Jimmah, come on up for a visit

I was really pulling for Jason, but I guess a Robot or a Monster would be a much better choice.

Predictions 2009

Ok...this prediction is not a wish list, it's what I actually think will transpire this year. We have a freshman QB, but we are more experienced in general. Here it goes:

Western Michigan-W. A loss here would be incredibly devastating. WM is a good team.

Notre Dame-W. Clausen gets sacked 5 times. We run around their defense. We really need this win.

Eastern Michigan-W. Very poor team. Ron English gets welcomed back to Ann Arbor by getting destroyed.

Indiana-W. Indiana is always rebuilding.

At MSU-W. We start 5-0, our hopes are super high, were ranked higher than we though possible.

At Iowa-L. Tough place to play, Our heads are too big and Iowa out wills us.

Delaware State-W. Seriously...we better put up 50.

Penn State-L. Very talented team gives us our second loss.

At Illinois-L. On the fence here. If it was home I'd give us the win.

Purdue-W. We take down the boilermakers in the big house easily.

At Wisconsin-W. Another one I'm not sure about. This game will end up being huge for us. We beat them last year somehow when we shouldn't have. I say we do it again.

Ohio State-L. Much closer game than last year, but we'll have to wait one more year.

Final record: 8-4. Bowl Game.

It's difficult for me to see 9-3, but easy for me to see 7-5. 6-6 is possible with losses to both MSU and Wisconsin.

Spring Game 2009

Yes Sir, WWW will be at the Spring game this year. We are excited about getting our name out there a little bit and seeing those winged helmets on the field for the first time in 09...hopefully that won't be the case in 2010. We're going to take a lot of pictures and hopefully talk to some players about this year's team.

There are a lot of question marks this year, perhaps even more than last year. But it's an exciting year nonetheless.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The Good: Forcier and Robinson are here

The Bad: Threet's Gone

The Ugly: Sheridan's Not

Alright, Threet's gone, it's official. It's been official, you all know that. Mostof you also are relying on Tate Forcier. I've read a lot of "OMG were back to a freshman QB! THE WORLD IS OVER!". Well, it's not folks. The only reason to worry about Threets departure is the lack of competition for Tate in the spring. Honestly, Nick Sheridan, My four year old cousin is more competition than that. That being said, my other worry is that RR will start Sheridan because of his experience. I'm not real worried about this but it is a possibility, not a huge one though. Also, Robinson looks like a stud, and he'll be here in the fall, so things look very OK. Back to the freshman issue,

• Our Oline is more experienced
• Our team is more experienced
• We have an actually starting running back
• Terrence Robinson is healthy
• The team has much more of a grasp on the playbook, or should at least
• RR had a full year recruiting, which means more of "his guys"
• Lastly, can the quarterback play be any worse?

So I believe we will be fine. Plus this could be better for future years, I'm still thinking of this year as a rebuilding year. So I'm happier starting a true freshman QB who fits in the system rather than a QB who will never lead this offense to it's full potential.

As for Sheridan, he could turn into a servicable third string QB. Remember the Minnesota game?

Did You Know....

Did you know that, the largest recorded crowd in the 107,501 capacity "Big House" was 112,118 on Nov. 22, 2003 against ohio state. The "Big House" aka "The Carnegie Hall of all Sports" aka "the House that Yost built," is the second largest stadium, second only to Penn State. After 2010 however, "the Big House" will have a capacity of 108,000+. Along with being the second largest stadium in the United States, the "Big House" is the forth largest stadium in the world. Thats something to be proud of.

Its about time Cortland!!

Hi everyone.

Sorry it has taken me so long to post. I'll start with a little bit about myself. I unfortunately grew up in the state below the holy land. So I have delt with the couch burners all my life. But I will say that living in this state has made me a stronger fan, and if saying thank you to ohio wasn't a sin, I would. So last season might have been a little rough, but I'm not going to give up on Rich yet. Talk to yall soon.

Cortland.

Power Outage, busy, busy ,busy

As you can tell there hasn't been much posting lately. Both I and Chris lost power which contributed to the lack of posting. Also everything has been busy. I'll try to get the Wide reciever breakdown up tomorrow. Luckily we all had the gem from Kirby to keep us goin. I'm looking forward to his posting as I'm sure all of you are.

Kirby's Corner Preface

Hello fans all of which who bleed blue and cry tears maize. I don't know a whole lot about Wolverine sports but I'm gonna give you several pieces of my mind. Looking forward to becoming a part of all your lives. Until we meet again.

KC Thunda

Joke Time

This is an old one but a great one:

Why is ice no longer available at Ohio State football games?

Because the senior who knew the recipe finally graduated.

Delaware State Hornets

I know this is old news and it has already been covered pretty extensively in other blogs/rivals, but I certainly think it's an interesting topic for discussion. Michigan will play the 1-AA Delaware State Hornets at the Big House on October 17th were there has been a vacancy on our schedule over the past year.

The hornets were a really solid team two years ago but kind of slowed down a bit last year finishing 5-6 overall. The point has been made elsewhere that it's a bit ridiculous for Michigan to play these guys. It seems we have nothing to gain and everything to lose. Nobody wants to see another Appalachian State ever again.

But the point has also already been made that this allows for Michigan to, hopefully, get an easy win towards the bowl eligibility that we all so desperately want back. Either way, it seems like a bad move and at the very least way behind schedule.

I would have seriously liked to see them get a game against a solid team early in the season. But as everyone is also aware of, Michigan is locked into a long term agreement with the team from South Bend, which does not help our possibility or flexibility in scheduling a good game.

So in my opinion, the athletic department...Bill Martin...needs to start looking for games against teams like Oregon, not Deleware St. I would love to see an SEC or another PAC 10 team come to the big house early in the season. And as difficult as it is for me to agree with anything surrounding Ohio St, I like what they have done with USC and Texas the last few years. Trading off home games with big schools only does great things for both schools, and its always great for fans to see a bowl like game early in the season.

Michigan @ Uconn

Tonight marks the first time since 1939 that Michigan basketball has played Connecticut. It just so happens that this time the huskies are ranked #1 in the nation. The wolverines have been up and down this season but they have won some key games against ranked opponents.

"I am excited to play the number one team," Michigan guard Manny Harris said. "I think our team plays at our best when we play higher-ranked teams, even though we should play the same every game."

Michigan has knocked off UCLA and Duke this year while both teams were ranked in the top 5. The Huskies are 21-1 this season and are coming off of a 68-51 beat down of #5 ranked Louisville last Monday. I'll be expecting a good game from the wolverines even though it seems extremely unlikely that we'll win.

For a win the wolverines will no doubt have to play their best ball all season and they'll need to have huge games from both Manny Harris and DeShawn Sims. Tip off is tonight @ 6:00.

Running Backs

Onto the running backs. Last year this group was very inconsistent and a bit frustrating. Minor ended up coming up big in the latter part of the year, Carlos had a nice game. Mcguffie looked good early but cooled off towards the end, and Michael Shaw battled injuries and had some nice runs.

The Men:

Brandon Minor- You know him, You love him, You'll be seeing much more of him.

Carlos Brown- You'll see him too, don't worry

Kevin Grady- To be honest, I completely forgot he was on the team, if you're waiting to see him, don't hold your breath.

Mike Shaw- Look for him. He will be there.

Mike Cox- Hopefully he becomes a stud, just cause I have a #15 jersey. Don't expect too much.

Jimmy Potempa- If you've heard of him, congratulations.

Fitzgerald Toussaint- He will see the field.

Teric Jones- Could play, could redshirt. I just made the most obvious statement ever. Call me John Madden.

Vincent Smith- I don't think he will end up a tailback considering his size. Might see a bit of time in the slot though.

The prediction:

Brandon Minor will start. My four year old cousin could tell you that. After him I think we will see a variety of backs early in the season with Carlos Brown, Mike Sahw, and Fitz T all seeing a good amount of carries. Brandon Minor performed great at the end of the year last year and with an improved offensive line things only look better. Seriously Folks, can they look worse?

The evaluation:
As I said Brandon Minor with an improved offensive line and a good amount of depth behind him I look for our ground game to take off this year. Hopefully our passing game will provide a little help and keep defensive from putting 17 guys in the box. But we'll take it one step at a time.

Grade- A

Oh I just did a whole running backs post without mentioning mcguffie, sorry.
Mcguffie transferred, I think we'll be ok. The End.

Wolverines on the ice

The 4th ranked wolverines face off tomorrow night against Lake Superior State. They also play them on Saturday night. Both games will be in Ann Arbor and start at 7:35. The split the last two game series against #1 Notre Dame, each team beating the other on their home ice. The wolverines are 19-9 this season and looking really good overall. The have dropped two of their last three home games however, so they will be looking to get back on track at Yost arena this weekend.
The picture is of # 34 Tristin Llewellyn crushing a Notre Dame player into the boards. It was taken in their last game (from MgoBlue).

Quarterback

I'm gonna try and do a position by position breakdown of the 2009 football team. Hopefully I'll post a new position everyday until I have them all covered. I'll start with QB.

The Men:
Steve Threet- If the season started tomorrow, he'd be the starter.

Nick Sheridan- I doubt we'll ever see him again. We've all got our fingers crossed.

David Cone- How bad can he be, even with all the QB trouble we had last year he never even sniffed the field.

Justin Feagin- Look for him at wideout next year.

Tate Forcier- Seems to be everyone's favorite.

Denard Robinson- The most intriguing in my mind, listed as an athlete, Pat White type that can throw. Could make some noise.


The Prediction:

I think it comes down to Forcier and Threet. I think They both have the edge on Denard because Tate is here in the spring and Threet has obviously been here. Robinson won't be here until the summer. I say Robinson either redshirts or works into a rotating role with the starter, then fights for the starting position next year.

This Job is not Threets to lose. It is Forcier's to take. Tate will have an equal chance to start and as he is more fit to the system I believe it comes down to his ability to master the playbook and adjust to the college game. If he can do this, he starts, unless of course Threet makes some major improvements.

I think the depth chart breaks down like this:
Forcier
Threet
Robinson
Sheridan
Cone

Evaluation-
Forcier is very unproven, and one thing I always remind myself of is how bad Brady Quinn was his freshman year, as was Jimmy Clausen. So Threet could break out and end up being pretty good. But for some reason I just don't see it. So here are the possibilities: One of two true freshman or a sophomore who doesn't look that promising.

Grade- C

Logo Design Contest

Unfortunately, Eric, Cortland, and I are all very artistically challenged. We have absolutely no skill at coming up with a log for this blog. To show you how bad our first attempt was, I'll post a picture of the one I made in MSPaint. Eric already posted at the forum on umgoblue about helping us with a logo. A lot of people have viewed it, so that's good. But if you read this post and you want to have your artwork displayed for us and your willing to do it free of charge, just post it in a comment here.

Sorry, and YES! and NO!

Well first of all, as I mentioned earlier, I was skiing today. Chris had to work all day and I believe Cortland, who has yet to post, was moving. So all in all a busy day. So basically, sorry we missed signing day. Here's a story.

So I'm waitin in line for the lift and this guy asks if he can take a lift with me and my girlfriend. I give him the OK and we get on the lift. I guess the first thing he notices is my Michigan hat because he immediately said,"So is Michigan gettin' some good recruits today?". I said I sure hope so and he told me that he saw before he left (he must have come much later than me) that UM had two QB recruits, one from cali and another from Florida (Denard Robinson). By the way if your skiing and someone wants to share a lift, do it, you learn all kinds of things. So that relieved some anxiety I had. Then I was worried about Jeron Stokes. Saw when I got home that we pulled him in. That was the YES! Now for the NO!

Now before you get all panicky, don't worry this is probably old news to you because you probably have been reading online all day about signing day and don't go straight to a two day old blog for the latest news. Which isn't all that latest because we missed today, as explained above. But at least we explained ourselves and hopefully you start coming to us for the latest news.
Cause we'll have it. Yes that was a plug. Thought I could slip it right into your subconsciouses. Probably would have worked better if I hadn't pointed it out.

So I just wrote a paragraph without getting to the in tent of the paragraph. Therefore I felt a new paragraph was in order. Ready for it??? Pearlie Graves and Dequinta Jones didn't send us their letters of intent. I know, I know, you all know that already, if you don't it's ok. Not everyone follows recruiting. Some of you may say, "You know Eric, we have William Campbell, we still did ok recruiting at DT this year". And to that I give you this:

Even though out of the three DT that have already been mentioned in this article Campbell is the only one with a seemingly chance to start for us, well now he's definitely the only one since the other two are gone, it still would have been great to get three DT's. Both starting tackles are gone from last year, those are big shoes to fill and we're gonna need some depth to replace it. Luckily I think we have enough talent on the roster to move on this year and hopefully get another two or three DT's next year.

Electroshock Therapy?

Apparently at Ohio State they are teaching that a good way to prepare for the NFL Draft is to undergo electroshock therapy. This therapy is administrated by a licensed police officer with a 50,000 volt taser. Sound Crazy? Former Ohio State OL and current OSU student Alex Boone didn't think so.

ESPN article on OSU's pre-draft regiment

Alex Boone was arrested while jumping on car hoods and pulling a tow truck cable trying to break windows. The police who arrived on the scene of this drunk lineman performing this workout quickly decided that it was time for the therapy session. So does this hurt his draftstock? I mean remember ol' Santonio Holmes wasn't a model citizen, and he's doing OK. It pains me to say that by the way.

Officially Quinton Washington

Well he committed officially. which doesn't mean anything til signing day. Which just happens to be tomorrow. So there's little chance of him decommiting in the next 24 hours. This also moved us up from 7th to 6th in the rivals rankings. We passed North Carolina(!), now my question is how North Carolina was ahead of us, and most of the nation. I don't know what to think about that, I guess they usually do well recruiting, but they're still North Carolina. I don't like the feeling of saying, "We are Michigan, we have the tradition to recruit against the likes of North Carolina.". Well, they're in the rearview now.

Wolverines in the Super Bowl

I was really glad to see Woodley and Breaston have such an impact on this year's super bowl. I didn't watch Arizona much this season, but I was amazed at how vital Breaston was to their offensive scheme. And Woodley was obviously just a beast, ending the game on a forced fumble. Anyone have any toughts?