2009 Michigan Wolverines Season Discussion

[MattC87]

Sept. 5, 2009 Western Michigan
Sept. 12, 2009 Notre Dame
Sept. 19, 2009 Eastern Michigan
Sept. 26, 2009 Indiana
Oct. 3, 2009 at Michigan State
Oct. 10, 2009 at Iowa
Oct. 17, 2009 Delaware St.
Oct. 24, 2009 Penn State
Oct. 31, 2009 at Illinois
Nov. 7, 2009 Purdue
Nov. 14, 2009 at Wisconsin
Nov. 21, 2009 Ohio State

[MattC87]

For U-M and other schools, scheduling is about money | detnews.com | The Detroit News

Michigan's future football schedules include Notre Dame, Ohio State, Michigan State and Penn State. Those games certainly are worth the price of a ticket. Then there's Delaware State? And Massachusetts?

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U-M: Game vs. UMass would not be opener | detnews.com | The Detroit News

Don't expect Michigan to open the 2010 football season and christen renovated Michigan Stadium against the University of Massachusetts, a Division I-AA opponent.

Scott Draper, Michigan assistant athletic director for football, said Tuesday that while the schools are discussing scheduling a game for the 2010 season, it would not be U-M's home opener.

A report on the Boston Herald Web site Monday indicated UMass was in negotiations to open the season at Michigan.

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[MattC87]

Nehlen: Better days ahead for Rich Rod? | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press

Former Michigan assistant Don Nehlen says his successor at West Virginia, Rich Rodriguez, doesn't deserve as much blame as he got for U-M's lousy season.

And things will get better this year, but maybe not that much.

"Rich is a good coach, he's a very good coach," Nehlen told the Defiance (Ohio) Crescent News. "He's very demanding and I was surprised, I thought they'd do a little better last year, but I don't know enough about what he had to work with.

"But in talking to some of my Michigan people, they tell me the cupboard was really bare. They'd lost almost their entire offensive football team and the kids they had coming back went pro, they had no quarterback that had ever played ... couldn't run Rich's offense. ...

"I think Rich will improve this year some, not as much as people want him to, but I think he'll improve."

[MattC87]

Baylor QB Robert Griffin headlines 10 players poised to break out - Cory McCartney - SI.com

Brandon Minor, Michigan RB

Minor emerged as the Wolverines' best backfield option during an injury-plagued junior season, ending '08 with 447 yards and seven touchdowns in the last five games, including 117 against Penn State's vaunted rush defense. This season, he'll get his chance to star as the featured back, and with a freshman likely under center, the veteran back will get his share of touches.

[MattC87]

Puppy Power: 2009 Wolverines, The Youngest in Michigan History? | Bleacher Report

Last year, only one thing stood out more to Michigan fans than a 3-9 record. That one thing was the amount of youth starting.

When time came for the starting offense to go out on the field vs Utah, Michigan fans saw something unexpected.

At running back stood freshman running back Sam McGuffie while fellow freshman Mike Shaw got his load of touches and was the first to score for Michigan in 2008.

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[MattC87]

Countdown to Kickoff 2009: The Preseason Top 50—No. 47 Michigan Wolverines | Bleacher Report

No. 47 MICHIGAN WOLVERINES

Change can be good.

It can also be frustrating, scary, and sometimes painful. No team knows just how difficult change can be than more than Michigan. 2008 may just be a year they choose to forget.

The year began with a triumphant victory over Florida in what would be Lloyd Carr's swan song.

Fast forward through the buyout drama involved with the hiring of Rich Rodriguez, multiple transfers (including one player who did the unthinkable and transferred to arch rival Ohio State), dismal performances on the field, Rodriguez calling out fans to the media, losses to all three rivals (ND, MSU, OSU), to the end of what would turn out to be a three win season.

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[MattC87]

Greg Hardy, Taylor Mays are top 2010 NFL Draft prospects - SI.com - NFL Draft

28) Brandon Graham/DE/Michigan: Graham's size (6-2, 270) is a limiting factor, yet the Wolverines lineman is a good football player.

[MattC87]

U-M has options at quarterback | detnews.com | The Detroit News

There isn't what you would call a quarterback controversy at Michigan. It's really not a quarterback quandary, either.


By the beginning of the football season on Sept. 5, it might not even be about who starts -- although that always matters -- but who plays, because there is a good chance that there will be multiple quarterbacks taking snaps for the Wolverines.


"Whatever it takes to win -- that's our main focus," said U-M quarterbacks coach Rod Smith. "We will do what's best for Michigan. You've always got to have a couple ready, because you never know when the injury bug gets you, so you want to have two to three guys ready.


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[MattC87]

Junior CB Donovan Warren has best shot in next year's NFL draft | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press

Michigan had a poor showing in the recent NFL draft -- with one player selected in the first four rounds. Unfortunately, the projections for next season's crop are only slightly better.

In terms of NFL draft prospects, the Wolverines appear to have two candidates of high value -- defensive end Brandon Graham and cornerback Donovan Warren, if he declares after his junior season.

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[MattC87]

Scout.com: The Top New Coordinators of 2009

11. Greg Robinson, Michigan (defensive coordinator) – Long before Robinson would was a washout as a head coach, he was widely considered to be a pretty good defensive assistant. Rich Rodriguez is holding out hope that a 10-37 record in four years at Syracuse didn’t rob him of his passion for the game. With far more talent than he had at his disposal in New York, Robinson hopes to install an up-tempo system that’ll get after the quarterback and create plenty of turnovers. He’s being shielded from heavy recruiting, which was not a strength, in favor of his expertise as an Xs and Os guy.

[MattC87]

Ohio State Buckeyes College Football Recruiting, OSU Big Ten Football, OSU Basketball - Bucknuts.com

5. Brandon Minor, Sr., Michigan – The Wolverines had a revolving door at tailback last year with five players getting a chance to show what they could do. But of the group, one stood above the rest and that was Minor (6-1, 214). He finished the 2008 season with 533 rushing yards (5.2 yards per carry) and nine touchdowns. He was one of the few bright spots during Michigan’s worst season ever (3-9 record).

Following Sam McGuffie’s transfer to Rice (McGuffie was UM’s second-leading rusher last year as a true freshman behind Minor), the top challenger for the starting job will be rising sophomore Michael Shaw (6-0, 185) who had 215 rushing yards (5.1 per carry) in 2008. Also in the mix will be senior Carlos Brown (6-0, 213) who had 122 rushing yards last year (4.2 per carry).

Ranked below Brandon Herron, uh, how again? Oh right, it's Bucknuts.

[MattC87]

Michigan Wolverines tailback Brandon Minor looks forward to healthy 2009 season - ESPN

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- All it took for Michigan tailback Brandon Minor to know that the 2009 season would be different was a stiff arm.

In the first week of spring practice, Minor stuck his telephone pole attached to his right shoulder into the chest of one of his Wolverines teammates, and every molecule in his body relaxed.

"It felt gooood," Minor said, elongating the syllable.

The senior tailback, like many of his Michigan teammates, played a chunk of this past fall looking as if he had one hand tied behind his back.

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[MattC87]

Michigan spring wrap - Big Ten - ESPN

2008 overall record: 3-9

2008 conference record: 2-6

Returning starters

Offense: 10; Defense: 5; Special teams: 1

Top returners

RB Brandon Minor, WR Martavious Odoms, WR Greg Mathews, WR Darryl Stonum, RT Stephen Schilling, LB Obi Ezeh, DE Brandon Graham, CB Donovan Warren, P Zoltan Mesko

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[MattC87]

The Spread Offense, Wide Receivers, and the NFL | Varsity Blue

Ah, the tired maxim of the spread offense’s alleged inability to get high school prospects into the NFL strikes again

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[MattC87]

Big Ten football and the APR - Big Ten - ESPN

My apologies for posting this a day late, but I wanted to update you on where Big Ten football teams finished in the NCAA's latest Academic Progress Rate (APR) report.

As reported last week, Minnesota lost three scholarships because of a poor APR score. Minnesota was one of only two BCS conference teams -- Mississippi is the other -- that incurred scholarship losses for posting scores below 925 and having athletes who were academically ineligible leave the program.

Michigan 947

6th in the Big 10, not bad considering the attrition after the Rich Rodriguez hire.