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Ex-Wolverine Updates: Week 9

Dallas Crawford (#25)

Former CB Blake Countess: Countess had 5 tackles, 1 pass breakup, and 1 interception in Auburn’s 27-19 loss to Ole Miss. That’s Countess’s first interception since the 2013 season.

Former CB commit Dallas Crawford: Crawford made 5 tackles and had 1 kickoff return for 1 yard in Miami’s 30-27 win over Duke. He was also a part of Miami’s kickoff return unit that used 8 laterals to score on the final play of the game. You can see him here fielding the kickoff to start it off, and then the former high school QB throws the final lateral across the field. Hit the jump for the video and the rest of the updates:

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ESPN 300 for 2016 updated

Ben Bredeson is the #58 prospect in the country

The ESPN 300 for 2016 was updated last week (LINK). Here’s what it looked like back in June (LINK). Movement for Michigan commits:

– Ben Bredeson dropped from #56 to #58
– Brandon Peters jumped from #152 to #92
– Michael Onwenu jumped from #255 to #174
– Brad Hawkins, Jr. fell from #191 to #196
– Ahmir Mitchell fell from #211 to #217

5-stars:

1. Rashan Gary – DT – NJ
2. Greg Little – OT – TX
4. Ed Oliver – DT – TX (Houston)
5. Willie Allen – OT – LA
6. Levonta Taylor – CB – VA (Florida State)
8. Dexter Lawrence – DT – NC
10. Isaac Nauta – TE – FL
12. Lyndell Wilson – LB – AL

Hit the jump for the rest of the list.

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Michigan vs. Minnesota Awards

Let’s see more of this guy on offense . . . Drake Johnson. Much like last year, it seems like Drake Johnson (10 carries, 55 yards) is the only guy who can infuse life into the running game right now. For whatever reason, Ty Isaac and Karan Higdon did not participate in Saturday’s game, and Derrick Green (3 carries, 4 yards) is still just a guy. Meanwhile, starter De’Veon Smith (9 carries, 16 yards) is just limping along at this point. I’m unimpressed with Michigan’s options at the position, but there isn’t anyone new coming through the door just yet.

Hit the jump for the rest of the awards.

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School in the News: Virginia Tech

Frank Beamer

Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer has announced that he will retire at the end of the 2015 season. The longest tenured head coach in FBS football, he spent the last 29 seasons in Blacksburg and won over 230 games there. I don’t expect there to be a great deal of fallout in Michigan’s favor, because Michigan is only crossing paths with VT occasionally in this recruiting class.

2016 commits with Michigan offers: DE Jimmie Taylor
Roster players who were offered by Michigan:

CB Kendall Fuller (Jr.), RB Shai McKenzie (So.), CB Mook Reynolds (Fr.), DT Tim Settle (Fr.), OG Wyatt Teller (RS Jr.)

Taylor is a 6’3″, 220 lb. weakside end who was being looked at as a Buck linebacker, which Michigan is desperate for in this class (or even right now). He was scheduled to visit in mid-June, but I never heard word whether that visit materialized or not. Either way, he was reportedly down to picking Virginia Tech or North Carolina before picking the Hokies. Michigan has its eyes on some other potential Buck linebackers – including Colorado’s Carlo Kemp, who is supposed to choose this week – but they might want to throw their hat back in the ring for Taylor with the coaching uncertainty.

Michigan 29, Minnesota 26

That was a great game for Minnesota. If the Gophers were facing almost anyone else, I would have been rooting for them to win. With the recent retirement of Jerry Kill, the frenzied crowd, the excited players, that was a fun game to watch. As a Michigan fan, player, or coach, you had to be wary of the emotions of the game. Some teams totally cave in that situation, and some play out of their minds. Minnesota did the latter. Unfortunately for them – but not for Michigan – I think head coach Tracy Claeys and his staff let the moment get a little too big for them at the end with some questionable game management.

I was closer to being right than I wanted to be. In my game preview (LINK), I predicted “Jake Rudock gets knocked out of the game, Wilton Speight can’t find his helmet, and Shane Morris burns his redshirt to come in and win the game.” Well, hot damn. Rudock did get knocked out of the game, and Shane Morris was warming up on the sideline, but it was Speight – helmet and all – who came in to throw the game-winning touchdown pass. Michigan seemed snake-bitten all game, and at one point late in the game, Michigan was without its starting QB, its starting RB, and its starting TE. I had started to think that it just wasn’t meant to be for the Wolverines on Saturday night.

Hit the jump for the remainder of the recap.

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