Wolverines on the Rise
http://michigan.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=929991
Vincent Smith closing in #1 in the depth chart?!? this kid must be good.
Don't get too excited. Shaw's out with injury and Brown had a concussion.
oh wait, he's never healthy. I am not counting on Brown at all.
he still could be a nice change of pace guy to minor..
I like the little jab at Stevie Brown in the Branden Smith paragraph. It's funny to note that not only does this blog have issues with him...
I love the no so veiled rip on Stevie Brown.
Think he's talking about Carlos Brown, brah..
I don't. I think he was talking about Stevie Brown.
The article clearly takes a shot at Steve Brown. It compared Brandon Smith to Steve Brown, saying there's a certain senior safety who's known for his spring practice play, too, so we shouldn't rush to judging Smith, whether it's good or bad.
"Among Michigan's redshirt freshmen, Omameh was the top one to watch entering spring practice. He's done nothing to disappoint. After starting off with the No. 2 unit in the first week, he quickly moved up to the first unit as the starting right tackle, with redshirt junior Steve Schilling moving inside to guard. From watching individual drills, it is clear few OL teammates possess the natural athletic ability he does. He's done everything according to plan so far and is in position to start next fall. "
The blurb on Omameh is what has me excited. This could be a great steal by our staff.
was ther a reason coming out of high school that omameh wasnt highly rated? was he noted at being athletic but raw? or did he just take really well to the barwis system?
He wasn't very big, then had a major growth spurt during his senior year, so up until late in the game most didn't feel he really had D1 size for O-line, and didn't have the athleticism for other positions. Then he grew a bunch, and voila.
has put on 40 pounds since he signed, which under Barwis, I can hope is pure muscle.
In case anyone cared.
I could be wrong but wasn't he recruited at DE? This holding true, maybe we can assume his rise up the depth chart at OL has something to do with R.R. trying to find smaller and more agile OL men that are ideal for his system. As far as weight goes, Pat really packed on the some pounds.
he was recruited as an OT.
ohio state tried to steal him the night before signing day, so i guess his potential was somewhat visible. to answer your question though, he was smallish then grew.
I wish that Stonum was mentioned favorably, after a shaky freshman year and given his hype, I'm a bit disappointed that we don't hear anything so far. But good on Junior anyway.
The Victors Board is saying that Stonum is a possible transfer after spring ball. TIFWIW
March 30th, 2009 at 11:04 PM ^
Quote from Stonum himself "I'M NOT GOING ANYWHERE!!!" "People are speculating 24/7 and I just want to let you know I'm a Michigan Man!! This is where I want to be and I'm truly buying into Coach Rod's system. I know I will be something special on the field and I want to prove that here at Michigan. I love this program and you best believe that. GO BLUE!!"
The Victors Board can TTFWIW
Glad to hear Brandon Smith has been impressing.
we got ourselves a safety who can read,cover,hit & tackle. Just so tired watching our secondary getting played out of their shoes...
Smith is "sneaky fast." If I was to compare him to anyone, even though he is smaller, it would be Warrick Dunn. He is so smooth that he looks a lot slower than he really is. And he did make two huge, game-saving plays in the fourth quarter of his state championship game.
I like Smith because he sort of debunks the whole "small players are going to injured" thing. I think small players are vulnerable when they don't know how to take hits (McGuffie), but it looks like smith is pretty elusive and can take hits from what clips I have seen.
While I think the correlation between player size and injuries is overblown, perhaps we should wait until Smith has played a whole season before claiming that he has debunked it.
Or at all.
haha i bet half of you who are now in love with Vincent Smith were the same fans that were pissed that RR signed another small jitterbug. having some faith can pay off.
Thank you, I am glad somebody said it and I am glad we keep going into Pahokee and other schools in the "Muck". It has been noted they put players into the league and I think eventually it will pay off and Michigan will steal some 5* away from the Florida schools.
I certainly wasn't anywhere near upset that RR offered another small dude, but I wasn't impressed either. Just sorta eh. Now? Whoa.
i was one who wondered why we sign some of the guys we do but seeing that omameh and vincent smith are rising so fast makes it hard to doubt the staff anymore
Devil's advocate: they are rising so fast because RichRod and crew only know how to evaluate shitty 2/3 star players, not 4/5 star players. This isn't the big east, we need a coach that can get us the GOOD 4/5 star players.
so he's gotta be good, right?
I don't care about how many small, jitterbug types we get. I did say - and I'll stand by it - that I don't think Smith is that great. I don't think he's a waste of a scholarship by any means, but I doubt he'll ever be big-time player for us. Which is fine. I mean, not every kid turns into a star, obviously. But we'll see...
March 30th, 2009 at 10:25 PM ^
gonna get some serious playing time this year as a true frosh. he's the number 2 RB and it's not because brown is injured...
March 30th, 2009 at 10:36 PM ^
We'll see.
was always an offensive lineman for us.
That Scooby puts on ~15# by Sept while keeping his speed intact?
Im a little surprised his name is not on this list, all you heard about him before he got hurt last year was that he was one of the most explosive receivers on the team. After he got hurt RR said he would of been playing had the injury not happen. Anybody hear anything about him this spring?
Does anyone else think Brandon Smith looks tight as hell in uniform? He looks like a person I made in NCAA 09
I don't know that I would every say a dude looks "tight as hell" but I guess I agree with your overall sentiment.
March 30th, 2009 at 10:35 PM ^
I'm saying in uniform he looks like a beast with the pads and helmet with the visor.
March 30th, 2009 at 11:15 PM ^
from the rivals article. on Brandon Smith
"Does anyone look the part better than Smith? The physical safety might just be the decade-long solution to a mystifying problem in the U-M secondary. "
is smith the decade-long solution or the solution to a decade-long problem?
"Does anyone look the part better than Smith? The physical safety might just be the decade-long solution to a mystifying problem in the U-M secondary. "
is smith the decade-long solution or the solution to a decade-long problem?
March 30th, 2009 at 11:26 PM ^
Yeah, I thought that too. Depending on how he plays this year, I might be okay with giving Smith 9 more years of eligibility.
Shock FX: Noel Devine = 5* ; I think that WVU had trouble attracting quality 4* players. The few they got hold of were low character guys, e.g. Henry. The fact that they were able to mold 2/3 stars makes me excited what they can do with 4/5 star guys.
I was being beyond sarcastic. Sorry.
i hope he was too.
Does the fact that Chris Henry was a 2-star change your argument at all?
because Omameh
Omameh '08!
Nice.
Did you know that pat white was a 2 star???
March 31st, 2009 at 12:35 PM ^
No, no, you're getting it all mixed up. He was actually a -2 star, which means that he actually owes Rivals and Scout 2 stars. I think he's already gone through litigation for that.