Unverified Voracity Runs Routes On Air
Events. There are some. If you're in NY or DC I'm sorry to report that I'm unable to make it out this year for various reasons. All the things that happened this summer plus two small people mean that I'm scrambling to catch up on season preview stuff and can't take four days in August. Next year there will not be a coaching search and College World Series. Probably. Also I've been told that once children turn four you can sell them? Is that true? Don't look it up, it's probably true.
A graphed history of Michigan football. Most of it, anyway. Bill Connelly's S&P+ graphed and annotated:
The Schembechler era is even a little more bonkers because the only negative outlier in there is when Harbaugh broke his arm and they went 6-6.
Also here's West Virginia, the Tweek of college football:
I'm getting queasy just looking at this thing.
Also also, give it up for Charlie Weis:
xoxo miss you big guy.
[After the JUMP: BTN visits! Nothing happens.]
Ambry status. I'd consider this Not Good:
Ambry Thomas had colitis, per Harbaugh. Lost quite a bit of weight and can be in the facilities, but not practicing yet. Timeline will become more clear in next 7-10 days. Few steps to get there, Harbaugh said.
— Zach Shaw (@_ZachShaw) August 13, 2019
He's not on the fall camp roster. He won't be available to start the season. The hope is he'll be back in week four for Wisconsin.
This used to be a post. BTN is doing their annual conference tour. In the past their stop in Ann Arbor has been newsworthy enough to warrant its own post. Now it's some cellphone clips of guys running routes on air and close to zero information. This isn't BTN's fault; they're being presented with stretching drills and the like. If you went to the open practice the week before the spring game, it was that.
Josh Uche and Khaleke Hudson going through LB drills pic.twitter.com/xBknTY3s0P
— Dave Revsine (@BTNDaveRevsine) August 13, 2019
This is bad PR and that came through on the broadcast, which was understandably sour. This is a crew that's trying to be optimistic about Illinois, but when you give them nothing they react like people generally do. I have personally experienced the drills-and-nothing else thing, and was sour after.
Dave Revsine did tweet out that he liked Sainristil and that Don Brown had talked up DJ Turner, Chris Hinton, Anthony Solomon, and Dax Hill. Also Gattis gave them a pretty interesting interview:
What changes are in store for the @UMichFootball offense this season?
— Michigan On BTN (@MichiganOnBTN) August 14, 2019
New OC Josh Gattis sits down to discuss his offensive philosophy. pic.twitter.com/Uc5UMcy23d
But that's it.
Obligatory Fickell thing. Fickell asked Harbaugh to lie about why Michigan moved him to OL:
“Coach Fickell tried to coach me on how to say it differently,” Harbaugh said. “I told him, ‘Coach, I believe in telling the truth. Forthright. Honest. What I told James, what I tell you, what I tell compliance is going to be the truth.’”
Harbaugh declined. Hudson is probably not going to get a waiver because he was not run off and his mental health claims are not backed by any evidence. Harbaugh is not telling the NCAA Hudson got run off, because he didn't. Harbaugh thinks this whole thing is ridiculous and he should just be eligible because everyone should, but he declines to lie. The end. Oh wait one more thing:
Luke Fickell: "We had a couple kids (get hurt) yesterday and I spent time with them, spent time talking with their families. That, to me, was more important than what Jim Harbaugh had to say about us and our program or me in general."
— Fletcher Page (@FletcherPage) August 15, 2019
Muh children? Ass.
Also in ass. Will Leitch summarizes Clemson's smarmy Dabo Swinney:
He has said he will quit college football entirely if players get paid, saying that, “as far as paying players, professionalizing college athletics, that’s where you lose me. I’ll go do something else, because there’s enough entitlement in this world as it is.” (He brazenly reiterated this stance after signing that new contract.) He has fought against players receiving stipends in addition to their scholarships. When Northwestern football players attempted to unionize a few years ago, he was one of the loudest voices in opposition.
Swinney’s stances against player autonomy, in both college and professional sports, are legendary. He criticized Colin Kaepernick’s protest, saying that “it’s not good to use the team as a platform” and that “two wrongs don’t make a right” while citing Martin Luther King Jr., something he later had to apologize for. He claimed players don’t pretend they have concussions to stay on the field and that football is “safer than it has ever been.” (Both statements are false.) He once kicked a player off his team — and thus out of college — for “having a bad attitude.” He doesn’t tolerate cursing at his practices. Oh, and remember the Clemson football team’s visit to the White House during the government shutdown, when President Trump gave out all that fast food? The Root reported that while most of Clemson’s black players did not attend, the ones who did go did so because they feared Swinney would punish them otherwise. (Swinney denied this, as did several players.)
Swinney’s unsavoriness goes beyond seeking to maintain his own power and profits. He has said America doesn’t have a “race problem, it has a sin problem.” In 2016, he refused to investigate an allegation that Clemson players had used racial slurs against South Carolina players, saying he could forgive college students for making mistakes but not media for reporting on them. (He actually said that the reporters who published the allegations should have been fired.) He has said that activists should “move to another country.” He even once called himself “Osama bin Dabo,” which is sort of offensive but mostly just weird.
He's Jim Delany with a side of prosperity gospel.
Preseason All Big Ten. PFF's list is a little weird because it has a "FLEX" position on D that should obviously be the spacebacker spot most Big Ten defenses have these days. Instead DiCaprio Bootle and Lavert Hill, both out-and-out corners, are first and second team. Marcelino Ball, a legit spacebacker, is third team, at least.
Anyway: Shea Patterson and Ben Bredeson are first team. Onwenu, Peoples-Jones, Collins, Danna, Metellus, and Hill are second-team. Dwumfour and Runyan are third team. No Ruiz, no Ross. Danna also made second-team All-America, because first and second team All-America are just Big Ten DEs.
Also in PFF. They have a detailed breakdown of how they grade pass rush. Their system is very similar to mine, so it also serves as a UFR explainer. One thing they did not address directly: I don't minus for unsuccessful rushes because a large majority of rushes are unsuccessful even for the best DL. A 20% win rate makes you one of the best rushers in the country.
But I do minus for failing to maintain pocket integrity. If you get out of your lane and allow the QB to step up in the pocket or scramble for a bunch of yards, that's a paddlin'. I assume PFF does too, but they didn't mention it.
Drevnooooooooo. I'll stop doing this when it stops being relevant:
Lincoln Riley seemingly threw a little shade at Michigan today when talking about lineman Erik Swenson. “He wasn’t good enough to play in Michigan’s offense, but I guess he’s good enough to play in Oklahoma’s.” #Sooners #Wolverines
— Joey Helmer (@joeyhelmer247) August 13, 2019
(I will probably not stop doing this.)
Etc.: Virtual reality tackling is here. Athletic directors will never face criminal prosecution for anything short of Nassar but it's fun to imagine they would go to jail for breaking NCAA rules. You can buy Beilein practice tapes now, if you want to sit in the dark and blubber. Louisiana-Lafayette is requiring players to donate to the athletic department. Reddit has a cord-cutting table.
August 16th, 2019 at 12:03 PM ^
Not to be nit-picky but being nit-picky because I saw it happen live and too close for comfort... Harbaugh broke his arm in '85, not his leg. :)
August 16th, 2019 at 12:48 PM ^
He broke his arm in '84.
August 16th, 2019 at 12:51 PM ^
I believe he fumbled a handoff, dove to cover the ball and some dude fell on his arm.
August 17th, 2019 at 10:41 AM ^
While handing off to Jamie Morris vs Staee. Exchange was botched and Harbaugh broke his arm trying to cover the ball.
August 17th, 2019 at 6:48 PM ^
Another nitpick
Someone present in the headline picture should have told the offense that they already scored.
August 16th, 2019 at 12:07 PM ^
If not for the fact that he tried to play dumb about his players getting caught taking steroids, Dabo would be my favorite coach in sports. Every thing I learn about him makes me like him more.
August 16th, 2019 at 12:12 PM ^
Every thing I learn about him makes me like him more.
Is... is this sarcasm?
August 16th, 2019 at 12:51 PM ^
Unfortunately, some people think being hypocritical, out of touch, and having a complete lack of empathy are positive character traits nowadays.
August 16th, 2019 at 12:13 PM ^
Agreed. New respect for him.
August 16th, 2019 at 12:30 PM ^
This and the reaction you responded to are inexplicable to me. I'll never understand religious people.
August 16th, 2019 at 12:47 PM ^
Please don't stereotype religious people.
August 16th, 2019 at 1:09 PM ^
Some people REALLY dig bronze-age mythology.
August 16th, 2019 at 12:43 PM ^
He is Hugh Freeze on speed. Wonder how long before he gets caught with his pants down.
August 16th, 2019 at 12:23 PM ^
Funny, I thought the exact opposite. Dude's an ignorant country bumpkin that found lightning in a bottle.
August 16th, 2019 at 5:32 PM ^
I object to your use of the term "country bumpkin" when you could have used "local yokel."
August 16th, 2019 at 12:31 PM ^
I seriously hope you are kidding!?!?! Dabo is the most self-righteous SOB in all of sports. Only, Hugh Freeze is worse and well he's kinda gone. This article just reinforces that.
I read an article where he's talking about how God led him to be the coach at Clemson....geesh. I'm sure the $10MM bucks and learning to cheat from the best helped too.
August 16th, 2019 at 5:54 PM ^
Character is fate. One of these days, he'll dial from the work mobile when he meant to dial from the burner.
HOOKER: Who dis?
DABO: Dabby, Babe
HOOKER: You get a new phone, Sugar?
DABO: Huh? No, same as always OH MY LORD, I'M USING THE WORK PHONE, I mean, who is this? Stop calling me!! PRANK CALLER, PRANK CALLER. click
August 16th, 2019 at 12:42 PM ^
I read your user name as "conman" and this comment made way more sense in that context.
August 16th, 2019 at 12:53 PM ^
Might want to see a doctor about whatever it is you have going on there.
August 16th, 2019 at 12:58 PM ^
"I absolutely love eating shit. Cant get enough the stuff Haha. Yummy yummy shit.
Oh are you mad? Does the shit oozing out of my every pore offend you? Haha you absolute moron, you buffoon. You absolute weakling, caring about things."
August 16th, 2019 at 1:29 PM ^
Mgoblog has some weird comments these days. We need a “dafuq?” button.
August 18th, 2019 at 1:05 AM ^
To each their own. I cannot stand Dabo Swinney. I feel dirty every time I listen to that redneck blow hot air out of his yap.
I look forward to the day when Clemson is back to being a 7 to 9 win team.
August 16th, 2019 at 12:35 PM ^
Fickell just wants his guy to play, but this was not the right way to go about it.
August 16th, 2019 at 2:03 PM ^
I think he is just an idiot, honestly. Like, he must have zero clues if he thought Harbaugh was going to lie so he could get a player of his eligible. Has he ever heard of Jim Harbaugh? Moron.
August 16th, 2019 at 12:13 PM ^
Dabo has 100% said something along the lines of “I’m not a racist because I give black kids a scholarship” before.
Dude just reeks sketchy as fuck. He’s another Hugh Freeze but with better PR.
August 16th, 2019 at 12:38 PM ^
I would have to agree with that statement. Why would giving a black kid a scholarship make him racist?
August 16th, 2019 at 1:04 PM ^
Not sure if this is sarcasm. Doing nice things for specific black people that you use to make yourself millions of dollars doesn't make you *not racist*
August 16th, 2019 at 1:36 PM ^
Dude. You are mixing up the difference between necessary & sufficient. Per the rules of logic:
If A --> B
If NOT B ---> NOT A.
You can make that additional inference, but only if you negate all the variables. So, in our example:
If somebody refuses to give a scholarship to a kid simply because they are black (A) then he is racist (B).
All you can say in addition to that statement is:
If somebody is NOT racist (B), then he will NOT refuse to give a scholarship simply because they are black (A)
But you can't just reverse the logical flow without negating the variables and assume it must be true. e.g., You can't assume, "If a person is racist, they will refuse to give a scholarship to a kid simply becasue of their race." It's still possible for somebody to give a black student an athletic scholarshp and be racist at the same time. If, for example, a racist experiences a net overall personal benefit from giving a minority kid a scholarship, then he could very well still do it.
August 16th, 2019 at 2:43 PM ^
Take a closer look at the statement, I took it to mean 'I am not a racist due to the fact (because) I gave black kids a scholarship. That is a valid interpretation of the sourceless paraphrase that I Like Burgers asserts was 100% said by Dabo. (Wut?)
No need to invoke elementary predicate calculus, but thanks for the trip down memory lane.
August 16th, 2019 at 4:33 PM ^
Here ya go learn from the Pepperidge Farm guy:
August 16th, 2019 at 12:58 PM ^
I would like to see the context of that statement, but yeah, that obviously doesn’t need to be said.
August 16th, 2019 at 2:26 PM ^
Dabo and Fickell both giving off some big Hugh Freeze vibes here
August 16th, 2019 at 10:21 PM ^
His better PR is just more wins. Time and again we've seen it doesn't really matter what's wrong with you, if you win, you're good.
August 17th, 2019 at 11:26 AM ^
Link?
August 16th, 2019 at 12:22 PM ^
I look forward to the inevitable finding that Dabo has a mistress on the side, is involved in shady business dealings, and pumps his players full of steroids until they look like bloated Tony the Tigers and he reverts to his true calling as a shitty televangelist.
I'd add that the Swenson situation drives me crazy, mostly because people keep acting like asking the kid to send some more tape because he was recruited by the last administration is a bridge too far. I wish Swenson nothing but the best, but it felt like a purposeful obtuseness on his part, and the idea Michigan thought they were too good for him is just wrong. Drevno was a bad OC but I thought offensive line recruiting was...fine under him. In 2016 they got Bredeson, Onwenu, and Spanellis, all guys who are all starters or starter-level. 2017 was bad but 2018 got (we hope) a couple of starters despite being in a weird inside/outside recruiting situation with Frey.
August 16th, 2019 at 12:44 PM ^
Drevno was a bad OC but I thought offensive line recruiting was...fine under him.
He was fine on interior guys couldn't recruit OTs to save his life, despite two good ones that wanted to come to Michigan. I know there are some mitigating circumstances (Hamilton decommitting, Hall transferring, etc) but at the same time given the depth chart, not taking Alaric and Swenson plus like a couple more guys is just inexcusable.
August 16th, 2019 at 9:13 PM ^
The Alaric situation was and remains a bad call that is his fault. But Swenson wasn't some light's out recruit who could coast on the last staff liking him; before Hamilton decommitted he was the 4th-highest OL in the class and had trended down a bit. And while I did at the time, and continue to believe, it's on the millionaire coach's plate to call a kid and say you're pull his scholarship (which is a shitty thing to do) and not ghost him, the idea Michigan didn't have good reasons at the time to question his viability just because he wound up working out is unfair.
I am not a particularly big Drevno fan, but I also think he has gotten an outsized amount of blame for the relative struggles on the offensive line.
August 16th, 2019 at 1:01 PM ^
Drevno was a bad OC but I thought interior offensive line recruiting...was fine under him.
FIFY
August 16th, 2019 at 12:25 PM ^
Dabo Swinney likes to Dutch Oven himself.
August 16th, 2019 at 12:32 PM ^
clap clap clap
August 17th, 2019 at 7:00 AM ^
In all fairness, everyone like their own brand.
August 16th, 2019 at 12:25 PM ^
I hate that Ambry Thomas injury. It just reminds me of the Michigan Secondary Hating Gods. Why wouldn't a presumed starter at a thin position get hurt before the season? I mean, of course that would happen.
August 16th, 2019 at 12:33 PM ^
Technically, colitis isn't really an "injury"....jk.
August 16th, 2019 at 12:56 PM ^
Colitis reminds me of that Hotel California song, "...warm smell of colitis {sic}, rising up through the air..."
August 16th, 2019 at 2:34 PM ^
Interesting... something tells me Glenn Frey was not waxing poetically about the warm smell of an inflamed colon
August 16th, 2019 at 3:03 PM ^
It was the 70's. Amirite?
August 16th, 2019 at 12:25 PM ^
you can't sell the 4 yr olds.
you can, however, lease them.
August 16th, 2019 at 12:47 PM ^
There a guy up north who needs more field help?
August 16th, 2019 at 12:57 PM ^
you bet, we do. just sent another one to college. field hands growing more scarce. will get worse soon, too.
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