Countdown to Kickoff, Hoke talks Fitz and Myerberg previews Michigan

Fouad Egbaria

A few quick things on this second-to-last Tuesday before college football (!):

• No embedding available, but here's today's Countdown to Kickoff, featuring linebacker James Ross III. It's the usual, but there is a nice hit there around the 1:00 mark. 

• From Nick Baumgardner, Brady Hoke says Fitz has "looked like the Fitz of old."

• I haven't gotten around to reading it just yet, but you know the season is nigh when you're a team with conference title hopes and Paul Myerberg gets to you in his offseason preview series (now at USA Today, in case you missed that development). Michigan checks in at No. 18: 

• "In a nutshell: The Wolverines are very close to being the most complete team in the Legends Division, and likely the second-most complete team in the entire Big Ten. Nebraska has a positively superb offense but is long on question marks defensively. Michigan State's defense is superb, as always, but the offense remains a major issue after last season's distressing struggles. Meanwhile, UM has a good-to-strong offense – solid with the potential for more – and a young yet productive defense. Basically, Michigan's offense is not as good as Nebraska's, nor is its defense as good as Michigan State's – but combined, this is the most complete team in the division. The issue is that the Wolverines are extremely young."

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via Mike DeSimone

So it begins...Go Blue!

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via Mike DeSimone

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"He's got great concentration, he's fearless and certainly that's one of those catches that people are going to remember."

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Late that night, Carr’s phone rang.

“Coach, I just wanted to tell you,” Bass said in a slow, deliberate voice. “I’ve made my decision. I’m going to Michigan State.”

Bass today says he could feel Carr’s normally warm, welcoming personality, the one Carr reserved for all his players, stiffening up. His voice became cold, formal.

“Well, Antonio, I wish you luck up there,” Carr said.

Silence. Bass held in a chuckle as long as he could before blurting out, “Nah, coach, I’m just playing. I’m ready to be a Wolverine.”

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For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack 

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"It's not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog."-Bear Bryant

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"We showed them that Nebraska is back on the rise."-Nebraska QB Zach Taylor, December 2005

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"The most common commodity in this country is unrealized potential."
-Calvin Coolidge

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"They came at us in every imaginable way," Notre Dame coach Tyrone Willingham said. "There's nothing positive about how we played. We were outplayed, outcoached, everything."

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"To make war all you need is intelligence. But to win you need talent and material."

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"Every time you feel it come off your foot you know exactly what you did, how high you hit it, how far you hit it, and where you hit it. When you punt [the ball] a thousand times you develop that muscle memory and the way it feels. The more you do it the better you get at it and if you drop a ball poorly you can make up for it. It helps with consistency."

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What’s the attitude on the team about Ohio State? Are you guys saying, already, that you’ve got to get them this year? 

We think about it. Losing to them twice in a row has been very painful. We don't want to see it happen again, so it's on our minds.-Carl Diggs, 07/25/2003