Attractive Michigan Girl of the Week
If you have any other pictures of good looking women wearing Michigan gear, drop me an e-mail. Go Blue!
If you have any other pictures of good looking women wearing Michigan gear, drop me an e-mail. Go Blue!
Swing Your Sword by Mike Leach and Bruce Feldman is somewhat an autobiography of Mike Leach, the current coach at Washington State. It’s also a big f*** you to Texas Tech, a school that he badmouths repeatedly, including the higher-ups. Of course, we all know by now that Leach was fired by the Red Raiders for reasons that were, well, questionable. Much of it revolves around his treatment of the son of Craig James, but Leach makes the point that it might have been financially driven, too.
The book flows smoothly from chapter to chapter, and it doesn’t get bogged down too much in the politics of coaching at Texas Tech. I think it was partly a vehicle for Leach to repair his reputation, partly a way for him to get back at the administration in Lubbock, and partly a way for Bruce Feldman to tell a very interesting story about modern college football. Leach is a bit of an odd duck, but I really respect him as a coach because he does pretty well with some so-so talent. I wish there was a little more X’s and O’s in here, but he does devote a chapter to X’s and O’s stuff, and he also talks frequently about the logistics of coaching. The book almost beats you over the head with the question “Why?” Why run these plays? Why run these drills? Why build your offense this way? Why have these rules? I have seen coaches doing drills, setting rules, etc. that don’t seem to have practical reasons, and it ends up wasting time or energy that could be put toward more useful things.
I thought it was a very good book for someone like me to read. As coaches, we need to be eclectic and take a couple things from various places that we can apply to our own teams and lives. This gave me a couple tools that I can use going forward, and it was entertaining in the meantime. I don’t follow Leach much now that he’s in the Pacific Northwest at Washington State, but he is coming to a clinic near me that I’m going to try to attend this off-season. I’m looking forward to that opportunity if I can make it happen.
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With class of 2011 high school prospects having wrapped up their college careers by now, it’s a good time to take a look back at the TTB Ratings I assigned for those players five or six years ago. The 2011 class was my first batch of TTB Ratings, so I’m interested to see how it went. It also happened to be the transition year between Rich Rodriguez and Brady Hoke.
Keep in mind that the ratings (fully explained here) are intended to project how players will fare at Michigan and, to a certain extent, in the NFL Draft. I do not take into account how players will do once they get to the NFL or how they will pan out if they transfer to other programs. I will give myself a grade of 1-5 like a 5-point grading scale (5 is best, 1 is worst) for each player; I reserve the right to give myself an incomplete if the guy never made it to his first season. I’ll work down the list from highest to lowest with a brief career recap for each player:
Hit the jump for the ratings review.
COMMITMENTS
Michigan’s wide receiver recruiting situation has been slow to develop, even though it’s been clear for two years now that the team would be losing two senior starters after the 2016 season in Jehu Chesson and Amara Darboh. The first player worth mentioning committed last Thursday, and that’s Detroit (MI) Cass Tech’s Donovan Peoples-Jones, a 5-star, the #1 receiver, and the #11 overall player in the class, according to the 247 Composite. He’s 6’2″, 192 lbs. and checks all the boxes you would want in a wideout. The next highest rated guy is Cheshire (CT) Cheshire Academy’s Tarik Black, who committed just one day earlier. He’s 6’4″, 208 lbs. and a 4-star, the #17 wide receiver, and #124 overall. Last – and sneakiest – is Suffield (CT) Suffield Academy’s Brad Hawkins, Jr., who pledged to the Wolverines as a part of the 2016 class. He had to attend a year of prep school, and nobody really knew whether he would qualify or if Michigan would still want him.
Hit the jump for a deeper look at Michigan’s wide receiver recruiting in 2017.
Flint (MI) Southwestern defensive end Deron Irving-Bey committed to Michigan on Monday afternoon. He chose the Wolverines over offers from Indiana, Maryland, Michigan State, Pitt, and Tennessee, among others.
He’s a 6’5″, 282 lb. prospect who has been selected to play in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl on January 7, 2017. As a junior in 2015, he made 73 tackles, 23 tackles for loss, and 6 sacks.
RATINGS
ESPN: 4-star, 81 grade, #18 DT, #258 overall
Rivals: 3-star, #18 SDE
Scout: 4-star, #24 DE, #279 overall
247 Sports: 4-star, 93 grade, #5 SDE, #186 overall
Hit the jump for more on Irving-Bey’s commitment.