Unverified Voracity Bought You A Turtleneck Comment Count

Brian

Words fail. Holiday greetings from Patrick Kugler, Henry Poggi, and Chris Petzold.

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If anyone knows what to do with their hands after seeing this please let me know.

Peters transfer: nope. The lingering concern about Shea Patterson's transfer is that it would cause Brandon Peters to transfer out, thus leaving Michigan just as thin at quarterback and reliant on an NCAA waiver for their presumed starter. That does not appear to be happening. Sam Webb talked to Peters's father; you can listen to a WTKA segment on that conversation—helpfully summarized here—or read his take on The Michigan Insider:

“That's good,” Mr. Peters said of Patterson’s transfer. “Iron sharpens iron. Brandon is up for a good fight. Put the gloves on, (get) both fists up, (and) let's go! Brandon said, ‘bring in 30 QBs. I'm going to my job at hand and work.’

“Coach Harbaugh said it’s going to be a competition and we believe him.”

Webb also cleared up the strange yes-no-yes Patterson saga: Michigan was content to go into 2018 with three quarterbacks, but once Speight decided to grad transfer they wanted to add a guy and Patterson wanted to come, so... yeah.

The grad transfer rule might also be helping Michigan keep Peters around, BTW. He will compete for the job this year. If he doesn't get it he will be the backup; if Patterson's one and done then he's in line for the job again in 2018. If he's not, Peters can almost certainly graduate in 3.5 years and have two to play two, a la Alex Malzone. He doesn't lose anything by staying, and he will be a serious candidate for the job. I'd tentatively give him the edge given his familiarity with the offense.

Not quite crootin' visits of note. JaRaymond Hall took a visit to CMU this weekend, which seems like a significant step towards a transfer. Hall is on the fence after receiving his release earlier this month.

Also: potential Ole Miss transfer Van Jefferson visited Louisville yesterday. As of Monday, Jefferson was the only one of the three guys who had not told a recruiting reporter that he was at least virtually committed, and it appears that there is a genuine race on for his services. Louisville is closer to home since Shawn Jefferson is the Titans' WR coach. If this is a backup plan because of transcripts thing expect that to get resolved almost immediately—all three guys want to be on someone else's campus for the winter semester.

Doesn't sound great for Newsome. This is reading between the lines, admittedly, but that's all we've got here. And if Grant Newsome isn't cleared for spring it's probably not good news for his career:

Michigan left tackle Grant Newsome still holds the goal of being medically cleared to return to football by the start of the 2018 season.

"Before then hopefully," Newsome said Sunday night. "As soon as possible." ...

"Trying to get back on the field as soon as possible," said Newsome, who was honored with the Pete Schmidt Courage Award at the National Football Foundation/Free Press All-State Dream Team banquet in Dearborn on Sunday. "I want to play right now. But it's up to the doctors when they'll let me go."

Not being cleared more than a year removed from his injury is fairly ominous.

Shooter. Adrien Nunez is the who-dat afterthought in Michigan's 2018 basketball recruiting class, at least if you go by rankings. If you go by the ability to make threes off the dribble, though:

That's one game and thus fairly representative. Nunez ventured inside the three point line once; he makes multiple off the dribble threes; he also catches and shoots. Nunez doesn't look like the kind of athlete who gets the shiny rankings, but he looks like a guy who can get his shot in a variety of ways. That shot is always a three pointer. Beilein kind of kid.

A disastrous nonconference schedule. Michigan isn't the only Big Ten team to suffer through a disappointing basketball stretch here. The conference has imploded:

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This looks like a four bid league. Northwestern, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Maryland, and Wisconsin have all badly undershot preseason expectations. Michigan really needs this game against Texas tonight and then will have to go... uh... 11-7 in conference play to be on the bubble? Is it that bad? I think it might be.

Etc.: There's an early signing period now. Weird. Jourdan Lewis doing Jourdan Lewis things. Scorekeepers is the most popular Uber destination in Michigan: opposing ridesharing in a college town is tantamount to endorsing drunk driving. Somehow, Michigan—Michigan!—is 335th in FT shooting. FFS.

A reminder that Amani Toomer has a history of yellin' about stuff that seems ridiculous. Mo Hurst, All American.

Comments

MGoBender

December 12th, 2017 at 12:37 PM ^

The Uber/Lyft in A2 article is 3 years old... is there talks of the City Council still fighting ride-share?  If so, now that's it's ubiquitous, that would be insane.

EDIT: I'm now correctly reading it as "look how dumb the City Council almost was 3 years ago."

TrueBlue2003

December 12th, 2017 at 6:26 PM ^

the link is to a graph that was done on 11/30 (check the y-axis label).

The embedded graph is from 12/11 and it looks like the creator didn't update the PSU, Wisc, OSU or Minnesota delta numbers from 11/30 to 12/11 but did correctly change their positions on the graph.

OSU greatly improved their situation in those 11 days (3-0 with big win at Wisc, win over us and a big margin over top200 W&M team).

Minnesota and Wisc made their positions a lot worse with losses against Neb and Ark for Minn and OSU, Temple and Marquette for Wisconsin.

PSU mostly held steady but looks to have dropped slightly more than 3% due to the home loss to Wisconsin.

Kevin14

December 12th, 2017 at 1:39 PM ^

As pointed out above, the data points above are wrong - the numbers are correct.  Making that chart paint a rosier picture than reality.  

On the other hand, I'd be interested to know how the tournament odds are determined.  While Michigan hasn't gotten off to a great start, other than LSU, there haven't really been any surprises.  UCLA/OSU were toss-ups.  

Perhaps it's because losing to LSU cost us another chance at a quality win and the Big Ten being down collectively costs us a few more chances at quality wins?  Would that really have cut our chances by more than half?

I think there may be something weird going on with the model...

TrueBlue2003

December 12th, 2017 at 3:44 PM ^

so yeah, given the schedule they've played, I (and the preseason ranks and just about anyone else) would have expected them to have only 2 losses at this point.

Losing to LSU was the killer because it cost us the chance to play a far better schedule than we have thus far.  So it was a double whammy in terms of a loss to a bad team, and a SoS hit.

Plus these projections are based on current efficiency margins projected over the course of the season. Which means that "underperformance" can happen in a win.  By beating CMU by only 7 our efficiency ratings dropped enough (the model gets more info) such that future win expectancies ratcheted down slightly, for each game.

UMQuadz05

December 12th, 2017 at 12:42 PM ^

Michigan has been on both ends of them, so I have to say that I love the grad transfer rule.  It puts an emphasis on playing school, can land students in better situations (going up OR down a competition level) and could potentially really make the team better quickly. It's a win/win for the student and school.

Of course, I'm convinced the NCAA will kill it as soon as they can, for reasons.

CLion

December 12th, 2017 at 12:43 PM ^

If the Ducks locker room can adjust to Adam Banks joining the team, I'm sure we can adjust to Patterson even if he is a cake eater.

Rabbit21

December 12th, 2017 at 12:59 PM ^

Why?  Speculation was that the family was unhappy.  In this case I'd rather hear it from the source.

Parents can and should be valuable sources of advice and guidance in situations like this, rather have the father saying what he's saying now rather than "Pulling a Ball".  Not sure why this would bother you.

Mr Miggle

December 12th, 2017 at 3:08 PM ^

discourage the media from contacting their players. It's one thing that stands out when Sam does his signing day interviews with the incoming class. He talks to everyone but the EEs.

Can you imagine how many media people would be trying to talk to Brandon Peters? No coach wants that kind of distraction for his team.

 

His Dudeness

December 12th, 2017 at 1:10 PM ^

It was so dirty. I remember people at the time saying it wasn't dirty. I was livid. That's the same shit that happened to Louis Delmas over and over and over. It pisses me off. You want to hit a guy then hit a guy in the chest plate. I realize he wanted to make sure Newsome didn't continue down field. If that's the case you grab the chest plate and hold on for dear life. To go at the knees is just cowardly bullshit.

I Like Burgers

December 12th, 2017 at 1:36 PM ^

I think think this is where people keep making a mistake.  The thinking seems to be that if Newsome is back, we'll get the same Newsome we saw back in 2016.  I mean, never say never, but if he hasn't been cleared to resume playing football well over a year after the injury I just don't see how its possible to expect him to contribute to the team on the field.  It would be A LOT of rust to shake off.  At this point, just cracking the two-deep would be an accomplishment.

L'Carpetron Do…

December 12th, 2017 at 3:02 PM ^

I was shocked he wasn't wearing a knee brace when he had that injury.  It seemed to me like every college lineman in the country has been wearing two knee braces for roughly ten years now, regardless of whether they ever had a knee injury.  Can we make this a requirement going forward?  I don't know if a brace would've prevented the tear but it may have mitigated it.  For him  to be out this long is pretty scary. And this is coming from a dude who tore his ACL, MCL and meniscus in one fell swoop in Oosterbaan. Definitely wasn't the same after that - hopefully Newsome will come back strong.  

But in conclusion: if you're an offensive lineman: wear a knee brace. Thank you.

MI Expat NY

December 12th, 2017 at 5:36 PM ^

The flip side to the "he's not been cleared more than a year after the injury, etc." argument is that he also hasn't received a medical hardship more than a year after the injury.  If there was simply no way that Newsome was going to come back at or near his prior level, I think that decision would have already been made and he would be on medical hardship (or transferred because he disagreed with Michigan doctror's determination).  The fact that he's still with the team and training in hopes of playing next year tells me that it's still a real possibility. 

On the other hand, maybe that's just what I hope to be true...  

 

taistreetsmyhero

December 12th, 2017 at 12:57 PM ^

the main cited reason why Peters was third on the QB depth chart for the first half of the season? And even after O’Korn’s poor play basically forced Harbaugh to go with Peters, the offensive game plan was so simple a caveman could have run it.



We can’t know whether or not Peters “knows the system,” but we our only evidence shows that the coaching staff didn’t trust him to run it.



The bowl game has huge implications for Peters and the QB battle. If the playcalling looks like it did against Maryland and Minnesota, that’s a huge red flag for Peters. If the playcalling looks like it did against OSU but Peters struggles, that’s another huge red flag.



For a “meaningless” bowl game, I think there is actually a lot on the line.

yossarians tree

December 12th, 2017 at 1:30 PM ^

Peters seems like a smart kid with a somewhat introverted personality, but kids that age can grow up quickly. My guess is he is fully feeling the fire under his ass and I expect he is going to be jacked up for the bowl game. I believe he will want to make a statement about his command in that game. I can't wait to see it.

stephenrjking

December 12th, 2017 at 2:26 PM ^

I agree, the bowl game is going to be very interesting.

I am of the opinion that Peters got discouraged when he wasn't the guy in fall camp and checked out for a while (this is different than "quit" like some are mischaracterizing it). When the QB situation went pear-shaped, word suggested that he was putting in the effort to get ready.

And he did indeed show growth. From having to have plays called by word of mouth against Rutgers to Wisconsin, the offense got notably more interesting and the plays more complex.

So now O'Korn and Speight are gone and a hot prospect is coming in, but Peters is the guy for all of bowl practice. This is his chance. He will spend as much time being the guy leading up to the bowl as he did during his stint in the regular season, and without the pressure of prepping for a new opponent every week. 

So he should be (and, I suspect, is) preparing for this. This is his chance to show that he can be the guy in live fire, to throw down the gauntet. To know the plays and to be better at executing. This is his opportunity, and also an important test.

I'm optimistic. And what we see on the field will tell us a lot about him.

HateSparty

December 12th, 2017 at 7:41 PM ^

I agree.  Speight also had to receive a message from Coach to get him inspired to play.  We have to remember that these guys are often "the guy" all of their lives.  Hitting the college scene carrying a clipboard is not easy for these competitors to absorb.  I am looking forward to him having a great bowl practice season and coming out in April with the job in his sights.  I hope Shea is neck and neck with him.  That only makes the team better.

Rooting for Grant!

Lawyer12

December 12th, 2017 at 1:01 PM ^

Regarding Newsome, I’d not be surprised if the hesitation to clear him is legal in nature. Liability issues regarding post traumatic injuries are different in a situation like this. The University will want him declared fully rehabilitated and 100% prior to clearing him to practice.

mgobaran

December 12th, 2017 at 1:03 PM ^

From that article Brian linked:

“With few exceptions, we expect to sign every verbal commitment we have. This is [now] the main Signing Day.”

Interesting bit of news to me. That was almost the consensus response to an inquiry of coaches strategy of handling the early signing period. Seems in 8 days or so, most classes are going to be locked in at 80% full or so. Should get a good idea of a.) which players are looking elsewhere and b.) which commited players the coaches think they might want to look elsewhere. Very interested to see how Harbaugh handles this. Does the entire class sign outside of Otis Reese? Does anyone commit and sign that day!? 

I Like Burgers

December 12th, 2017 at 1:42 PM ^

This is one of the reason I'm a fan of the early signing period.  It lets you know just how committed your commitments are.  If someone like Otis Reese, for example, is committed but isn't going to sign in the early period then you know he's not really that committed.

It will also be interesting to see recruits try and commit to schools and then get rubuffed or told to wait.  Still a whole lot of non-committable offers out there.

StephenRKass

December 12th, 2017 at 1:06 PM ^

Enjoyed the article. Love the Christmas pic. Sorry to (potentially) see Hall go, but that may be necessary for him to get playing time. Wish him well. And we need roster spots for everyone coming on, between Ole Miss and 2018 recruits.

Ziff72

December 12th, 2017 at 1:13 PM ^

I hate internet Doctors.  The ability to make wild assumptions with such little information is fascinating.

My favorite is the guy with personal experience.  "Such and such happened to me so he's done."

Don

December 12th, 2017 at 2:29 PM ^

"Michigan’s Grant Newsome went through six surgeries during a 40-day hospital stay. But that was the easy part, considering Newsome was minutes from having his right leg amputated when it was first injured.

“It was pretty close. Not going into too much detail, but minutes,” Newsome told reporters in Rome on Tuesday. He also thanked Michigan’s medical staff again and again.



Newsome injured his right knee on Oct. 1 against Wisconsin, and while coach Jim Harbaugh didn’t provide specifics, he said it was “as serious as a knee injury can be.”

https://www.landof10.com/michigan/grant-newsome-michigan-knee-injury-de…

Given the above information, reaching any other conclusion than Newsome is very unlikely to play again is the real "wild assumption."