Varsity Blue

Movin' On Up

2008-12-15T02:00:00.001-05:00

The new Varsity Blue officially open for business at http://www.umvarsityblue.com. This site will remain up, but will not be updated anymore.

I hope y'all will follow us uptown to the new site: Varsity Blue.

For those of you who view the feed, the RSS feed for the new site is available here.

Taylor Lewan Goes Blue

2008-12-14T10:30:00.000-05:00

Taylor Lewan, a 6-7, 280-lb offensive tackle from Scottsdale, Arizona. Lewan is a high school teammate of Michigan defensive end commit Craig Roh, and becomes the 21st commitment in Michigan's class of 2009.

Recruiting Notes
Lewan was unknown early in the recruiting season, but a solid senior year at a new position and a new school has given him the ability to pick from a virtual who's-who of colleges. Michigan offered him after the first few games of his final high school campaign, and when they landed Craig Roh, it greatly increased their chances to land Taylor. However, Lewan's father is a native Minnesotan, and attended the University in St. Paul. Because of his father's roots, Lewan has described himself as a displaced midwesterner. After a Minnesota visit, Lewan maintained that he would still take trips to Michigan and Oregon before making his decision. Taylor visited Ann Arbor the weekend of December 13th, and attended Michigan's basketball victory against Eastern Michigan. Shortly thereafter, he told Rich Rodriguez that he wished to be a Michigan Wolverine, and committed to the Maize and Blue.

Player Notes
In his junior year, Taylor Lewan was a little-known defensive end prospect from Cactus Shadows High School in Scottsdale, Arizona. A transfer to Chaparral High School (a more successful program) and a move to the offensive tackle position (at which he is a better physical fit) gave Lewan a new lease on football life. He has become one of the fastes-rising prospects in the country over the course of a few short months. Lewan is a true offensive tackle, and a four-star prospect to both recruiting sites. He plays with an edge to his game that sets him apart from other offensive linemen. New teammate Craig Roh had a mutually-beneficial relationship on the practice field with Lewan, and the pair helped each other improve. Roh has described Lewan as a gym rat that won't be outworked by anyone. Roh and Lewan also faced

Video
Junior Film

Sam McGuffie Leaves Michigan

2008-12-12T13:15:00.004-05:00

...and there was much sadness.

Freshman running back Sam McGuffie has announced his intentions to transfer from Michigan. McGuffie was Michigan's 2nd leading rusher on the year, but missed parts or all of several games with concussions. He received his unconditional release from Michigan this morning, according to both pay sites.

McGuffie-and-Michigan never was a perfect fit after the departure of Lloyd Carr and the pro-style system, and McGuffie will likely transfer somewhere closer to home that is a better fit for his skill set. His injury history and family issues are reported to be the reasons for his departure from Michigan.

Varsity Blue wishes McGuffie the best of luck with whatever he plans to do in the future. Scholarship count will be updated accordingly.

Big Ten 2009 Recruiting Class Rankings 12-12-08

2008-12-12T12:06:00.000-05:00

Action since last rankings:
12-7-08 Notre Dame gains commitment from Jordan Cowart.
12-8-08 Michigan State gains commitment from Corey Freeman. Purdue gains commitment from Xavier Melton.
12-9-08 Indiana loses commitment from Kenny Watkins.
12-11-08 Michigan gains commitment from Cameron Gordon.

New Rankings:

#1 Ohio State - 24 commits
LB	*****	Dorian Bell
RB	****	Jaamal Berry
DE	****	Melvin Fellows
CB	****	CJ Barnett
WR	****	James Jackson
MLB	****	Storm Klein
MLB	****	Jordan Whiting
RB	****	Jordan Hall
OG	****	Corey Linsley
OT	****	Jack Mewhort
S	****	Jamie Wood
WR	****	Justin Green
RB	****	Carlos Hyde
CB	****	Corey Brown
WR	****	Chris Fields
CB	****	Dominic Clarke
WR	***	Duron Carter
DE	***	Jonathan Newsome
TE	***	Reid Fragel
DT	***	Adam Bellamy
FB	***	Adam Homan
LB	***	Zach Boren
OL	***	Sam Longo
DT	***	Johnny Simon

#2 Michigan - 21 commits
CB	****	Justin Turner
QB	****	Tate Forcier
QB	****	Shavodrick Beaver
RB	****	Fitzgerald Toussaint
S	****	Vladimir Emilien
WR	****	Jeremy Gallon
OL	****	Michael Schofield
DT	****	DeQuinta Jones
DE	****	Anthony LaLota
DE	****	Craig Roh
DT	****	Pearlie Graves
WR	****	Cameron Gordon
S	***	Isaiah Bell
WR	***	DeWayne Peace
RB	***	Teric Jones
LB	***	Jordan Barnes
S	***	Mike Jones
LB	***	Brandin Hawthorne
RB	***	Vincent Smith
S	***	Thomas Gordon
K	**	Brendan Gibbons

#3 Notre Dame - 18 commits
RB	*****	Cierre Wood
WR	****	Shaquelle Evans
OL	****	Chris Watt
RB	****	Theo Riddick
DT	****	Tyler Stockton
OL	****	Alex Bullard
CB	****	Marlon Pollard
LB	****	Dan Fox
OL	****	Zach Martin
LB	****	Zeke Motta
S	***	Nyshier Oliver
S	***	EJ Banks
TE	***	Tyler Eifert
MLB	***	Carlo Calabrese
P	***	Ben Turk
K	**	Nicholas Tausch
TE	**	Jake Golic
OL	*	Jordan Cowart

#4 Michigan State - 17 commits
RB	****	Edwin Baker
RB	****	Larry Caper
SLB	****	Chris Norman
OL	****	David Barrent
WR	****	Donald Spencer
DT	****	Blake Treadwell
QB	****	Andrew Maxwell
OL	****	Nate Klatt
WR	***	Dana Dixon
LB	***	Tyquan Hammock
OL	***	Micajah Reynolds
WR	***	Patrick White
DE	***	Dan France
LB	***	Denicos Allen
WR	***	Bennie Fowler
TE	**	Derek Hoebing
DE	*	Corey Freeman

#5 Illinois - 16 commits
WR	****	Kraig Appleton
DT	****	Lendell Buckner
OT	****	Leon Hill
QB	****	Nathan Scheelhaase
RB	****	Bud Golden
WR	****	Terry Hawthorne
DE	****	Craig Drummond
OL	***	Andrew Carter
FB	***	Greg Fuller
OL	***	Hugh Thornton
DT	***	Tank Carradine
WR	***	Steve Hull
S	**	Tommie Hopkins
CB	**	Joelil Thrash
OL	**	Jake Feldmeyer
LB	**	Darryl Lee

#6 Penn State - 20 commits
OT	****	Eric Shrive
CB	****	Darrell Givens
DE	****	Sean Stanley
S	****	Derrick Thomas
S	***	Stephen Obeng-Agyapong
S	***	Malcolm Willis
C	***	Ty Howle
CB	***	Stephon Morris
WR	***	Brandon Felder
OT	***	Adam Gress
OL	***	Nate Cadogan
RB	***	Curtis Dukes
LB	***	Glenn Carson
ATH	***	Devon Smith
K	***	Anthony Fera
QB	**	Curtis Drake
OG	**	Frank Figueroa
WR	**	Christian Kuntz
OT	**	Mark Arcidiacono
DE	**	Garry Gilliam

#7 Wisconsin - 17 commits
DT	****	Jared Kohout
DE	****	Shelby Harris
DE	****	David Gilbert
RB	****	Montee Ball
LB	***	Conor O'Neill
DE	***	Tyler Dippel
OG	***	Ryan Groy
QB	***	Jon Budmayr
OT	***	Zac Matthias
TE	***	Brian Wozniak
MLB	***	Chris Borland
OL	***	Travis Frederick
LB	***	AJ Fenton
WR	***	Jeff Duckworth
OL	**	Casey Dehn
S	**	Jason Peprah
CB	**	Darius Thomas

#8 Minnesota - 15 commits
RB	****	Hasan Lipscomb
WR	****	Hayo Carpenter
QB	***	Moses Alipate
C	***	Ed Olsen
OT	***	Josh Campion
WR	***	Victor Keise
OL	***	Brooks Michel
LB	***	Kendell Gregory-McGhee
DB	***	Kerry Lewis
TE	***	Ra'Shede Hageman
DT	***	Joey Searcy
DE	***	Matt Garin
CB	***	Daryl Robinson
DE	**	Nick Rengel
K	**	Dan Orseske

Up: Robinson (From 1)

#9 Indiana - 15 commits
LB	****	Jeremy Gainer
QB	***	Edward Wright-Baker
DT	***	Adam Replogle
WR	***	Jamonne Chester
WR	***	Duwyce Wilson
OL	***	Charles Chapman
QB	***	Dustin Kiel
OL	***	Colin Rodkey
CB	***	Lawrence Barnett
K	***	Mitch Ewald
S	***	Nick Zachery
S	***	Demetrius Carr
S	***	Ted Bolser
OL	***	Pat McShane
DE	**	Javon Cornley

#10 Northwestern - 15 commits
OL	****	Patrick Ward
QB	***	Evan Watkins
RB	***	Mike Trumpy
DE	***	Anthony Battle
LB	***	Will Studlien
OL	***	Taylor Paxton
DB	***	Davion Fleming
RB	***	Arby Fields
OL	**	Brian Smith
WR	**	Drew Moulton
LB	**	Tim Riley
LB	**	Tyler Scott
DE	**	John Plasencia
K	**	Jeff Budzein
S	*	Cooper Gerami

#11 Iowa - 12 commits
WR	****	Keenan Davis
RB	****	Brandon Wegher
WR	***	Jordan Cotton
FB	***	Brad Rogers
OL	**	Drew Clark
DT	**	Scott Covert
OL	**	Brett Van Sloten
TE	**	Anthony Schiavone
LB	**	Tyler Harrell
LB	**	Shane DiBona
LB	**	Martin Hopkins
CB	**	Joshua Brown

#12 Purdue - 12 commits
DT	***	Eric McDaniel
DE	***	Shayon Green
TE	***	Gabrison Holmes
WR	***	Xavier Reese
DT	**	Cody Davis
DE	**	Trevor Foy
S	**	Ishmael Aristide
WR	**	Gary Bush
QB	**	Rob Henry
WR	**	Josh Johnson
DT	**	Brandon Taylor
DB	*	Chris Quinn
DT	*	Xavier Melton

Cameron Gordon Goes Blue

2008-12-11T16:05:00.000-05:00

Wide receiver Cameron Gordon of Inkster, Michigan has given his word to sign with Michigan in February. Gordon is a 6-3, 210-lb player who has been measured at 4.6 in the 40-yard dash. He is Michigan's 21st commit in the class of 2009.

Recruiting Notes
Gordon started the recruiting year as someone Michigan fans expected to likely end up in the Wolverines' recruiting class. However, it certainly ended up taking significantly longer than they expected (although he had always planned to take his time with a decision). At the end of his junior year, he announced that he would be transferring from Melvindale High School to Inkster, where he would have a better opportunity to excel athletically. During the summer, he attended Michigan's summer camp. The Wolverine coaches told him that they liked him more as a linebacker, and told him that he would receive an offer if he was willing to play at that position in college. With a noncommittal answer, Michigan's offer took significantly longer to arrive than Gordon would have otherwise liked. When he finally received his offer in November, Gordon took a visit to Iowa, who had been on him all along. However, the allure of the Michigan offer was too much to pass up, and he committed to Michigan today.

Player Notes
Gordon is a big, physical receiver, with large measurables for the position. He lacks elite speed, but is able to beat defenders, using his body well and catching it at the highest point with his biug hands. However, Michigan fans liked the physical play he could bring to a linebacker position at the next level. It will be interesting to see whether he remains at receiver when he gets to the next level, or at least be open to a potential position switch.

Etc.
This year, Gordon was catching passes thrown by 2010 dual-threat quarterback prospect Devin Gardner, who is certainly one of the top targets on Michigan's recruiting board. Securing a commitment from Gordon should go a long way to helping Michigan land his teammate in the next recruiting class.

Programming Update: Dead Weekend

2008-12-11T12:11:00.001-05:00

We will not be posting this weekend, for several reasons:

Varsity Blue may or may not be moving venues starting on Monday. I'll let Paul fill in the gruesome details, since he's far more knowledgeable on the matter.
I currently believe that I am going to be unavailable most of the time (as I was last weekend, hence the inconsistency in posting).
With the season over, there is little to post about, and I think it's time to take a little break from scraping together content.

That said, the Big Ten Recruiting Class Rankings that are typically posted on Saturdays will make their tomorrow afternoon. Friday Night Lights (the final substantive update of the year) will appear on Monday. There may be a post or two shuffled in today or tomorrow as well, but no guarantees.

Recruiting Update 12-10-08

2008-12-10T14:30:00.001-05:00

All-conference performers in Southeastern Conference play include 2010 WR commit Jeremy Jackson of AA Huron and 2010 RB prospect Nick Hill from Chelsea.

2010 OH TE Greg Gainey has transferred from Trotwood-Madison to Thurgood Marshall. Without the pipeline advantage, and at a position of little need, will he remain a Michigan target? He stays on the board for now, but he's a candidate for removal.

2010 PA DE Dakota Royer was picked to his All-conference team on offense and defense. Stats? Stats.

56 catches for 1,099 yards (20 yards per grab) and five TDs. 132 tackles, 11 sacks.

He has offers from Penn State, Pitt, Stanford, and Maryland at this point.

Want some fluff on 2010 IL QB Detchauz Wray? It's your lucky day!

Junior quarterback Detchauz Wray completed 133 of 228 passes (58.3 percent) this season for 2,564 yards and 38 touchdowns while throwing only five turnovers. The 5-foot-11, 180-pound signal caller also rushed for 260 yards and five touchdowns...

Wray's impressive numbers have gained the attention of several Division I programs. The Flyers' standout has already received offers from Arizona and Kansas State, Sunkett said. Illinois and Kansas have also shown Wray interest.

Sunkett said East St. Louis' offense doesn't call for the quarterback to run often but that Wray has the ability to be a dual threat. However, Wray's stature may force him to change positions, possibly wide receiver or cornerback, at the next level.

For now, he'll remain at QB on the board, but he is a definite position-change candidate down the road.

Though Minnesota recently lost their OL coach, the new hire has already hit the road to recruit a few UM prospects:

Meanwhile, new Gophers running game coordinator-offensive line coach Tim Davis, who left No. 1 Alabama last week for Minnesota, spent Monday, his first day with the Gophers, in Phoenix recruiting 6-foot-6, 265-pound Taylor Lewan [2009], a nationally sought offensive lineman. Today, Davis plans to be at Cretin-Derham Hall, which has 6-8, 296-pound junior offensive lineman Seantrel Henderson [2010], who is among the country's elite prep players.

Lewan is heading to Ann Arbor this weekend for his official visit. Other prospects on the docket include:
NC CB Josh Hunter (North Carolina Commit).
FL S/LB Commit Mike Jones.
FL K Commit Brendan Gibbons.
Speaking of Gibbons, he's been selected to the Army All-American Bowl. He will be headed there instead of the ESPNU game, to which he was already committed.

From yesterday's WTKA Recruiting Roundup with Sam Webb:

Will Campbell enjoyed his Michigan official last weekend. Both parents want Will to go to Michigan, and have mentioned that recruiters have seemed... disingenuous... at some other schools, particularly in regards to treating Will's mother like an annoyance.
2010 OH RB Erick Howard grew up liking Michigan, and the Wolverines would start at an advantage if he is recruited down the road.
2009 MI TE Dion Sims has eliminated Michigan. I knew he was never really going to end up here, and I've been saying (even when he was still on the table) that he doesn't seem like a guy who likes football or has the necessary intensity to enjoy it in Rich Rodriguez's program. It's sad to lose another instate guy, but c'est la vie.

Another recruiting post sometime late this week or early next week.

Blogpoll Final Ballot: Week 15

2008-12-10T10:00:00.000-05:00

Rank	Team	Delta

1	Oklahoma	--
2	Florida	--
3	Texas	--
4	Penn State	--
5	Southern Cal	--
6	Alabama	--
7	Texas Tech	--
8	Utah	--
9	Ohio State	--
10	Boise State	--
11	TCU	--
12	Georgia Tech	--
13	Georgia	--
14	Cincinnati	--
15	Oklahoma State	--
16	Missouri	--
17	Michigan State	--
18	Virginia Tech	--
19	Iowa	--
20	Brigham Young	--
21	Pittsburgh	--
22	Oregon	--
23	Boston College	--
24	Northwestern	--
25	Oregon State	1

Dropped Out: Ball State (#25).

With no comments on the draft ballot, everything remains as it was. Again, the deltas are inaccurate, so pay them no mind.

The Path to the NCAA Tournament

2008-12-09T15:59:00.001-05:00

With Michigan's basketball team attaining a new standard of relevance, it's easy to see how Wolverines fans are already prognosticating a run to the NCAA tournament. Wins over UCLA and Duke are certainly a stepping stone towards achieving that goal, but there is still work to be done. Let's see what Michigan has to do to make it into the Big Dance. Sagarin Ratings are little more than a rough draft at this point, but they give us some idea of the relative strengths of the teams.

Completed Schedule
Date	Opponent	Sagarin	Result	Record
11-11-08	Michigan Tech	(DII)	77-55	1-0
11-12-08	Northeastern	151	76-56	2-0
11-20-08	(n) UCLA	20	55-52	3-0
11-21-08	(n) Duke	4	56-71	3-1
11-25-08	Norfolk State	321	83-49	4-1
11-29-08	Savannah State	230	66-64	5-1
12-3-08	@Maryland	39	70-75	5-2
12-6-08	Duke	4	81-73	6-2

The wins over UCLA and Duke were certainly not expected, and one could easily maintain that Michigan has done better through the first part of its schedule than could possibly have been expected. Salvaging the win over Savannah State was key. Had Michigan been able to top Maryland on the road (and, in all honesty, they should have), we'd be looking at a pretty highly-ranked team right now.

Remaining Non-conference Schedule
Date	Opponent	Sagarin	Projection
12-13-08	Eastern Michigan	261	W
12-20-08	Oakland	124	W
12-22-08	Florida Gulf Coast	317	W
12-29-08	NC Central	345	W
2-7-08	@ UConn	7	L

The remaining four games before the start of the conference schedule are all must-wins. Even with some good victories under their belt, the Wolverines would be devastated by a loss to any of these teams. The mid-year tilt with UConn looks like a loss this early in the year, but who knows where the teams will be come February?

Conference Schedule
Date	Opponent	Sagarin	Projection
12-31-08	Wisconsin	31	W
1-4-09	Illinois	25	T
1-7-09	@ Indiana	146	W
1-11-09	Iowa	65	W
1-14-09	@ Illinois	25	L
1-17-09	Ohio State	5	L
1-20-09	@ Penn State	80	W
1-24-09	Northwestern	36	W
1-28-09	@ Ohio State	5	L
1-31-09	@ Purdue	33	L
2-5-09	Penn State	80	W
2-10-09	Michigan State	37	T
2-15-09	@ Northwestern	36	T
2-19-09	Minnesota	57	W
2-22-09	@ Iowa	65	T
2-26-09	Purdue	33	T
3-1-09	@ Wisconsin	31	L
3-7-09	@ Minnesota	57	T

Going into the conference schedule, it loks like Michigan will have a 10-2 record (and will and with a 10-3 non-conference record overall). The conference predictions are little more than guesses at this point, because it's hard to tell this early in the season exactly how good all these teams are. Regardless, I project Michigan to be 17-8 (7-5) with 6 in-conference toss-ups. They would likely need to win at least two of those toss-ups, but preferably three to bring them to 20-11 (10-8). This would nearly assure them a bid to the NCAA tournament, especially if combined with a win or two in the Big Ten Tourney. 19-12 (9-9) would likely necessitate a couple wins in the Big Ten Tournament to warrant an NCAA bid.

Of course, Michigan will overachieve at times, and likely underachieve at others. The key is to minimize bad losses, and win most of the games that they should. Combined with the possibility for an upset or two, they should be able to make the tournament.

Another key will be closing the season strong. Unlike college football, finishing the regular season strong is an established criterion for selection to the NCAA tournament. With a likely loss and three tossups in the final four regular-season games, Michigan will have to find a way to win a couple of those tossups to warrant strong consideration.

Iowa v. Northwestern

2008-12-09T10:49:00.000-05:00

With Michigan idle during the bowl season, I'll take a little closer of a look at the rest of the Big Ten. Let's start today with Iowa v. Northwestern.

Lake the Posts, poster-blog for "hey give us respect, guys!" posting, has yet another issue with not getting what the Cats "deserve." 8-4 Iowa has been selected to the Outback Bowl over the 9-3 Wildcats, who also hold a head-to-head victory on the season. Well, for once there may be a legitimate gripe here. Let's take a look at the resumes:

Resumes

Team

#10

#11

#12

Iowa

24-23 PSU

55-0 Minn

38-16 Wisc

FIU 42-0

IU 45-9

Purdue 22-17

IaSt 17-5

Maine 46-3

21-20 Pitt

16-13 MSU

22-17 NU

27-24 Ill

Northwestern

Minn 24-17

Iowa 22-17

Ill 27-10

Duke 24-20

Purdue 48-26

Mich 21-14

Ohio 16-8

Syr 30-10

SIU 33-7

45-10 OSU

37-20 MSU

21-19 IU

Neither resume is particularly impressive, and they're fairly hard to differentiate at this point (aside form the head-to-head win). Let's break it down further.

Resume Breakdown
	Common Opponents					Non-conference				Other
Game	Minn	Purdue	IU	Ill	MSU	#1	#2	#3	#4	#1	#2
Iowa	55-0	22-17	45-9	27-24	16-13	42-0 FIU	17-5 IaSt	46-3 Maine	21-20 Pitt	24-23 PSU	38-16 Wisc
Northwestern	24-17	48-26	21-19	27-10	37-20	24-20 Duke	30-10 Syr	16-8 Ohio	33-7 SIU	21-14 Mich	45-10 OSU
Edge	Iowa	NU	Iowa	NU	Iowa	NU	Push	Iowa	NU	Iowa	Iowa

Northwestern gets the non-conference nod, though it's slightly skewed because they didn't lose a non-conference game, whereas Iowa lost to the only legit opponent either team played. Northwestern's crappy non-con schedule gets a bump of one spot at each position. If you were to sort just by quality of opposition, ignoring win/loss record, Iowa's slate would take Northwestern's behind the woodshed.

Overall, the resumes are very similar, but Iowa's seems to be better on the whole, despite the head-to-head loss and the slightly worse record. The common opponents occupy a high slot on Northwestern's resume, and their wins were either comparable or not as impressive. In loss, Iowa was competitive in every game they played (and let's not even get into how they should have beaten both Michigan State and Pitt), whereas Northwestern was either getting blown out by good teams, or losing to Indiana, of all teams.

Recruiting Update 12-8-08

2008-12-08T14:55:00.000-05:00

Lots of recruiting stuff came out over the past few days, so expect another update coming soon.

Recruiting Boards:
2009 Class & 2010 Class.

In case you thought he didn't recruit, The Freep's Mark Snyder confirms that Rich Rodriguez has indeed been on the road:

Nonetheless, Michigan’s football coach has been covering the country as part of his recruiting plan. He said he started in Detroit, was in Chicago on Wednesday and will hit California, Texas, Florida and Ohio this month before he’s off the road.

You can guess who he's visiting in each place. Snyder also reports that Rodriguez expects 8 early-enrolling recruits from the class of '09. Those would be Tate Forcier, Shavodrick Beaver, Vincent Smith, William Campbell if he re-commits, Anthony LaLota, Brandin Hawthorne, Mike Jones, and Vlad Emilien.

Added to the 2009 Board: LA DE Bennie Logan, who has been offered (info in header).
Added to the 2010 Board: NE DB Darius Evans. He grew up in Ohio and likes the Big Ten (info in header).

There's been something of a minor inter-freakout among the Michigan fanbase over a comment posted by DandyDon.com about 2009 MI DT William Campbell.

As for William Campbell, I list him at 60-40 because he has told an LSU commitment more than once that he was going to sign with LSU.

Not to besmirch the honor of Dandy Don, but regardless of his source, I don't think the information is correct. All reports on Campbell's LSU visit have indicated he was less-than-enthused, and barring a sea-change in his sentiments, I think Michigan is still the leader, especially after he stormed the court following the hoops upset over Duke. Also storming the court after the upset over the Blue Devils? 2010 DE William Gholston, pictured below in the lovely purple T-Shirt, along with Brandon Graham in the black jacket.

2009 SC OL Quinton Washington. He's receiving his in-home visits, including one from his Michigan recruiter. He'll go on a couple visits of his own following his participation in the Shrine bowl.

Still (somewhat surprisingly, given the lack of information about him relating to Michigan) considering the Wolverines is 2009 GA CB Darren Myles. Michigan appears to be in his de facto top 6, along with Alabama, LSU, West Virginia, Purdue, and Georgia Tech.

2009 FL CB Jayron Hosley plans to take an official to Ann Arbor the weekend of January 16.

2009 MD LB Jelani Jenkins is a finalist for the high school edition of the Butkus Award. Other notable finalists: MSU Commit Chris Norman, OSU commit Dorian Bell, AL LB Tana Patrick.

Though I thought he was planning to make a commitment a couple weeks back, 2009 MD RB Tavon Austin now says he'll wait until signing day. West Virginia is his current leader, followed by Maryland, UNC, and Michigan.

2010 OH OL Matt James. He has now been offered by Notre Dame (info in header). They seemed to be right in the thick of things before they offered, I'd now assume they are an early leader.

Blogpoll Preliminary Ballot: Week 15

2008-12-08T11:24:00.001-05:00

Rank	Team	Delta

1	Oklahoma	--
2	Florida	--
3	Texas	--
4	Penn State	--
5	Southern Cal	--
6	Alabama	--
7	Texas Tech	--
8	Utah	--
9	Ohio State	--
10	Boise State	--
11	TCU	--
12	Georgia Tech	--
13	Georgia	--
14	Cincinnati	--
15	Oklahoma State	--
16	Missouri	--
17	Michigan State	--
18	Virginia Tech	--
19	Iowa	--
20	Brigham Young	--
21	Pittsburgh	--
22	Oregon	--
23	Boston College	--
24	Northwestern	--
25	Oregon State	1

Dropped Out: Ball State (#25).

Update: Deltas "fixed," by which I mean they are now wrong, because they are deltas from what I originally submitted this morning.

Friday Night Lights 2009: December 7

2008-12-07T19:00:00.001-05:00

If you know of an article that can help out, let me know. I'll fill in the remaining game articles/stats as I find the articles. 2010 updates will come in the form of a year-end wrapup.

Still Playing
CA QB Tate Forcier
This Week: Scripps Ranch v. Oceanside in round 3 of the playoffs. Scripps loses 49-14.

Forcier, averaging 303 yards per game in the air and 86 on the ground, was sacked seven times and finished with no yards rushing on 16 carries and was 9-of-23 for 106 yards and two interceptions.

Ouch.

After a one-hour, 52-minute delay, the game resumed and the Falcons (8-4) took advantage of the break in Oceanside's momentum, scoring on a 7-yard Forcier run on the last play of the first quarter, and again on a 6-yard Forcier run with 32 seconds left in the first half to tie it.

The article sounds like his offensive line killed him in this game, and an MGoBlog diarist who was there corroborates it.
Season Totals: Scripps Ranch 7-3. Lost in the third round of the playoffs.

Tate Forcier 2008
Game	Comp	Att	%	Yds	TD	Int	Yds/Att	Rush	Yds	Yds/Att	TD
Poway	19	32	59.38	269	1	1	8.41	8	81	10.13	3
West Hills	16	29	55.17	234	1	0	8.07	-	-	-	0
Morse	10	12	83.33	267	5	0	22.25	-	-	-	0
Serra	15	20	75.00	228	2	2	11.40	4	28	7.00	2
University City	18	25	72.00	348	3	0	13.92	3	48	16.00	1
St. Augustine	18	33	54.55	321	1	1	9.73	14	121	8.64	3
Henry	19	27	70.37	524	4	2	19.41	4	37	9.25	0
Lincoln	13	18	72.22	237	0	2	13.17	13	218	16.77	2
Mira Mesa	23	32	71.88	267	0	1	8.34	13	73	5.62	0
Cathedral	21	36	58.33	295	4	1	8.11	8	93	11.63	0
Regular Season	172	264	65.15	2990	21	10	11.33	67	699	10.43	10
Westview	27	39	69.23	328	2	3	8.41	9	84	9.11	0
Oceanside	9	23	39.13	106	0	2	4.61	16	0	0.00	2
Playoffs	36	62	58.06	434	2	5	7.00	25	84	3.36	2
Totals	208	326	63.80	3424	23	15	10.50	92	783	8.51	12

Forcier photo by John R. McCutcheon of the Union Tribune.

FL RB Vincent Smith
This Week: Pahokee v. Frostproof in round 3 of the playoffs. Pahokee wins 30-0. Article 2.

Smith carried the ball six times for 50 yards on the ensuing 11-play drive, capping it off with a 7-yard touchdown run with 2:23 left in the first quarter.

It was the first of three touchdown runs for Smith.

"He's a stud," Thompson said.

Article 3.

Smith, who will sign with the University of Michigan in February, could have had more. He had an 85-yard touchdown run called back in the fourth quarter for a block in the back.

For the record, he will not sign in February, because he's planning to enroll early.
Season Totals: Pahokee 8-3. Into the state championship game.

Vincent Smith 2008
Game	Rush	Yds	Yds/Att	TD
Olive Branch	17	135	7.94	2
PB Gardens	12	73	6.08	2
King's	12	81	6.75	2
PB Lakes	19	241	12.68	3
Jupiter	16	156	9.75	2
Byrnes	17	65	3.82	0
Melbourne CC	17	182	10.71	3
John Carroll	20	195	9.75	3
Cardinal Newman	9	178	19.78	2
Vero Beach	16	212	13.25	2
Glades Central	29	136	4.69	1
Regular Season	184	1654	8.99	22
Parkway	19	163	8.58	2
University	16	126	7.88	2
Frostproof	25	204	8.16	3
Playoffs	60	493	8.23	7
Totals	244	2147	8.80	29

Smith photo by Cindy Skop of The Ledger.

FL Slot Jeremy Gallon
This Week: Apopka v. Seminole in round 3 of the playoffs. Apopka loses 28-7.

Counting an 11-yard loss on an errant pitchout, Gallon netted 51 yards on 26 rushing attempts.

Without that bad pitch, he would have been 25 for 62, still a crappy day.
Season Totals: Apopka 8-2. Lost in 3rd round of the playoffs.

Jeremy Gallon 2008
	Passing							Rushing				Receiving
Game	Comp	Att	%	Yds	TD	Int	Yds/Att	Rush	Yds	Yds/Att	TD	Rec	Yds	Yds/Rec	TD
Lake Brantley	2	3	66.67	70	1	0	23.33	27	138	5.11	0	3	33	16.50	1
Freedom	1	3	33.00	5	0	0	1.67	15	134	8.93	2	1	6	6.00	0
South Panola	5	8	62.50	132	2	0	16.50	21	168	8.00	1	0	0	-	0
Ocoee	1	2	50.00	5	0	0	2.50	12	214	17.33	4	0	0	-	0
Edgewater	0	0	-	0	0	0	-	20	100	5.00	2	0	0	-	0
Wekiva	3	7	42.86	48	1	0	6.86	20	311	15.55	5	0	0	-	0
Winter Park	3	6	50.00	81	1	1	13.50	18	93	5.17	2	0	0	-	0
Olympia					1	0		31	240	7.74	2	0	0	-	0
East Ridge	0	0	-	0	0	0	0	3	-3	-1.00	0	0	0	-	0
West Orange	DNP (Injury)
Regular Season	15+	29+	51.72	341+	6+	1	11.76	167	1395	8.35	18	4	39	9.75	1
Timber Creek									137		1	0	0	-	0
East Ridge					2				276		4
Seminole								26	51	1.96	1
Playoffs					2				454		6	0	0	-	0
Totals	11	20	55.00	245	8+	0	8.41	149+	1808	8.74	24	2	33	16.50	1

Also, 1 KO return TD.

LA DT DeQuinta Jones
This Week: Bastrop v. Belle Chasse in round 4 of the playoffs (state semifinal). Bastrop loses 35-34.
Season Totals: Bastrop 9-1. Lost in 4th round of the playoffs.

DeQuinta Jones 2008
Game	Tackle	Sack	FumRec
Dollarway	4	0	2
Richwood	6	1	0
E St. John	8	0	0
Rayville	7	0	0
Franklin	7	0	0
Evangel Christian	7	0	0
Neville	5	1	0
West Ouachita	8	0	0
Carroll	3	0	0
Regular Season	55	2	2
LaGrange	0	0	0
Cox	2	1	0
Zachary	1	0	1
Belle Chasse
Playoffs	3	1	1
Totals	58	3	3

AZ DE Craig Roh
This Week: Chaparral v. Saguaro in the state championship game. Chaparral loses 38-0. Article 2.
Season Totals: Chaparral 9-1. Lost in the state finals.

Craig Roh 2008
Game	Tackle	Sack	Safety	Int	Yds	Fum	Def TD	Rec	Yds	2Pt
Marana	13	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	1	3	1
Cienega	13	2.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Prescott	6	2.5	1	0	0	0	0	1	3	1
Copper Canyon	7	2	0	1	60	0	1	0	0	0
Apache Junction	13	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0
McClintock	10	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0
Saguaro	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Shadow Mountain	DNP (ankle, leg)
Paradise Valley	12	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Cactus Shadows	9	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Regular Season	86	11.5	1	1	60	2	1	2	6	2
Agua Fria	7	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Cienega	7	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Canyon Del Oro	9	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Saguaro
Playoffs	23	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Totals	109	14.5	2	1	60	2	1	2	6	2

FL LB Brandin Hawthorne
This Week: Pahokee v. Frostproof in round 3 of the playoffs. Pahokee wins 30-0. Article 2. Article 3.

Seasons Over
TX QB Shavodrick Beaver

Season Totals: Rider 7-3. Lost in 2nd round of playoffs.

Shavodrick Beaver 2008
Game	Comp	Att	%	Yds	TD	Int	Yds/Att	Rush	Yds	Yds/Att	TD
Cedar Hill	18	25	72.00	272	1	0	10.88	14	103	7.36	2
Sulphur Springs	21	33	63.64	249	2	2	7.55	18	84	4.67	0
Tyler	13	26	50.00	105	1	0	4.04	8	55	6.88	1
Ryan	9	18	50.00	123	0	0	6.83	7	27	3.86	2
Guyer	13	24	54.17	139	2	0	5.79	2	18	9.00	0
Colony	DNP (shoulder)
Denton	DNP (shoulder)
Lake Dallas	DNP (shoulder)
Little Elm	DNP (shoulder)
Wichita Falls	DNP (shoulder)
Springtown	DNP (shoulder)
Stephenville	DNP (shoulder)
Totals	74	126	58.73	888	6	2	7.04	49	287	5.86	5

MI RB Teric Jones
Season Totals: Cass 7-2. Lost in 2nd Round of the playoffs.

Teric Jones 2008
Game	Rush	Yds	Yds/Att	TD
Central	18	157	8.72	2
Pershing
Crockett		(200+)
Denby	7	124	17.71	2
King	9	103	11.44	1
Southeastern
Chadsey
Cody		161		2
Southeastern	21	97	4.62	1
Reg Season	55+	842+	8.75	8+
Mott	18	165	9.17	0
Southeastern
Seaon Totals	73+	1007+	8.85	8+

OH RB Fitzgerald Toussaint

Season Totals: Liberty 8-2, lost in first round of playoffs.

Fitzgerld Toussaint 2008
Game	Rush	Yds	Yds/Att	TD	Rec	Yds	Yds/Rec	TD
Brookfield	19	115	6.05	1	1	48	48.00	1
Niles	15	209	13.93	4	-	-	-	-
Campbell	15	261	17.40	4	-	-	-	-
Struthers	19	258	13.58	4	-	-	-	-
Salem	13	246	18.92	4	-	-	-	-
Champion	14	282	20.14	5	-	-	-	-
Lakeview	32	253	7.91	2	-	-	-	-
Hubbard	33	250	7.58	2	-	-	-	-
Howland	30	124	4.13	0	0	0	0	0
Girard	26	219	8.42	2
Reg Season	216	2217	10.26	24	1	48	48.00	1
Chagrin Falls	21	26	1.24	0	-	-	-	-
Season Final	237	2243	9.46	24	1	48	48.00	1

IL OL Michael Schofield
Season Totals: Sandburg 6-3. Lost in first round of playoffs.

OK DT Pearlie Graves
Season Totals: East Central 10-0. Lost in 3rd round of playoffs (state semifinal).
Graves: 61 Tackles, 4.0 Sacks, 2 fumble recoveries for touchdowns.

NJ DE Anthony LaLota
Season Totals: Hun 4-4. Missed the playoffs.

Anthony LaLota 2008
	Defense		Offense
Game	Tackle	Sack	Team Rush
Wyoming Seminary	-	-	-
Mercersburg	5	2	406
Penn Charter
Lawrenceville			252
Blair
Peddie
Sayreville
Hill
Totals	5	2	658

IN LB Jordan Barnes
Season Totals: Homestead 8-1, lost in first round of playoffs.

Jordan Barnes 2008
Game	Tackle	Sack	INT
Huntington	8	0	0
Warsaw	11	0	0
East Noble	8	0	0
Columbia	5	1	0
Bellmont	8	0	0
DeKalb	7	0	0
Carroll	4	0	2
Norwell	7	0	0
New Haven	-	-	-
Snider	-	-	-
Totals	58+	1+	2+

FL LB Mike Jones
Season Totals: Edgewater 5-5. Missed the playoffs.

OH S Isaiah Bell
Season Totals: Liberty 8-2, lost in first round of playoffs.

FL S Vladimir Emilien
Season Totals: Plantation 6-4, lost in first round of playoffs.
Emilien missed the entire year with knee ligament damage.

MI S Thomas Gordon
Season Totals: Cass 7-2. Lost in 2nd Round of the playoffs.

Thomas Gordon 2008
Game	Comp	Att	%	Yds	TD	Int	Yds/Att	Rush	Yds	Yds/Att	TD
Central
Pershing
Crockett
Denby	10	16	62.50	163	3	0	10.19
King	1	1	100	3	(2pt)	0	3.00	14	98	7.00	0
Southeastern											1
Chadsey											1
Cody									146		2
Southeastern											1
Reg Season	11+	17+		166+	3+		9.76	14+	244+	7.00	5+
Mott				105					105
Southeastern
Playoffs

Obviously Gordon's stats are woefully incomplete at this point. If you can help out, leave a message in the comments.

OH CB/S Justin Turner
Season Totals: Washington 6-4. Lost in first round of playoffs.

Justin Turner 2008
Game	Rush	Yds	Yds/Att	TD	Rec	Yds	Yds/Rec	TD	Int	Yds	TD	Tkl	KOR	Avg	TD
Buchtel	22	140	6.36	0	2	7	3.50	0	0	0	0	0	0	-	0
Jordan	23	128	5.57	1	0	0	-	0	0	0	0	4	3	18.33	0
Normandy	23	156	6.78	3	0	0	-	0	0	0	0	4	0	-	0
Ursuline	12	25	2.08	0	3	42	14.00	1	0	0	0	3.5	1	17.00	0
Garfield	22	192	8.73	2	0	0	-	0	1	46	1	1	1	10.00	0
St. Ignatius	10	27	2.70	0	0	0	-	0	1	60	1	1.5	5	24.60	0
Brantford	3	65	21.67	1	0	0	-	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Harding	20	213	10.65	2	3	57	19.00	0	1	64	0	1.5	0	0	0
Mentor	30	179	5.97	0	1	10	10.00	0	0	0	0	0	2	2.0	0
McKinley	28	208	7.43	1	0	0	-	0	0	0	0	5	1	31.00	0
Reg. Season	193	1333	6.91	10	9	116	12.89	1	3	170	2	20.5	13	18.46	0
Hoover	14	47	3.36	1	0	0	-	0	0	0	0	2.5	0	0	0
Season Totals	207	1380	6.67	11	9	116	12.89	1	3	170	2	23	13	18.46	0

TX CB/WR DeWayne Peace
Season Totals: SGP 7-3. Lost in 1st round of playoffs.

DeWayne Peace 2008
Game	Rec	Yds	Yds/Rec	TD	Rush	Yds	Yds/Rush	TD
Berkner	6	76	12.67	0	1	-7	-7.00	0
Martin	5	80	16.00	3	1	10	10.00	0
Summit	6	170	28.33	2	3	14	4.67	0
Northwest	5	66	13.20	2	2	63	31.50	1
Nimitz	5	65	13.00	0	5	40	8.00	2
Cedar Hill	6	49	8.17	0	4	21	5.25	0
Irving	5	36	7.20	1	6	9	1.50	0
Duncanville	6	27	4.50	0	10	45	4.50	0
MacArthur	1	21	21.00	0	0	0	0	0
Grand Prairie	5	70	14.00	1	0	0	0	0
Allen	2	27	13.5	0	0	0	0	0
Totals	52	687	13.21	9	32	195	6.09	3

Peace must have been hurt near the end of the year, because his production dropped off completely, and they stopped trying to get him the ball in the run game.

FL K Brendan Gibbons
Season Totals: Cardinal Newman 2-8, missed the playoffs.

Big Ten 2009 Recruiting Class Rankings 12-7-08

2008-12-07T10:06:00.000-05:00

Action since last rankings:
11-25-08 Iowa loses commitment from Justin Lattimore.
11-29-08 Illinois gains commitment from Kraig Appleton.
12-2-08 Northwestern gains commitment from Jeff Budzein.
12-4-08 Purdue gains commitment from Cody Davis.
12-5-08 Purdue gains commitment from Xavier Reese.
12-6-08 Wisconsin gains commitment from Darius Thomas.

New Rankings:

#1 Ohio State - 24 commits
LB	*****	Dorian Bell
RB	****	Jaamal Berry
DE	****	Melvin Fellows
CB	****	CJ Barnett
WR	****	James Jackson
MLB	****	Storm Klein
MLB	****	Jordan Whiting
RB	****	Jordan Hall
OG	****	Corey Linsley
OT	****	Jack Mewhort
S	****	Jamie Wood
WR	****	Justin Green
RB	****	Carlos Hyde
CB	****	Corey Brown
WR	****	Chris Fields
CB	****	Dominic Clarke
WR	***	Duron Carter
DE	***	Jonathan Newsome
TE	***	Reid Fragel
DT	***	Adam Bellamy
FB	***	Adam Homan
LB	***	Zach Boren
OL	***	Sam Longo
DT	***	Johnny Simon

#2 Michigan - 20 commits
CB	****	Justin Turner
QB	****	Tate Forcier
QB	****	Shavodrick Beaver
RB	****	Fitzgerald Toussaint
S	****	Vladimir Emilien
WR	****	Jeremy Gallon
OL	****	Michael Schofield
DT	****	DeQuinta Jones
DE	****	Anthony LaLota
DE	****	Craig Roh
DT	****	Pearlie Graves
S	***	Isaiah Bell
WR	***	DeWayne Peace
RB	***	Teric Jones
LB	***	Jordan Barnes
S	***	Mike Jones
LB	***	Brandin Hawthorne
RB	***	Vincent Smith
S	***	Thomas Gordon
K	**	Brendan Gibbons

#3 Notre Dame - 17 commits
RB	*****	Cierre Wood
WR	****	Shaquelle Evans
OL	****	Chris Watt
RB	****	Theo Riddick
DT	****	Tyler Stockton
OL	****	Alex Bullard
CB	****	Marlon Pollard
LB	****	Dan Fox
OL	****	Zach Martin
LB	****	Zeke Motta
S	***	Nyshier Oliver
S	***	EJ Banks
TE	***	Tyler Eifert
MLB	***	Carlo Calabrese
P	***	Ben Turk
K	**	Nicholas Tausch
TE	**	Jake Golic

#4 Michigan State - 16 commits
RB	****	Edwin Baker
RB	****	Larry Caper
SLB	****	Chris Norman
OL	****	David Barrent
WR	****	Donald Spencer
DT	****	Blake Treadwell
QB	****	Andrew Maxwell
OL	****	Nate Klatt
WR	***	Dana Dixon
LB	***	Tyquan Hammock
OL	***	Micajah Reynolds
WR	***	Patrick White
DE	***	Dan France
LB	***	Denicos Allen
WR	***	Bennie Fowler
TE	**	Derek Hoebing

#5 Illinois - 16 commits
WR	****	Kraig Appleton
DT	****	Lendell Buckner
OT	****	Leon Hill
QB	****	Nathan Scheelhaase
RB	****	Bud Golden
WR	****	Terry Hawthorne
DE	****	Craig Drummond
OL	***	Andrew Carter
FB	***	Greg Fuller
OL	***	Hugh Thornton
DT	***	Tank Carradine
WR	***	Steve Hull
S	**	Tommie Hopkins
CB	**	Joelil Thrash
OL	**	Jake Feldmeyer
LB	**	Darryl Lee

#6 Penn State - 20 commits
OT	****	Eric Shrive
CB	****	Darrell Givens
DE	****	Sean Stanley
S	****	Derrick Thomas
S	***	Stephen Obeng-Agyapong
S	***	Malcolm Willis
C	***	Ty Howle
CB	***	Stephon Morris
WR	***	Brandon Felder
OT	***	Adam Gress
OL	***	Nate Cadogan
RB	***	Curtis Dukes
LB	***	Glenn Carson
ATH	***	Devon Smith
K	***	Anthony Fera
QB	**	Curtis Drake
OG	**	Frank Figueroa
WR	**	Christian Kuntz
OT	**	Mark Arcidiacono
DE	**	Garry Gilliam

#7 Wisconsin - 17 commits
DT	****	Jared Kohout
DE	****	Shelby Harris
DE	****	David Gilbert
RB	****	Montee Ball
LB	***	Conor O'Neill
DE	***	Tyler Dippel
OG	***	Ryan Groy
QB	***	Jon Budmayr
OT	***	Zac Matthias
TE	***	Brian Wozniak
MLB	***	Chris Borland
OL	***	Travis Frederick
LB	***	AJ Fenton
WR	***	Jeff Duckworth
OL	**	Casey Dehn
S	**	Jason Peprah
CB	**	Darius Thomas

#8 Indiana - 16 commits
LB	****	Jeremy Gainer
QB	***	Edward Wright-Baker
DT	***	Adam Replogle
WR	***	Jamonne Chester
WR	***	Duwyce Wilson
OL	***	Charles Chapman
QB	***	Dustin Kiel
OL	***	Colin Rodkey
CB	***	Lawrence Barnett
K	***	Mitch Ewald
S	***	Nick Zachery
S	***	Demetrius Carr
S	***	Ted Bolser
OL	***	Pat McShane
S	***	Kenny Watkins
DE	**	Javon Cornley

#9 Minnesota - 15 commits
RB	****	Hasan Lipscomb
WR	****	Hayo Carpenter
QB	***	Moses Alipate
C	***	Ed Olsen
OT	***	Josh Campion
WR	***	Victor Keise
OL	***	Brooks Michel
LB	***	Kendell Gregory-McGhee
DB	***	Kerry Lewis
TE	***	Ra'Shede Hageman
DT	***	Joey Searcy
DE	***	Matt Garin
DE	**	Nick Rengel
K	**	Dan Orseske
CB	*	Daryl Robinson

#10 Northwestern - 15 commits
OL	****	Patrick Ward
QB	***	Evan Watkins
RB	***	Mike Trumpy
DE	***	Anthony Battle
LB	***	Will Studlien
OL	***	Taylor Paxton
DB	***	Davion Fleming
RB	***	Arby Fields
OL	**	Brian Smith
WR	**	Drew Moulton
LB	**	Tim Riley
LB	**	Tyler Scott
DE	**	John Plasencia
K	**	Jeff Budzein
S	*	Cooper Gerami

#11 Iowa - 12 commits
WR	****	Keenan Davis
RB	****	Brandon Wegher
WR	***	Jordan Cotton
FB	***	Brad Rogers
OL	**	Drew Clark
DT	**	Scott Covert
OL	**	Brett Van Sloten
TE	**	Anthony Schiavone
LB	**	Tyler Harrell
LB	**	Shane DiBona
LB	**	Martin Hopkins
CB	**	Joshua Brown

#12 Purdue - 12 commits
DT	***	Eric McDaniel
DE	***	Shayon Green
TE	***	Gabrison Holmes
WR	***	Xavier Reese
DT	**	Cody Davis
DE	**	Trevor Foy
S	**	Ishmael Aristide
WR	**	Gary Bush
QB	**	Rob Henry
WR	**	Josh Johnson
DT	**	Brandon Taylor
DB	*	Chris Quinn

Happiness Comes Back to Saturday

2008-12-06T18:01:00.005-05:00

Tim bought tickets for the Duke game on a whim earlier this year. Before the season started, we figured it would at least be a big game with national coverage. After the UCLA game, it started to look like it might be winnable. After the first Duke game, we figured the team could at least make a game of it.

I haven't been to that many basketball games, but this was the best crowd I have ever seen at Crisler. There were times that it was absolutely ready to explode, but it rarely got to that next, euphoric level. There was a Novak three point attempt that just rimmed out, a Manny Harris missed dunk (which was a horrible no call), and a lot of other times Duke was able to come down and get a big basket. I know Tim and I felt impending doom, and it seemed like the crowd as a whole had that feeling. We all wanted to believe, but Michigan could never pull away and Duke kept hitting big shots.

What I thought really showed that this team has really gotten to the "next level" was the start of the second half. Duke went on a run and there were a 3 or 4 calls that went against Michigan (not all of them "bad" calls, but rather calls that could reasonably be no-calls). Duke got a bit of a lead and the "here we go again" feeling started setting in. Then, Michigan went on their own run. Novak hit a monster three-pointer from both corners, and Manny was able to knife through Duke's defense and get to the basket. Suddenly Michigan was up 5 or so. Watching the Maryland game, I kept thinking that all they needed was a basket, stop and a basket to have a chance at winning that game. They weren't able to do that, but at home, against Duke, they pulled together and stopped the run and put together one of their own. Duke didn't seem to play particularly poorly either. They ran their offense efficiently and looked decent on defense.

A few random things:

Manny Harris can't be stopped. He seems to be able to get to the basket at will, regardless of who he's playing against.
DeShawn Simms was on fire in the first half and came up with some big offensive rebounds in the second half.
Zack Novak is quickly becoming one of my favorite players. He is absolutely fearless shooting the ball.
Did Anthony Wright even take a shot? Weird...
I feel comfortable with Kelvin Grady breaking any press that's thrown at him. He has great speed and some nice moves. He just needs to finish more consistently. He was clutch at the end.
Rushing the court at the end of the game is completely acceptable. Tim and I didn't participate (we were in the nosebleeds), but this is one of the biggest wins in the post-sanctions era.
I wish I could have heard the interview between Bilas and Beilein. Awkward! The shot was absolutely awesome with Beilein in front of a bunch of crazy fans. Maybe this is a result of blogging, but our first thought was "this will be awesome for recruiting"

More Possible Attrition

2008-12-05T09:17:00.002-05:00

At the annual football bust, according to every media outlet with a UM beat writer, Sam McGuffie, Carson Butler, and Avery Horn were not present. Butler's (as-yet-still-unofficial) departure from the team may be the worst-kept secret in America, and Horn wasn't expected to ever contribute.

McGuffie, on the other hand, had a transfer rumor circulating a few weeks back, and until now, it had appeared that everything was back on track for him to remain in Ann Arbor. Of course, his absence from one event is not a sure sign either way that he is on his way out, but certainly something to keep in mind.

Eligibility Chart as yet not updated, but certainly on notice for official word on any of these guys.

Recruiting Update

2008-12-04T14:30:00.001-05:00

The Boards: 2009 & 2010

2009 MI WR Cameron Gordon has received his offer (Sam Webb audio). I personally would like to see him end up in Ann Arbor, though Iowa should provide tough competition.

2009 NC OL Travis Bond has been added to the North Carolina squad for the Shrine Bowl.

How's this for a non-update from 2009 FL DB Angelo Hadley? His top 4 remains unchanged, and he will visit Michigan in January.

As has been the case for some time now, Hadley, whom Rivals.com rates as a three-star prospect, is still considering four schools: Florida, Georgia, Michigan and North Carolina... Hadley has taken an official visit to UNC and will trip to Michigan in January.

Among his favorites, Florida has not offered, and he can't set up an official until they do.

Class of 2009 visitors this weekend, courtesy of the Free Press and Sam Webb (audio):
December 6th:
Thomas Gordon
Teric Jones
Isaiah Bell
Fitzgerald Toussaint
Justin Turner
MI DT William Campbell
FL (via a JC in Mississippi) DE Pernell McPhee. The former Pahokee Blue Devil is a Mississippi State commit.
GA WR Jamal Patterson (Stanford commit).
~~PA WR Je'Ron Stokes~~ (Tennessee commit). Canceled per Webb.

A bevy of information from the Chicago Sun-Times on 2010 prospects:

Loyola defensive end Chance Carter is giving up basketball to concentrate on football... To live up to his enormous potential, he must dedicate himself to football.

C.J. Fiedorowicz of Johnsburgh, a 6-7, 240-pounder with 4.5 speed, is a high-bred tight end in high school. That will be his position in college.

Christian Lombard of Fremd, at 6-6 and 285-pounds, is one of the best offensive linemen in the country. Colleges came in to evaluate him in the fall and bragged about him. He has great feet, is fundamentally sound, very mobile and makes few mistakes. He was offered by Iowa as a freshman. At last count, he had 29 offers.

Michigan is among those offers. He is one of the top OL targets in the 2010 class.

2010 OH LB Scott McVey seems to be blowing up a bit:

McVey certainly was among the best players on display during Ohio's showcase weekend of six state finals. His was the grand finale.

McVey was in on six sacks - four of them solo sacks - and hounded Elder quarterback Mark Miller on numerous other plays. He was credited with eight total tackles, but the numbers do not begin to tell the story of the 6-1, 220-pounder from South Euclid who spends his spring running over hurdles instead of through linemen.

His stock is on the rise. Might he be able to garner an offer soon? He now has one from the Buckeyes (info in header).

Removed:
2009 GA LB Devekeyan Lattimore. He has a final 3 sans Michigan (info in header).
2009 GA S/QB Donavan Tate. Commits to North Carolina.

Michigan-Maryland Postgame

2008-12-04T10:03:00.002-05:00

A few quick thoughts on last night's game:

Man, Anthony Wright just sucks. I've thought that all along, but I decided to try to trust those who know a little more basketball than I do. Unless Wright goes on a ridiculous tear sometime soon, I shall not be dissuaded.
Early in the second half, I thought Maryland was making a run, and as long as Michigan kept it close during said run, the Wolverines would be able to pull away at the end. I was wrong. This team isn't deep enough right now to win games like that against quality competition.
Speaking of depth, with Laval Lucas-Perry, Michigan probably win this game. That's definitely something to look forward to in a couple weeks. Michigan really needed another person who could test the defense of the Terps.
Manny Harris tends to force things too often, leading to turnovers. If something isn't there, he needs to calm down a bit and let the play develop.
The full-court press didn't cause any turnovers (that I can remember off the top of my head, at least), but man, did it give us hell. There were a lot of times I was surprised we managed to break half-court.
If we had gotten a few more rebounds, the Wolverines could have won this game. Zack Gibson let so many go straight through his hands.
I'm certainly watching the game through maize-colored lenses here, but it certainly seemed like the officiating was bad in general and... slanted... in particular. A big part of that may be the home-court advantage in college basketball, but it seemed like we got very few calls, and Maryland got a lot of really close thigns called their way.

Big Ten/ACC Challenge

2008-12-03T16:00:00.001-05:00

In its 9 years of existence, the Big Ten/ACC Challenge has been fairly one-sided: The ACC has won every single time. 2008 brings yet another chance for the Big Ten to break through in the Challenge. Through two days of competition, the conference are tied at 3 wins apiece (thanks, Illini and Hawkeyes, for throwing your games away). With a couple daunting games left (UNC/MSU, Indiana/Wake Forest), the teams who represented the bottom of the conference last year will have to sweep the ACC in order for the Big Ten to lock up its first challenge.

Sagarin Ratings in remaining games

#129 Indiana visits #22 Wake Forest, and they'll be 16.39 point underdogs in Raleigh-Durham.
#83 Penn State takes on #58 Georgia Tech on the road, in a game in which the Jackets will be favored by 5.13 points.
#23 Michigan State hosts #1 North Carolina at Ford Field. They will be 10.21-point dogs in the neutral-site game. However, The 'Heels may be without their star, Tyler Hansbrough (who, of course, they've been without for much of this year).
#46 Florida State goes to Chicago to face #59 Northwestern, and the Big Ten actually has a favorite in this one! The Cats are 7.06-point favorites.

...And that brings us to the game that Michigan fans care most about: the Wolverines head to College Park to take on the Maryland Terrapins at 7:30 tonight on ESPNU.

Maryland sports a #34 Sagarin Rating, and Michigan is #40. On a neutral floor, Beilein's bunch would be a 2.36-point underdog. In a home game, the Terps are favored by 6.36. They enter this contest on a two-game slide against Gonzaga and Georgetown. Maryland's best player is the outstandingly-monikered Grievis Vasquez, who leads the team in points, rebounds, and assists. His effective field goal percentage is 45.88%, which is supbar. Georgetown managed to shut Vasquez down, holding him to 1-7 shooting (0-4 3pt).

Michigan State

Maryland faced Michigan State (on a neutral floor) in the Old Spice Classic, and beat the Spartans handily, by a score of 80-62.
Michigan State, the only team Maryland has played with a Sagarin rating anywhere remotely close to Michigan's, Vasquez still only shot 42.86 eFG%, meaning that he is certainly containable (of course, his 17 points were aided by the Spartans sending him to the free throw line 6 times).
Michigan State lost the game against Maryland by giving up too many good looks from the outside. The Terrapins shot 9-19 from behind the arc in the Old Spice Classic. For the year, Michigan's opponents are shooting 27.45% from three, including bad performance by UCLA and Duke, and an inexplicable 7-9 from Savannah State. For its part, Maryland's performance against State was a pretty significant outlier in the young season.
The Terrapins also managed to shut down Raymar Morgan, who to this point in 2008 has been MSU's go-to player. Michigan doesn't rely on a post presence like Morgan, instead shooting the ball from outside a lot, and getting slashes to the basket from Manny Harris and DeShawn Sims (who also posts up a bit).
Although Maryland shut down MSU's post presence, they don't have a lot of size, and it will be interesting to see whether DeShawn Sims can have a bit more success down low (along with Zack Gibson) - or at least use the postup to open up shooters outside.

The Wolverines face a tough test, especially since Maryland shut down a team expected to be far better than them in the Spartans. However, the Terrapins haven't been without their troubles, and Michigan is a different type of team than Michigan State, regardless of difference in talent level.

Go Blue, beat the Terrapins!

Charlie Weis's Return to Notre Dame Confirmed

2008-12-03T12:23:00.002-05:00

As SMQ put it... And the rest of college football laughs and laughs.

At this point, it is clear Charlie Weis is not going to succeed as a coach on any large scale at the college level, barring a completely-unforeseen turnaround. This obviously affects Michigan, as the Wolverines play Notre Dame for the next infinity years.

In the more immediate timeframe, this means that Notre Dame commits like Chris Watt and Shaquelle Evans, who had considered Michigan late in the process, will remain off (metaphorical) board. However, even if Notre Dame reels in a good recruiting class for 2009, they are likely to FAIL once more in the next season, and it is more relevant that Weis is stockpiling talent for the next Irish headman (thankfully, not Brian Kelly immediately).

And now, some humor at Weis's expense:
Tim: charlie weis retained, and there is much rejoicing
Paul: do you think it was because kelly turned them down?
Tim: i dunno. i think they didn't want to develop a reputation of cycling through coaches before giving the new guys a chance, plus the buyout thing
Paul: so they're giving them the five years?
Tim: yeah, they give everyone 5 years, with necessary adjustments for melanin levels
Tim: charlie weis just went on a recruiting trip to hawaii. do you think he had to buy 2 seats on the plane?
Paul: hahaha
Tim: i'm just sayin'. the cost of that flight alone might have been worth paying the buyout instead
Paul: he may fit in with the samoan population
Tim: they are at least athletic and fat
Paul: yeah... CW has one of two. that's closer than he is to most athletes
Tim: hey man, MCL injury
Paul: true

Blogpoll Final Ballot: Week 14

2008-12-03T09:40:00.002-05:00

Rank	Team	Delta

1	Oklahoma	1
2	Texas	1
3	Alabama	2
4	Florida	--
5	Penn State	1
6	Southern Cal	1
7	Texas Tech	2
8	Utah	--
9	Boise State	1
10	Ohio State	2
11	TCU	3
12	Georgia Tech	5
13	Georgia	2
14	Cincinnati	2
15	Oklahoma State	6
16	Missouri	3
17	Michigan State	2
18	Boston College	2
19	Ball State	2
20	Iowa	2
21	Brigham Young	2
22	Oregon State	7
23	Pittsburgh	1
24	Oregon	2
25	Northwestern	--

Dropped Out: Florida State (#18).

Changes from Draft: Dropped Alabama below Oklahoma and Texas. Replaced Florida State with Oregon.

The majority of commenters though Texas should be ahead of Oklahoma (and believe me, I think they can make a legitimate case), but I stood by what I thought before. Dropping Alabama seems to now be fashionable (or at least acceptable), especially after the SEC took a pretty major hit over the weekend.

Mailbag!

2008-12-02T14:30:00.000-05:00

Matt asks:

Though no BCS title game, if the Heisman comes down to a 2-man race (which it appears with Bradford and McCoy), do you think voters will vote the "I feel bad for Colt since his team got screwed" card?

I can't really think of an instance where that sort of of logic has come into play. On the contrary, it seems like the Heisman winner typically comes from one of the teams playing for the national title. Of course, the BCS mess is as big as ever this year, and I also can't think of a time where a team that got screwed to the degree that Texas is (in the eyes of some), all the while having a viable Heisman contender.

At this point, it appears that Sam Bradford's performance in the Big 12 Championship Game will determine whether it is McCoy or Bradford who ends up with the stiff-arm trophy. Considering the quality of the defense the Sooners face (Missouri is 91st in total defense and 80th in pass efficiency D), I imagine Bradford will get the trophy.

An Anonymous commenter:

If Will Campbell does not enroll early at Michigan, can we take that as a non-commit?

He said he would enroll early and isn't looking like he is going to... so we can assume he is not committing correct?

This question was actually answered pretty well by WLA-er chitownblue in the same comments thread:

Anon - it would likely mean that he hasn't made his decision soon enough to enroll early. Nothing more. He never said "I'm going to enroll early, specifically at Michigan, and late if I go somewhere else". The two (going to Michigan/enrolling early) are two unlinked decisions.

Campbell has stated his intention to enroll early at whichever school he picks. If there is no wind of his enrollment at Michigan by the time we would expect to know about this (and it would probably have to be fairly soon, as students are already registering for Winter semester classes), it shouldn't be a big deal. The important question is whether it comes out that he is enrolling early at another school. If not, it just means that he won't enroll early anywhere.

RJ says:

Looking at the video of Breaston in the NFL makes me think that we didn't use his talents well enough at U of M. On offense Breaston, was never utilized the way that the Cardinals use him now. It seemed like most of the passes he caught were short.

The old staff tried to use Breaston as a deep threat, but they never managed to get him to catch the ball over his shoulder on the go route. He was used over the middle in his time at Michigan as well. Essentially (especially in 2006, where he was one of the most underappreciated members of the team), he played a slot role (with some combination of Edwards-Avant-Manningham-Arrington outside). He would be a great fit in the slot in the new offense as well, despite not being sub-6-foot. I shudder with excitement when I think how awesome it would have been to have him at QB in the current offense.

Griffin Fraley asks in the comments:

On your recruiting board for 2010, where did you come up with the projected star ratings for the players? I'm looking at this link: http://www.fvsports.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=372&ltemid=94

Just curious if you have any other top 2010 lists i can look at.

I started with that list, then added a bunch of other prospects from other sources, assuming most of them were going to end up in the 3-star range. As I've heard more about particular prospects, I've either promoted or downgraded their rankings. I have also used the Scout.com 2010 instate rankings and Florida 2010 rankings from SoFlaFootball and the Varsity Sports Media Magazine.

For the most part other than that, they're wild-ass guesses from me.

Bob asks:

Does Michigan have an offer on the table for [Cameron] Gordon? On either side of the ball?

It's been reported on the premium site that Gordon got offered sometime last week. Sam Webb confirmed it to the non-paying world on today's WTKA recruiting roundup. This information will be included in the next recruiting update. Since Gordon has been insistent that he wants to play WR, I imagine they said he'd have a chance to contribute there, and switch positions if it didn't work out.

Scouting the MHSAA Finals

2008-12-02T10:00:00.001-05:00

Of course, I'm no talent scout, but even the untrained eye can make a few observations on watching a few high school players go against good competition. Also sprinkled in are thoughts from Michigan HS football guru Prepseer.

Cameron Gordon
He won't wow you with his speed, but I was surprised how good his hands were (especially after hearing they may be something of a liability). He was definitely Inkster's go-to receiver, and made a few good plays and showed no fear going after the ball in traffic. Defensively, he showed that he can lay a pretty big hit, though he wasn't a huge factor on that side of the ball. I still think that, if he wants to play receiver at the next level, whichever team he picks will see enough skill to give him a chance there.

Devin Gardner
Watching Gardner play, it's really natural to think "wow, he should know better than to do that," until you remember that the kid isn't a Division-I player yet. Hell, he's not even a high school senior. He showed good escapability and running skills, though he's not the easy-strider that other big run-pass QBs (i.e. Vince Young or Terrelle Pryor) have been. At this point, he's still improving as a passer, though I don't think he was as bad as many people who had never seen him play before were expecting. Prepseer:

Gardner has blossomed into a 5 star recruit, in my opinion. I don’t kow what his actual Rivals rating is. As a Junior, he may not be rated yet. But, he has a number of BCS offers and I’m thinking he will be a 5 star when rated next year...

I predict he will commit before next season.

I'm not sure about his making a commitment that early (he seems like the type who will at least take a couple visits, if not wait until January or February to make a choice), but you have to like hearing good things like this about a definite Michigan target.

AJ Westendorp
Michigan fans have been talking about this kid a ton lately, thinking he might deserve a scholarship offer. After having the chance to watch him, I'm not sure he's quite that good, but he's the type of guy I'd love to have as a preferred walkon if he's interested. He plays a similar offensive system to Michigan, with a zone-read option game and lots of horizontal passing. He is also a tough runner - he reminds me a lot of CMU's Dan LeFevour in that respect. He could also throw well on the run. The biggest knock on him is his arm strength - he simply doesn't have enough to earn D-I scholarship offers. Anything thrown past the line of scrimmage was thrown with a big loopy path, and the deep balls tended to look like ducks, and hung in the air for a long time. His strength actually reminded me a bit of Nick Sheridan, though his game was appreciably better in just about every other respect. Prepseer:

I don’t think he has great arm strength (something that could keep him at the Div. 2 level), but he is extremely accurate and he reads the coverage very well. Several times he would go to the third, even fourth receiver all while eluding the DCD pass rush.

He's a smart player who would certainly warrant a scholarship if he had a much stronger arm. His coach used to be at Glades Central, and Rich Rodriguez has always recruited the muck hard. Maybe there's a relationship there that could facilitate a preferred-walkon situation.

MSU Commits Bennie Fowler and Max Bullough
Fowler actually impressed me a lot. He had much better size than I was expecting, and pretty good speed, too. He's a guy who will have to develop a bit before he is ready to play at the Division-I level, but if you're Michigan State, those are the guys you have to thrive on. I didn't think Bullough was anything special, until I looked at the boxscore and realized he was the leading tackler - in any of the state finals games. He looked really small to me, though of course it's important to remember he's just a junior.

If happened to watch any of the finals games, be sure to fill in your thoughts in the comments.

Recruiting Update 12-1-08

2008-12-01T16:49:00.001-05:00

Recruiting Boards: 2009 & 2010

Removed:
2009 FL CB Josh Robinson. Teammate of Vladimir Emilien commits to UCF.
2010 FL DT Todd Chandler. Commits to Miami of Florida.
2010 PA LB Mike Hull. Committed to Penn State a while back.

QB Devin Gardner of Inkster is likely to be one of Michigan's top prospects in the class of 2010. His Vikings played East Grand Rapids in the state finals on Saturday, and we'll hopefully have some video soon.

Some fluff from Sam Webb in the Detroit News:

His attendance this summer at the prestigious Elite 11 quarterback camp, sandwiched by camp visits to Michigan, Notre Dame and Michigan State, all helped to better hone his skills. "I'm stronger, faster, and my throwing motion has gotten better," he said. "(The motion) is way higher than it used to be. Most of (the improvement) is decision-making, though.

There's lots of talk about how awesome the coach at Inkster is. I've heard the same thing from lots of sources (many of them about 2009 WR Cameron Gordon) about Greg Carter. He seems to be a good disciplinarian and teacher of the fundamentals, and one of the best coaches in the state. More from Gardner:

"I think I can fit into Michigan real easy," he continued. "They run the exact same offense that we run right now. I already knew the spread offense, but I'm learning (more). I'm doing everything better -- way better. If I go to Michigan, I wouldn't have to adjust that much."

That sounds promising, but Gardner also has nice things to say about Michigan State and Ohio State, so don't get too excited just yet.

I never really thought Michigan would have a great chance with 2010 CA RB Malcolm Jones (Michigan isn't recruiting California as heavily anymore, the school is a traditional USC pipeline, etc.). I didn't even realize, however, that he has an older brother at USC:

Sarkisian attended Friday night's Oaks Christian High School playoff game. The Trojans have not yet offered a scholarship to junior tailback Malcolm Jones, the younger brother of USC safety Marshall Jones. Several Pacific-10 Conference schools already offered Malcolm Jones.

So he was already included on the board only tenuously - he's now a candidate for removal at the next sign that he won't be interested in Michigan.

2010 OH RB Erick Howard was going to move to Seattle but didn't end up doing so, a factoid that, until recently, had confused the hell out of me. Well, now it's a little more clear:

Howard's mother, Ruth, wanted him to move to Seattle with her so he could spend time with his sister, who had just given birth to her first child. Howard resisted but followed and respected his mother's wishes...
He missed his friends and teammates. He begged his mother to let him return... She was reluctant but eventually gave in.

...and now that makes a little bit of sense.

''Now, I always carry a pencil and I go to all of my classes trying to be as prepared as I can,'' he said. ''I'm working toward stepping it up and being a better student and earning a scholarship to play football in college because my dream is to play in the NFL.''

So he's trying to succeed through football, etc., etc. He was the district player of the year, and Michigan may get involved with his recruitment down the road.

2010 FL OL Jose Jose might be similarly unlikely to end up at Michigan (he loves the hometown Miami Hurricanes), but he is certainly a prospect that Michigan fans may find intriguing. Luke Stampini of SoFlaFootball.com brings the video:

2009 IL OL Commit Michael Schofield is playing in a high school all-star game in Hawaii. That rules.

Luk Stampini of SoFlaFootball.com on Pahokee 2010 Slot De'Joshua Johnson:

When De'Joshua told me before the game he was going to be the starting QB, I didn't believe him. He does like to joke around a bit. After watching him play, he looks to be the best QB Pahokee has put on the field this year. Accurate passer, and when you have the athletes PK does, that's all you really need to be as a QB. He doesn't have the little things true QB's have like knowing when to throw the ball away or when to tuck and run.

Verrry interesting. Might he be the type of guy Michigan tries to bring in to play slot, but giving him a chance to try his hand at QB first? It looks like some of the problems with his game at QB are a matter of inexperience at the position (aside from the fact that he's 5-9, of course).

Ohio All-State teams:

Division 1
WR Michael Edwards (Cle. Glenville) 6-1, 180. 2009
OT Marcus Hall (Cle. Glenville) 6-6, 305. 2009
RB Erick Howard (N. Canton Hoover) 5-10, 210. 2010
LB Scott McVey (Cle. St. Ignatius) 6-1, 215. 2010
LB Jordan Hicks (Lakota W.) 6-2, 210. 2010
LB Jewone Snow (Canton McKinley) 6-2, 237. 2010
DB J.T. Turner (Massillon Washington) 6-2, 180. 2009

Division 2
OL Andrew Norwell (Cin. Anderson) 6-7, 275. 2010
DB Courtney Avery (Lexington) 5-11, 170. 2010 (QB)

Division 3
RB Fitzgerald Toussaint (Youngs. Liberty) 5-10, 195. 2009
DB Isaiah Bell (Youngs. Liberty) 6-2, 215. 2009

So, all of Michigan's commits from Ohio were first team all-state in their divisions. Also: Fitz was the co-offensive Player of the Year in Division III.

Interesting comment from Black Shoe Diaries on Jelani Jenkins's recruitment:

I have no concerns in this area whether we get Jenkins or not.

I'm sure it's intended to sound so flippant, but it really comes off as though PSU fans couldn't care one way or the other whether they land Jelani Jenkins. I'm sure Michigan fans don't feel that way, and want Jenkins as the cornerstone of the 2009 LB class, not some cherry on top of it.

The new format for recruiting posts is still something of a work-in-progress, so feel free to comment on it.

Programming Update

2008-12-01T13:26:00.000-05:00

With the season over, there's obviously going to be a shift in the content of the blog, as there are no game or opponents to talk about.

There are a few season-wrapup posts that I'm planning on making, and some reasons to be optimistic (or otherwise) going into 2009. On top of those, I'll look at the similarities and differences between Michigan's 2008 season and some struggles by other programs in the recent past.

Once all that is through, it's time to delve (even deeper than normal) into recruiting. For the sake of consistent content, I'm going to start mixing 2009 and 2010 recruiting updates together, and having a singular "Recruiting Update" post that fills both categories. I'm also going to change up the style of the posts as well, so there is more information in the posts instead of "player name - brief with link" repetition.

The new recruiting posts will be published as they fill up, rather than being locked into any particular day. My prediction is that this will lead to more recruiting information. In addition, there will be more recruiting posts that are a little more than just updating the statuses of particular players.

And of course, as always, I welcome your mailbag questions, so send them in to the e-mail address on the right.

Blogpoll Preliminary Ballot: Week 14

2008-12-01T09:30:00.000-05:00

Rank	Team	Delta

1	Alabama	--
2	Oklahoma	--
3	Texas	--
4	Florida	--
5	Penn State	1
6	Southern Cal	1
7	Texas Tech	2
8	Utah	--
9	Boise State	1
10	Ohio State	2
11	TCU	3
12	Georgia Tech	5
13	Georgia	2
14	Cincinnati	2
15	Oklahoma State	6
16	Missouri	3
17	Michigan State	2
18	Boston College	2
19	Ball State	2
20	Iowa	2
21	Brigham Young	2
22	Oregon State	7
23	Pittsburgh	1
24	Northwestern	1
25	Florida State	7

Dropped Out:Ain't nobody.

Oklahoma over Texas because: Against common opponents, the two teams were approximately equal in victory against Baylor and Texas A&M. Texas was more impressive against Kansas by a slight margin, and Oklahoma was more impressive against Oklahoma State and Texas Tech by HUGE margins. The Sooners' schedule was also much more top-heavy, giving them a more impressive resume at this point.

Other potential problems: I'll admit I didn't go through and strictly resume rank at this point, though I may make something of an effort to do it over the next day or so. I don't like having Alabama at the top, but because I haven't done all the legwork in comparing resumes, I think it would be disingenuous to move them down at this point.

Everything else seems fairly straightforward to me, so comment away.