But it's a good bet the outspoken second-year pro echoes the sentiment of a large population of current and former major college football players when he questions the motives of those who have accused Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez and his staff of excessive workouts.
Current and former Michigan Wolverines players have told the Detroit Free Press that Rodriguez and his staff often held them for 12 hours on Sundays following a game and that summer voluntary workouts were not voluntary at all. Some ask, what's new?
Bill Raftery sounded the call early and often during Thursday night's ESPN broadcast: If Michigan could pull off a home upset of No. 16 Purdue, it would essentially secure a spot in the NCAA tournament. The Wolverines upheld their end of the bargain, jumping out to a 16-point second-half lead and posting an impressive 87-78 win over the Boilermakers.
Michigan's NCAA tournament hopes took a big blow in Iowa City.
The Wolverines made a gutty comeback on the Hawkeyes, before letting Iowa tie the game in the final seconds and send it to overtime. But in the extra frame, Michigan's fight, and its leading scorer were nowhere to be found. Manny Harris, the Wolverines leading scorer was stuck on the bench in overtime, apparently for something that upset Coach John Beilein, as Michigan fell 70-60.
The reports all day have been that Michigan has been talking, then negotiating with John Beilein to leave West Virginia for Ann Arbor. It looks like it has finally happened. CBS Sportsline is reporting that Beilein has accepted the offer and a news conference will take place within 48 hours.
This means that Michigan will be paying West Virginia about $2.5 million dollars for the Beilein buyout -- whether directly or via Beilein. That will be on top of whatever else Beilein will receive as an annual salary.
Looks like the Wolverines might be getting serious about basketball. You don't think that team to the south that is playing in the NCAA Tournament Championship tonight may have had added a little spur to upgrade?
The Detroit Free Press is reporting that John Beilein has an offer from the table from Michigan and will decide sometime today -- today is Monday, for anyone like The Dude who doesn't really keep track of these things. It seems Michigan athletic director Bill Martin is playing it coy:
The Free Press asked Martin via e-mail if Beilein had been offered the job and was in Ann Arbor on Sunday. Martin responded only, "If Coach Beilein was in AA today, I didn't know about it."
The Detroit News' Bob Wojnowski goes a step farther in his brief article on the subject:
U-M athletic director Bill Martin has targeted Beilein all along, and according to two sources, Beilein, 54, appears willing to accept the job.
Sigh. Michigan tight end Carson Butler's promising redshirt freshman season had Michigan fans all excited about his potential down the road, but now it looks like that potential will have to be uncovered in I-AA or, like, prison or something:
Two University of Michigan football players are accused of attacking a fellow student in the West Quad residence hall for no apparent reason on St. Patrick's Day. Carson Butler, 19, and Christian Richards III, 19, were arraigned today in 15th District Court on one count of aggravated assault and one count of assault and battery each.
They were released on $5,000 personal bond and have a pre-trial hearing March 27. The assault occurred in a West Quad dorm room at 6 p.m. Saturday, when the student said he was punched, said Diane Brown, a spokeswoman for the U-M Department of Public Safety. Brown said the student told police he did not know why he was targeted, and she said she had no evidence that the incident was alcohol-induced.
(Except, of course, that two people decided to kick the crap out of someone for no reason on St. Patrick's Day. Top o' the mornin' to ya.) Butler was already hanging by a thread as one of three players who Carr announced were neither injured nor practicing this spring. Carr declared the potential return of the three as "possible... maybe not probable," and this would have to be the last straw for Butler. The other offender is scrub defensive back Chris Richards. He's also probably gone, having this beauty on his record...
In addition to the charges stemming from Saturday's incident, Richards has another case pending. He was charged with illegal entry on campus last year. Richards failed to appear for his arraignment on that charge, and a bench warrant had been issued for his arrest.
...but no one expected him to ever do anything except cover kickoffs, so BFD. Butler's loss leaves Michigan very thin at tight end. Junior Pat Massey spent most of last year as a starter with mixed results, but beyond him there is no experience. This wouldn't be that much of a big deal except that Michigan spent 30-40% of its snaps in two-TE sets.
An analysis of the NFL performance of three particular groups of college players suggests these groups are vastly overrated in the NFL draft and unlikely to succeed in the NFL. Those groups are Michigan skill position players, Virginia Tech defenders and Jeff Tedford coached quarterbacks.
The draft is light in such players this year, but just the same the evidence bodes poorly for guys like Michigan receiver Steve Breaston, Virginia Tech safety Aaron Rouse and combustible Cal quarterback Joe Ayoob.
Why is this so?
Call it the scheme/system factor. Sometimes there's a tradeoff for college success as a player who otherwise dominates on the college level in a particular system may not develop certain skills necessary for the NFL. This most affects the Virginia Tech defenders.
Beamer's secret isn't getting top talent and building the defense around the talent, Beamer and his coordinator have a scheme and go after the talent to fit that scheme. What is interesting is the constant of what kinds of players Beamer gets, and its usually undersized or oversized players for the NFL eyes, undersized DLmen (Engleberger and Adibi seems to be the only one close to the standard NFL size for a DE, but guys like Chamblee, Tapp and Jonathan Lewis seem to be the norm), over-sized Safeties (Rouse, Jimmy Williams and Willie Pile, but the CBs tend to be normal sized-but slow) and undersized Lbs (Moore, C. brown, Ken Brown).
As for the Michigan guys, their solid offensive line play over the years has apparently cursed everyone else involved in the Wolverine offense.
if a QB knows that he has that extra couple seconds to make his progressions, he gets used to it and when he hits the NFL, the speed of the pass rush caused him the most problems. The same problem in the passing game also applies to the WRs and TEs. If a receiver (either TE or WR) doesn't have to improvise as much (for example: knows that he can run his assigned route most of the time) and doesn't have to run hot routes as much, then the receiver doesn't develop the skills that they need in the NFL.
The Michigan line has also been the (NFL) bane of many a memorable Wolverine tailback.
with such a dependable Oline, the RBs did not develop needed skill sets because they had a great oline in front of them year after year. It might be as subtle as not having to learn to wait for the blocks to develop, or learning how to make use of the crease that is there
I wonder if Mike Hart can break the trend next year?
Until Unless Tubby Smith is fired or walks away from the Kentucky job, the Michigan Wolverines basketball gig is probably the highest profile job available.
That means it is time to speculate on potential hires. The Michigan blogs have been all over Amaker's termination -- here's the media recap -- and it is not exactly with great sorrow that they see him leave. Both Michigan Sports Center and M Go Blog have nice capsule summaries of some of the top potential targets -- it's almost like they were anticipating and preparing for this. Nah. I mean, who really believed Tommy Amaker would be fired? Oh, yeah, almost everyone.
In addition to the head coaches at various mid-majors who got their teams into the NCAA Tournament this year, the other names being bandies about are Tubby Smith (Kentucky), Stan Heath (Arkansas), John Beilein (WVU), and Ernie Kent (Oregon).
Right now, there is no clear indication from Michigan about who they are targeting, so it is the fun entertaining pure speculation part of any coaching carousel.
When it was first announced that Tom Brady had impregnated Bridget Moynahan, then moved on to Brazilian superhottie Gisele, Michigan fans were at first a little disappointed the blow to Brady's golden boy image, which they treasured as their own. Now there are tentative reports that Brady's gone and knocked up the Brazilian -- no word if she fell to the ground clutching her knee and looking for a red card. What's a Michigan fan to think?
How about "flippin' rad?" What at first looked like an unfortunately timed breakup now takes on the character of a deeply sinister plot to knock up every really tall hottie available, thereby creating an enormous, hot Michigan football 2018. Robot Brady Army ho! All y'all are officially in check.
(Who's next? I'm laying odds on Elisha Cuthbert -- hey, the hockey team needs a Robot Brady Future, too.)
This is what happens when you combine a parrot with an obsessive Michigan fan:
Impressive range there: the fight song, the rhythmic cowbell chant, "Go Blue," and "it's great to be a Michigan Wolverine." The outtakes probably catch the parrot saying "not another f***ing soft zone!" and gibbering about how the Rose Bowl is pain.
Dallas Cowboys tight end Martellus Bennett certainly doesn't speak for everyone who has donned a college football uniform.
Bill Raftery sounded the call early and often during Thursday night's ESPN broadcast: If Michigan could pull off a home upset of No. 16 Purdue, it would essentially secure a spot in the NCAA tournament. The Wolverines upheld their end of the bargain, jumping out to a 16-point second-half lead and posting an impressive 87-78 win over the Boilermakers.
Michigan's NCAA tournament hopes took a big blow in Iowa City.
The reports all day have been that Michigan has been talking, then negotiating with John Beilein to leave West Virginia for Ann Arbor. It looks like it has 
The Detroit Free Press is reporting that John Beilein 
Sigh. Michigan tight end Carson Butler's promising redshirt freshman season had Michigan fans all excited about his potential down the road, but now it looks like that potential will have to be uncovered in I-AA or, 
So sayeth 
Until
Another fine shot from Brady.
