The Detroit Free Press has the entire Rich Rodriguez deposition in three PDF files:
One
Two
Three

If you don’t feel like reading the whole thing, some highlights can be found at the Times West Virginian. Some highlights:

Rodriguez says board members Steve Farmer, Drew Payne and Perry Petroplus also assured him all outstanding demands Rodriguez had for the football program would be met when Mike Garrison became WVU president.

“And that’s the time when (Garrison) said he didn’t believe in buyouts, and that he would reduce it anyway, once he took office,” Rodriguez testified.

Rodriguez said he considered the $4 million “excessive” and “unfair,” but acquiesced when he learned Kendrick had insisted on the amount. Kendrick had pledged $2.5 million to the WVU Foundation Inc., contingent on Rodriguez remaining coach.

Flaherty told Rodriguez that Kendrick withdrew the pledge after Rodriguez resigned.

Rodriguez said he was called by Arkansas about the Razorbacks’ vacant coaching job after WVU lost to Pitt in the 2007 regular-season finale, but he wasn’t interested. He later mentioned that call to Garrison at a Fiesta Bowl function, saying “we need to sit down and talk about the issues.”

Garrison agreed, “but we never did, other than that Saturday night before I made the decision,” Rodriguez said.

After he got Michigan’s offer Dec. 14, Rodriguez met with Pastilong and Walker. Though he’d been hopeful of an agreement, he said that changed during a private 10 p.m. meeting at Garrison’s house on Dec. 15.

As expected, it certainly sounds like WVU tried to strong-arm him more than he was eager to get the hell out of Morgantown.

Posted under Coaching

RJ furnishes us with a link, summarizes by giving us this snippet of information:

Sam Webb said this morning that the days of Michigan recruiting players that only play qb. Brandon McGee and a few other dual threats who play other positions are what they are looking for. Tate Forcier and all the other qbs can be pretty much taken off.

I removed all QBs except two categories when Shavodrick Beaver committed to Michigan:

• Guys who could play another position and learn QB for emergency situations.
• Tate Forcier.

It now sounds like Forcier can be removed from that list. However, I think the scope of RJ’s message is a little overextended. For 2009, Michigan is probably done recruiting QBs (unless they are multiple-position guys), but in the future, if there’s a Tate Forcier-type guy, they would take him. So, for this year, it means Forcier is off the board.

Posted under Recruiting

I’m sure you’ve seen this elsewhere in the Michigan blogosphere, and may already be sick of it, but it’s time to participate in the Charity Bowl. And hey, if you get sick of it, maybe you’ll donate just to shut all of us up.

How? EDSBS:

1) Make a donation online to the American Red Cross, CARE, or the International Rescue Committee.

2) Email the donation confirmation to kevin@fanblogs.com and state your team affiliation by 8pm EDT on Wednesday, May 14th.

3) Results will be displayed at Every Day Should Be Saturday and Fanblogs throughout the week, with the final results shown by Thursday, May 15th.

4) The winning school will have its colors displayed at EDSBS and logo/mascot shown on every page at Fanblogs.

Let’s Go Blue for a good cause.

Posted under Blog News

A couple big hits to Michigan’s recruiting efforts, as two of their top prospects are off the board. Holloman is probably a bigger hit than Jackson, as he seemed to be more interested in Michigan than Jackson did, and will be harder to get back on campus to sway his decision (especially since he was supposed to come here this weekend). Jackson had cooled on Michigan over the course of time, but if Rodriguez and co. really want him, they should at least be able to get him back on campus to visit, as he is an instate prospect.

Both prospects will be removed from the next edition of the Recruiting Board. On a side note, I don’t understand how Clemson has consistent recruiting classes that can be described as “kind of awesome” and teams that can be described as “kind of terrible.”

Posted under Recruiting

The board. You may notice it’s been reorganized so the offered prospects are at the top of each table. If I missed anything, let me know in the comments to this post so I can fix it.

Added:
NC DB Terry Shankle. He’s been offered (info in header).

New Information:
TN OT Alex Bullard. Top 6 includes Michigan. Tennessee with the edge currently.
AZ DE Craig Roh. He will play in the ESPN Game.
SC DB Damario Jeffrey. Top 10 does not include Michigan.
OH OT Marcus Hall. His top 6 has changed but still includes Michigan.
IL OG Chris Watt recruiting fluff. No Michigan mention (but no mention of OSU, either). He’s #1 in Illinois.

Etc.:
Freep’s top 5 instaters. Lots of Michigan targets expected for the OSU Nike. Happy 2nd birthday Michigan Football Saturdays.

Posted under Recruiting

Former Lowell QB Keith Nichol has stated that Michigan may his destination following his transfer from the University of Oklahoma. Nichol, a pass-run threat, committed to Michigan State, then rescinded his verbal once John L. Smith was fired as head coach. He ended up a Sooner, but received his scholarship release after two years, when he saw that he would likely not gain any major playing time.

Will Nichol end up at Michigan State? He’s not a great fit for the Spartan offense, which now features the statuesque quarterbacks that Michigan fans were so glad to get rid of. Nichol also spurned the school (and by extension, the new coaching staff) once, so it’s unclear whether he will be accepted with open arms. Still, the current depth chart situation looks perfect for Nichol to come in and take the reins in 2009.

At Michigan, the offensive scheme is more suited to Nichol’s athletic ability. However, he grew up a big Michigan State fan, and who knows if he could see himself playing for the University of Puke? Also, I’m not so sure that Rich Rodriguez and co. would want a player who won’t be able to hit the field until 2009, and even then only has three years of eligibility. Since Justin Feagin will be able to play in 2008, he will have a year of game experience over Nichol, and he has more athletic ability. By the time Nichol is eligible in 2009, Feagin will be but a sophomore, and (at least) two new quarterbacks with 5 years to play 4 will be around.

So what’s the advantage of taking Nichol? It doesn’t seem like the smartest move for Michigan from a football standpoint, and I’ll be surprised if he ends up here.

Posted under Personnel, Recruiting

Sorry for the lack of posting this weekend, I was out of town sans internet. Should be a flurry of activity this week, then I’m going to be out of the country for a couple weeks, and I’m not sure if I’ll have internet access. If not, I’ll try to have Paul get some content up in my absence.

I’ll give another programming update as the date of my departure arrives (let’s call it Friday).

Posted under Blog News

I’ve come to realize that the commitment pages aren’t always updated by the end of the week, so if you’re a fan of a school that doesn’t get much notice, drop any commitments your team might get in the comments.

Action since last rankings:
By request, Notre Dame added.
5-3-08 Iowa gains commitment from David Barrent.
5-4-08 Minnesota gains commitment from Hasan Lipscomb.

New Rankings:

With only 6(ish) scholarships left, this will be a quality-over-quantity class for the Bucks.

Bell will likely end up a high 3-star.

Every player committed to State thus far is from Michigan.

Wood is a very good prospect, but all are slightly overrated because of their school of choice (especially Golic).

Lipscomb is a speedy little bastard from Russell Shepard’s high school, and I think he is likely a little underrated. Keise will probably end up a mid 3-star.

Illinois started fast, but has since stagnated (and lost Melvin Fellows to the Bucks).

Arcidiacono actually had some pretty good offers, albeit from schools that offer anyone with a pulse (Notre Dame and Florida). I think he is a little underrated. Howle will end up a high 3-star.

Wisconsin has all linemen, all from America’s Dairyland.

Their only commit comes from one of the least important positions on the field. Huzzah!

At least they have some commits. Come on, state of Indiana.

T-11th – Indiana, Purdue (0 commits)

Posted under Recruiting

The Board. Changes I’m contemplating for the next update: moving offered prospects to the top of the chart at their respective positions, instead of organizing by stars. Leave comments on whether you think this is a good/bad idea.

Added:
NC WR Jheranie Boyd. Michigan was at his school in late April (and apparently offered). However, Clemson leads (info in header). He won’t decide until signing day.
SC WR Alshon Jeffrey. Offer.
SC DB Damario Jeffery. He has been offered.
IL WR Kraig Appleton. I had knocked him off the list for lack of any knowledge about mutual interest, but Sam Webb reported on WTKA that he has now been offered. Michigan mention.

New Information:
MN WR Bryce McNeal. Fluffy stuff.
LA DT Chris Davenport. LSU insiders expect him to end up a Tiger (not surprising).
GA CB Darren Myles. Michigan visits him.
MI TE Dion Sims. Sam Webb discusses his status in the Freep.
AZ DE Craig Roh. ESPN game participant.

Removed:
TX RB Jazsman Mitchell. No word of mutual interest lately, and Michigan seems to be in enough other RB/slot prospects.

Lots of new adds this week. don’t forget to comment on the potential board reshuffle.

Etc.:
Rivals Michigan recruiting fluff. Definitely disagree that offensive recruiting is the most interesting to watch this season. With a couple system-specific guys in the fold, I’d love to see some DEs.

Posted under Recruiting

Today’s afternoon post shall be a link factory, because there’s a lot going on in the world of internets.

• Grand Haven’s 1370AM radio interviewed Michigan recruiting guru Tom Beaver. Podcast on the Terp’s Take Blog.
• Will the stadium renovations be completed on time? MVictors.com has read the tea leaves, and thinks the schedule may be in jeopardy.
• Interesting correlation to my post this morning, Utah blog Block U ruminates on how to build a non-BCS program. I’ve played NCAA ’07, so I already know: recruit every 5-star you can, regardless of whether he’s at a position of need or not.
• A new and improved ACL procedure. Paging Antonio Bass.
• To shit-talker Charlie Weis: 1-2. Maybe you should do something worthwhile before your ego gets too big. Wait, this is Charlie Weis we’re talking about here. His ego knows no bounds.

Posted under Misc.