SB Nation - Vince Helmuth

Friday Happy Hour Hopes its Mustache for Michigan is Foot Race Friendly

Maize n Brew Dave — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 17:09:35 -0000

Maize n Brew gives you your daily (or semi-daily) rundown of all the Michigan Football, Michigan Basketball, College Football, and College Basketball news you need to get through the tedium of your boring desk job. For good measure we'll throw in a little irreverent information, comedy and commentary to help you salt away the time until the clock strikes 5pm. Want it in 140 characters or less, follow us on Twitter! Or you can find us on Facebook! Here's what's ON TAP:

Stuff You Should Read Right Now

Mustaches For Michigan - Just glorious. Screw that "All in for Michigan" BS. Grow a 'stache to support the team. As an Irishman I've been trying to grow one for 32 years. Think I'm finally getting some stubble. You can also follow these guys on Facebook. Do it. For Michigan.

The Daily Gopher celebrates one year of Brewster Blogging. They've also spent a little time blogging about the Varmint Cong in general. Congrats guys.

If Michigan Had USC’s Problems we'd have to decide whether to sit on the beach or start one of our other five star quarterbacks.

MVictors chronicles the trouble the reinstatement of MSU football player Glenn Winston is causing as does MGoBlog, both are excellent reads. The hockey player he beat the hell out of, A.J. Sturges, is not happy about this and issued a statement on Winston's reinstatement. And the statement is not a nice one.

Last October, I was assaulted by Glenn Winston. This was not a fight, or a disagreement. I was in bed in my room and came downstairs after hearing the commotion caused by three cars pulling up filled with screaming and violent people. I was standing in my front yard trying to figure out what was going on when Glenn Winston punched me in the head from the side. I never saw him. I did not have any chance to protect myself at all. Neither did his other victims.

That night, I received a fractured skull, five stitches inside my mouth, and a subdural hematoma, or bleeding on the brain. I was not involved in a college fight, as this story is perceived. After having nothing to do with any events that occurred earlier that night, I was attacked in my own house...

Me and the other victims have not received any form of apology from Glenn Winston. Nothing. He has not acknowledged to us in any way the damage he caused. While this fact remains ignored, I cannot allow myself to believe that his debts have been paid, or even understood. While the victims of his actions still recover from what he did, Winston’s obligations have been deemed fulfilled by the football program and athletic department. I think his immediate reinstatement after a shortened jail sentence in my opinion is the wrong decision by our athletic program.

While I hope what happened to me will never happen again, I am afraid the precedent set by this decision will only enable similar incidents in the future. With no formal athletic standards or means to deal with student athletes convicted of a violent crime, this cycle will continue.

Beyond legal and team issues, there is a simple human obligation of respect and character that still remains unfulfilled. Until that occurs, I question what has been learned.

God, I feel for this kid. Please read his statement in it's entirety. We'll have to see if this causes for friction within the MSU athletic department or any kind of buzz in the local press. On the Michigan end? When Mike Milano put Steve Kampfer in the hospital he was thrown off the team. I just can't see how Winston's reinstatement is anything other than bad. This just confirms it:

P.S. AT 11:30 P.M.: Here's MSU's reaction to Sturges' press release, via associate AD John Lewandowski: "Our reaction is, there is no new information provided in the Sturges statement that wasn’t already taken into consideration before the Winston reinstatement," Lewandowski said. "We’re moving forward and there will be no additional statements on this matter."

Sparty No!

Dr. Saturday provides five loosely related explanations for the curious fall of Wisconsin. One thing that will surprise the hell out of you is just how good Wisconsin played with Joe Stocco under center. They were 31-7 with Stocco as their QB with 3 NYD bowl appearances. Bet you didn't remember that. Also, take a look at the downfall of the Wisconsin defense. It's shocking.

Lake The Posts got it's feathers ruffled by Joe Montana's recent assertion that Notre Dame has to lower its academic standards to compete in modern college football. LTP's not happy when you say you have to be dumb to play football...

Montana’s assumption that Notre Dame must relax academic standards or lower expectations is a joke. This is classic rationalization inherent in an any organization that wants to ignore the true issues that are at stake. Why do we all feel so strongly about this? Well, as Northwestern fans, we live through the exact same challenges.

Cosign, homie.

(Michigan Football Updates and Other News After the Jump!)

Michigan Football

JT Turner was cleared and will begin practice immediately.

Running back Michael Cox (15) takes a handoff from true freshman quarterback Denard Robinson (16). John T. Greilick / The Detroit News via multimedia.detnews.com

Is Denard Robinson U-M's fastest player? Dunno, but apparently the title will be determined in a footrace between Denard Robinson and Troy Woolfolk.

Schilling 'really impressed' with U-M's three freshman o-linemen. Per Mark Snyder's Blog, Quinton Washington has made the biggest impression.

"He’s huge, you can’t move him," Schilling said of the player out of South Carolina. "I don’t know (how much) he’s lifting, but you try to push him and he won’t move. He’s one of those guys that’s really heavy-set in the ground and you can’t move him but he can move so that’s a good thing."

Donovan Warren heals, warns U-M doubters that he's comintagetcha.

2009 CFN All-Americans & Top Players at DE - BG got honorable mention:

Brandon Graham, Sr., Michigan

On a very thin and a very questionable Michigan defensive front, the 6-2, 268-pound Graham needs to play like the NFL prospect he’s supposed to be. A freak of nature with all the measurables, he ran a 10.9 100-meter dash in high school, he earned second-team All-Big Ten honors after making 46 tackles, ten sacks, and 20 tackles for loss. His sacks came in bunches, destroying Wisconsin with three and playing well against Michigan State with three sacks. Now he’ll be a marked man as the lone star on the defensive front, so he’ll have to get used to more double and triple teams and will have to be patient. The consistent stats won’t be there, but his presence should make everyone around him better.

Michigan comes in 28th in CFN's 2009 Offensive Unit Rankings.

Marell Evans, Vince Helmuth to Transfer (via Michigan Sports Center) - Linebacker Marell Evans and Defensive Tackle Vince Helmuth are planning on transferring. No destinations are named, but both kids are leaving with class and dignity. I wish them both success in their future endeavors.

The NYT Quad Blog takes a look at the fallout from the dismissal of Justin Feagin. No new ground contained therein, just equal time between MGoBlog and the Detroit Free Press. The fact that I can write that sentence shows you just how far blogs, especially blogs like Brian's, have come in the last four years. Kudos to the Times for knowing where the actual information comes from.

Michigan Football Recruiting

Delaware running back Jamaal Jackson says he's down to three schools – Michigan, East Carolina and Rutgers. That is the strangest list I've ever seen. I honestly don't know anything about this kid.

4* LB Christian Jones has Michigan in his top six.

Michigan in top group for 3* MD LB Troy Gloster. Yet another guy bailing on a Stanford commit.

Random Michigan Tidbits

Former U-M guard David Merritt's clothing line launches. Good luck Dave.

Yost Built brings us up to speed on incoming recruits Mac Bennett and Chris Brown.

College Football

Dr. Saturday takes a look at Michigan State's Kirk Cousins versus Keith Nichols QB battle and is left shaking his head. I've got no clue who's going to start at this point and neither does he (though the smart money is on Nichols grabbing the reigns eventually).

The BBC has an indepth look, I mean really indepth look, at tOSU's linebackers for 2009.

Eleven Warriors hits up Ohio State Media Days. Various tid bits from Columbus including word that WR Ray Small should be back on the practice field this week.

Penn State OL J.B. Walton leaves program - Walton was slated to be a backup guard this season. Reportedly left the program to concentrate on his grades. Good luck kid.

PSU cornerback A.J. Wallace suspended for the start of the Season - Joe Pa caught him ditching class. That's no-no son.

More Joe Pa Fun curtesy of EDSBS

"What excites me? Nothing excites me yet," Paterno replied. "I’ll be honest with you: We’re lousy. I have nothing to be excited about right now. "We have too many things we got to get accomplished. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us to be a good football team. I’m excited to be alive, that’s all."

Smart Football: How to beat press man coverage - Ever wonder how Mannigham got those great releases off the line or why Michigan had so much trouble last year? It's all here. Chris Brown explains beating bump and run press coverage.

Shtoopin' in a Restaraunt

What’s Next for Rick Pitino? Man. This story is funny and not funny at the same time. Extortion. Baby makin'. Baby... er... not makin'. Hirin'. Firin'. It's like days of our lives. I'm betting Louisville doesn't can him.

2009 Michigan Football, Position by Position: Defensive Tackle and Defensive Tackle Recruiting

Maize n Brew Dave — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:12:37 -0000

Going into the 2009 season there are three positions on the Michigan Defense that are causing a great amount of concern among the Michigan faithful. Cornerback. Safety. Defensive Tackle. All three of these positions have highly touted players starting for the Wolverines. All three of these positions are also an injury away from becoming an aneurysm inducing mess. In an effort to assuage those fears (or stoke them like coals in a furnace) we'll be taking a look at Michigan Football's positions of need, the quality in place, the replacements on the way, and recruits that hopefully will carry the load for Michigan going forward.

Defensive Tackle

If you're looking for an iconic photograph that basically encapsulates how Michigan fan feels about Michigan Football, you really need to look no further than the aftermath of Alan Branch planting Anthony Morreli in 2006.

The end of Times, via www.thewolverineblog.com

It's all there. Strength. Power. Devastation. Arrogance. This photo sums up both the expectations and historical results of Michigan Football. So, as emblematic as the Corner position has become for Michigan over the past couple of decades, Defensive Tackle may be a more apt symbol. Will Carr, Rob Renes, Alan Branch, Gabe Watson, Terrance Taylor, and the lot. Just like Michigan's football seasons, they've run the gambit from overachievers, to underachievers, to just what you'd expect, good or bad. If you're looking for a positional representation of Michigan's Football fortunes, look no further than Defensive Tackle.

Along those lines, the last two years have been down ones at Defensive Tackle. The talent was certainly there in the forms of Terrance Taylor, Will Johnson and Mike Martin. Unfortunately the results (save Martin) haven't been. Taylor was projected to be a second round pick in 2007, came back to a revamped (totally screwy) defense and wound up dropping into the fourth round after a disappointing senior season. Will Johnson, despite being one of the strongest guys on the team, never lived up to his billing. As a result, teams ran all over Michigan. Now you can't pin the failure of the run defense on these two guys. But the reality is they were serviceable at best for most of the year, with the occasional flash of brilliance. Regarding Martin, it appears he's got star written all over him. But that's easy to say when you're coming off the bench fresh mid game rather than starting.

While game play at the Defensive Tackle position has been adequate, it's impossible to classify Michigan's recruiting at this position as anything better. When you think about the spectacular flame out of Marques Slocum; the underdevelopment Renaldo Sagesse and Jason Kates (transfer); and the fact that we've moved Vince Helmuth from fullback to DT, well, you start to wonder what the hell is going on.

Defensive Tackle has been such a frustrating recruiting slot that John Ferrara, a DT recruit, is now on the opposite side of the ball as an Offensive Guard! I mean how screwy do things have to be when you move a player to a position of need, and his former position becomes the most dire on the team? However you want to read it, with the graduations of Taylor and Johnson Michigan was down to one starter worthy player, a handful of guys whom we really have no idea whether they'll provide any serviceable time, a converted fullback, and an all-star freshman in the mold of Terrence Taylor. In a word: Yikes.

The DT position wasn't supposed to be this dire heading into 2009. Michigan had all but inked a pair of highly rated DTs to the 2009 class in Pearlie Graves and DeQuinta Jones to go along with uber-recruit Will Campbell. Unfortunately, as the weeks leading up to national signing day unfolded, Michigan lost both Jones and Graves to last minute defections. This left only Campbell to fill what was suddenly a cavernous DT void. This isn't to suggest either Jones or Graves would be contesting for starting time, but a couple of extra bodies in the middle would come in real handy this year, ready or not.

So where does that leave Michigan heading into 2009? Surprisingly adequate, but an injury away from a serious, serious problem. Greg Robinson's transition to the 3-4 Deathbacker defense takes some of the pressure off the middle of the line in terms of numbers. Michigan won't need to prance out both of its best DTs on any one play unless Robinson switches to a more traditional 4-3 just to mess with the other team. Based on Robinson's track record, I don't see that happening... too often. The Deathbacker means that Mike Martin will start the season as Michigan's 1st team DT. Martin had a solid year as a freshman in 2008 and on several occasions outplayed his senior teammates. You might recall Martin doing this against Wisconsin:

Skip to 8:00. Courtesy of Wolverine Historian, of course.

Yeah. The kid can play.

Backing him up, though not confirmed, will likely be freshman Will Campbell. Campbell was an all-world recruit in the 2009 class who enrolled at Michigan early, despite rumors and a head fake toward LSU. The book on the kid is he is a monster in that Alan Branch mold... when he wants to be. The fear is Campbell is a lot like Terrance Taylor in that he was known to have lapses mid game, and take a play or two at 50%. Even so, he's a dominant style DT that absolutely throttled anyone who challenged him at the recruit camps or on the high school field. The key to Campbell, at least from what I've read, is when he's challenged he's a beast. When he's bored, meh. Still, a bored Campbell would start for all but the top 5% of college football teams, so it's hard to nit pick too much. But if Michigan can motivate this kid, Michigan will arguably have the two best DT's in the conference by the season's end.

The next player on the depth chart depends on who you talk to, when you talk to them. It could either be large, Biggie-lookin' Canadian Renaldo Sagesse or new to the position Vince Helmuth. My money's on seeing a bit of Sagesse this season. He's a monster, size-wise, at 6'5" 300+. Unfortunately, three years in, the kid hasn't cracked the starting rotation. He's been good enough to see the field, but not good enough to log appreciable minutes. It's hard to blame the kid for not taking the leap forward we'd like when you consider he's had a new position coach every year he's been at Michigan. But players step up, and Michigan needs Sagesse to do just that because after him things are more than dicey. Vince Helmuth, while more than talented, isn't a DT. He's a fullback playing DT, strike that, learning to play DT. Maybe in a year or so Helmuth can contribute, but I'm not holding my breath that he's going to be a difference maker anytime soon.

DT Recruiting for the 2010 class is at best, questionable. Michigan continues to pursue this year's all world DT prospect Sharrif Floyd of Philly. Floyd's been fairly tight lipped about where he'll end up, but Michigan hasn't really garnered a lot of press in his recruitment. Without the instate pull that Michigan had on Campbell, I'm not high on Floyd's prospects of ending up a Wolverine. Though it'd certainly help. After him are a plethora of prospects who don't seem to be decided one way or another.

Richard Ash 4* Pahokee, FL

Ricky Heimuli 4* Salt Lake City, UT

Mike Thornton 3* Stone Mountain, GA

Johnathon Hankins NR Detroit, MI (no offer/claims OSU offer) (3* Scout)

Michigan's best bet a DT appears to be with Ricky Heimuli. Heimuli stands 6'4", 280, and appears to be one of the risers in the recruiting process. Michigan offered him in early May, but that offer simply piled on top of an impressive sheet that lists 20 other offers (including USC, LSU and Oklahoma). While Heimuli is from Salt Lake and the cold might not be as big a turn off as it is for other recruits, he recently camped at USC and his mom liked USC. On the plus side, a recent Scout article said Michigan's history with LDS athletes help it stand out. So we've got a shot. TIFWIW.

After Heimuli, things aren't so rosy. Despite Michigan's connections at Pahokee, Ash appears to be looking at the Florida instate schools. If he goes out of state I'd be shocked. The only other DT in this class that's still available and actually holds a Michigan offer is Georgia DT Mike Thornton who received his offer this week. Thornton seems to have rocketed up the recruiting charts over the last few months and holds a number of offers from top tier BCS programs, including Georgia and Alabama. It's a little early on in Michigan's recruitment to get a picture as to whether Thornton's a legit candidate to accept, but you have to expect that other schools who've been on his trail for a while are in a better position than Michigan at this time. Finally, there's the curious case of Johnathon Hankins, a Detroit kid with an unrequited love of Michigan who can't seem to buy an offer from the Wolverine. Hankins camped, but didn't receive an offer apparently due to conditioning issues. Unless Michigan changes its mind, Hankins will probably end up at OSU or MSU. I'd list the remaining DT prospects, but none of them are holding Michigan offers, so it's the above guys or nothing.

So that's where Michigan stands. A position that really needs at least two 2010 commits, but realistically will only see one guy accept an offer. With Martin a sophomore, Campbell a freshman, and Sagesse still with two full years to live up to his potential, Michigan's in a not-bad, but not-good position. Going forward, unless Michigan pulls in another DT or two, it could get ugly. If Michigan lands a commit for 2010, start breathing again but don't relax. Two commits, breath easier. None? Panic Cloverfield style.

But for this year, Michigan's playing with two kids and one underachieving upperclassman. Only one player at DT has logged significant playing time. Even though Michigan's got talent at DT, an injury to either of the top two and it could be a rough year up the middle for Michigan.