 |
| Jay Hopson |
Former CB Cullen Christian: Christian's West Virginia Mountaineers will play the Texas A&M Aggies in the Liberty Bowl on December 29th. Christian has made 5 tackles this year.
Former CB commit Gareon Conley, former DT Chris Rock: Conley made 1 tackle in Ohio State's 59-0 win over Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship game. That win propelled the Buckeyes to the #4 spot in the College Football Playoff rankings, and they will play #1 Alabama in the Sugar Bowl on January 1st.
Former CB commit Dallas Crawford, K commit Matt Goudis: Their Miami Hurricanes will play the South Carolina Gamecocks in the Independence Bowl on December 27th. Crawford has 35 tackles, .5 tackles for loss, and 2 pass breakups this year. Goudis was 4/6 on field goals and 6/6 on extra points this year but a back injury forced him to miss the final ten games of the year.
Former S Joshua Furman: Furman's Oklahoma State Cowboys will play the Washington Huskies in the Cactus Bowl on January 2nd. This past weekend Furman helped upset the Oklahoma Sooners in overtime with a 38-35 victory. Furman made 2 tackles in the game. He now has 58 tackles, 12 tackles for loss, 6 sacks, 1 interception, 1 forced fumble, and 4 pass breakups on the year.
Former RB commit Demetrius Hart: Hart's Colorado State Rams will play the Utah Utes in the Las Vegas Bowl on December 20th. Hart has rushed for 1,254 yards (6.7 yards/carry) and 16 touchdowns so far this year.
Former linebackers coach Jay Hopson: Hopson, now the head coach at Alcorn State, won the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) championship with a 38-24 victory over Southern. After a 4-7 start to his head coaching career in 2012, he is now 19-6 in the last two seasons.
Former RB Thomas Rawls: Rawls's Central Michigan Chippewas will play the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers in the Bahamas Bowl on December 24th. Rawls has rushed for 1,103 yards (5.3 yards/carry) and 10 touchdowns this year.
Former head coach Rich Rodriguez: Rodriguez's Arizona Wildcats were blasted by Oregon in the Pac-12 championship game by a score of 51-13. They are currently 10-3 and will play the Boise State Broncos in the Fiesta Bowl on December 31st.
Former S Ray Vinopal: Vinopal's Pitt Panthers will play the Houston Cougars in the Armed Forces Bowl on January 2nd. Vinopal has 61 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 2 interceptions, 2 forced fumbles, and 5 pass breakups on the year.
Former CB commit Adrian Witty: Witty's Cincinnati Bearcats will play the Virginia Tech Hokies in the Military Bowl on December 27th. Witty has made 3 tackles this year but has not played in the final eleven games, though I cannot find any information on why he has been out.
Magnus -
ReplyDeleteAny thoughts about how so many of these cast-offs ended up having such solid seasons?
-- Vinopal was a stop gap and seemed to have a decent year at a big program.
-- Rawls was better than any RB on our roster
-- Furman was a lousy safety at Michigan and then became a good player at OSU with better stats than most of our D this year.
-- Ash was the emergency nose tackle who barely played.....and yet he turned in a really solid year.
I guess I'm wondering how much to read into their numbers and whether you had any thoughts on why they couldn't find their way on the field at Michigan but did well at other Div-1 schools.
AC1997
I think Vinopal is and always was "just a guy." He got an opportunity at Pitt, and he did okay. Nothing more, nothing less.
DeleteI disagree that Rawls was better than any RB on our roster. I think he was a mediocre Big Ten talent who whooped up on MAC foes. This often happens to Michigan cast-offs. Dann O'Neill went and started for multiple years at WMU. Mike Jones was the #2 tackler for WMU last year, I believe. There's a reason that the Big Ten typically mauls the MAC, and that's because the athletes in the conferences are not on the same level.
I've always said that Furman was more of a linebacker than a safety. He went to Oklahoma State, they put him at linebacker, and he had a pretty good season. I think that's just a poor job of placement by Michigan's staff, or maybe they thought they needed the help at the safety position.
I think Ash fits in the same category as Rawls. He was a backup at Michigan, but he was a better athlete than most of his MAC opponents. I never thought Ash was absolutely terrible at Michigan, but he wasn't good, either. I only watched one WMU game this year, but it seemed to me that Ash sort of cleaned up his body, too, whether it was losing some fat or adding muscle. Either way he looked to be in better shape. That goes along with what I said about him coming out of high school, which was that he lost a lot of explosiveness when he bulked up from being a 240 lb. defensive end to a 280-290 lb. defensive tackle. His weight was still up there at WMU, but he wasn't as sloppy as he looked at Michigan. Maybe transferring schools lit a fire under his butt when it comes to eating/conditioning.
Lets just admit that these guys that left never really got the coaching from the former staff. Even the guys that were Hoke's guys, look like crap every Saturday. We will never know what could have happened to these kids if RR had gotten his guy Casteel to coach 'em up. Brady, Brandon & Co.ruined Denard Robinson. One the most prolific qb's in the nation at the time. Because they wanted to play 1970 manball. Here is some history that I think needs some serious thought. I remember reading that Bear Bryant never wanted a "N" word on his team. That was true until he went out to California and got his redneck arse kicked back to 'Bama. Did he evolve or did he continue to play "Bear-ball". To the dismay of every redneck rebel from the state house to the equipment manager of the team, and from every God fearing white southern Christian Klansmen in the south. He got himself one of those "N" words, and the SEC was forever changed. RR was too progressive (lets call it what it is "too black") for the Blue bloods. They are still not ready to change with the times. Stop kidding yourselves Michigan!! You are not putting kids in the Pros in droves. Nor are you among the top program in the B10. I believe Bo was a very wise man. Just like Bear Bryant he would have changed to compete for National Championships. Brandon was flawed in his approach because he wanted to make the B10 Championship the "Holy Grail" of championships. That is code for "we cannot compete with the real programs, so we will delude ourselves in to believing the B10 Championship is better than a National Championship!" The last I looked the NFL gets players from D1 to walk-ons that never played a down of college football. So stop with the crap that these kids could not do it at Michigan! Here is a sobering thought for the Michigan dinosours! Keep on living in your self righteous world and ask yourself years from now how is the view from the bottom of the B10. These are all high caliber athletes! Look at the schools that gave them scholarship offers. Could all these high profile schools have missed on their talent? There is a bigger cancer in that football program than the two guys you just fired. I hope you get a JH, or a Saban type of coach. The whole program needs to be flushed from top to bottom.
Delete