Mlive Story on Thomas Rawls Rebound

Submitted by alum96 on

Nice story on Thomas Rawls over at the mlive.  Fun fact - Rawls' HC coach was named Fred Jackson.

"I'm relevant right now but I still don't feel like I'm good enough and that's just my hunger keeping me motivated, really," Rawls said. "I don't regret going to Michigan because if I didn't go there then maybe I wouldn't be as hungry or running as hard or in a good spirit right now. I want to be happy and I was just losing a lot of that back in Ann Arbor. I'm happy here and I'm having fun. These guys are great, especially the coaching staff. I love Coach (Dan) Enos."

There's no animosity between him and the UM coaching staff as he became the first member of his family to earn a degree from a major university, so even if professional football doesn't work out for him he always has something to fall back on.  Coming off a rough street like Foss Avenue in Flint, that's an accomplishment and Rawls is thankful that he snapped out of that state of mind to bounce back to his old self on the field.

 

LINK.

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Big_H

September 11th, 2014 at 12:14 PM ^

That's great to hear, very happy for rawls!! Hope he continues his great play through the whole year. Is he a senior at Central? Just wanted to know if this was his last year or not.

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jdub55

September 11th, 2014 at 12:37 PM ^

He had the best run of any of our RB last year against Central where he found a tiny hole and powered into the endzone. Always wondered why coaches kept feeding Toussaint 25 times a game and nobody else when he was giving us nothing and you had Rawls who had a couple really slick runs the first game then got nothing after that.

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WMU81

September 11th, 2014 at 12:51 PM ^

Apparently I don't see things the same as the coaches. Always thought we had nothing to lose by giving Rawls more touches just like now with Hayes.. Wish him nothing but the best.

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BlueUPer

September 11th, 2014 at 1:21 PM ^

Scares me a little!   Hopefully it is a break-out season for Rawls.  

 

But.....The Mike Cox NFL story ( and now Rawls) made me worry about the whole "lack of development/recognizing talent' thing!  

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Blue in Time

September 11th, 2014 at 5:17 PM ^

Just asking. Was he paying attention when MIchael Cox got a chance to go pro? I love the guy, but I think he's gotten soft. Fred Jackson and the newfangled Michigan notion of toughness reside in different time zones.

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Mr. Yost

September 12th, 2014 at 9:04 AM ^

I'm not going to say soft. But he certainly needs to move into some type of football ambassador role for Michigan Football and urban communities across the country. He's got wonderful contacts and he's well respected in Detroit, Flint, New Orleans, Houston, Dallas, and I'm sure a number of other places.

Give him an office next to Coach Carr, he's still part of the program and bring on a young energetic coach like Roy Manning for the offensive side of the ball. Mike Hart? It would be awesome to have Hart coaching, knowing Jackson is still in the building as he continues to progress in his career.

But Jackson should've certainly retired once Jeremy graduated.

For my money, Jackson, Funk, Ferrigno and Smith all need to go. Hire Hart (or Wheatley if you can get him) and 3 other coaches to replace the other 3 guys who are coaching units that just aren't performing or showing any promise.

It's especially frustrating when you do see guys like Cox and Rawls have success, or see Lewan and Schofield get taken high in the draft process. The talent is there, coach it up. I think it's time for change at those 4 spots. With Jackson's connections, legacy and respect around the program, I'd love for him to remain involved in an administrative role.

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