got a ways to go.”

On his career aspirations:

“My career as an athletic director begins and ends at Michigan. I put my heart and soul into this place because I love it. When it’s time to go into the shuffleboard business or whatever you do next in life, I’ll figure it out.”

Bill Martin wants to grow up to be a shuffleboard salesman.

Posted under Basketball

Please, real-life football news begin soon.

MGoBlue covers pretty much all the bases, except mentioning that the award goes to the best offensive or defensive lineman… or linebacker?

Woodley won the award last year, and Jake looks to make it a repeat for the maize and blue.

Posted under Personnel

There is some great news for all those attending the Final Spring Practice this Saturday at the Big House. In the press release on mgoblue.com there is this beautiful paragraph:

The two-hour practice will focus on individual position, full team drills and feature an offense against defense scrimmage.

As much as I like seeing some 7-on-7 passing drills and the lineman duking it out on the M, seeing actual plays and game-like football is something I’ll desperately need in order to tide me over until NCAA 2008 comes out. That usually gets me to August.

If you can make out for the Spring Practice (with some psuedo-game action!) I recommend it, if only to sit in a seat that most of us will never be able to afford during the regular season.

Posted under Spring Coverage

Just a couple of (as yet unconfirmed) things that have been coming out of spring practice.

1) Kevin Grady has suffered a fairly severe knee injury, and will be out for the rest of the spring, maybe even longer.
2) Carlos Brown is as good as gone.

This leaves the team in the precarious position of having only one backup running back on scholarship at this time. It’ll be interesting to see if the Grady injury is enough to convince Brown to stay, since it would mean a lot more playing time for him.

Posted under Personnel

The loss of Germany hurts DE depth, but the Wolverines are strong in the middle, and have some real potential in guys coming off the edge. Taylor seems poised to have a good year stopping the run up the middle. There is 2 or 3-deep depth at every position, but the real question is how much quality there is at each of these positions. Sagesse will redshirt unless there is a huge depth problem.

Nobody will be lost to graduation, but Terrance Taylor MAY be able to make the jump if he has a really good year. Still, with depth as poor as it is on the defensive line, expect the staff to go for a couple of defensive ends (including one top guy) and a defensive tackle, maybe two. This year will be a time for the staff to improve the depth, especially losing a couple of guys after the next season.

This is a definite rebuilding year for a linebacker corps losing two of three starters. The depth chart will probably not be completely set until after fall camp. Fortunately, the Wolverines are 2-deep at every position. Some of these guys need to improve, and expect both freshmen to take a redshirt. I am surprised to hear that Panter is not practicing all that well, as I didn’t think Michigan would bother with a JuCo unless they thought he’d be able to contribute right away. There’s the off chance that he takes a redshirt (he has 3 years to play two) as well.

Shawn Crable is graduating after this season, as is Chris Graham. If Graham wins the starting job this year, the team will again have to replace at least two starters. The MLB position seems fairly strong as far as depth, even if Cobrani Mixon transfers to Cincinnati, as has been rumored. A couple of OLBers should come in this class, as well as maybe one MLB to build further depth, since Thompson and Panter both have junior eligibility (unless Panter redshirts).

This position, long a subject of much bitching for Michigan fans, looks to be relatively strong this year. If Trent and Sears can continue to improve (reports from spring camp indicate that Sears is looking very good), the corners should be adequate, though still the weakness of the position group. New coach Vance Bedford has helped this position a lot. The nickel back position is a new one for Ron English’s defensive scheme, and Brandon Harrison looks to fill that role, with freshman Michael Williams backing him up. Expect redshirts for Babb, Rogers, and Woolfolk, though nothing is guaranteed.

To graduation, Michigan loses Anton Campbell, a career special teamer (who actually impressed in spring practice), Jamar Adams, a three-year starter at SS, Brandent Englemon, and undistinguished safety. With a bunch of safeties in the past couple classes, Michigan will probably only need to take one or two. At the CB position, nobody is lost to graduation, but Doug Dutch
(unrenewed 5th year candidate) is unproven at the position, as is sophomore Carlos Brown. Expect a couple of CBs to be taken, including at least one super (I’m going out on a limb here by saying they’ll land one – wait a minute, they already got U.S. Army combine MVP Boubacar Cissoko).

Posted under Personnel, Recruiting

Looks at all position groups, how they’ll be in the fall, and what recruiting needs will arise.

Others unaccounted for:
DeBenedictis
Huyge
Molk

The starting line seems to be pretty well-set, going Long-Kraus-Boren-Mitchell from left to right. The only question is at right tackle, where RS frosh Steve Schilling, Perry Dorrestein, and RS Soph Mark Ortmann battling for the starting job. Ortmann is really the future LT, so I’m not sure they want im starting at RT. The OL seems to be at least 2-deep at every position.

Michigan will lose Jake Long and Adam Kraus to graduation, and will probably not renew the scholarship of Grant DeBenedictis for a 5th year. The last couple of OL classes have been pretty small. Huyge and Molk will probably redshirt. Michigan needs at least 2 OTs (they already have one commitment from Dan O’Neill), incluing one more top guy. A couple interior linemen wouldn’t be a bad idea either.

Next year’s starting OL probably looks Ortmann-Ciulla or Schifano-Boren-Mitchell-Schilling or Zirbel.

Henne is entrenched as the starter. Forcier is gone to Stanford, leaving Mallett as the backup. David Cone is still developing, and is likely to play the career backup role.

Henne graduates after this season, and there is huge need for at least one non-project at the quarterback position to serve as Mallett’s theoretical 2008 backup, and probably another guy to be improved over the course of his career.

Hart will obviously remain the starter here. Minor is the backup, with Kevin Grady out with a torn ACL. Carlos Brown is back on offesne. Avery Horn enters this fall. He will likely redshirt his freshman year. At fullback, RS Frosh preferred walk-on Mark Moundros looks like the probable starter. If this is the case, Helmuth can take a redshirt before his four years of mauling linebackers.

Hart will be lost to graduation. That will leave 4 scholarship backs after this year (assuming Horn qualifies and stays at the position). That means Michigan will probably want to take one, and maybe even two, running backs in this class. There is no need at fullback with Helmuth just a true freshman.

Others unaccounted for:
Bass

Not a ton of depth here, but the starters are pretty good. Mathews showed some flashes last year as well, and all reports indicate that he is looking good in the spring. Savoy looked really good last spring, and ended up contributing almost nothing during the course of the year. He looks good again this year (per reports), so we’ll have to see if he can translate it to the field this time. A couple of freshmen are coming in, and it looks like both might play next year for depth reasons. Will Bass ever play again? That is the million-dollar question.

Nobody is lost to graduation, but Arrington and Manningham may be able to make the jump early if they have breakout year. Manningham needs to prove he can do things with the ball, proving he’s not just a one-trick pony. Arrington has shown himself t be fairly complete, and he has size. If he has big numbers, it should be enough to vault him into potential early-entry territory. If both of these guys leave, depth is absolutely shot, and there will have to be a big WR class. It is unlikely that Bas will ever play again, but if he does, he is a tremendous athlete. Expect at least two WRs taken in this class (with maybe one as a big guy who could split out as a TE), with another taken for each guy who does not come back and exhaust his eligibility.

Losing Butler whacked depth at this position right in the face. Masse
y is the only guy who even has played in a real game scenario. Watson and Webb are both incoming freshmen who were probably going to redshirt, though one of them might have to play this year, since Criswell and McLaurin aren’t very good. Smart money is on Watson, as he is pretty much ready to play, whereas Webb would be well-served by a redshirt year. He is physically a lot like Butler was coming in, though hopefully does not share mental deficiencies.

Losing the starter, who was going to be retuning for yet another year, will force Michigan to take a tight end in this class, though I think they originally had wanted to take a WR/TE tweener. With Webb and Watson both around, they might still be able to just get by with one of those hybrid prospects.

Posted under Personnel, Recruiting