Kuzul

This is game week and after a week off it’s hard to find news worthy stuff out of the Wolverines.  So I will do my best today on getting you the most interesting “stuff” out there.

Funny Quotes from the Michigan Press Conference Yesterday

-A camera man asked a question to Coach Rod about facing JoPa head-to-head.  RR responded jokingly: “Joe and I aren’t going against each other, I might be able to take him, if it is just me and him.”

-Stephen Schilling on Big Will Campbell playing on the offensive line:  “Sometimes he played the defensive line like an offensive lineman.  He was more interested in finishing blocks then making the tackle.”

• The Daily Gopher profiles a “Michigan Man” Brady Hoke for their open head coaching position.  I didn’t realize the job he has done at San Diego State.  He is currently 5-2 with a win over Air Force and played Missouri within three points and was leading in the fourth quarter. 

• Kelvin Grady was interviewed  for ESPN’s GameDay on Monday for his Twitter use.

• Denard is a semi-finalist for Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award.  There are 15 other semi-finalists as well.

• I know many of you have questions on what qualifies for a medical redshirt for Devin Gardner.  No. 1: He can’t play more then 30 percent of the games in a season, with all participation being in the first half of the season.  His last snaps were in the Bowling Green game.  No. 2: He also has to have a documented injury.  Currently, he has a documented back injury.   At the end of the year, they have to file paperwork to the NCAA requesting a medical redshirt.  I fully expect Michigan to file for the medical redshirt also commonly known as a medical hardship at the end of the season.

• The other situation is that it seems Ricardo Miller played on special teams for the UMASS game this year.  Let’s hope that stat is a mistake.  You lose your redshirt eligibility if you play one play. 

• Yes, Michigan is recruiting a place kicker.  They were looking at guys in California and Maryland last week.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Pat White who is now a member of the Kansas City Royals organization spoke about Denard Robinson:

“He’s a beast, that’s all you can say,” White said Wednesday in a teleconference announcing his shift from pro football to a baseball career with the Kansas City Royals. “He’s just doing amazing things out there.”

“He obviously knows the position and looks like a hard runner and a good leader,” White said. “He doesn’t look afraid to run the ball or stick his nose in there.”

“I do think he’s durable and will hold up,” White said. “It’s more than just being the right kind of quarterback, though. It’s the right 11 guys doing the right things most of the time.

“He just needs to show up for work every day and be who you are. That’s what he’s doing now.”

BG will be back in town to play his home town Detroit Lions this weekend.  Here is what he had to say about RR and Denard:  (freep link):  “I know he’s going to be there,” Graham said. “I know he’s staying there. He ain’t going nowhere, you can say that. I can see that, already within the team, that those guys, very strong. A lot of linemen that was light last year gained a lot of pounds to get ready, got stronger and got faster. “I don’t see Coach Rod leaving now. I just think them boys going to take it one game at a time, and a lot of people are going to have a different perspective when they talk about Michigan.”  

On DRob:  “just one move, and he was gone,” Graham said. “That’s what I see that he gained a lot from last year. Last year, he was trying to do too many juke moves. Now I see him just making one cut, and he’s gone. “That was the biggest thing that we had to get him to do, to know his own speed. And to see him out there really killing it right now, I’m very happy for him, because I know he worked hard.”

• U of M to honor Ron Kramer No. 87 before the kickoff of the UMass game

• Three Keys to an UMass Upset on Saturday.  Stop Denard, Stop Denard, Score points 

• Mike Marrow a former Alabama running back has decided to transfer closer to home and picked Eastern Michigan, over Wisconsin and Michigan?  That U of M offer doesn’t pass the sniff test in my book.  Maybe there was a walk on offer.  Mike is from Toledo. 

• We will see how good UConn is this week as they take on a quality Temple team that is expected to compete for a MAC Championship and already has a win over Central Michigan.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

With practice starting on Monday, West Virgina’s new allegations and BP now blaming RR for the Gulf Oil Spill, I thought I would take a break from regular news and find some funny stuff to post. 

First Funny

Comes from Michigan Football lover Danny Hope, head coach of the Purdue Boilermakers: “When he came to Purdue, it was as a transfer from Miami, and a lot of things [were] written about him, a lot of controversy. He’s done a great job fitting in. The team has embraced him. His teammates love him. Exceptional player and exceptional athlete and great teammate. We like everything about Robert Marve, and we certainly think he has the potential and talent for us to win on Saturday.” 

I wasn’t aware Purdue had a game this Saturday?  Maybe he meant August 14th?  I wonder if Danny knows Michigan running backs coach Fred Jackson?

Second Funny

Comes from EDSBS on ESPN’s new college football announcer lineup. Warning! Paul McGuire in not on the list.

Here is a sample:

1: LIGHT AIR, RIPPLES WITH CRESTS ON THE WATER: Pam Ward and the Slumbertonez have been bumped down to ESPNU, where they will work the nooner with new analyst Danny Kanell. Awkward sexual tension to follow? No, we’re sorry: you must have this confused with the Mike Patrick/Craig James pairing, which does/will contain tons of simmering and forbidden passion. Bonus for people who hate Pam Ward: she’s no longer on ESPN [Numericals,] and thus off the basic cable run of easily flippable consecutive channels.

2. LIGHT BREEZE, BLOWIN’ TWIGS AROUND: Mike Bellotti will debut as an analyst, presumably smoking cigars on air lit with the money he took on the way out of Oregon. Brock Huard and Carter Blackburn are his partners. Predicted on-air banter: making fun of someone actually being named “Carter Blackburn,” and his resemblance to Chuck Bass.

 
Third Funny

Those New York Knicks sure love Isiah Thomas! Zeek must have a magic wand or something!
 

Fourth Funny

Albert Haynesworth’s knee is fine and he still didn’t do the conditioning drill.  The Redskins must have loved to pay him that $21 million check a few months ago.  He seems like a great investment.
 

Fifth Funny

Comes from our own freshman running back Stephen Hopkins during spring ball.  See the picture above. I wonder how big those eyes will be when camp opens on Monday!   Go get them big guy!

Sixth Funny

Comes from CB/Safety/Stand up comedian Troy Woolfolk: 
 
“I feel like I actually chased a coach out of here,” he said, referring to Vance Bedford, who left to join Florida’s staff after Woolfolk’s freshman year and is now the defensive coordinator at Louisville. “My lack of knowledge almost caused him to get an aneurysm”
 
“Sometimes people don’t know what they’re doing,” Woolfolk said. “They come to me. That’s funny. I used to be that guy. I see how annoying it is. Every play, ‘Troy, Troy, what I got to do?’
 
So what would coach Bedford think of the Wolverines now relying on Woolfolk to direct traffic?

“We in trouble,” Woolfolk said.

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First off today, I want to mention the passing of Ernie Harwell.  

Ernie was an Michigan sports Icon and the best play-by-play baseball announcer I have ever heard.   

He might have also been the victim of  Bo Schembechler’s worst decisions as a coach or sports executive when he fired Ernie in 1991.   

Bo was quoted: “(Harwell’s firing is) not going to change no matter how much clamor is made over it” was cold and wrong. I’m glad that decision got “fixed” a year later when Mike IIitch bought the Detroit Tigers and brought Ernie back.  RIP Ernie, “A man from heaven just caught that foul ball off the bat of  “sweet” Lou Whitaker”

• Stuart Mandel of SI.com has his No. Two thing he learned this spring was that Denard maybe has beaten Tate out as the No. One QB under center for the Wolverines. The competition between the two continued this spring, however, and Robinson showed off a considerably more balanced set of skills. He was the star of Michigan’s spring game, throwing a 97-yard touchdown pass to Roy Roundtree. In an earlier scrimmage, he went 15-of-20 for 82 yards while running 12 times for 105 yards and two touchdowns .

• ESPN’s Len Pasquarelli has a nice piece  on the NFL’s draft advisory board and Donovan Warren.

• Cam Gordon made the Sporting News All Spring Team . Former Wolverine Toney Clemons also was mentioned as a new WR at Colorado. Nice to be mentioned but not sure there should be a national All Spring Team. 

• Collegefootball News.com has Michigan playing Oregon in the Holiday Bowl next season. I’m pretty sure most Michigan fans would take that result. 

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