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Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Ex-Wolverine Updates

Josh Furman (#14) had 2 sacks this week
Former DT Richard Ash: Ash had 2 tackles in Western Michigan's 45-33 win over Idaho.

Former TE commit Pharaoh Brown: Brown had 4 catches for 46 yards in Oregon's 48-14 victory over Wyoming.

Former CB commit Gareon Conley: Conley had 1 tackle as Ohio State beat Kent State by a score of 66-0.

Former CB commit Dallas Crawford: In Miami's 41-20 win over Arkansas State, Crawford had 5 tackles from his safety position.

Former S Joshua Furman: Furman had 6 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, and 1 pass breakup in Oklahoma State's 43-13 victory over the University of Texas-San Antonio. He's been impressing as a starting outside linebacker for the Cowboys.

Former RB commit Demetrius Hart: Hart's Colorado State team beat UC-Davis by a score of 49-21. Hart had 8 carries for 38 yards, 3 catches for 34 yards, and 2 punt returns for 4 yards.

Former RB Thomas Rawls: For undisclosed reasons, Rawls did not play in Central Michigan's 40-3 loss to Syracuse. UPDATE: Rawls allegedly was involved in stealing a purse at a casino and subsequently using the stolen credit card to buy gasoline and sub sandwiches.

Former head coach Rich Rodriguez: Arizona eked out a 35-28 win over Nevada, which moves the Wildcats to 3-0. Anu Solomon completed 22/26 passes for 3 touchdowns and 1 interception. Running back Nick Wilson had his second straight performance of 170+ rushing yards, with 28 carries for 174 yards and 2 scores.

Former S Ray Vinopal: In Pitt's 42-25 win over Florida International, Vinopal had 3 tackles and 1 quarterback hurry.

Former CB commit Adrian Witty: Witty had 3 tackles in Cincinnati's 58-34 win over Toledo.

Former WR Csont'e York: York has enrolled as a student at Toledo, but he is not yet a part of the football program. I imagine he will play football at some point unless the court throws the book at him for the assault that got him kicked out of Michigan.

10 comments:

  1. Rawls got felony charges, so suspended indefinitely.

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    1. Yeah...I typed this up on Sunday, before that news came out. I forgot to update the post. Thanks.

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  2. Apparently he robbed someone's purse at a casino. When will people learn that casinos see everything.

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  3. Furman's stat lines have been impressive so far.

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  4. Furman's success points to what I think is a consistent theme with our coaches. They value size over speed. If a guy doesn't fit the physical profile they want, he faces an uphill battle to playing time.

    It's interesting that they spent the offseason talking about wanting to get bigger at LB. It seems like Ross has been demoted. It seemed like Morgan was demoted (though still playing a lot).

    It seemed like Furman was miscast as a safety. Clark is really big, but coverage doesn't seem like his strong-suit.

    I'm still not convinced the best secondary for this team doesn't include Wilson at SS and Countess at FS, with Lewis, Taylor, Peppers at the CB positions.
    I'm not sure this philosophy is going to lead to success but we'll see.

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    1. I have always thought Furman should have bulked up to play linebacker. It's a little frustrating that he transfers to Oklahoma State, becomes a linebacker, and suddenly finds himself starting, pressuring the quarterback, and getting a couple sacks. UTSA isn't a great opponent, but he has better stats at Oklahoma State than he did against some of the patsies Michigan played.

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    2. Yeah you did and you weren't the only one either, because it seemed like the logical thing to do after he seemed to struggle to get down the mental aspects of safety. Maybe they felt that safety depth wouldn't allow it, but Furman never saw much time either way.

      Seems like a systematic problem to me. Maybe it's fine as a long-term vision to get to a Stanford-type program with a bunch of jumbo-sized players dominating the opposition. But it's tough to buy-in as a fan when you see talented athletes like Furman waste away at Michigan and thrive elsewhere.

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    3. It doesn't seem like Furman needed to bulk up. He's listed at the same weight (202 lb) at OSU as he was at Michigan. I don't know why 220 is too small to play LB at Michigan but you can be successful elsewhere at less weight.

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  5. UofA has a bye this week, then Cal at home, Oregon on the road, then USC at home.

    That will be a telling three weeks for the UofA program. 2-1 puts them on good footing; 0-3 indicates something else.

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    1. Most likely they will be 1-2. Oregon and USC are maybe their two toughest games of the season and are back to back. 2-1 would be more than good footing, it would be a sign that they are in the upper echelon of the Pac12 (depending on how far you think USC's loss means they've fallen).

      The rest of the year is easier. They dodge Stanford and get ASU at home. Pac12 is tough, but RichRods baseline expectation is 7 or 8 wins. In other words, he's riding parallel with Michigan in one less season than Hoke and in a tougher conference.

      The biggest difference - Arizona fans would presumably be very happy with a 9-win year whereas Michigan fans will just be moderately less discontent.

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