Saturday, January 14, 2012

Ex-Wolverine Updates: The Class of 2010

Former Michigan signee Demar Dorsey played for Grand Rapids
Community College during the 2011 season
(image via MLive)
Former Michigan cornerback Cullen Christian redshirted at Pitt this past season due to NCAA transfer rules.  He transferred to Pitt in order to follow former Michigan defensive backs coach Tony Gibson, who has since been hired for the same role at Arizona.  Christian made several negative comments on Twitter about Gibson and Pitt head coach Todd Graham for leaving Pitt so soon.  Christian will presumably remain at Pitt with new head coach Paul Chryst, since he's already transferred once and he's near home.

Former Michigan signee Demar Dorsey spent this past season at Grand Rapids Community College in Michigan.  He played in just seven games and ended the season with 10.5 tackles, 1 interception (for 51 yards), 4 pass breakups, and 2 kickoff returns for 51 yards.  He's going to need a new place to play, though, because GRCC disbanded its football program this past week.

Former Michigan commit Tony Drake spent 2010 as a wide receiver/running back at Colorado State, but was declared academically ineligible for the 2011 season.  It's unclear if he will return to the program.

Former Michigan safety Carvin Johnson left the football program in the middle of the 2011 season.  He was enrolled at Michigan throughout the fall semester.  Prior to his departure, he played in eight games for the Wolverines and made 14 tackles, 1 pass breakup, and 1 fumble recovery.

Former Michigan signee Conelius Jones was academically ineligible to play at Marshall this past season.  Since graduating in 2010, he has yet to appear on a college roster.  His current status is unknown.

Former Michigan signee Antonio Kinard attended Hargrave Military Academy in 2010, then signed with Miami in 2011 . . . and was declared academically ineligible at Miami, too.  He is headed to Arizona Western to play football in fall 2012.

Former Michigan center Christian Pace injured his shoulder during practice in 2010 and left the team this past off-season on a medical scholarship.  He is still enrolled at the University of Michigan.

Former Michigan linebacker Davion Rogers spent the 2011 season as a 6'6", 215 lb. linebacker at Youngstown State.  He played in 11 games and made 45 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, 5 pass breakups, and 1 interception (which was returned 27 yards for a touchdown).  He also blocked 2 kicks.

Former Michigan safety Ray Vinopal sat out the 2011 season at Pitt due to NCAA transfer rules.  In much the same situation as Cullen Christian (minus the childish Twitter rant), he will be a redshirt sophomore in fall 2012.

Former Michigan running back Austin White sat out the 2011 season at Central Michigan due to NCAA transfer rules.  He will be a redshirt sophomore at CMU in fall 2012.

The current whereabouts of former Michigan defensive tackle Terry Talbott and wide receiver D.J. Williamson are unknown.

Class of 2011 Bonus:
Former Michigan offensive lineman Tony Posada is no longer playing football.  Thanks for yet another wasted scholarship, Rich Rodriguez!

For further updates on ex-Wolverines and former commits, check out the Ex-Wolverine Encyclopedia.

21 comments:

  1. That feels like a lot of academically ineligible washouts to have been brought in to Michigan.

    Carvin Johnson is still the one I can't figure.

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  2. Antonio Kinard will be playing at Arizona Western JUCO next year.

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  3. Magus,
    I believe that Austin White has bern indefinitely suspended from C Mu's football team due to some kind of conduct issue. I remember this getting discussed on m go blog.

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  4. With a couple of exceptions (Davion Rogers, for performance elsewhere, and Vinopal, I guess), definitely a brutal recruiting patch for Rodriguez. I realize he wasn't recruiting under ideal circumstances, but his decisions in that area will hurt Michigan for the next few years.

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  5. Posada was signed by Hoke. Posada recommitted after being aggressively recruited by Hoke and his staff.

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  6. @ Lankownia 7:19 a.m.

    We've been through this before. Hoke had less than one month to finish out the class. Posada was recruited for months and months by Rodriguez, and for about three weeks by Hoke. I'm not going to blame Hoke for Posada, just like I'm not going to credit Rodriguez for Raymon Taylor. Posada committed to Rodriguez and, therefore, Rodriguez deserves any credit/blame that Posada brings.

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  7. Posada had over a dozen scholarship offers, so if RR was wrong about him, so were a lot of other schools.

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  8. @Roanman,

    The recent streak of washouts seems high, but attrition due to coaching changes is expect. I think it seems higher because when we had washouts in the past (e.g. Marques Slocum et al), we always had the depth to take it without a grievous hole. The past few years have not enjoyed that luxury.

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  9. @ David 1:07 p.m.

    Attrition due to a coaching change is expected, yes, but there were also high amounts of Rodriguez-recruit attrition while Rodriguez was still here.

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  10. Does that also mean that Hoke takes no credit/blame for Countess?

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  11. If so, that seems pretty silly to have the coach who recruited (or if you prefer, re-recruited), signed, and developed a player can take no credit for his performance.

    It's really silly to fully assign blame/credit in these kind of awkward scenarios. Rodriguez recruited Chris Bryant and Tony Posada and Blake Countess, etc. He's a big reason why they became interested in Michigan. Hoke had to retain them and reconvince them. They're both partially, but not fully 'responsible' for that recruiting class.

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  12. I find it funny after reading this and seeing how Antonio kanard went to hargrave and then went to Miami over Michigan. A guy who was on the 5 star list who committed to Oklahoma was ineligible, went to hargrave and is now going back to Oklahoma. just shows you how bad our recruiting was

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  13. I find it funny after reading this and seeing how Antonio kanard went to hargrave and then went to Miami over Michigan. A guy who was on the 5 star list who committed to Oklahoma was ineligible, went to hargrave and is now going back to Oklahoma. just shows you how bad our recruiting was

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  14. @ Anon 5v:54 a.m.

    The chatter among CMU followers seems to suggest that White still has a decent shot at returning to the team.

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  15. @Thunder

    And a seemingly high % of kids that couldn't/can't handle the academics anywhere, let alone Michigan.

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  16. @ Lankownia 3:07 p.m.

    Again, we've gone over this before. Hoke doesn't get credit for recruiting Countess, because Countess committed to Rodriguez. Hoke does/will get credit for developing Countess. There's a difference between recruiting talent and developing it.

    For example, Rodriguez recruited William Campbell. But Campbell sucked under Rodriguez and could barely get on the field. If Campbell develops into a good player next year (he's already better than he was under Rodriguez), then I will credit Rodriguez for getting Campbell to Michigan, but I will credit Hoke for the ability to develop him.

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  17. re: Austin White

    White was suspended earlier this year, but as TTB Andrew said, he's still on the roster and could very well remain on the team.

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  18. @ Logan

    Oklahoma didn't have the local newspaper, it's former Head Coach and a large part of it's football alumnae deliberately blowing up the program.

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  19. Yeah, we'll have to agree to disagree. I'm of the opinion that commitments are increasingly, as someone else called them, just 'reservations'. Reservations that either side can cancel at any time. That'll become increasingly more pertinent with Urban Meyer entering the fray. He throws offers out like candy and he'll push people aside if it's advantageous for the program to do so.

    Some guys will commit without it meaning much. Others, who in all reality all more likely to commit to a school, will wait until signing day. If Hoke was, hypothetically, fired today and someone like Garnett committed to the new coach next week, I'd still credit Hoke with a lot of that recruitment. If you ask Chris Bryant why he came to Michigan, I'd bet he'd say Rodriguez had more to do with it than Hoke, even though he wasn't yet committed when Rodriguez was fired. Hoke probably talked to him a handful of times while Rodriguez and his staff probably had dozens, if not hundreds, of exchanges.

    Take another case of a guy like Reeves. He committed to Paterno, but it's up to O'Brien to recruit him, and a guy like Larry Johnson is being retained, so he's with both coaches. So who is going to get the 'credit' there?

    I guess I just see the 'credit the guy who got the verbal commitment' as a blanket policy to be a stubborn and silly insistence on clarity.

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  20. @ Lankownia 10:41 a.m.

    I would give the credit for Reeves to Paterno. Reeves committed to Paterno. If he de-commits and then re-commits to O'Brien, then I'll give O'Brien the credit. But once a kid commits, he at least feels some allegiance to that coach and that program. It's much easier to "re-recruit" someone and keep them committed than pull them in from start to finish.

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