Have you gone to middle or high school with any UM football players?
August 22nd, 2023 at 11:27 PM ^
No, but my kid went to school and quite a few classes (and parties) with many bball and football players. His stories about two beefy guys squashing the tires riding on their tiny scooters are still funny. Butt was, reportedly, a "good dude" as were several other classmates.
August 23rd, 2023 at 11:09 AM ^
Yeah likewise. A lot of classes, hangouts, & parties leads to a lot of stories re: 2013-2018 football, basketball, & hockey players. Including the captain of the Detroit Red Wings. And can confirm that Butt was a good dude.
August 22nd, 2023 at 11:31 PM ^
Not so far.
August 22nd, 2023 at 11:32 PM ^
I graudated in 1990. And no. In fact I think my high school -- Sterling Heights High -- has produced maybe a handful of Div 1 football players in its 51-ish year existence. Probably five or fewer. And when I say Div I, it is MAC. No B1G or other Power 5 conferences. And this is a pretty large public high school so it is odd that we haven't had any football players good enough to play for Michigan. But Giovanni El Hadi came from our rival -- Sterling Heights Stevenson. So I got THAT goin for me, which is nice.
August 23rd, 2023 at 1:48 AM ^
I would have gone to SHHS in the late 90s (wound up going to DLS: John Vitale was before my time there but RIP to the taken-way-too-soon Michigan All-American) ------- it's always odd to me those schools which aren't really different than their neighbors, but they never made a run in football.
Stevenson is Stevenson of course. Fraser was darn good in the late 90s and produced Jim Sorgi in the mid-2000s. Cousino was a legit state title contender for some years in the early-mid 2000s. Ford typically has good though not great teams, and like Fraser they once produced a B1G starting QB too. Shoot, even Parkway Christian has a one-time NFL player amongst their alums.
But never Sterling, never at all.
August 23rd, 2023 at 5:10 AM ^
I grew up across the street from DLS (went to the elementary adjacent to it). It was my parents dream to send my brother and I to La Salle, but it was unfortunately too expensive. We ended up going to Tower; no division 1 football or basketball teammates I played with (had a basketball teammate who was committed to Charlotte but was shot after senior year), but had several wrestling classmates go D-1.
August 22nd, 2023 at 11:43 PM ^
I taught Brent Petway how to rap when he was just a wee babe
August 22nd, 2023 at 11:51 PM ^
No, but Rob Renes was my student teacher (German) in high school.
August 23rd, 2023 at 12:35 AM ^
I had a class with Renes while at UM. He was super nice, participated in group discussions, etc. Pretty much the model of what you want a student athlete to be
August 23rd, 2023 at 8:16 AM ^
IIRC he was four time academic all conference and academic All-American at least his senior year. Ed major and got certified in German and history I think. Ended up in ed admin near Muskegon.
August 23rd, 2023 at 9:40 AM ^
My son had him in middle school at Reeths-Puffer. I can't recall if it was as a teacher or assistant principal. As others have said, he was a really good dude.
August 22nd, 2023 at 11:56 PM ^
Never went to school, but grew up around the corner from Cam Gordon. We got our haircut by the same barber.
August 23rd, 2023 at 12:02 AM ^
I went to high school with former MSU/NFL TE Chris Baker. He moved to Saline from NYC.
He was the only black kid in the entire school. Had to be a culture shock for him to go from NYC to Saline.
August 23rd, 2023 at 12:12 AM ^
Allen Elementary, Scarlett Middle, Huron High - let's go!!
August 23rd, 2023 at 12:22 AM ^
I went to Allen in the 80’s and to Scarlett until the middle of the 7th grade. Then I moved to Saline.
Holy shit, was that a shock to the system.
August 23rd, 2023 at 8:11 AM ^
Pittsfield, Scarlett, and Huron!!
August 23rd, 2023 at 9:43 AM ^
Scarlett and Huron!
August 23rd, 2023 at 9:55 AM ^
Go Cougars!
August 23rd, 2023 at 12:13 AM ^
I ate a peanut by Billy. He was a bad ass
August 23rd, 2023 at 12:25 AM ^
I have a family member who played(was a captain) and coached here under Harbaugh.
August 23rd, 2023 at 1:21 PM ^
Went to high school and played basketball and baseball with Paul Jokisch. He famously played both basketball and football at Michigan, but in high school he was also a pretty good pitcher. He got drafted by the 49ers I believe but I think it got cut short by injuries. Still lives in the area and is still a sweetheart of a guy.
August 23rd, 2023 at 12:25 AM ^
Born in the same town and hospital (likely) as Blake Corum in Virginia, but I’m at least 13 years older than him. Haha.
I did play for the rival school of former UM linebacker, Brandon Logan (he played for Lexington Catholic, I played for Lexington Christian) , and he was 2 years ahead of me in school.
August 23rd, 2023 at 12:31 AM ^
Went to Pioneer with (and practiced against) Will Heininger, who was one class younger than me. Didn’t expect him to be a Michigan starter level talent at the time, but props to him for filling out and bulking up in the weight room
August 23rd, 2023 at 12:32 AM ^
Went to high school with 2 former players.
Alex Ofili and Jacob Stewart. I was older than them by a couple years.
August 23rd, 2023 at 9:45 AM ^
YHS! Grew up a street over from Jacob and met Alex while he was at YHS. I am year older and moved to Huron by that point but we had a lot of friends in common. Both good dudes.
August 23rd, 2023 at 12:49 AM ^
I graduated with Blake Corum from the School of Kinesiology.
August 23rd, 2023 at 1:00 AM ^
Beeks…Where in the hell is Beeks?!?
August 23rd, 2023 at 1:05 AM ^
No.
But I did go to high school with....
Well no. But I did play against...umm. Yea. Some people.
August 23rd, 2023 at 1:16 PM ^
no, no you didn't. But you could imagine what it'd be like if you did, right...?
</farley>
August 23rd, 2023 at 1:28 AM ^
Went to Brother Rice with Steve Morrison and Gannon Dudlar.
August 23rd, 2023 at 9:02 AM ^
I went to Rice as well and was in the class with Paul Jokisch. We had great football and basketball teams in my time there ('78 to '82). Brian Brennan (BC and Cleveland Browns), BJ Armstrong (Iowa & Bulls), Dave Yarema (MSU QB), Greg Dingens (Notre Dame), and a whole lot of other college athletes. Not bad for a relatively small private school that had less than 900 students at the time.
August 23rd, 2023 at 10:38 AM ^
Awesome to both of you! My dad is Brother Rice class of 75’
August 23rd, 2023 at 1:43 AM ^
Went to Romeo, which has produced a few players, but none when I was there.
August 25th, 2023 at 12:39 AM ^
Go Bulldogs! Went to high school with Phil Webb.
August 23rd, 2023 at 1:50 AM ^
Played little league baseball against Derek Jeter freshman year after his K Central season. Got a hit off him and struck him out. Westwood Little League. My only claim to fame. But Michigan players, no.
August 23rd, 2023 at 9:00 AM ^
I had a friend that played in the same little league against Jeter too, however he did not have the success that you did against him.
August 23rd, 2023 at 4:59 AM ^
Nope. But my high school played Woodsons. He was a few yrs younger than myself and he still was a 1 man team. For those who didn’t know, Charles was a running back and one of the best to ever come through Ohio. When he went to M I was pissed at Lloyd for wasting his talent lol. The only game I played against him, he had returned the only pass we tried on his side, ran back a punt and had rushed for 150 by the half. They pulled young Charles half way through the 3rd. Anyone who’s ever played against an athlete who’s 3 steps faster would know what I’m talking about when I say “it factor”. The dude was truly something. I also got to watch him win the high jump in track, although I played baseball. He simply raised the bar 1 foot higher than everyone else and it was over. This was as a sophomore.
August 23rd, 2023 at 6:15 AM ^
Midukman ... what high school did you attend? My high school also played against Fremont Ross and Woodson. I didn't play football but went to the games. He is the same class as me and his senior year he scored I believe 6 of their 7 TDs... basically ran sweep left and right to Woodson at RB... I agree, he was just that many levels above in talent.
August 23rd, 2023 at 7:02 AM ^
Went to bowling green. My dad was a railroader who was transferred what seemed to be every year so I was only there for 1 year. That was enough to know I didn’t want any part of that kid the next season. I had an open field shot at him and I’m glad social media wasn’t around. My air tackle would have gotten a million views of my broken ankles.
August 23rd, 2023 at 9:44 AM ^
I went to Napoleon, so you probably played against some guys I knew as we annually played BG.
August 23rd, 2023 at 10:27 AM ^
Yep, remember playing Napoleon in multiple sports. I also remember a brute named Casey Mcbeth from fostoria who went on to play at Toledo and got drafted by KC if memory serves. I also came back to bgsu to watch Rothisberger make roadkill out of Urbans falcons. Lots of good players and talent from that area, but you’d be hard pressed to find anyone as talented as Charles. Obviously.
August 23rd, 2023 at 11:00 AM ^
Woodmore (Elmore) class of '01. Attended a Ross scrimmage his senior year. I've coached in the NLL for the last decade+. Cool to hear of some others familiar.
August 23rd, 2023 at 9:50 AM ^
When you say "it factor" reminds me of Ronald Johnson in high school. He was playing chess while everyone else was playing checkers. Could score from anywhere on the field (rushing, receiving, pick 6, kick off, punt return).
August 23rd, 2023 at 5:41 AM ^
Yes. Alex Mitchell. His scent in high school was very, very unpleasant. But when you are a massive human, no one tells the emperor he’s naked.
August 23rd, 2023 at 6:30 AM ^
No, but weirdly I ended up going to college with a bunch of UM football players...now that I think of it, there were a bunch of UM athletes in all different sports. Life is funny that way.
August 23rd, 2023 at 6:32 AM ^
Looks like it's okay to go a little off-topic here. Many years ago one of my HS classmates (someone you'd call a "jumbo athlete") was recruited by Sparty and some of the lesser Big Ten schools. (Michigan was not interested.) They all must've had visions of turning him into a left tackle. It made sense on paper (size, measurables).
Several of us advised him to choose Northwestern. He would've been at the low end there academically, but I think he would've survived.
He chose Sparty instead and barely saw the field. His big issue, which was apparently undiscovered in recruiting even though the film didn't lie, was that he had no taste for violence. :)
August 23rd, 2023 at 7:00 AM ^
My brother played baseball with Erik All growing up. One more degree and we get to meet Kevin Bacon!