Michigan Football 2016: I-Rashan-al

Average Reds

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Coaching? You mean like the "coaching" he did at the end of the MSU game in which he never said a word to his punting unit, sent them out with 6 essentially to block 10, never called a TO to adjust and then threw his punter under the bus in the post game presser. Yeah, excellent "coaching" there.

Hopefully the campers get a lot of value out of Captain Khaki playing shirtless with them this summer.
Go troll elsewhere please.
 

sachmoney

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Tim Thomas' Bunker
If he lands DPJ and/or Ambry Thomas too, I will be absolutely floored since UM would then have cleaned up instate. Jaylen Kelly Powell could probably push for early PT if he sticks at S and is the other in-stater really worth keeping an eye on. I think we have a good shot at Isaiah Washington too on the national radar, but that chip wont fall until much later and will be tough to close.
Yep, those are the other 3 of the top 6 in MI with DPJ being the big one. Thomas is JKP's cousin and they've talked about playing together. Obviously, that doesn't always work out, but both seem very interested in Michigan and the interest is mutual. Gonna be a fun recruiting class.

Also, even Colin Cowherd, who Harbaugh has had some iffyness with in the past is on Harbaugh's side...the last line is particularly tasty:

Dawg Nation had a pretty good write up on yesterday's camp:
The Big Ten coach stole the show with a commanding presence. He’s a football coach who likes to coach. You can’t fake that for three hours under the blazing sun. Harbaugh was coaching those khakis off the entire time.
It might not be Smart’s style to play to a crowd, but he wasn’t as animated as Harbaugh. UGA commit Netori Johnson was amazed.

“I like my future head coach now (Smart) but you can’t help but notice how Harbaugh comes to work,” he said. “That man comes out on the field and takes it over with some real force. You know who he is and where he is. I liked that about him.”
1. This was a Michigan camp. No doubt. There were 20-plus coaches from Ann Arbor in Atlanta on Thursday. UGA had six of its coaches or support personnel sprinkled in, but the on-field coaching was dominated by the maize and blue.
Lots of good quotes in there. Not just about Michigan, but about Satellite Camps in general.
 

sachmoney

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Michigan picked up commits from GA DT Aubrey Solomon and 2018 S/OLB Otis Reese. Solomon is a 4 star prospect generally considered in the top 100 or so. It's a nice get. Michigan is now ranked 4th in the 247 rankings.
 

Zososoxfan

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Michigan landed a pair of pretty serious 'cruits over the weekend, albeit in different classes. Class of '17 DT Aubrey Solomon committed from Leesburg, GA where UM held a satellite camp. Solomon is a near-consensus top 10 DT nationally and has the second highest ranking by 247 of any Mich commit other than Dylan McCaffrey (who if you don't remember, is the #1 pro-style QB and a 5-star). Class of '18 S Otis Reese is also from Leesburg, GA. Reese seems to be at least a 4* prospect and he's hovering just outside the top 100 nationally. Satellite camps clearly making a difference.

Edit: Beaten by moments! Sach or whomever is moderating, feel free to delete if my post is duplicative.
 

sachmoney

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It looks like recruiting is going pretty well. Michigan has positioned itself well with DPJ by giving him insight/support into medicine which is the career he wants to pursue if not football. They've also done well with Ambry Thomas, Jalen Kelly-Powell's cousin, who recently dubbed Michigan "another home." The other highly rated WR Michigan is after, Nico Collins out of Alabama, was on campus this week for one of the camps. Thomas and Collins went toe to toe. I hope we see that in the future at Michigan practices. Getting DPJ and Nico Collins to couple with McAlpha will be huge.

Again, finishing with these guys will probably depend a lot on how the season goes. Harbaugh has got to get the results. There's literally no reason he shouldn't this year with this cupcake OOC schedule.
 

sachmoney

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Tim Thomas' Bunker
Michigan gains the commitment of 4 star OT out of Florida, Kai-Leon Herbert:
Michigan now has 4 OL commits and the #3 class in the country behind Ohio State and Alabama. A lot of Michigan's top prospects are still on the board.
 

Zososoxfan

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With the 2018 game at ND, this puts ND, MSU, and OSU all on the same home-and-away schedule. i.e. In '18, UM will play @ND, @MSU, and @OSU while in '19 those matchups will all be home games. I'm thrilled to have ND back on the schedule because they are usually a big time opponent and it's a fun rivalry, but it should've been doable to get this opposite from the MSU/OSU schedule.
 

WayBackVazquez

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Yeah, that's kind of a mess. I don't mind exchanging Arkansas for ND, but the 2018 game was supposed to be at home.
 

WayBackVazquez

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Got an email from the athletic department about the extravaganza in celebration of the end of the Adidas era. While I'm glad Nike is back, I'm not that thrilled about making this kind of fuss over a commercial deal.


Dear WBV,

Leading into this week’s renewed NIKE partnership, we wanted to provide information and a timeline of events to you all. NIKE becomes the official outfitter of the University of Michigan Athletics starting August 1, 2016.

From 10 p.m. on July 31 until 2 a.m. on August 1, South State Street will be shut down in front of the M Den for their NIKE-Jordan Welcome Rally. We are pleased to have the University of Michigan Marching Band and our Dance and Cheer teams perform along with a live DJ, food, fun and games. The M Den opens at midnight. We encourage you to join us if you are in the area!

This event will demonstrate the pride felt for our great university, and our community’s love of Michigan Athletics. We will have coverage throughout the event on mgoblue.com and our many social media platforms.

While financial details and comments related to apparel design will be heavily consumed in the media this week, we maintain equal excitement about the long-term prospects of our partnership with the NIKE and Jordan Brand teams.

As always, we are incredibly thankful for your continued support!

Go Blue!



Warde Manuel
Donald R. Shepherd Director of Athletics
 

WayBackVazquez

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Your "counter" of needing 50-1 odds to accept a bet about a topic that you first broached is simply ridiculous. Your second counter (about whether Harbaugh would leave Michigan for any reason over a two year period) isn't something that makes sense given that I actually tend to agree with you.

I get that you are trying to provoke me because I'm a Michigan fan, and perhaps that's what I get for wandering into a thread about tOSU. We'll leave it at that.
I'm not feeding Yammer's trolling, but I'll make the bet with you about Harbaugh leaving before the start of the 2018 season. At even money. There's no reason to believe he's going anywhere for the foreseeable future.
 

twibnotes

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First offensive play of the year is a Speight pick. Way to inspire confidence, kid.

Bounced back quite nicely

The Harbaugh years are going to be a blast - let's hope and pray there are many of them.

This defense under Brown could be special.
 

WayBackVazquez

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The defense will be good of course, but Speight hasn't exactly wowed me. This is a Hawaii team that gave up 440 yards passing to Cal last week before traveling 15 million miles and 18 time zones after all.

But a win's a win. Let's try not to get anyone else injured in the second half.
 

WayBackVazquez

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Very concerned about the QB situation, and when is Lewis coming back?

But Jabrill had 204 APY, a punt return TD, and 9 tackles. 3-0.
 

WayBackVazquez

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Four posts after four games? When the team's ranked number four in the country? Are you guys letting the return of Yammer's trolling shut down discussion?

Good win yesterday. I remain concerned about the QB situation going into next week, and obviously against MSU and OSU on the road, but the OL and RB situations were encouraging yesterday (6 rushing TDs from 5 different RBs), and the defense continues to impress (5 first half sacks). Good to have Lewis back, and Jabrill was just a stumble away from taking another punt to the house.

Obviously a huge test next week against the Badgers.
 

Zososoxfan

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Four posts after four games? When the team's ranked number four in the country? Are you guys letting the return of Yammer's trolling shut down discussion?

Good win yesterday. I remain concerned about the QB situation going into next week, and obviously against MSU and OSU on the road, but the OL and RB situations were encouraging yesterday (6 rushing TDs from 5 different RBs), and the defense continues to impress (5 first half sacks). Good to have Lewis back, and Jabrill was just a stumble away from taking another punt to the house.

Obviously a huge test next week against the Badgers.
It's about time this thread got a rockin' again, thanks WBV. Michigan has looked very solid against bad competition so far, although it's unclear how good the Buffs are (a win over Oregon is a nice sign). So far this season there's been a few takeaways IMO:

  • Jabrill Peppers in the MF truth. Don Brown has put him closer to the LOS and Peppers has been tackling the shit out of any player that comes within 15 yards of him. The D line has kept him and the LBs clean, making Gedeon and McCray look very good too for the most part. Peppers still has work to do on his coverage abilities, but dude is a bona fide Heisman hopeful.
  • QB play has been serviceable thus far, with one very good game (UCF). The one game where the defense got real pressure on Speight (Colorado), he didn't look great. The deep ball has been much better than this time last year with Rudock though, so with similar improvement, late season Speight could be a real weapon.
  • O Line play has been hit or miss. They probably had their best game last week against PSU, but run blocking has been erratic so far. Pass pro has been acceptable other than the bust that got Speight destroyed against the Buffs. Grant Newsome has stepped in and played pretty well at LT, Cole is a natural at C, and the light bulb may have gone on for the very talented Kalis. Magnuson, Braden, and Bredeson have been OK.
  • The receivers and TEs have been as good as advertised. Butt has really stood out so far and after some early hiccups in run blocking, he has improved considerably. Darboh and Chesson have remained real threats, but the surprise of the group has been Khalid Hill (FB/TE). Hill has been a monstrous blocker and a very capable target. Going into the season, I thought Bunting and Asiasi would be breakout stars, but Hill has stolen the show.
  • The secondary is much improved now that Jourdan Lewis is back, but Jeremy Clark likely tore his ACL, so one of the CBs will have to step up opposite Stribling, so that Lewis can stay in the slot, where he is far and away the best.
  • Rashan Gary has already been a huge presence and he's helped immensely by playing with such a good group. Glasgow has picked up where he left off and has just been a menace in the middle. Wormley and Hurst have been very good, and even Winovich has contributed to the 2-deep. But, once Gary gets a few more games under him, watch out. The guy has a frame to add lots of weight and he's already very lean and muscular. A healthy Charlton and the (hopeful) return of Mone would be another big boost.
  • The RBs remain underwhelming. Smith, Evans, Isaac, and Higdon have gotten the job done, but no one has flashed like I'd hoped.
  • I've been surprised at how many guys have seen the field. I think Harbaugh has been giving guys up and down the roster some PT, to plan ahead for injuries and keep everyone engaged. Starting next week against Wisco, I think we'll see things tighten up. It will probably go back with Illinois and Rutgers, before a tough game @ MSU.
 

Average Reds

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Agree about Gary. You can almost see him improving in real time each week.

Big week coming up against a good Wisconsin team that dismantled MSU. We'll learn whether they are for real soon enough.
 

Eric1984

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I was wondering where everybody was. I've been loving watching them but I didn't want to post anything until they've faced a real test. So far, the defense didn't look good against the only decent QB they've faced. But with Jourdon Lewis and Charlton back, maybe it's a different story. I'm nervous about the Wisconsin game but I'm looking forward to seeing how they do.
 

Zososoxfan

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I was wondering where everybody was. I've been loving watching them but I didn't want to post anything until they've faced a real test. So far, the defense didn't look good against the only decent QB they've faced. But with Jourdon Lewis and Charlton back, maybe it's a different story. I'm nervous about the Wisconsin game but I'm looking forward to seeing how they do.
Honestly, the Colorado game is reassuring. This team didn't panic after going down early, and clawed back. I don't see how Wiscy can beat UM without some flukiness, which again, this team has already shown they can recover from. FWIW, the line is UM -10.5.
 

Average Reds

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It wasn't pretty and it may have caused permanent psychological damage to all of the kickers on the roster, but a win against a top 10 team is a good thing.

Defense looked solid. And maybe they can recruit a walk-on from the soccer team to kick for the rest of the season.
 

trotsplits

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Speight looked confused by good coverage for much of the day. It would be nice to get one of the other WR's going. Like, Chesson or Grant Perry.
 

twibnotes

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Harbs' rubbing Ash's dick in the dirt (love it).

Eleven billion Fullback TDs.

NJ showcase for Peppers and Gary.

I went to this one. Peppers is spectacular to watch - his acceleration for a guy of his size is silly.

This year is proving every bit as fun as we had hoped...hope it ends as well as it has begun.
 

WayBackVazquez

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Harbaugh working hard to recruit Ohio (also NOI and Michael Douglas fans):

Got my eyes checked out a couple weeks ago and they said I needed to go to glasses full time, so as of Tuesday I’m now a full-time glasses person. This style in particular is a tip of the cap, a nod, to Woody Hayes, to Michael Douglas in the movie ‘Falling Down,’ and also a tip of the cap to Malcolm X. In honor of those three men.
 

Zososoxfan

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It wasn't ugly either though. MSU had a nice drive to start the game led by Scott, but in the 2nd and 3rd quarters, UM's D absolutely shut down MSU. UM had a great offensive 2nd quarter, and the 2nd half was very pragmatic from Harbaugh. Speight looked great again, which is huge, and the team came out healthy. This was a rivalry game on the road and MSU always gets up big for UM. UM's skill players looked very good, namely Darboh who is really starting to shine. Pretty unexpected IMO, after Chesson was the WR star for the first few games. UM rushed for 4.6 yards/carry. McDoom continues to show how dangerous he is in space. Every week, 2-3 RBs look good out of the RBBC. They're all staying healthy and fresh and can provide different skills. The O Line looked pretty good and considering the injury to Newsome, that's very welcome.

Oh yeah, the Defense was also sick. McCray had a great game. This is huge considering that LB was a big question mark coming in. We're still thin there, but with 8 games done, some of the younger guys should be more up to speed if that comes to pass (knock on wood furiously). Wormley and Taco were BEASTS making the MSU QBs look like shit. The D line generally was living in the backfield. Stribling had one bad non-tackle, so I kept my eye on him for awhile and he bounced back real nice. Glasgow continues to be a beast and Godin was very noticeable in a good way. All of that and I still don't feel the need to talk about Rashan FREAKING Gary.

Underrated important development, Kenny Allen was 3/3 on FGs, and had a long of 45. Settling that will go a long way towards UM being able to win close games.
 

bowiac

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Didn't catch the game wtf happened to the D?
With the caveat that it's hard to be too sure of these things, this was not a game that worried me about the defense too much. There were some missed tackles which led to big plays, along with some high leverage penalties. That happened, so it shouldn't be ignored going forward, but it wasn't like there was anyone being exploited in particular. Even great defenses bust tackles and get penalized - this just looked to be some clumping of that.

I'm normally a worrywart, but this wasn't really a warning sign game for me. I suppose it would be more of a flag if I thought MSU was really as terrible as their record indicated coming into the game.
 

Zososoxfan

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This weekend's game against Maryland will be interesting because MD is running a homeless man's version of OSU's offense. I doubt Brown will show too much of his hand, but it will be helpful in identifying personnel and skills likely to be relied on in The Game.
 

Zososoxfan

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Speight starting to turn the corner a la Rudock last year. Jim is a MF genius at the position. Hard to see this team losing @Iowa or vs. IU. Ready for the Bucknuts.
 

trotsplits

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Speight starting to turn the corner a la Rudock last year. Jim is a MF genius at the position. Hard to see this team losing @Iowa or vs. IU. Ready for the Bucknuts.
I'm ready for Bama, at this point. Their offense is an easier matchup than OSU's.
 

Zososoxfan

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I'm ready for Bama, at this point. Their offense is an easier matchup than OSU's.
There's an interesting question of whether it benefits good coaches to have tougher matchups in the semis (lots of prep time) or finals (less prep time). IOW, if UM makes it to the CoFoPo, would it be better to face Bama in the semis, with plenty of time to prep, or if Bama makes it, the finals (1.5 weeks). With Harbaugh, Saban, and Urban, I don't think it matters since they are all amazing coaches, so that any benefit cancels out. But, in a vacuum, I guess I'd rather have the harder matchup in the semis with prep time than the finals.
 

Granite Sox

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In my opinion, I think in college it's more about maximizing what your own team does best more so than game planning for an opponent. Saban (and Kiffin) and Harbaugh may be the exceptions in college football with respect to their ability to max out their own team's strengths while also adapting a game plan to exploit opponent's weaknesses. I don't see Meyer as someone who changes up what OSU does best (i.e. game planning) as much.

I don't like any match up against Alabama because I think Kiffin will find a way to exploit our LBs and get to the second level. Then it will be all over. Conversely, I don't see Michigan's offense being anything more than one dimensional against Bama's defense. Michigan will not be able to run successfully against them. Hell, if Harbaugh tries that jet sweep with McDoom he'll get snapped in half. The OL is not good enough to hold up in pass pro all game, so I don't think there will be enough time for any deep shots to Darboh or Chesson. TOP will be critical if they play each other.
 

trotsplits

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The only way to get to our LB's clean is off the edge. I suppose because State found a way to do that, we should remain concerned. Barrett and Samuels scare the shit out of me right now. Urban will have no problem parking Weber in the garage against us.

Power and pro sets don't bother me. After watching Bama against LSU, I really question how their offensive personnel can stay on the field against our defense.
 
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