A Look At The Wisconsin Offense: Champs Sports Bowl

So, I know all 2 of you who were expecting an UFR of the Florida game are looking at that post title and thinking, "Dude."





This will be analogous to expecting an X-Box for Christmas, only to receive a box of Wheaties. Due to technical issues (torrent downloading? help? any help in the comments is appreciated), I wasn't able to do the UF UFR this weekend. Additionally, I thought I had it in my DVR, but someone unceremoniously deleted it. Dude, indeed. ANYWAY.

So we're playing Wisconsin and all this year, as we usually do, and they are supposed to be pretty good. So I decided to watch the Champs Sports Bowl again (#havenolife) to see why that is. Just to clear up some of the abbreviations that appear later on in the charting: W=Wide, B=Back (i.e., Runningback), sb=set back.

Down and Distance	Field Position	Formation	Play Description
1st & 10	Wisc. 22	Ace 3-Wide	Tolzien hands off to Clay after an end around fake; there's a lot of space on the outside, and Clay is brought down after seemingly an eternity…gain of 6. Note: Starting line-ups intro indicates the UW line consists of 2 Fr. At the guard positions, a Soph. at RT, and Juniors at LT and C. Also, only one senior skill player (Graham). The upshot: they should be even better this year.
2nd &4	W 28	I-formation	Clay rumbles for the first.
1st & 10	W 32	I-form.	Clay runs for 3; Nessler talks about how Clay isn't fumble-prone (HMM FORESHADOWING?); Blackledge talks about how "wide" Clay is and Nessler assents with an "Oh man."
2nd & 7	W 35	Ace	First pass; Graham on a short pass in the middle for 5. And thus begins TEageddon.
3rd & 2	W 40	Jumbo	Run right and Clay is hit but keeps the legs moving nicely and picks up the first.
1st & 10	W 43	4-wide	Another fake end around; Clay for a few.
2nd & 6	W 47	2 Wide	TE in motion; Clay gets overwhelmed in the backfield for a loss; a well-timed blitz on Miami's part blows this play up.
3rd & 11	W 43	Shotgun 2-Backs 3-Wide	It is mentioned that Wisconsin is only 18% in 3rd and long situations this season; Tolzien is then sacked after finding no one after a few long seconds. PUNT.

1st & 10	Miami 41	I-form., 2 WR stacked close to line	Kendricks (#84) goes in motion; PA, pump fake by Tolzien, hits a streaking Kendricks down the left sideline for a nice gain for 37, which works out to about a 389 yard gain for any team not named Wisconsin.
1st & Goal	M 4	Goalline	Kendricks in motion; comes back around to lead for Clay through the left side; only goes for 1…THIS TIME.
2ND & G	M 3	Goalline	Nessler mentions Miami only having given up 2 rushing touchdowns in their last 7 games (!); 3 TE's on the field; Kendricks goes in motion again, leading for Clay on the left again at the snap; he seals the edge perfectly and Clay reaches the corner of the endzone. Touchdown, Wisconsin 7, Miami 7.

1st & 10	W 35	Single back, 1 Wide	Clay goes for 5; the initial fumble call is reversed; Clay goes out for Montee Ball
2nd & 5	W 40	I-form. 1-Wide	#84 in motion; seals edge, Balls goes for 5 and the first
1st & 10	W 45	I-form. 1-W	TE in motion; PA, Tolzien, hits #84 for a really nice gain; Miami linebackers completely mesmerized by the run fake
1st & 10	M 36	1-Back 2-Wide	Toon in motion; PA deep to Toon but he catches it slightly out of bounds; Tolzien hit hard
2nd & 10	M 36	Ace	Ball cuts it back inside for 5
3rd & 5	M 31	3-Wide, Graham motions to slot	Tol. Drops back to pass; pass deflected and picked off at the line (LOLNAVARRE'D). TURNOVER.

1st & 10	W 36	4W, Trips Left	Tol. Checks at the line; all for naught, as he's hurried and forced to throw it away.
2nd & 10	W 36	Ace	Clay Buffalo Stampedes his way for a long gainer; good blocking by #77 and some shoddy tackling; Clay already has 86 yards and it's not even halftime.
1st & 10	M 12	I-form 1W, TE set back at the line	Timeout Miami.
1st & 10	M 12	Wisconsin comes out in the same formation.	Fake to Ball, end-around to #84 stuffed by Miami for a loss of 4. Miami speed blah blah blah+end-around with a TE=TFL.
2nd & 14	M 16	Ace	Gilreath in motion, fake end-around to him; sneaky TE screen up middle to Graham goes for close to a first.
3rd & 1	M 4	Goal aka "The Beef Package"	Run to Clay; same play as first TD; #84 in motion, seals edge and Clay runs it in untouched; TOUCHDOWN, Wisconsin 14, Miami 7.

1st & 10	W 18	2W Stack, 2 TE on left side of the line next to LT	#68 pulls and Ball picks his way for 3
2nd & 7	W 21	2W, TE set back on left side of the line	#84 in motion; settles on line next to LT; #1 in motion; PA to Toon for nice intermediate gain of 19.
1st & 10	M 36	2W on each side stacked, 1B	Tol. Drops back and fires to Graham down the middle but it falls incomplete.
2nd & 10	M 36	Same form. except Graham is set back on left instead of stacked	#84 leads again and Ball rumbles for a first; Flagàholding. Miami players look visibly affected by the cold…it is 49 degrees.
2nd & 16	M 41	Gun 1B 3W	ESPN shows a Miami fan yawning; clearly the Wisconsin offense is doing its job. Tol. Moves right and tosses shuffle pass to Ball for 6.
3rd & 10	M 35	Gun 2B, 3W (TE in slot)	Tolzien hits #84 while being hit; #84 makes a great grab on a low pass for a first.
1st & 10	M 23	I-form 2W	#84 in motion; PA, hits Clay for 5 up the middle
2nd & 5	M 18	Ace	Graham in motion; another run blitz blows up the play and Ball gets dropped for -3. It happens.
3rd & 7	M 20	'Gun 1B 4W	Right slot in motion; Tolzien pass to Gilreath broken up nicely; incomplete. FIELD GOAL GOOD w/ 0:12 left in the half; Wisc. 17, Miami 7.

2HD1

1st & 10	W 26	Ace, TE set back	End-around to Gilreath only picks up 1.
2nd & 9	W 27	Ace	Clay only picks up 2 after frantic Tolzien pre-snap gesticulating; Clay hobbles off to the sideline.
3rd & 7	W 29	4W Trips right	Tolzien again gets rid of it at the last second after the RT Oglesby gets completely owned by the pass rush; hits #84 for nice first.
1st & 10	W 40	I-form 2W	#84 in motion; Ball for 2.
2nd & 7	W 42	Ace	Gilreath in motion; fake end-around to Gilreath, Ball dropped for loss of 1 (Miami's #35 beats Carimi).
3rd & 8	W 43	Gun 1B 4W	Graham in motion and back; FALSE START on #67. Not a good drive for him.
3rd & 13	W 37	'Gun 1B 3W	TE screen to Graham only nets a few; PUNT.

2HD2

1st & 10	W 27	I-form 1W TE set back	Ball hits left side for 5
2nd & 5	W 32	2W TE set back	Graham in motion, settles on line; Gilreath in motion; fake end-around pitch back to Ball in space for gain of 23; excellent execution by Carimi and the LG.
1st & 10	M 45	1W TE sb	Ball cuts and puts head down for 2.
2nd & 8	M 42	2W TE sb	#84 in motion; PA, flips to Toon for 6.
3rd & 2	M 36	Gun 1B 3W TE sb	#89 in motion; PA, Tolzien steps up and fires incomplete. PUNT. Telecast moves ahead in the action to 11:08 left in the 4th.

2HD3

3rd & 3	W 40	Ace TE sb	#6 in motion; PA bootleg; Tolzien pressured and throws parabolic arm punt to a wide open Gilreath; Procedure penalty on Kendricks brings it back.
3rd & 8	W 35	2W TE sb RB offset	84 in motion; Tolzien has all day and hits Graham in center of field for 23 (ah, shades of the Michigan game).
1st & 10	M 43	I-form 1W 2TE on right side of line	84 in motion; standard run goes for maybe 1.
2nd & 10	M 43	Ace	Tolzien overshoots Toon deep down the right sideline.
3rd & 10	M 43	Gun 1B 3W	Tolzien rolls left then shuffle passes to Ball for 8. PUNT.

2HD4

1st & 10	M 34	I-form 1W TE sb	After a Jacory Harris fumble; 84 in motion; Clay with a strong run for 7.
2nd & 3	M 27	I-form 1W TE sb	84 in motion; Clay gets the first.
1st & 10	M 20	I-form. 1W TE sb	84 in motion; Clay drives away for 4.
2nd & 6	M 16	Same	Clay for 2.
3rd & 4	M 14	Same	84 in motion; Miami with the heavy run blitz; PA bootleg and Tolzien decides to take the money and run; picks up 2. FIELD GOAL GOOD, Wisc. 20, Miami 7.

Stats:
Tolzien-19/26, 260 yards, O TD 1 INT
Clay-22 carries, 121 yards, 2 touchdowns (Ball added
Kendricks-7 rec., 128 yards
Graham-6 rec. 77 yards

TOP- 39:15 (!)
The Upshot:

Don't laugh, but yawning Miami fan aside, this was a fun watch in a number of ways. For one, it was nice to see someone other than Michigan have their secondary eviscerated by an endless wave of cyborg tight ends. Also, Wisconsin's offense was simple, yet effective, and as "old school" football becomes somewhat of a relic in the college football landscape, Wisconsin's offense will continue to become increasingly unique.

While it's possible that nothing in this post tells you anything new about Wisconsin; here are some takeaways:

1) Wisconsin uses their TE's basically as receivers. Toon is a decent target, and even he was overshadowed by Graham and Kendricks. I don't know what secret underground lair Wisconsin creates these pass-catching TE's in but either way they're dangerous and definitely a central part of the offense.

2) I'd have to look back at the Michigan game to see if this is consistently the case, but Wisconsin loves to put their TE's and WR's in motion. I didn't count, but if I did, I would guess that about 75% of Wisconsin's plays involved some sort of pre-snap movement. Then again, it could have just been the gameplan specifically tailored for Miami. In this game, it was a safe bet that the man in motion would be getting the ball (this occurred with all 3 primary targets at various points in the game...Kendricks, Graham and Toon)


3) Wisconsin's strong tradition of FAT BUT GOOD tailbacks continues, manifested in the forms of John Clay and Montee Ball. As detailed in the charts, Miami had been defending the run particularly well. While UW only averaged 4 yards per carry, it was an efficient performance; most importantly, they were able to punch it in when they got close to the endzone. Miami was a respectable 31st nationally in rushing defense, 3 spots ahead of Iowa and their vaunted defense, and 7 behind Michigan State (uh?).

4) Which brings me to my next point: Wisconsin loved to use the TE in motion to block when they got close to the endzone. On both of Clay's rushing touchdowns, Kendricks went in motion and kicked out the playside end/LB to clear the way masterfully. So, unlike Travis Beckum, who was more of the Greg Olsen mold (i.e., "I can't block"), Kendricks can in fact block, and well, as evidenced by his play in this game against a Miami team that always has its share of former 4 and 5-star players on defense.

Conclusion: This may have been a pointless exercise, but, you know...oh well. Wisconsin brings back everybody on offense except for Graham, I believe, including the entire OL. That is always a good thing. Tolzien, while unspectacular, is efficient in the traditional UW quarterbacking fashion. Stocco circa 2006 is probably a reasonable expectation to reach for Tolzien this year, IME (they might not necessarily only lose 1 game in the regular season like Stocco's squad did, but still). What does this mean for us?

It is pretty obvious what needs to be done for Michigan to succeed in stopping Wisconsin's attack. IME, it can be done with our current personnel, but a lot needs to happen before now and gameday. Unlike many of the other attacks Michigan will face, this one is the epitome of brute force, with a smattering of strategic first down passing/play action. In short, like any good defense, Michigan must be strong up the middle. Campbell, Ezeh, and Cam Gordon/Kovacs need to come up big, starting of course with Big Will.

Eat up big man (but stay away from that 3 a.m. Bell's Pizza, por favor)...FAT RB'S, coming to ur base this fall.

28

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

News and Notes-8/6

-The 2000 Michigan-Purdue game (a game for which I was in attendance) airs on the BTN tonight at 8ET. I went to two games that year, both of them losses to the eventual Big Ten Co-Champions (the other, of course, being Northwestern in one of the most bloody-mindedness-of-the-universe games I have ever been to). If you're the masochistic type, set the DVR and go to town (or not). The defense that year was just absurd (in a BAD BAD way).

From a purely historical perspective, this was probably the peak of basketball-on-grass and Coach Otto von Bismarck's--ahem, Joe Tiller's--reign. If you close your eyes and pretend like Michigan is not the one getting torched, that Drew Brees guy is fun to watch.


The 2000 team was a frustrating and senseless fusion of extremes; the excellent '03 offense+the take-your-pick-ok-2008-it-is defense.

Either way, it's football, and you can stop watching at halftime if you want.


29 days:

-PRESEASON POLLS (!). The Preseason USA Today Coaches Poll is out, to everyone's great delight. Michigan State, a team that won one more game than a hapless Michigan squad, received votes, which is a bit curious if you ask me. Not that it matters much, or even at all really. Preseason polls are about as important as the Iowa Caucus in terms of predictive ability. But, people like lists, so there you go.

Anyway, the Big Ten is looking a little top-heavy for now. Michigan hopefully returning to their typical form should help that a bit, although the prospects for the likes of Illinois, Minnesota, etc. look grim. FWIW, between Iowa and Wisconsin, I think the Badgers end up having the better season. Either way, both games will be tough, despite being in the New and Improved Big House.

Bonus-I'm looking into doing a sort of informal UFR for the 2008 Capital One Bowl, similar to the one I did for the Ohio State-Oregon Rose Bowl. I read somewhere on the MGoBoard the other day that Brian supposedly promised to do one and didn't; I wouldn't mind watching that game for the 278th time. It won't be as aesthetically pleasing and table-savvy as Brian's work but it's something to look at to pass the time between now and UCONNageddon. I'm hoping to have it ready by Monday, so watch out for that. Additionally,there should be a good amount of content coming before the school year school starts up, especially with practice starting in but a few days (!).



Other than that, have a great weekend everybody and Go Blue.

29

Sleeping Wake

After seeing Inception last night, I'm inclined to think that everything is a dream. Let's say it is. It might be. It certainly has the form of it. The contours and edges of what is happening now could be those of a dream only with inherent specificity.

I find myself on a couch, eating Skittles. The year is 1998, but only barely. It is a year to the day of the Alabama game. How did I get there?

The beginning of the campaign is vague, and if the path is tread, from the moment on the couch to the beginning, one would descend into increasingly muddied waters, like a plane rising into a city of clouds, the ground obscured so that the clouds are the ground and you don't know where you are. You could be anywhere. Let's try and think, just to see what comes up.

It all began with an upset. The last time they came to town, they came and almost left in defeat. Almost and yet they didn't, riding back from where they came into the blood red sunset. Shock and awe; a strike, and they're gone.



This time was different.

We won, and with such vigor and force that we redefined the meaning of victory, so that, having experienced it, truly knew what it meant again. In retrospect, from what I remember of it, it was something so great that it defies me now, as if it was too good to be true. Let's keep going further.

After a sacrificial lamb (i.e., Baylor), in come the Irish. We practically begged Notre Dame to win the game, pleaded. At least, it seemed that way. Three fumbles in our own territory in the 4th quarter, and yet the defense held each time. They were impenetrable, their will indomitable. More than anything that happened on the field, I remember Lloyd, flailing wildly, a smile on his face. It was a different time, a different Lloyd, like a strange stand-in stunt double projection, something fictional. The Lloyd we all know, the one I know, is the endearing, crotchety man who told reporters outright that their questions were stupid. So it goes.

Time moves on. Indiana, Northwestern; Iowa with a scare. Things then start to come together. Michigan State comes into the dream, insolent and loud, conscious of its own self in relation to Michigan; painfully conscious. In short:

Young Charles Woodson, the one I will remember (not the professional imposter wearing colors that were chosen for him), defied the Fundamental Theory of What Is Possible. I remember him soar into the air, as if climbing some invisible ladder of diaphanous threads, to pull that ball from the air as if he meant to pull the planets from their orbits in one omniscient swoop, leaving a wake of maize and blue photons and nonsensical light, the type you might see if you close your eyes and push against your lids with the tips of your fingers. It is a moment to what was, and what can be. Football, indeed, is a team sport, but individual brilliance cannot be denied.


The image grows stronger as we move forward through this dream world, this dream season.


 


Penn State; the memories become more vivid, more concrete. I still don't remember everything--the plays, formations, the bedlam--but I remember that we were going to a dark place where we were expected to come out bloodied and defeated, like the troops in Blood Meridian, entering a hellish valley of a macabre aspect, foreboding dripping out of every part of the landscape, waiting to be ambushed by the Apaches. I went to Happy Valley for the game in 2008, and can thus only imagine the circumstances. A cold, unwelcoming place, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. The year is 1997, but it could've been any year, it could've been anywhere. If college football is a stage, then this was Shakespeare; somebody would emerge victorious, and somebody would not. Exeunt.

It was us who emerged from that strange valley, victorious; nay, triumphant. 34-8; destruction and sound and unadulterated painted the sky as we enforced our will on them, as Keith Jackson cracked jokes about Little Brian runnin' from Dad as a boy. Outback Bowl Brian was no more; a figment of the past.

We rode home with the spoils of war; a shiny new ranking. We geared up for another trip away from home, only this time we went West. Onward, to Madison. Again, we emerged the victor, only this time by ten. I remember, after the game, walking in some parking lot, somewhere. The rain coated the ground and the lights from the halogen lamps bounced off the blacktop like a hall of mirrors. I remember thinking how we only won by ten, worried, if we were going to win next week. There were more reasons than one for that worry. Next week was the week of The Game. Even then, having been alive only 8 years, I knew this game would be important, never mind the national championship implications.

And again, Young Woodson bursts out of our subconscious because he cannot be contained by mere abstractions. Woodson wasn't an exceptional punt returner...and before anyone had time to finish that thought:



The talk of the "priceless punter" only adds to the absurdity of it all. It was the second quarter, and although Ohio State eventually made it a game, the game was essentially over. Woodson had one last trick up his sleeve. The only games that even approach this one with regards to the number of times I have rewatched them at 3:40 in the morning with the lights turned off and my heart pumping like it was happening live, like it was really happening, are, maybe, the Alabama Orange Bowl--the emergence of #10--and the 2003 Ohio State game. Even so, the 1997 version of The Game still retains a kingly status in every part of my being, conscious or otherwise, that I cannot help but trace everything that has happened since to that point. Because, once you reach the apex, there is nowhere to go but back down, down amongst the normal, the mundane; the mediocre.

But look, we're back to where we started. The couch, and it is 1998 now. The sweetness of the Skittles. I distinctly remember the Skittles, but maybe that is just a metaphor for what was to come; the sweetness, that is. Or, maybe, I'm just imagining that. Anyway. The game raged on; we fell behind; we came back; we kept what we had regained; we struggled in the end; a final shot, but no; the time runs out. Two seconds, gone. In the world of Michigan football there exists a vortex of Lost and Gained seconds, from which we have drawn so sparingly to bring about our way of life. 2005; Lloyd asks for two seconds to be put back on the clock, and we win the game on a play with one second left. 1998; Ryan Leaf tries to spike the ball with two seconds left, but the clock runs out, and we escape yet another Kordell-ian tragedy. Where did those two seconds go? You know darn well where they went.



Remember, always remember, that there always exists another side:




Often things are given and taken away. "This game was stolen from the Michigan Wolverines."

And so, for now, we take a break. The dream isn't over yet; much remains to be explored. The world of memory parallels the state of cartography in Medieval Times; both are defined by imprecision, and, quite frankly, confusion. Before September 4th--before we burn those boats--let's keep exploring. Sometimes it will be easy to mine the past for answers, for explanations (not even that, for nothing can be expected to explain the shape of memories, nothing can be reasonably expected to expertly reconcile memories, crypto-dreams, with reality, with the ever-moving Present and what it entails; that is, that there is never enough time to really sit and think about why everything has converged the way it has upon this locus in the continuum of history, and, put simply, that we can never really know), for sketches of sketches of explanations--shadows--of what was and what will be. Sometimes, it will not be so easy, when we realize our emotions and our understanding of the facts and history in general don't always meet.

But, we can always try.

Memory

One of my first memories from the primordial, untapped database of memory, a monoloithic entity filed away under the name "Michigan Pre-1997" in my brain is the Michigan-Alabama Outback Bowl played on the first day of 1997. I remember little of it. I don't remember who anyone was, specifically. I remember that there was a Michigan and an Alabama, and that they were playing each other in a game of which the importance I wasn't sure of. I vaguely remember Brian Griese, and even that is only a vague and fleeting memory, a substance that vanishes when exposed to the air, a thing that cannot subsist in and of itself and only by the progression of time and the happenings of the 1997 season does that game mean anything to me at this point in time. That game was the bridge between the vast Sahara of 8-4 and the incandescent, shining glory of pure, unadulerated--and dominant--winning.

I've seen videos, footage of the games that happened before I began to pay attention in the way that I do now. I've spent much of my life catching up, in a sense, because so much has indeed happened. I was born days after Bo's last bowl win, and yet everything I know about that win is after-the-fact and seemingly tenuous, the type of thing that, without having experienced it directly almost loses the very fact of its existence. It is the type of thing that results in crazy looks and curiosity as to why you care so dang much, when you talk about it years later as if the tire marks on the road of history's progress are still fresh from the trampling ruckus that occurred on that field--January 1st 1997.

Even as I try to flesh out that memory now, I can find very little. It seems that maybe it doesn't exist after all. Maybe it was all a dream; an odd, Kafkaesque notion of bumbling mediocrity, of flailing and gnashing in the dark and trying, trying so hard but failing. What I did find is plain and sadly historical in tone, set against a monotonous, droning white background, covered with words that ring hollow in retrospect.

"I don't know if the tight end got jammed on the line or what, but Brian made a mistake," Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said. "We needed three points there and when they blitzed we expected them to blitz. Brian pumped a couple of times and made a bad throw."

Mistake. Expected. Bad throw. The relevant points. So simple and whittled away to the bare essence that it verges on the border of verisimilitude. And that's all I really remember. An interception and a return. A failure and another piled on top of it like a totem pole with vicious, frightening faces piled up so high and glaring down at you like a monster of epic proportions. That's all that game was; a pick 6. Sure, it was only 10-6 in Alabama's favor at that point with time to spare, but that doesn't matter because I didn't know that  at that time and don't remember that. It is different know because I know everything about Michigan football, generally, as it happens, and because my memory is stronger and more capable of concrete formations of memory, things become less quixotic in a way. Things now happen and they happen in a specific way; I see them happening. A miscommunicated call against Indiana leads to an 85-yard touchdown. Shoddy safety plays lets an Iowa tight end run rough shod through the middle of the field to the endzone, unimpeded. A blocker takes the outside rusher and not the inside. Those are not simply mistakes anymore. They are strategic failures, failures of talent, failures of whatever else one can reasonably fail at.

Brian's pick 6 was just a mistake and nothing more. The difference is, no matter how ultimately meaningless the game was, no matter how inconsequential the mistake with respect to the ultimate result and the mistake's impact on the probability of victory--no matter all that--it still means something. Because I remember it, it summarized the game as a whole, maybe even the season. Maybe even an era.

As we know, from that locus of memory, the Outback Bowl of 1997, sprung something else, similarly monolithic yet diametrically insistent upon being the other side of memory. On one end, encapsulated in amber like a Jurassic fly, exists Brian Griese, heaving a misguided pass to somebody in crimson. On the other:

I don't know what occured between the offseason following the 1996 season that produced the spectacular butterfly of 1997, but something did and it was good. Not knowing what that was, really, is perhaps better. And so, we can only ease ourselves by rocking in our chairs at night, thinking about other things. Sometimes to deny is the best modus operandi.

This is 2009. An outstretched hand, collective breathing halted for a brief, tumultuous moment, like the first crack of lightning in a dark sky, making you go oh. Perhaps the stare decisis of Michigan football, the precedent set by Brian Griese v. Everything (1997) bodes well for our man in Ann Arbor. History has proven this very supposition to be so.

Oh The Places You'll Go

You have brains in your head.



You have feet in your shoes.


You can steer yourself any direction you choose.


You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go.




I'm not sure there has ever been a figure that has gone on not to play for Michigan that has, at the same time, impacted Michigan in so many ways. Impacted the fans, the current team, admissions policy, and even future recruiting. The reasons for this far-reaching swath of shake-up are unfortunate and perhaps a little self-serving. However, to those cynics that will say we only care about football, I offer only my own opinion. I am certain that many will find that they share my sentiments.

Demar Dorsey is gone. It is official. He will not be suiting up for the Wolverines this fall. Instead, he will likely return close to home, back to his roots. I can only speculate on what is going through Demar's head right now. He tried to get away from it all, the bad influences and whatever else was holding him back. He could've stuck with Florida, but he made the conscious decision to pack up his life and go to Michigan,a foreign land. He was met with resistance from shadowy entities and arbitrary numbers and reasoning. We'll likely never know exactly why Demar won't be a Wolverine, but all I know is he should be, but won't.

I don't want to get into the politics of this too much. I will say that this should have never happened at all. If Dorsey was never going to be a Wolverine, he should've known this months ago. From a management perspective, the handling of Dorsey's admission to the UofM shows a significant lack of oversight and an absurd disconnect between RR and whoever was in charge of giving the proverbial green light. Any way you look at it, this reflects badly on Michigan. I'm obviously not saying that we should admit anybody simply for the fact that they've got 4.4 speed and uncanny instincts and hitting ability. I admire the fact that in the amateur sports landscape, where mercenaries are treated as legends because they know "what it takes to win." Even if Michigan wants to impose arbitrary academic requirements that exceed the NCAA's (and, for the record, I don't even know by how much said requirements exceed the NCAA's), this is a sad day.

It's easy for us to sit here and put on sad faces because many people's favorite recruit was denied admission. Yes, he would've likely challenged for significant playing time THIS YEAR. At the same time, we brought in a number of talented athletes, especially in the secondary, and, as we all know, no recruit is a "can't miss."

You’ll look up and down streets. Look’em over with care. About some you will say, “I don’t choose to go there.” With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet, you’re too smart to go down a not-so-good street.


No, this fiasco is deeper than football. I truly feel sorry for the guy. He's never going to play for my team, and I will likely never meet him or get the chance to talk to him. If I did have the chance, I would tell him that he deserved better. I would tell him that the fact that he thought highly enough of Michigan to pick us will make him a Wolverine in my eyes, despite the fact that he'll be playing in Knoxville or Tallahassee or Baton Rouge. The fact is, this showed that you can't steer yourself in any direction you choose, that trying to change often isn't enough.

In the inchoate stages of Waka Flocka-induced hysteria, we all imagined a warrior poet safety dancing over strewn bodies in the secondary, dealing vicious hits and and making big plays with a golden smile. That, or a lockdown corner reminding us of days past, the type of player that exudes "I dare you" when he lines up across from the opponents star receiver.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
All of that seems petty now in light of the current situation. Michigan has directly altered the arc of this man's life, and while I won't go so far as to villify those involved in the decision, I will say that it is unfortunate and downright saddening.
 
You won’t lag behind, because you’ll have the speed. You’ll pass the whole gang and you’ll soon take the lead. Wherever you fly, you’ll be best of the best. Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.


Every Michigan loss is unique in its ability to create pain. This loss is entirely different from any loss on the field. Perhaps it is selfish of me to say, but I wanted Demar to turn his life around at Michigan. I wanted him to get a Michigan education and a chance to distance himself from his past at Michigan. And, yes, I wanted him to become our first elite safety in many, many years.

I’m sorry to say so but, sadly, it’s true that Bang-ups and Hang-ups can happen to you.

It's amazing how germane Dr. Seuss's words are right now. As puerile as they may seem, I hope Demar takes them to heart and moves past this injustice he's been dealt. Wherever he ends up, I plan on following his career and rooting him on, pretending that he's wearing the winged helmet. I hope that he creates more memories that he'll never forget, like that day in the auditorium on February 4th.

And will you succeed?



Yes! You will, indeed!


(98 and ¾ percent guaranteed.)


Demar, your mountain is waiting.