Michigan Wolverines Football

I am the lyrical master. This would be 100% Pure Colombian Awesome but it features Toney Clemons, who seems like a cool guy to have around, front and center and is therefore a little sad. It remains the Coner dropping knowledge, though, so its Pure Colombian Awesome percentage hovers around 98%: Dude. Cone just smoked Brent Petway. That's Febreze, people. Spring practice photos. Yo. I wish I could wager on this. Michigan has a new defensive coordinator, but it's the outgoing guy with a... reputation, and the stats to back it up, as a blitzing mad scientist. This does not—cannot—dissuade sportswriters, though. There's a new defensive coordinator. Who is he? Anyone. Where is he? Anywhere. The hand moves of its own accord: Blitz-heavy scheme returns to Michigan I also wish I could bet that this article would state the new scheme is "more aggressive." I wish this because I like free money: The Wolverines hope the moving parts and the more aggressive scheme generate increased pressure from players other than star end Brandon Graham, who recorded 10 of the team's 29 sacks last fall. Hurray free money. Cliche aside, there are a couple of interesting nuggets in the above Rittenberg piece. A pithy summary of Greg Robinson's Big Idea: "It feels like a 3-4," Ezeh said, "but sometimes we do a 4-3 look." Michigan is using several players in a hybrid defensive end-linebacker role, including junior Marell Evans, sophomore Brandon Herron, sophomore Steve Watson and freshman Anthony LaLota, an early enrollee. Senior Stevie Brown, who started all 12 games at safety last season, is being used as a safety/strongside linebacker. Robinson calls the hybrid the "quick" or "spinner," because you have to have a slightly goofy name for any nonstandard position in your defense. If it comes off and they can get production out of the spot, it's a lot less frightening to consider a defensive line of Graham/Martin/RVB with Patterson/Campbell/Sagesse/Banks backups than taking one of those backups and throwing them into the starting lineup. Then your problem is getting production out of a true freshman, a guy who lost his job last season, a guy who's never seen the field, and a tight end, all of whom have never played this position before. Which good luck with that. Rumors flyin'. It's Tuesday, so it's time for more Darryl Stonum transfer rumors. These have been debunked by someone close to the situation: Stonum. His myspace page issued a bulletin: I'M NOT GOING ANYWHERE!!!  People are speculating 24/7 and I just want to let you know I'm a Michigan Man!! This is where I want to be and I'm truly buying into Coach Rod's system. I know I will be something special on the field and I want to prove that here at Michigan. I love this program and you best believe that. GO BLUE!! Or, at least, several people on message boards all over the place have replicated that; Stonum's profile is set as private and I'm not on the myspace. Fly, fly, fly! Denard Robinson was named the second fastest recruit in all the land by Rivals sometime last year. Rivals was right: Deerfield Beach's Denard Robinson got the near-perfect start he needed, motored down the straightaway and won the 100 meters in a personal-best 10.44 seconds at the BCAA Track Championships at Coral Springs on Saturday. Robinson's personal-best eclipsed the state standard for this year set by Byrd, a junior at Ida Baker, and it is the second-fastest high school time in the nation, according to Dyestat Elite 100 rankings. Even better is Robinson's reaction to his smokin' hot time: ''I was kind of disappointed in myself to run a 10.44, but I will accept that.'' Robinson plans on running a 10.3 by states. By the time he arrives on campus he'll be from the future. Etc.: Yrs truly was on John Bacon's Big Show yesterday; MVictors has a recap and the audio. The Ann Arbor News closing and new media stuff was a primary topic of conversation. more>>

Hint: He now makes millions playing a different sport, and once dated Scarlett Johansson and Jessica Biel. Yes, it's Derek Jeter, whose mom once again forgot to bring the post-game orange slices....

We don’t know if this man was an Ohio State fan, but…he was. It’s a biblical certainty. 30 miles east of Columbus, police found what could only be properly described as “The gloriously fractured wreck of what was once the most majestic thing ever” on the side of the road: a barstool outfitted with wheels [...]

Posted by ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg My colleague Tim Griffin has an interesting piece over at the Big 12 blog about Phil Taylor, the former Penn State defensive tackle who transferred to Baylor after being dismissed from the program last summer.  Taylor was among the swell of Penn State players involved in off-field incidents in 2007 and early 2008. He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct for his role in an a fight at the Penn State student union in October 2007. Teammate Navorro... Bowman pleaded guilty to the same charge and went on to earn first-team All-Big Ten honors as a linebacker last fall, but Taylor and fellow defensive linemen Chris Baker were kicked off the team in July.  Taylor didn't want to discuss Penn State too much, but he did say he was treated unfairly "because there were a lot of others in the same situation for similar things there." There was also this tidbit: "He is already struck by the difference in the leadership styles of Baylor coach Art Briles and [Joe] Paterno. 'I've been around a lot of teams, but here, it's more loose,' Taylor said. 'The coach lets us have fun. We still work very hard and do the things that we are supposed to do. But it's not quite as regimented as it was there -- do this, don't do that.' The feeling around the program is different, too, Taylor said. 'Here, they treat us more like adults,' he said." That's certainly a dig at Penn State, which has an old-school culture largely because of its old-school coach. But Paterno was in a pretty tough spot last summer after Penn State's reputation had been challenged. Many viewed his dismissals of Taylor and Baker as reactionary moves.  Penn State shifted the focus back to the field by going 11-2 and winning a share of the Big Ten title. Plus, player conduct has improved significantly during the last six months.more>>

Normally, these types of highlight reel posts are saved for the LeBrons and Howards of the world, but sometimes you run across something that’s just so cool, you can’t help but sharing. Yes, the dunk in the lead video is a nice one with plenty of authority, but for me, the reason it’s so [...]A post from the Intentional Foul Sports Blog, sponsored by Ticket Solutions. Can Your Pops Dunk Like This?

Last night, I went to Madison Square Garden for the first time since I caught the circus there at age four, and one thing was immediately clear—Ranger fans love Sean Avery. The crowd was...

Detroit has dumped their $14 million DH with 499 career home runs. Oh, don't worry ... he gets to keep the money! [MLB; But The Game Is On]

You may or may not know that the Wolverine Liberation Army is attempting to recap several seasons of Michigan football and place them in some sort of database that is most assuredly going to destroy us all.  Skynet will be involved.  At any rate, I figured if you can't beat the machines, you might as well be on their good side once they attack.  Welcome to 2006.  Enjoy the show. I don't know why, but it seems like a long time ago.  Such.  Such a long time ago that I would go into a season of... Michigan football and think, legitimately in most cases, "yeah, I think we could win all of these."  The change came swiftly, Carr was out, Rodriguez was in, and everything we knew was at an end.  Now I don't know what to expect, which I suppose is what 3-9 does to you.  Can we win 6 games next season?  I don't know. This, of course, isn't meant to be a look at last season, or a look at the upcoming season. Rather, it is meant to be a retrospective on 2006 to which I tongue-cheekingly referred to as the last time I had fun watching football.  Back in 2006, fans were fighting a different battle of expectations.  Yes, we all expected Michigan to at least be in position to win every single game, and yes, we had all come to expect that Michigan would inexplicably lose at out of conference game, duley killing any National Championship hopes before the season really started.  It was like clockwork.  Here, look: Year OOC loss 1998 ND, Syracuse 1999 Didn't lose 2000 UCLA 2001 Washington 2002 Notre Dame 2003 Oregon 2004 Notre Dame 2005 Notre Dame   That makes me sad, man.  Every single one of those years a young Beauford Bixel sat in front of his TV with the unbridled expectations of naivety and said "yep, this is the year!"  Shit.  I think that's why I've always hated Notre Dame more than Ohio State.  At least by the time Ohio State rolled around, Michigan had shot themselves in the foot with sufficient oomph so that Ohio State wouldn't ruin the season.  But that Notre Dame loss early in the year...well...it's kind of like when you wake up to an alarm clock every day so that you instinctively cringe when you hear a similar sound no matter the circumstances.  Just say "Notre Dame."  I dare you not to cringe. So we entered 2006 with what we knew would be a pretty good team.  We also knew we had Notre Dame and Ohio State on the road, and that Henne, Hart, Long, et. al. were Juniors.  Sure, we'd be good, but 2007 would be the year that everything locked into place (holy hell were we wrong).  We also entered 2006 saddled with the expectation of losing that first big OOC test because, hey, it had happened for nearly a decade prior. The season started, Lloyd walked around the sideline with his hands in his back pockets, and everyone in Michigan stadium waited for the inevitable; the inexplicable loss.  And we crushed Vanderbilt 27-7.  Then Central 41-17.  Still, everything was on schedule as Michigan cruised into South Bend to play then #2 Brady Quinn led Notre Dame. Keep in mind the differences between then and now.  Coach Frontbutt was at the height of his powers having parlayed a loss to USC into a return to glory, and Quinn was, by all rights, a very good college quarterback.  The stars were beginning to align themselves in a very special formation they reserve only for screwing up Michigan's season.  Then they stopped and got distracted by a tsunami they had to cook up or something, because Michigan won 47-21 in a game that wasn't even close.  It also gave us this picture which has entered the "iconic" phase of its internet life:   Michigan had just escaped their opening-season OOC schedule undefeated for the first time since 1998.  Somewhere, a dog barked. I picture the 2006 Michigan team in an epic battle, and after taking 3 shots to the armor they figure out they're not hurt, and hell, this is kind of fun.  Then they start killing everyone in their path.  Below are the games that are included in the rampage, along with some info: Wisconsin:  David Harris switches to "all-small child" diet Minnesota:  Henne slaughters a gopher; drinks blood out of jug. Michigan State:  "300" dubbed most homo movie ever.  NTTAWWT. Penn State:    via info.detnews.com Iowa:  Kill, Kill, Kill Northwestern:  The term BCS Championship enters Wolverine's vocabulary Michigan held the #2 rank in all the land, 2nd only to the hated Buckeyes, and could put it on cruise control to the game of the decade/century/epoch/millennium depending on the degree of hyperbole that suits you.  Only Ball State and Indiana lay in the way, and judging by the trail of bodies that lay strewn behind them, we could safely pin the #2 Wolverines vs. #1 Buckeyes in late November, as God intended it. The demons of the out of conference schedule, however, were not content to go down without taking a few heart-stopping swings.  Ball State came into the Big House and gave us everything we wanted.  The whole stadium watched in a state of shock and disbelief.  It surely wasn't just going to end like this...was it? It didn't.  Wasn't.  Michigan escaped with a 34-26 win in an all too close game.  They rolled through Indiana, and the table was set:  #2 Michigan vs. #1 Ohio State. Then Bo Died. And I can't figure out what to write.  The reaction from the major sports outlets, I remember, was...well...more than I expected.  There were tribute pieces run, former players talking about the old man.  Ohio State fans, the crudest, dirtiest, nastiest, trashiest people you'd ever seen, were writing things on message boards (the crudest, dirtiest, nastiest, trashiest of places on the internet) like "I don't like Michigan, but God Bless Bo."  The man who used to call Bob Knight's office at odd hours and yell into the handset "it's a hell of a thing when your best friend in this conference is a g--d basketball coach!" and hang up was gone right before a defining game in the rivalry that defined the coach.  Lloyd Carr:         Lloyd was later asked a question, and I'm doing this from memory so grant me some leeway, if Bo's death would have any impact on the team as they prepared to face Ohio State.  Lloyd looked straight ahead and kind of shrugged, and managed a "we're not going to use this as any kind of motivational thing...we just...he wouldn't have wanted it that way."  There was a moment of silence in Ohio Stadium - of all places - for the coach, and it was touching.  Never have two teams hated each other more, and yet, here at the enemy's house they're holding an observed moment of silence for the fallen hero on the other side.  And I sat on my couch and watched, thinking to myself that if there is any justice in this world for Michigan fans, we'd win this game.  We just had to.  As it turns out, there is no justice in this world, at least not for Michigan fans.  We lost, and Crable late hit bler bler, we still lost.  Ohio State went on to get murdered by Florida, and we went on to get massacred by USC.  The two teams didn't need a bowl game.  The national championship had already been played for.  Florida got a nice football from Waterford, or wherever, but Ohio State had somehow won the game of the earth-age despite our patron saint's ascension.   I was, am, crushed by this. I refered to the 2006 season as the last time I had fun watching football which is, of course, untrue.  But losses to Appalachian State and Ohio State and 3-9 don't make things any easier.  2006 changed a lot of things, and when we start winning again (when!) it won't be the same.  This isn't a bad thing, but the memories of Lloyd and Bo and that era of Michigan football are cherished, and 2006 was a lot of fun.more>>

Posted by ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald announced after the team's first spring practice Monday that two more players, wide receiver Jeremy Ebert and safety David Arnold, will miss spring drills with hip and knee injuries, respectively. Although wide receiver is in the spotlight this spring because Northwestern loses three multiyear starters, Ebert already proved himself last fall as the team's lone true freshman to log significant playing time. He had 15... receptions for 161 yards and two touchdowns in 2008, and should enter preseason camp as a projected starter. Arnold could be the bigger loss, only because injuries have dogged him throughout his career. Northwestern wanted to play Arnold as a true freshman in 2007, but injuries limited him to reserve duty in 10 games last season. The Wildcats are solid at safety in 2009 but need to develop players behind seniors Brad Phillips and Brendan Smith.more>>

After Shawn Johnson spent last week worried about a deranged stalker, she returns to "Dancing With The Stars" only to be greeted by what appears to be a deranged boner in her partner's pants. (NSFW?)...

It's a good thing that Virginia-Maryland lacrosse game ended after seven overtimes, because this poor college radio announcer might not be with us today if it hadn't. [YouTube]