Tag: Ex-Wolverines

Ex-Wolverine Updates

Demetrius Hart goes airborne for one of his six scores

Former DT Richard Ash: Ash had 4 tackles and 1 pass knockdown in Western Michigan’s 32-20 win over Central Michigan.

Former S Josh Furman: Furman made 2 tackles in Oklahoma State’s 49-28 loss to #6 Baylor. After starting off 5-1, the Cowboys have now lost five in a row and will be fighting for bowl eligibility next week against Oklahoma.

Former RB commit Demetrius Hart: Hart carried the ball 20 times for 230 yards and 5 touchdowns in Colorado State’s 58-20 win over New Mexico. He also caught 2 passes for 42 yards and 1 touchdown. His receiving touchdown was from 20 yards out, and his rushing scores came from 76, 55, 6, 4, and 2 yards. He’s now up to 1,139 yards and 16 rushing touchdowns this year on a 7.0 yard average.

Former RB Thomas Rawls: Rawls had 19 carries for 76 yards and 2 catches for 10 yards in Central Michigan’s 32-20 loss to Western Michigan.

Former head coach Rich Rodriguez: Rodriguez and his Arizona Wildcats beat #20 Utah by a score of 42-10. That’s the same Utah team that beat Michigan 26-10. I wonder how badly Arizona would beat Michigan right now. Anyway, running back Nick Wilson had 20 carries for 218 yards and 3 touchdowns. The team is 9-2 with a game next week against a pretty good Arizona State team.

Former S Ray Vinopal: In Pitt’s 30-7 win over Syracuse, Vinopal had 5 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, 2 forced fumbles, and 1 pass breakup. Pitt will be fighting for bowl eligibility next week against Miami.

Michael Weber, Ex-Wolverine

Michael Weber

Detroit (MI) Cass Tech running back Michael Weber decommitted from Michigan on Saturday afternoon. Or at least he made it public, via his Twitter account. Weber is a 247 Composite 4-star, the #13 running back, and #113 overall in the 2015 class. As a senior this season, he ran for over 2,000 yards during Cass Tech’s run to the state semifinals.

Weber had committed to the Wolverines back in August over offers from Michigan State, Ohio State, USC, and Wisconsin, among others. Almost immediately he mentioned that he still wanted to visit other schools, and I have been saying all along that I did not trust his commitment. Of course, Michigan fans shouldn’t hold it against a kid when he sees the coach who recruited him sitting on the hottest of hot seats. It’s practically a foregone conclusion that head coach Brady Hoke will be replaced sometime in the coming weeks, so it’s understandable that he would want to explore his options.

Hit the jump for thoughts on the position going forward.

This leaves Michigan in a somewhat precarious position. Destined to be a small class, anyway (Hoke said the biggest he thought it would get is 16, but that seemed high), the Wolverines are down to seven commitments for 2015. Weber is also the seventh  2015 recruit to renounce his commitment to Michigan, which is an absurdly high number. Furthermore, he is the second consecutive running back recruit to decommit, following Kentucky’s Damien Harris. Michigan does have decent numbers at running back with five guys there (Justice Hayes, Drake Johnson, De’Veon Smith, Derrick Green, and Ty Isaac) and a few others (Ross Douglas, Dennis Norfleet, Wyatt Shallman) who could fill a role. Michigan doesn’t absolutely need a running back in the class, but Hoke has said previously that he wants to take “a couple” backs in every class; you generally want those types of players because they can sometimes play receiver, safety, linebacker, cornerback, and special teams. If they do not take one in 2015, then that makes the running back position a priority in 2016.

Late in the class, the easiest guys to pull in are lower rated guys from within the state, or at least within the region. We have seen Michigan do that in recent years when they nabbed Thomas Rawls in 2011 and Dennis Norfleet in 2012. Unfortunately, there are few options in the 2015 class. Oak Park (MI) Oak Park’s John Kelly played running back in high school and has been offered by Michigan as a defensive back, but he was leaning toward Michigan State or Minnesota, and he is good friends with Weber. Auburn Hills (MI) Avondale’s Joshuwa Holloman is a genuine speedster committed to Cincinnati, but he lacks great running instincts. Other options include 247 Composite 2-stars Romello Ross (committed to CMU), Alex Grace (WMU), and Bobby Banks (CMU).

Ex-Wolverine Updates

Josh Furman (#14) attempts to tackle Texas’s Tyrone Swoopes

Former DT Richard Ash: Ash made 1 tackle in Western Michigan’s 51-7 beatdown of Eastern Michigan.

Former CB commit Dallas Crawford: Crawford made 2 tackles in Miami-FL’s 30-26 loss to Florida State.

Former S Josh Furman: Furman had 5 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, and 1 sack in Oklahoma State’s 28-7 loss to Texas. Oklahoma State started off 5-1, but they have since lost four in a row to Big 12 opponents. Furman has 54 tackles, 12 tackles for loss, 6 sacks, 4 pass breakups, and 1 interception on the season.

Former linebackers coach Jay Hopson: Hopson, now the head coach at Alcorn State, moved to 9-2 on the season with a 56-6 victory over Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

Former RB Thomas Rawls: Rawls had 3 carries for 16 yards in Central Michigan’s 34-27 victory over Miami-OH.

Former head coach Rich Rodriguez: Rodriguez’s Arizona Wildcats beat Washington by a score of 27-26. The Huskies were ahead 26-24 with three seconds remaining when Arizona kicker Casey Skowron missed a potential game-winning field goal, but Washington head coach Chris Petersen had called a timeout to ice the kicker. Skowron hit the field goal on his second try and Arizona pulled out the win. Arizona is now 8-2 on the year.

Former S Ray Vinopal: Vinopal had 5 tackles in Pitt’s 40-35 loss to North Carolina.

Ex-Wolverine Updates

Demetrius Hart

Former TE commit Pharaoh Brown: Brown suffered a gruesome knee injury in the game, but prior to doing so, he caught 3 passes for 40 yards and 1 touchdown. Oregon beat Utah by a score of 51-27. Brown’s season is presumably over, so he finishes with 25 catches for 420 yards (16.8 yards/catch) and 6 touchdowns. You can watch below, but watch at your own risk:

Former CB commit Gareon Conley: Conley had 3 tackles in Ohio State’s 49-37 win over Michigan State. He now has 12 tackles and 1 pass breakup in his redshirt freshman season.

Former RB commit Demetrius Hart: Hart carried the ball 11 times for 115 yards and 1 touchdown in Colorado State’s 49-22 win over Hawaii. He also had 1 catch for 9 yards. Hart now has 909 yards and 11 rushing touchdowns, averaging 6.3 yards/carry.

Former head coach Rich Rodriguez: Rodriguez and his Arizona Wildcats beat Colorado by a score of 38-20. Arizona racked up 499 yards on offense, including 153 and and 115 rushing yards by running back Nick Wilson and quarterback Anu Solomon, respectively.

For more updates, check out the Ex-Wolverine Encyclopedia (LINK

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Ex-Wolverine Updates

Former Michigan DT Richard Ash (#9) with his cousin, Rontavious Atkins (image via MLive)

Former DT Richard Ash: Ash had 2 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, and 1 sack in Western Michigan’s 41-10 win over Miami-OH. He now has 29 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, 1 pass breakup, and 1 blocked kick on the season. While looking for a picture to post (which is above), I came across this somewhat enlightening story about Ash’s childhood in Florida (LINK).

Former TE commit Pharaoh Brown: The Oregon Ducks usually struggle with Stanford, but not this time. The Ducks beat the Cardinal by a score of 45-14. Brown had 2 catches for 36 yards.

Former CB commit Gareon Conley: Conley had 3 tackles in Ohio State’s 55-14 victory over Illinois.

Former LB Josh Furman: After a promising 5-1 start to the season, Oklahoma State has lost three in a row. This week they got blown out by Kansas State by a score of 48-14. Furman had 2 tackles in the loss.

Former RB commit Demetrius Hart: Hart had 24 carries for 104 yards and 4 touchdowns in Colorado State’s 38-31 win over San Jose State. This seven-game win streak is CSU’s longest win streak since 1997. They are now 8-1. San Jose State’s defense is coordinated by former Michigan defensive coordinator Greg Robinson.

Former head coach Rich Rodriguez: Arizona scored a touchdown a couple minutes into the game, and then their offense completely sputtered. They lost to UCLA by a score of 17-7. Wildcats quarterback Anu Solomono completed just 18/48 passes for 175 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 pick, and they were held to 80 rushing yards on 31 carries.

Former recruits WR Laquon Treadwell (Ole Miss) and LB Kris Frost (Auburn): Neither one was ever committed to Michigan, but both were really, really close. At the end of Saturday’s game, Treadwell caught a screen pass and nearly scored a touchdown before Frost tackled him from behind, falling on Treadwell’s leg and breaking it in the process. Meanwhile, Treadwell understandably fumbled the ball just inches from the goal line, so while the play was initially ruled as a potential game-winning touchdown, replay determined that it was a fumble recovered by Auburn. The Tigers won by a score of 35-31. WARNING: Don’t watch the video if you’re squeamish about seeing broken extremities.

Former S Ray Vinopal: Pitt lost a shootout in double-overtime to Duke by a score of 51-48. Vinopal had 7 tackles in the loss. Pitt piled up 358 rushing yards, including 263 from James Conner – who had ZERO negative-yardage plays.