Ex-Wolverine Updates: The Class of 2007

Ryan Mallett (#15) looks frustrated at having to watch Tom Brady do his thing

Former Michigan wide receiver Toney Clemons played for Michigan in 2007 and 2008 before transferring to Colorado.  He was the Buffaloes' leading receiver in 2011 with 43 receptions for 680 yards and 8 touchdowns.  He has not been invited to the NFL Combine yet, but he is preparing for Colorado's pro day, which is scheduled for March.

Former Michigan linebacker Marell Evans returned to Michigan for 2011, but due to some issues with the NCAA Clearinghouse, he was never able to suit up for the Wolverines during the 2011 season.  The coaches said that he did an excellent job as a scout team player throughout the season, despite being ineligible.  He recently participated in the NFLPA Bowl, where he made 9 tackles.

Former Michigan quarterback Ryan Mallett is in Indianapolis preparing for the Super Bowl against the New York Giants.  He spent the 2011 season as New England's third string quarterback and didn't play in a single game as a rookie.  Coincidentally, he's behind former Michigan quarterback Tom Brady and former Michgian State quarterback Brian Hoyer.

Former Michigan commit Marquis Maze spent the last five years on Alabama's team, winning a couple national championships in the process.  The 5'10", 180 lb. wide receiver caught 56 passes for 627 yards and 1 touchdown this past season.  He also returned 50 punts for 436 yards and 1 touchdown, and added another 342 yards on 13 kickoff returns.  He's getting ready for the 2012 NFL Draft.

Former Michigan wide receiver Zion Babb, safety Artis Chambers, defensive tackle/fullback Vince Helmuth, and running back Avery Horn have presumably concluded their football careers, and things don't seem to have changed since the last updates on them, which are available on the Ex-Wolverine Encyclopedia.

2012 Senior Bowl

DT Mike Martin will be Michigan's only representative in the 2012 Senior Bowl

The 2012 Senior Bowl will be played today, January 28, at 4:00 p.m.

Players who might be of interest to Michigan fans:

OT Mike Adams - Ohio State
RB Vick Ballard - Mississippi State
C Mike Brewster - Ohio State
LB Audie Cole - North Carolina State (from the state of Michigan)
QB Kirk Cousins - Michigan State
DE Jack Crawford - Penn State
DT Mike Daniels - Iowa
FB Bradie Ewing - Wisconsin
RB Dan Herron - Ohio State
QB Ryan Lindley - San Diego State
TE Brian Linthicum - Michigan State
S D'Anton Lynn - Penn State
DT Mike Martin - Michigan
WR Marquis Maze - Alabama (former Michigan commit)
WR Marvin McNutt - Iowa
P Brad Nortman - Wisconsin
WR DeVier Posey - Ohio State
S Trenton Robinson - Michigan State
S Harrison Smith - Notre Dame
DT Devon Still - Penn State
WR Nick Toon - Wisconsin
OG Johnnie Troutman - Penn State
K Carson Wiggs - Purdue
QB Russell Wilson - Wisconsin
S Kyle Wojta - Wisconsin
OG Kevin Zeitler - Wisconsin

Ex-Wolverine Updates

Toney Clemons (#7)

Congratulations to former Michigan assistant coach Ron English, who won the Mid-American Conference's Coach of the Year Award this season.  He has improved Eastern Michigan's program from 0-12 to 2-10 and now a 6-6 record.

Former Michigan wide receiver Toney Clemons had 4 catches for 102 yards in Colorado's 17-14 win over Utah.  Since the Buffaloes aren't eligible to play in a bowl game, he finishes his fifth year senior season with 43 catches for 680 yards and 8 touchdowns.

Former Michigan commit and current Alabama wide receiver Marquis Maze had 4 catches for 18 yards in a 42-14 victory over Auburn.  He also had 1 rush for 1 yard.

Former Michigan running back Sam McGuffie missed yet another game due to injury on Saturday.  Rice isn't eligible for a bowl game this year, so he finishes his redshirt junior season with 38 carries for 158 yards and 1 touchdown.  He also caught 9 passes for 72 yards and 1 touchdown.

Former Michigan commit and current North Carolina H-back Christian Wilson had 1 catch for 8 yards in a 37-21 victory over Duke.

Check out the Ex-Wolverine Encyclopedia for news on other former Wolverines.

Ex-Wolverine Updates

Marquis Maze tries to pull away from a Georgia Southern defender.

Former Michigan wide receiver Toney Clemons had 3 catches for 50 yards and 1 touchdown in Colorado's 45-6 loss to UCLA on Saturday.

Former Michigan commit and current Alabama wide receiver Marquis Maze had 3 catches for 44 yards in a 45-21 victory over Georgia Southern.

Former Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez was hired to be Arizona's new head coach.

Former Michigan linebacker Davion Rogers had 2 tackles for Youngstown State as they lost to Missouri State by a score of 38-34.  Rogers finished the season with 45 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, 1 interception for a touchdown, 2 blocked kicks, and 5 pass breakups.

Ex-Wolverine Updates

Toney Clemons

Former Michigan WR and current Colorado Buffalo Toney Clemons had 5 receptions for 115 yards and 1 touchdown in a 49-28 victory over Arizona.  He now has 36 receptions for 528 yards and 7 touchdowns on the season.

Former Michigan commit and current Alabama WR Marquis Maze had 4 catches for 22 yards in a 24-7 victory over Mississippi State.  He now has 49 receptions for 565 yards and 1 touchdown.

Ex-Wolverine Updates

Marquiz Maze had a great game for Alabama against
the Tennessee Volunteers.

Former Michigan wide receiver Toney Clemons had 2 receptions for 31 yards in Colorado's 45-2 loss to Oregon on Saturday night.

Former Michigan commit and current Alabama wide receiver Marquis Maze had 5 receptions for 106 yards in the Tide's 37-6 victory over Tennessee on Saturday.

Former Michigan running back Sam McGuffie had 2 carries for 11 yards in Rice's 38-20 loss to Tulsa on Saturday.

Ex-Wolverine Updates

Marquis Maze (#4) had 93 receiving yards on Saturday.

Former Michigan WR Toney Clemons had 3 catches for 31 yards in Colorado's 48-7 loss to Stanford this past weekend.

Former Michigan commit and current Alabama WR Marquis Maze had 9 receptions for 93 yards in Saturday's 34-0 win over Vanderbilt.  He leads the team in both receiving and punt returns.

Former Michigan RB Sam McGuffie had 1 carry for 5 yards and 3 receptions for 24 yards in Saturday's 28-6 Rice victory over Memphis.

Former Michigan commit and current Tar Heel H-back Christian Wilson had 1 reception for 14 yards in Saturday's 14-7 victory over Louisville.

Check out the Ex-Wolverine Encyclopedia for the status of other early departures.

Ex-Wolverine Updates

Toney Clemons catches a touchdown pass over
Ohio State cornerbackTravis Howard
(image via the Durango Herald)

Former Michigan wide receiver Toney Clemons had 4 receptions for 31 yards and 1 touchdown in Colorado's 37-17 loss to Ohio State on Saturday.

Former Michigan commit Dallas Crawford has not played for the Miami Hurricanes this year and looks like he's headed for a redshirt, but he's still on the roster.  There were some rumors that he was not on the team.

Former Michigan commit Matt Goudis, a kicker, also has not played for Miami but still remains on the roster.

Former Michigan commit Pearlie Graves, a defensive tackle, has decided to transfer from Texas Tech.  His destination is unknown.

Former Michigan commit Marquis Maze had 5 receptions for 40 yards in Alabama's 38-14 victory over Arkansas.

Former Michigan running back Sam McGuffie, now at Rice, had 9 carries for 24 yards in a 56-31 loss to Baylor.  He also had 2 receptions for 2 yards.

Former Michigan commit Bryce McNeal has decided to leave Clemson.  He'll try to graduate in the spring after only three years of college and then transfer to another school.  He has only 1 reception for 8 yards on the season, which came against Wofford.

Former Michigan commit John Wienke is third on the depth chart at quarterback for the Iowa Hawkeyes.  He's a redshirt junior this season, but I have to believe that he won't get a fifth year of eligibility.

Ex-Wolverine Encyclopedia Update

Vladimir Emilien intends to play for Toledo in 2012

Former Michigan safety Vladimir Emilien still remains at Toledo, contrary to what I reported previously.  In an exchange with TTB Andrew, he said, "I'm still on the team. This is just my sit out year NCAA rule for transferring. But since I have to sit out this year, I am more focused on school rather than worrying about games every Saturday. But I still have to practice and workout with the team.  Until I'm eligible my main focus is focusing on my grades and making this football program successful with my help."

Former kicker/punter commit Anthony Fera is having a solid season at Penn State.  He's averaging 44.6 yards on eight punts and 64.4 yards on five kickoffs.  Essentially, he's Will Hagerup.  Except Fera's not suspended right now.

Former defensive tackle commit DeQuinta Jones has 7 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, and 2 quarterback hurries on the season for Arkansas.

Former wide receiver commit Marquis Maze has 15 catches for 186 yards and 1 touchdown on the season for Alabama.

Former quarterback commit Kevin Sousa is currently redshirting for Wake Forest.

Former Michigan running back Austin White is currently redshirting for Central Michigan.  Because he began the fall semester in 2010 at Michigan, he must sit out for the 2011 season.

What Could Have Been . . . Marquis Maze

Marquis Maze

Wide receiver Marquis Maze was committed to be a member of the 2007 recruiting class. Recruited as a wideout for Michigan, he always seemed to be a bit undersized; he was 5'8" and 160 lbs. during a time when Michigan was annually churning out 6'3"-ish wide receivers like David Terrell, Marquis Walker, Braylon Edwards, and Adrian Arrington, among others.

Before signing day arrived, though, Maze decommitted from the Wolverines and decided to attend Alabama. He redshirted as a freshman in 2007 and has earned more and more prominent roles the past two seasons.

Unbeknownst to him, Michigan coach Lloyd Carr would be replaced by Rich Rodriguez in December 2007, who would bring an offense in which Maze could have thrived. Rodriguez was reduced to playing a true freshman (Martavious Odoms) and a bigger receiver who was a misfit (Toney Clemons) at the slot receiver position in 2008. Odoms did well, but Clemons floundered and transferred to Colorado prior to the 2009 season.

This past season as a redshirt sophomore and now listed at 5'10" and 180 lbs., Maze started at wide receiver and recorded 31 receptions for 523 yards (a 16.9 yard average) and 2 touchdowns, including an 80-yarder. Oh by the way, he also won a national championship.

Meanwhile, the majority of Michigan's snaps at slot receiver went to the trio of Kelvin Grady, Martavious Odoms, and Roy Roundtree. Those players combined for 64 catches, 808 yards (12.6 yard average), and 5 touchdowns. Redshirt freshman Roundtree turned out to be the most explosive of the three, leading the entire team in each category and besting Maze in receptions (32 to 31) and touchdowns (3 to 2).

Maze is a big-play threat for the Crimson Tide, but his presence on the Michigan team in 2009 probably wouldn't have made a huge difference. He would have been more valuable in 2008, when he likely would have started for then-freshman Odoms. Still, Maze has a good thing going at Alabama, and Michigan has some promising athletes going forward into the 2010 season. This is a departure that most Michigan fans shouldn't - and probably don't - regret.

Image via nydailynews.com