True Grit: Nathan Brink

"They tell me you are a man with true grit."

When you're a walk-on, it's pretty easy to get lost in the shuffle. It's a thankless job, kind of like being an unpaid intern for four straight years with no chance of promotion to a regular position except in the case of extreme circumstances (people quitting, getting fired, not being good at their jobs, desperate executives/coaches, etc.). You wake up for practice every day and never complain even though the only time you'll ever see the field is against FCS schools and senior day. You do it because you love Michigan and you'll never have the chance to wear that helmet and stand on the sidelines ever again in life. 

The life of the walk-on is not very glamorous, you see. Usually, it takes the failure of many other many talented folks to even have the faintest glimmer of an opportunity come to the average walk-on. Here, we of course refer to Will Campbell, who, after a summer of encouragement and supposed strides in the weight department (going from fat guy to slightly less fat guy), has apparently been knocked down the depth chart, with Nathan Brink, pictured above, taking his place on the line (forcing an RVB move to the inside, with Brink playing the 5-tech). Many are focusing on the negative news re: Campbell, but Brink's ascension as just as important; in fact, it's probably of greater importance, given that he will actually ostensibly be on the field. So, who is this so called Nathan Brink fellow and what can we expect of him? 

According to his official bio: 

• Brink, a RS Sophomore, is from Holland, MI, where he was a two-year varsity performer.
• He was co-captain of a state championship team his senior year. 
• Brink stands at 6-3 263. 
• He also lettered in basketball...he was all-conference honorable mention his junior year and all-conference and all-area his senior year. 
• Useless fact of the day: he was a high school teammate of Seth Broekhuizen. So there's that. 
• In probably the most important stat of the offseason for Brink, he has added approximately 17 pounds, upping his weight from 250 to 267...which is still small, but can be mitigated by technique and heart and GRIT. Besides, not like we have any other attractive options. 

Quotes:

According to Brady Hoke in yesterday's presser: 

"If we play tomorrow, he'd be the starting 5-technique defensive end. You feel him a lot out on the field."

Obviously, we're not playing tomorrow. Like I said yesterday, I'm still holding out hope that all of this is just a motivational ploy for Campbell. It might be, but, then again, it might not be. Wishful thinking is wishful thinking.

Holland Christian assistant coach Josh Rumpsa:

“The thing I remember most about Nate is that he loved to hit people. Whether he was playing offensive tackle or defensive end for us, he just loved to reek havoc."

 Hoke in the same article from the Holland Sentinel:

“(Brink is) one we may not have seen earlier,” Hoke said. “Coming out of spring, we thought he could help us some, but I think he’ll probably help us more.”

 Greg Mattison don't care who you are:

“It doesn’t matter to me if a guy’s a walk-on or a fifth-year senior,” Mattison said Tuesday. “They’re all Michigan football players, and they’re all supposed to play that way.”

 More Mattison:

“I hate to talk about a young man because, when I do, he goes down the tubes. But, this guy has come out every day as tough as he possibly can,” Mattison said Tuesday at his weekly news conference. “Michigan people are going to be happy about him."

Kyle Meinke of AnnArbor.com:

Still, Hoke said Sunday this would be a pivotal time of camp, because it’s the team’s first full week with full pads, there are three two-a-days and there is a scrimmage Saturday. He hopes to make out his first two-deep roster around that time.

So, Brink getting reps at this juncture does mean something — if he’s not a candidate for playing time, then at least there is a message being sent to Campbell. Either way, that’s significant.

A small positive according to Brian at MGoBlog:

Brink appears to have beaten out a healthy, senior Will Heininger, so he's got that going for him.

Heininger, also a walk-on (albeit a walk-on that people actually knew about), was slated to log seriously time last season before injury cut his 2010 short before it began.

The Toledo Blade refers to his bio as "bland":

Brink's biography listed on the school's Web site is bland. He prepped at Holland Christian in Michigan where he was a two-year varsity player, earning a couple of modest postseason awards. Brink redshirted his first year on campus in 2009 and made his college debut last season in a blowout win over Bowling Green. He never played again.

As the Blade article notes, being a starter at this point (or any point, really) for Mattison's defense means very little, and is probably a nominal designation at best.

Verdict?

Brink is a walk-on, and as such he will certainly be gritty and try really hard at all times. This sounds like I'm being sarcastic or facetious, but I'm not. Trying hard is something that many people are not capable of in this world, and it has been that way since people have been on this planet. With that said, as Brian jokes, odds are we do not have the next JJ Watt on our hands, but that's okay. With RVB moving to the inside and Brink manning the 5-tech, you have to wonder if teams won't just run right at that side with zero hesitation. If that ends up being the case, you're liking at a line of Roh (?)/Black, Martin, Van Bergen, and Brink from right to left, with weights of 269/260, 304, 288, and 267, respectively. Now, you wouldn't call any of these guys small to their face, but I have some concerns that, despite all the grit certain to come from Brink's play, we will have trouble holding up against some of the better rushing teams.

In short, I think Brink is a plug in the dam until Campbell gets it together and the coaching staff has enough confidence that he will go out there and not get blown up on your standard straight ahead run. He's a starter, for now, but a lot can happen between now and September 3rd. I wouldn't even be surprised to see Brink start the Western game, only to rotate out fairly often, giving Campbell a chance (perhaps his last?) to get out of the dog house. Thankfully, Michigan won't face any rushing attacks that keep me up at night in the first half of the season. San Diego State's Ronnie Hillman is a good player, but we should be able to do enough things to limit that attack.

In any case, the plan is to hope that Campbell can do whatever it takes to figure out...he'll certainly get the chance to do that in Mattison's rotation-heavy defense. If that doesn't happen, we just need to hope all of the aforementioned coachspeak is genuine praise; I don't doubt that some of it is, and I don't doubt that he's as gritty as he seems to be. Unfortunately, that often isn't enough to get the job done in major college football.

Hello Goodbye, 8/23

I had the great fortune of being able to spend this past weekend in Ann Arbor; it's truly amazing how much you hate living there in the dead of winter, and then when you move away for even the shortest period of time you'd rather be back in that unpredictably cantankerous climate than the sunny, sensible place in which you now live. It was my first trip to Ann Arbor since graduation in April; while being back in town was a little sad in that it is a reminder that my undergraduate days are over, driving down Main and seeing the new scoreboard bursting from the horizon like a maize and blue wonder of the world was, to say the least, tremendous. 

In more important, less nostalgic news, I think I cast my vote in the Sandwich Wars for Maize and Blue Deli...for now. This of course will change whenever I get the chance to go to Zingerman's again (hopefully Notre Dame weekend). Also, for anyone who cares...the new Mediterranean place on State (one that took the place of Cosi) is actually fairly good. I recommend it. ANYWAY.

Camp Rumors: So we've been hearing a lot the last several days about who is performing and who is not. Some of the news has been encouraging, some has been extremely discomfiting. The latter is, of course, referring to Will Campbell, who is building up his case for being one of, if not the biggest, bust in recent history for Michigan. I had held out hope that maybe the light would go on like it sort of did for Gabe Watson, and he'd at the very least be a player that you could hope would not be a significant liability by virtue of his size (and, admittedly, his recruiting pedigree), and thus, at worst, a non-difference maker capable of holding down the starting spot. As tough as that is to say, it's true, as it appears Campbell may have reached his Waterloo this time. Getting beat out by a walk-on represents a conscious decision by the coaches to go with someone less talented in every respect because the more talented player does not have the drive, the technique, the willingness to improve, etc. to get the job done and done well. BWC has had his chances, and there's always the potential for a Hoke motivational ploy to be found in Nathan Brink's ascension up the depth chart...then again, the path that Campbell's career has taken suggests it is not.

In other news, offseason favorite Fitzgerald "Mike Hart with speed" Toussaint has generated some significant buzz, to the point that many are saying he could be the starter. I will be completely honest, this was a surprise to me. A good surprise, mind you, but a surprise nonetheless (kind of like walking into the Big House for the UCONN game last September to watch the Wolverines only give up 10). Guys like Shaw, Smith, Cox, and even Hopkins, are known entities at this point; we know that Shaw is a burner who sometimes has trouble finding the hole and then flashes the knowledge he attained at the Carlos Brown School of Tackle Breaking when running between the tackles. Smith is a tiny, tiny man who can catch and block but don't ever, EVER ask him to convert on 3rd and short. It seems like he's gotten some of his burst back, so we'll see how he figures in to the offense this season. We know that Cox is talented and will look amazing against Derp State but never see the field otherwise, and we know that Hopkins is of the Wisconsin mold of tailbacks.

This is why Toussaint taking the reins would be pretty exciting. We saw a brief flash of what he could do against Bowling Green, but he's spent much of his time at Michigan either injured or not playing. Now, as a redshirt sophomore, is a perfect time for him to come in and show people why they were so excited about him in the first place.

Other notes available at MGoBlog as usual...it looks like my prediction that Avery will take over the spot opposite Woolfolk is coming to fruition, which I think is good for the defense overall. No offense to JT Floyd, who'd make a more than okay nickel, but Avery is just less athletically limited and has better upside. Some names are added to the logjam that is the WLB position race: Hawthorne and Morgan. It's interesting to see Morgan being moved from the MIKE position; I was definitely a fan of his the more I read of him, but, as Brian notes, this obviously indicates that the WLB position is probably going to be mediocre this year. I'm interested to know how interchangeable the coaches feel some players are vis a vis the SAM and WILL positions; that is, does putting the 3 best backers on the field entail Jake Ryan sliding to the other side (i.e., the WILL)? While it's hard to say, I don't think it would hurt to try it down the road if some of these more experienced guys--age-wise, at least--fail to do anything substantial. A unit of Ryan-Demens-Gordon could be, dare I say it, downright good.


Attrition Time: Tony Posada is done at Michigan, making him the second freshman to leave the program this offseason (the first, of course, being TX LB Kellen Jones). This doesn't necessarily hurt as much as Jones from the talent perspective, whose existence in Norman only further underscores his potential. Posada had a solid offer list but nothing to write home about. If he wasn't from Florida, I doubt people would have been as excited about him as they were (which was sort of muted to begin with). He would have had to drop some bad weight regardless the offensive system, but, in my honest opinion, he seemed like a guy who would be a good fit for the Michigan lines of old as a big bruising right tackle/guard whose production probably would top out with a year (maybe two of starting), with maybe a season of all-conference honorable mention. Being compared to the small town that was Alex Mitchell was never a good thing for Posada. In any case, we'll never know, and it's time for Hoke and Co. to keep on the remaining OL targets (Garnett, Banner, etc.).

CtK Day 12: 

J.B. Fitzgerald, "competing for a spot" at the MIKE position. Obviously, Demens is pretty much a lock there, but in the case of injury (no thanks, please) Fitzgerald is a seasoned vet who has seen some action despite not quite living up to his recruiting hype. Most backers figure to at least practice at multiple positions, and I'm sure the same is true for Fitzgerald. He is definitely a MIKE, but as mentioned earlier re: Jake Ryan, I get the feeling that the linebackers might have some flexibility as to what positions they will play. If Greg Robinson was still around I'd be displeased at the notion of linebackers switching positions, but I think we all have faith that Mattison will coach 'em up. Ideally, you want guys that can play multiple positions anyway. Physically, your WILL is going to be smaller and faster than the other two backers, but it's still possible to know all three positions and be able to play them if necessary due to injury, lackluster performance, etc.

Staying Put: 


In a statement put out on Friday, the conference announced its intention to stand pat with respect to conference expansion:

In response to a number of recent media inquiries received by several Big Ten Presidents and Chancellors regarding the likelihood of further expansion by the Big Ten, the COP/C would like to reiterate that it will not be actively engaged in conference expansion at this time, or at any time in the foreseeable future, barring a significant shift in the current intercollegiate athletic landscape.   

1) This is good news. 2) In this day and age, I've gotten so jaded that I don't believe anything that anyone says in the world of college football...I believe that they think they intend to stay at 12, but once the dominoes start to fall will Delaney be able to watch other conferences pick off the best schools? I don't think so. In any case, the whole "barring a significant shift" thing...yeah. That's gonna happen.

GET OFF MY LAWN: Okay, not quite, but Rittenberg talks about the Big Ten and how it's not like your father's Big Ten:

When Wisconsin's Bret Bielema attended his first Big Ten coaches meeting in 2006, he recalled Delany polling the coaches about whether they would favor a league championship game in the future.

"The only two guys who raised their hands were me and Ron Zook," Bielema said.

Zook being "ahead of the curve" on this (as ahead as you can be on something that has already existed elsewhere for quite a while) makes me second guess the validity of the Big Ten's current model. However, in all seriousness, it's hard to argue that the Big Ten hasn't done well for itself overall. Instant replay, the BTN, adding Nebraska, the establishment of Big Ten hockey, etc. Now, the only thing left to do is win a national championship for the first time in nine years. This isn't Bo and Woody, but then again in those days the Big Ten was Michigan, Ohio State and everybody else; I think the new status quo is better for everybody (as well as national perception). Brady Hoke comes in with a quote in response to Delany's lamentation of the NCAA issues at Michigan and Ohio State:

"It was toward all of us," Michigan's Brady Hoke said, "about how important the Big Ten brand is and how we want to respect our brand and how we want to operate and do business. … It was something we needed to hear."

"Brand"...slowly becoming the new "tremendous?"

More? Dr. Saturday starts his BlogPoll countdown...Mississippi State comes in at 24. The SEC West is going to be scary this year. The Spartans come in at 23: "This team could be any Dantonio team: The veteran pro-style quarterback under center, the between-the-tackles workhorse in the backfield, the largely anonymously but solid defense, etc. Check, check and check." James Wood on secularism and religiosity...sometimes I imagine Michigan State fans waking up in the middle of the night, sweating, wondering what the point of it all is (it, of course, being a Spartan fan). 11W previews the Ohio State offense in the post-Tressel/Pryor era. Verdict? "Cautiously optimistic."