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Visitors: April 3-9, 2017

Christian Turner (image via Gwinnett Prep Sports)

2018

Brian Asamoah – LB – Columbus (OH) St. Francis DeSales: Asamoah is a 6’0″, 205 lb. prospect with offers from Cincinnati, Kentucky, Michigan, Penn State, and Pitt, among others. He’s a 3-star, the #45 outside linebacker, and #635 overall. Right now all three Crystal Ball picks are in favor of Cincinnati. Asamoah was supposed to visit a few weeks ago, but Jim Harbaugh was out of town, so he rescheduled. The word is that Michigan is concentrating on Dallas Gant as their primary – and lone – linebacker target right now, so they may not push for Asamoah. He’s visiting on Saturday, April 8.

Christian Turner – RB – Buford (GA) Buford: Turner is a 5’11”, 187 lb. runner with offers from Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, and Tennessee, among others. He’s a 3-star, the #30 running back, and #494 overall. He visited Michigan on Thursday, April 6.

2019

Logan Brown – OT – Kentwood (MI) East Kentwood: Brown is a 6’6″, 280 lb. prospect with offers from Michigan and Wisconsin, among others.

M.J. Griffin – CB – Saline (MI) Saline: Griffin is a 5’10”, 170 lb. prospect with offers from Indiana, Iowa State, and a couple MAC schools. He’s a transfer from Belleville (MI) Belleville.

Drake Thomas – LB – Wake Forest (NC) Heritage: Thomas is a 6’0″, 225 lb. prospect with offers from Marshall, Michigan, North Carolina, and North Carolina State, among others. Michigan was his first offer. He’ll be in town today, April 7.

Michigan Inexperienced but Reloading on Defense

Bryan Mone (image via MLive)

First things first, Michigan lost a lot of talent from last year’s team. However, there is no question about the impact that Don Brown has made on the program. He developed a defense that led the nation in many categories throughout the year. He is also responsible for developing raw talent into NFL caliber players. There is no reason to believe that will not be the case again this year.

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How does Amazon help Touch the Banner?

I’ve fielded a question several times over the past couple years, because I occasionally mention that you can support the site by making purchases on Amazon. But I probably haven’t done a great job of explaining exactly how that works. A lot of websites use the Amazon Associates program, but here’s how it helps:

Step #1: I create ads on my end. Sometimes those ads are related to book reviews, and sometimes they’re recommendation ads based on categories that I pick. Most of you are interested in sports, and not many of you use makeup, so I choose appropriate channels. Then I post those ads permanently at the bottom of the page, or they appear temporarily in posts that eventually get bumped down into the nether regions.

Step #2: You click. Whether you like what you see advertised or you just want to buy something random on Amazon, you click on the ads. It doesn’t matter what you buy. Once you arrive at Amazon and make a purchase (generally within 24 hours after clicking on the ad), you’ve contributed to the site. If you leave your Amazon tab open for too long, then the cookies disappear and it’s no longer connected to Touch the Banner. So if you want to contribute, make sure to complete the transaction.

Step #3: Commissions. Amazon has various programs that can be used for commissions, including referrals to particular products or services. Chances are slim that I’m going to convert you to Amazon Prime or one of their streaming services, so I generally avoid those types of conversion ads. Once your purchased items are shipped, I receive a 4% to 12% commission based on what you bought. This is Amazon’s way of paying for ad space without giving out the money up front. They only pay when something is actually purchased. So if you buy a $100 item, anywhere from $4 to $12 goes into my account.

Step #4: The site benefits. I have no delusions of getting rich, but it’s nice to be compensated a little for the time spent on the website. On average, I probably spend a minimum of two hours per day writing, updating offer boards, culling information from Twitter, watching film, etc. But in addition to compensation, roughly 20% of site income goes into keeping the site running (servers, tech support, domain names, premium widgets, site upgrades, etc.), and another chunk goes into business taxes. I also have intentions of tweaking a few things to improve the reader experience, so hopefully it will circle back to you in some way, too.

The best thing about Amazon Associates is that you don’t pay anything extra. You get what you want from Amazon, and you don’t have to worry about setting up a Paypal account, giving me your credit card information, feeling guilty for not contributing, etc. Everyone wins.

If you want a little more insight into how the program works, here’s a short video:

A Look Back: Todd Collins

(image via Pinterest)

(image via NFLplayerengagement.com)

In addition to interviews, I’m going to write “throwback” columns about some Michigan players and games from the past.  Hopefully I can add some new information to your Michigan memories.   Today’s column features a look back at quarterback Todd Collins.  

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Michigan Football Spring Update

Brandon Peters (image via MLive)

[This is the first official post from a new contributor to the site, umbig11. Thanks to him for his insights!  -Thunder] 

I thought I would stop by and pass along some updates for all of you diehard Michigan football fans:

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