Tag: Ex-Wolverines

Gareon Conley, Ex-Wolverine

Gareon Conley

Massillon (OH) Washington cornerback Gareon Conley decommitted from Michigan on Tuesday.  Conley had committed to Michigan back in March.  Defensive coordinator Greg Mattison visited Conley’s school this afternoon.

Conley claimed at the time that Michigan was his dream offer, and he has stated at certain points that Washington’s coaches don’t like their kids to renege on their commitments.  However, he has been wavering for a long time, and there have rumblings in recent weeks about Oregon and Ohio State potentially stealing him away.  Oregon has yet to offer, but the Buckeyes swept in with an offer recently and Conley visited Ohio Stadium for last Saturday’s face-off between Michigan and OSU.

There is still a chance that Conley will re-commit to Michigan, and the fact that he gave some forewarning to Michigan’s coaches puts him in a different light than kids like Pharaoh Brown and David Dawson, who sneakily tried to visit Oregon and Florida, respectively.  However, it’s fairly unusual – though not out of the question – for kids to re-commit to a school.  Usually it burns some bridges and causes some hurt feelings for one party or another, and sometimes it’s better for the kid to go elsewhere and start somewhat fresh.

Michigan now has three cornerback commits in the class: Jourdan Lewis, Channing Stribling, and Ross Douglas.  The coaching staff is still angling for Seffner (FL) Armwood defensive back Leon McQuay III, who is more of a safety prospect but could also play slot corner.  It’s also possible that the coaches send out new offers, perhaps to a kid like Trotwood (OH) Trotwood-Madison cornerback Reon Dawson, who is committed to Illinois but entertaining preliminary talks with Michigan.  Uncommitted cornerback prospects with Michigan offers also include Los Angeles (CA) Loyola’s Cameron Walker, Tempe (AZ) Marcos De Niza’s Priest Willis, and Long Beach (CA) Jordan’s John Ross.  The coaches are aiming to pull in 25 total recruits, and this loss puts Michigan at 22, so there are three remaining slots in the class.

For updates on other former Wolverines, check out the Ex-Wolverine Encyclopedia.

Ex-Wolverine Updates

Dallas Crawford (#4), who committed to play cornerback at Michigan, is now a running back at Miami

Former Michigan RB Michael Cox: Cox had 13 carries for 31 yards and 1 touchdown, along with 1 reception for 1 yard, in UMass’s 29-19 loss to Buffalo.


Former Michigan CB commit Dallas Crawford: Crawford had 3 rushes for 10 yards and 1 special teams tackle in Miami’s 40-9 victory over South Florida.

Former Michigan S Carvin Johnson: Hampton ends the season at 3-7 with a 27-17 win over Morgan State.  Johnson started at safety in the final game, but didn’t accrue any statistics.  He ends his college season with 57 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, 5 pass breakups, and 3 fumble recoveries.

Former Michigan DT commit DeQuinta Jones: Jones had 2 tackles in Arkansas’s 45-14 loss to Mississippi State.

Former Michigan RB Sam McGuffie: McGuffie had 6 receptions for 53 yards in Rice’s 36-14 victory over SMU.

Former Michigan WR/CB commit Dewayne Peace: Peace had 5 catches for 44 yards in Houston’s 44-41 loss to Marshall.

Former Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez: Rodriguez is 7-4 at Arizona after a 34-24 win over Utah.  Running back Kadeem Carey, who had 366 yards and 5 touchdowns last week, followed up last week’s performance with 204 rushing yards and a touchdown.

Former Michigan CB commit Adrian Witty: Witty had 2 tackles in Cincinnati’s 10-3 loss to Rutgers.

Ex-Wolverine Updates

Rich Rodriguez

Former Michigan RB Michael Cox: Cox had 15 carries for 44 yards in UMass’s first victory this season, a 22-14 win over Akron.  UMass is 1-9 and Akron is 1-10, so this wasn’t exactly a huge upset.

Former Michigan CB commit Dallas Crawford: Crawford had 3 tackles in Miami’s 41-40 loss to Virginia.

Former Michigan S Carvin Johnson: Johnson had 4 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, and 1 fumble recovery in Hampton’s 35-27 loss to Delaware State.

Former Michigan QB commit Kevin Newsome: Newsome played as a backup quarterback, going 0/1 passing with 2 rushing attempts for 5 yards.  Temple lost by a score of 34-10.

Former Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez: Without injured starting quarterback Matt Scott, Rodriguez relied on the running game to beat Colorado 56-31.  Arizona running back Ka’Deem Carey had 25 carries for 366 yards and 5 touchdowns.  Carey now has 1,381 yards and 18 touchdowns on the season.


Former Michigan S Ray Vinopal: Vinopal had 1 tackle in Pitt’s 24-17 loss to UConn.

Former Michigan CB commit Adrian Witty: Witty had 2 tackles and 1/2 a tackle for loss in Cincinnati’s 34-10 victory over Temple.

Ex-Wolverine Updates

Carvin Johnson

Former Michigan RB Michael Cox: Cox had 25 carries for 81 yards and 2 receptions for 12 yards in Massachusetts’ 63-0 loss to Northern Illinois.  UMass is now 0-9.

Former Michigan S Vladimir Emilien: Emilien had 4 tackles in Toledo’s 34-27 loss to Ball State.

Former Michigan K commit Anthony Fera: Fera hit a 42-yard field goal and was 4/4 on extra points in Texas’s 31-22 victory over Texas Tech.  He’s now 2/3 on field goals this season and 21/22 on extra points.

Former Michigan S Carvin Johnson: Johnson had 6 tackles and 1/2 a tackle for loss in Hampton’s 20-10 loss to Howard.


Former Michigan RB Sam McGuffie: McGuffie had 2 receptions for 45 yards in Rice’s 49-47 win over Tulsa.  He has 41 catches for 463 yards and 5 touchdowns on the year.

Former Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez: Arizona fell to 5-4 as they lost to UCLA by a score of 66-10.  The Wildcats might have been feeling a hangover from upsetting USC the previous week, and that might have been exacerbated by quarterback Matt Scott recovering from what appeared to be a concussion in that USC game.  Scott threw the ball just 15 times and had only 3 carries.

Former Michigan S Ray Vinopal: Vinopal had 2 tackles and 1 quarterback hurry in Pitt’s 29-26 loss to Notre Dame.

Former Michigan CB commit Adrian Witty: Witty had 1 tackle in Cincinnati’s 35-24 victory over Syracuse.  He now has 14 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, and 1 sack on the year.

Ricardo Miller, Ex-Wolverine

Junior tight end Ricardo Miller has left the football program.  He played in 14 games as a special teams guy, but just two as a tight end.

As you can tell from my first real post about Ricardo Miller in July of 2010, I was never a huge fan of Miller’s abilities.  He peaked early at Orlando (FL) Dr. Phillips and earned some rave reviews as an underclassman, but it was painfully obvious once he transferred to Ann Arbor (MI) Pioneer for his senior year that he lacked any kind of deep speed or smooth athletic ability.  You can see in this video that he just lacks explosiveness and athleticism.  He seemed like a pure blocking wide receiver for Rich Rodriguez, and he even temporarily moved to tight end for Brady Hoke when he got up to around 234 lbs.  Unfortunately, he was always destined to be a “tweener” – too slow to play wide receiver, too slightly built to be a tight end.  Perhaps Rodriguez would have found a way to use him, but he doesn’t have a role for Hoke.

Regarding the future of the football team, this won’t really affect Michigan other than freeing up a scholarship.  I didn’t expect to see Miller in any meaningful role for the remainder of his career, and Michigan’s coaches were already recruiting tight ends as if they didn’t expect Miller to step up, either.  However, it’s somewhat sad to see a kid’s career end so early, especially when that player was so devoted to Michigan that he moved from Florida a year early and was heading up the recruiting for that 2010 class much like quarterback Shane Morris is doing for the class of 2013.  By all accounts, Miller is a likable guy who just doesn’t have the athleticism to get on the field in the Big Ten.  And he’s on pace to graduate from Michigan this spring, so he’s getting the job done in the classroom well enough to graduate after just three years.

Miller’s departure leaves just 14 players on the roster from the 27-man class of 2010.  For information on other ex-Wolverines, check out the Ex-Wolverine Encyclopedia.