Posts under: Blog

Visitors: December 13-15, 2019

2020

Jordan Morant – S – Oradell (NJ) Bergen Catholic: Morant is committed to Michigan (LINK).

Makari Paige – S – West Bloomfield (MI) West Bloomfield: Paige is committed to Michigan (LINK). This is his official visit.

Andre Seldon, Jr. – CB – Belleville (MI) Belleville: Seldon is committed to Michigan (LINK). This is his official visit.

Dan Villari – QB – Massapequa (NY) Plainedge: Villari is a 6’4″, 215 lb. prospect with FBS offers from Buffalo, Kent State, and UMass. He was previously committed to Fordham, an FCS program. He’s a 247 Sports 3-star, the #40 pro-style quarterback, and #1239 overall, but the other major sites have not ranked him. He took an official to UMass last weekend and will take this official to Michigan, which means this is not a “blueshirt” situation. Michigan has already offered him a grayshirt opportunity, which means that he would not be on the team and start his eligibility until 2021. From anecdotal evidence, the majority of “grayshirt” guys seem to end up with straight-up scholarships by the following fall due to guys transferring out, getting injured, etc. The most recent example in Michigan’s case is kicker Jake Moody, who was supposed to grayshirt until some people transferred out; Moody then ended up on scholarship for his freshman year in 2018 and played quite a bit.

Hit the jump for more on Villari.

Tarik Black, Ex-Wolverine

Redshirt sophomore wide receiver Tarik Black has entered the transfer portal. Depending on whether or not he graduates by the time he departs, he may or may not need to sit out a year in order to play.

Hit the jump for more.

Who’s available in the 2020 transfer portal?

Some interesting names have popped up in the transfer portal recently. It’s impossible to keep up with this stuff – so don’t expect anything superhuman – but it’s something interesting to consider for Michigan, who could use some immediate help at defensive tackle (if Carlo Kemp leaves) and cornerback, if not other spots.

So here, my friends, is a list of players transferring who were offered by Michigan out of high school, as well as some notes on a few of them.

What I’ve Been Reading: Concrete Blonde

During football season I need a little bit of escapist reading, since real life is just so busy. It’s odd, but all (or most) of my football reading takes place outside of football season. I’m someone who needs a little bit of balance in my life, so I can’t drown myself in football books when I have practice and games for three hours a day – not to mention the football blog.

So that’s where Concrete Blonde, a Harry Bosch novel by Michael Connelly, fit into my days. I had read The Black Echo and The Black Ice previously, but Concrete Blonde finally got me interested in the Bosch series on Amazon Prime Video, which I binge-watched over the past couple weeks. I wondered how the show would match up with the first three Bosch novels, and it turns out the show just weaves a bunch of different book plots into each season. This particular book is about a serial killer who kills young blonde women. Bosch finds the serial killer and shoots him (this is not a spoiler), but then a copycat killer appears years later.

If you’re looking for a show to binge on, Bosch is a good pick. The reason I held off so long was because I just couldn’t buy into Titus Welliver as a lead actor. But after reading the books, I saw that Welliver was actually a good fit.

What am I reading right now? The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. Black List by Brad Thor.

Citrus Bowl Preview: Last Time They Played…

Yesterday I posted some roster notes on Alabama (LINK).

For the 2012 season opener, Michigan scheduled a game with Alabama at Jerryworld, a neutral-site location. At that point Alabama had won 2 of the previous 3 national championships, including the previous season’s. Meanwhile, Michigan was coming off of an 11-2 season and a win in the Sugar Bowl over Virginia Tech.

• Alabama was up 21-0 at the end of the 1st quarter and 31-0 in the 2nd quarter before a Denard Robinson TD made it 31-7 at halftime.
• Michigan would go on to lose, 41-14.
• Alabama QB A.J. McCarron finished 11/21 for 199 yards and 2 TD.
• Alabama RB T.J. Yeldon ran 11 times for 111 yards and 1 TD.
• Devin Gardner started at wide receiver (1 catch, 44 yards, 1 TD).
• Jeremy Gallon caught 4 passes for 107 yards.
• After Robinson got injured, #2 quarterback Russell Bellomy came in to go 0/1 with 1 INT.

Michigan is 2-2 all-time against Alabama, with wins coming in 1988 and 2000, as well as losses coming in 1997 and 2012. All previous meetings other than 2012 have taken place in bowl games.