Hmmm, no.

i taught mario in high school, and still see him around our hometown from time to time...

doesn't surprise me in the least.

Thursday, May 15, 2008
Sam Webb: Recruiting
U-M faces stiff competition for Minneapolis receiver

The new Michigan football paradigm is one that not only features philosophical changes in scheme, but also in the type and size of players that are recruited. There are obvious differences in the kinds of athletes recruited at quarterback and offensive line -- and the diminutive slot receiver prospect has gone from having a non-existent role to one of prominence. Amid all that change, though, there are some player traits that will remain unmistakably Michigan.

One example is the continued presence of the bigger wideout, or "outside receiver" as it is now termed by the new coaching staff. One of their most coveted "outside receiver" targets is Bryce McNeal of Minneapolis Breck. Rated a four-star prospect and the No. 16 receiver in the country by Scout.com, McNeal stands almost 6-3, weighs 175, runs the 40 in 4.45 seconds and vertical jumps 37 inches. Michigan is one of 19 programs that have already extended scholarship offers, and the school that lands the 2009 Army All-American will get a better player than many realize, according to Scout.com Midwest recruiting analyst Allen Trieu.

"I love Bryce's game," Trieu said. "He's very smooth, natural, and has some of the best hands I've seen. He can make tough, acrobatic catches and he also is very dangerous after the reception.

"He isn't a 6-4, 200-pound giant, but he has decent enough size to play outside. He also has attributes like elusiveness and hands that would project well to the slot. So he's a player who can fit multiple roles in an offense.

"He's a great kid off the field, too. The Wolverines would be lucky to have him on the field, in the locker room, and on campus."

McNeal believes his reputation as an asset on and off the field has been instrumental in raising his appeal among college coaches.

"I just think that one of the reasons I'm highly recruited is because I'm a good kid," he said. "My parents raised me right. I'm true with God. I'm not going to do anything to jeopardize (the reputation) of the university because I'm not going to put me or my parents in that situation."

U-M visit 'unbelievable'
The opinions of the McNeal's parents will carry major weight in his college choice. That's why he has made it a point to have them with him during campus visits whenever possible. His father traveled with him to Ann Arbor in late March and was impressed by what the program has to offer.

You'll probably have to edit that down since posting whole articles is never cool, but I'm still optimistic about McNeal. Not going to get too worked up about recruiting almost a year before the next signing day though.

Watching the Colorado game on espn classic.
Biakabatuka scores at the end of the 1st half to make it 14-9 Buffs.
They go for 2 - but there's a false start.
Then they go for 2 anyways from the 7.
LOL

Bump for preseason rankings

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200.../rankings0811/

We are #54! Thank God East Carolina is off the schedule this year since they're at 44.

Phil Steele had Michigan in a very similar spot IIRC... everyone else has them much higher (at least 15 spots higher IIRC)

I think it's all the o-line worries added to losing very experienced top skill players (Henne, Hart, and Manningham) remind many of Notre Dame last year

as some Notre Dame fanboi on the Illini forums keeps pointing out, ND was #2 in pass defense and about #30 in total defense (yardage, which is meh compared to YPP) last year... there is only so far a decent defense can carry a team if the offense is truly horrible

FWIW ND was #2 in pass defense because nobody had to effing pass on them to gain yards.

rofl

Sporting News has Michigan #18.

too many questions, nobody knows

Just looked it up, ND gave up 195.4 yards per game last year on the ground.

Also, that total D number is probably BS too because the offense barely went anywhere so I would bet opposing teams had less distance to travel before inevitably putting some points on the board.

ND's o-line was so far beyond horrible it was ridiculous. They were not just last last in sacks allowed and TFLs allowed, they allowed more of each than the worst teams usually do in any given year. When we talk about ND's 2007 o-line's season, we are talking about one of the worst o-line performances in the history of college football. There is no reason to expect Michigan's o-line to be anywhere near that bad this year.

There were only four teams last year who had fewer passes thrown against them than ND.

I count 47 teams who gave up fewer passing TD's, though. They are tied with six or seven other teams as well.

Yeah, I think Jake Long's ghost can block better than that motley crew.

I don't think there is a huge difference

I was just looking at the Phil Steele stuff to double check

he has:
LT Mark Ortmann Jr (#33 TE)
LG Cory Zirbel Jr (#20)
C David Moosman Jr (#39 recruiting rank at position)
RG Tim McAvoy Jr (#44)
RT STEPHEN SCHILLING SO (#4) only returning starter

Michigan's o-line has just 16 starts which is #118 out of #120 in FBS
Plus, they are learning a whole new offense based on different principles with skill players (namely the QB) that don't fit the principles.

Now, look at who ND is starting this year that had playing with little experience last year

LT PAUL DUNCAN SR (#53)
LG MIKE TURKOVICH SR (#167)
C Dan Wenger So (#24)
RG ERIC OLSEN JR (#28)
RT SAM YOUNG JR (#1)

go back one year in time and you have
LT Paul Duncan Jr (#53)
LG Mike Turkovich Jr (#167)
C JOHN SULLIVAN SR (2nd highest C drafted to the NFL last year)
RG Eric Olsen So (#28)
RT SAM YOUNG SO (#1)

so, the one guy at #167 is low, but it's very clear how some analysts are seeing parallels

it's very rare for inexperienced guys to come together so well--If Michigan can pull it off, it will be one of the best o-line coaching jobs in recent memory (behind Georgia and Auburn of last year)

I think the main point is that, regardless of anything else, ND was historically awful, and expecting any team, no matter how inexperienced, to hit that level of bad is probably a bit unreasonable.

exactly

I should have posted this earlier but anyway, for anybody hasn't been checking out mgoblue.com they have a "Countdown to Kickoff Video Series." There is a video each day for 30 days counting down to the first game. They are down to 16 today. There's practice footage and a bunch of interviews with players and coaches. It's good stuff.

http://www.mgoblue.com/multimedia/page.aspx?id=1344



McGuffie's ripped

Ann Arbor is a whore.

(Has that been said yet?)

mich is gay

go Penn State!

this.

But also I believe that wrt recruiting rankings, they tend to be less important for offensive linemen than other positions, meaning that having lower-ranked OL is less important than, say, having lower-ranked WR's. Experience is pretty big though, especially having time in the weight room (esp with Barwis instead of Gittleson). I don't expect big things at all from the O (competence will make me ecstatic), but the D should be very good. Good enough that, with the schedule, they should make 7-5 or something even with a crappy O.

Some random things on the new regime vs. the old:

One thing I hear people say a lot is "I don't care if we're better as long as we're different." That's such BS. Maybe true for this year. Beyond that, if we're going 9-3 or 8-4 most years people are going to be pissed regardless of how it happens. Does anyone here believe that?

Another is RR's potential at U-M vs. Carr. Carr had a .750 winning percentage. I'd guess the cieling for anyone is about .800 over an appreciable length of time. Tressel, Stoops, and obviously Carroll are at or above that, so that's elite. I think RR will, long-term, do better, but not necessarily light-years better. If he wins at a .775 clip or something that's really very good. He could pull an .800 but I don't think that's really reasonable to expect.

Incidentally, .800 vs. .750 over Carr's tenure would be 7 more wins. One kind of fun thing to do is to input that into an RNG and have it distribute 7 more wins over Carr's seasons, and see how he looks then. Or you could do .775 and add 3 or 4 wins. The thing is, with those 3 loss seasons, 1 win in a year like that makes a big difference. 1 more win isn't much different as between 6-6 and 7-5, or 7-5 and 8-4, but 9-3 to 10-2 means you made a BCS bowl instead the Cap One, which is pretty huge.

Also, snagged a ticket to the Utah game. Gonna be weird watching the rest on TV for a change, but it's nice to go to the first one.

It is going to be weird not to be going... I'll be watching from Duffy's in Chitown.

It's going to be another semester of waking up early and watching the games while getting drunk at 11 am and waking up all my roommates. God I can't wait.

Ugh I did this my first 3 years, then I had practice at 11:30am on Saturdays... Bastards.

Fred Jackson's pretty damned excited about McGuffie and Shaw:

http://blog.mlive.com/jim_carty/2008...op_raving.html

This isn't the first place I've read about the potential for one or both of them to be starting against Utah. If that were to happen, I assume it would be Shaw in the slot. Either way, it's obvious that both of them are going to get a lot of playing time. Coaches and teammates have been raving about both of them from day one of camp. McGuffie had a 40-yard TD run in the scrimmage the other day.



We'll see a lot of Odoms, Stonum, TRobinson, and Roundtree, too.