Tate Forcier, Denard Robinson, and Nick Sheridan looked to be the only quarterbacks on Michigan’s roster by the time fall camp rolled around, however, recent news abounds that Michigan may add some transfers to the rotation, if only to build up a bit of depth.

First comes Jason Forcier. The former Wolverine and Stanford grad is looking to continue his education in Ann Arbor. Forcier the elder, who backed up Chad Henne for a couple years before Golden Boy Mallett removed any and all hope of future playing time (ha!), is the oldest brother of Tate, the odds-on favorite to be Michigan’s starter this fall. Under normal circumstances, he would be ineligible to spend 2009, his final year of collegiate eligibility, at Michigan. However, he may appeal to the NCAA to use the Mundy Rule (under which Michigan starting safety Ryan Mundy became West Virginia starting safety Ryan Mundy). The rule has since been repealed by the bureaucracy we all know and love, but the NCAA will look at individual cases to determine their merits. In Forcier’s case, he started out at Michigan, then managed to earn his degree at Stanford, and wants to return to Michigan for a post-grad degree (and likely a future in coaching), in addition to helping his little brother adjust to college life. If he is also granted the privilege of playing for the Wolverines, that would be a bonus, though a significant one for both Jason and the Wolverines.

The other transfer news, which was something of a hot topic yesterday, comes in the form of a potential switch by Duke basketball player Greg Paulus. Paulus was among the nation’s top QB recruits in the class of 2005 (in which he was also a 5-star point guard recruit). Paulus visited Ann Arbor for Michigan’s final spring practice on Tuesday, at which time he talked to coach Rod about potentially coming to Michigan as a QB (the Green Bay Packers have similar designs on Paulus). I’m not clear on Paulus’s eligibility status, as he’d be not only transferring schools, but also sports. However, as someone who’d be playing organized football for the first time in over 4 years, it’s safe to say he’d only be adding depth to Michigan’s sparse backfield.

So what’s the most likely outcome? I would assume Jason probably ends up in maize-and-blue either way, be it a uniform or the sweatsuit of a grad assistant. If Paulus wants to come to Michigan, depending on the eligibility status, it must be assumed that the Wolverines wouldn’t hesitate to take him, especially considering they have several scholarships available to hand out for 2009.

What say you, Michigan fans? Are you for these potential moves? Against them?

Posted under Football, Personnel

Sad, I really liked Grady. Sure, he could be a defensive liability, but dude could definitely handle the rock (and shoot it some, too). It’s going to be an interesting situation in the backcourt next year, with all of Michigan’s point guards leaving. AD release:

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – University of Michigan men’s basketball coach John Beilein announced Thursday (April 2) guard Kelvin Grady (Grand Rapids, Mich./East Grand Rapids HS) has made the decision to leave the Wolverines basketball program and transfer to another school. Grady has not yet made a decision on which school he will attend.

“Kelvin has asked for his release from the program and we will grant that to him,” said Beilein. “Over the last two years, he has been a positive influence in helping build the foundation of our program. He is a wonderful young man on and off the floor. We wish him nothing but success in the future.”

“It’s been a wonderful experience both as a student and as a player here at the University of Michigan, but I feel I need a fresh start,” said Grady. “I love this university and want to thank the coaching staff, my teammates and everyone else who has supported me over the past two years. However, I have decided to explore other academic and playing opportunities at this time.”

In two seasons in Ann Arbor, Grady played in 64 games with 33 starts. He averaged 4.9 points, 1.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game for the Maize and Blue.

Posted under Basketball, Personnel

I swear, I’m really trying to avoid doing these posts with any regularity.

• Ricky Barnum has sprained his ankle, and will miss a few spring practices to get wrist surgery. His wrist was (apparently) pretty damaged, and he was working through it before. While it sucks that he’s sustained another injury, at least it gave him the opportunity to get the wrist taken care of.
• Denard Robinson has claimed the 2nd-fastest 100m dash time in the country so far this year for high-schoolers. The incoming QB ran a 10.44 time, and expects to run in the 10.3s when track season gets underway in earnest. (Photo by Tom Ervin for the Miami Herald).
• Devin Gardner plans to publicly commit to Michigan either Thursday or Friday. He apparently did so silently at junior day, but wanted to finish out his basketball season before worrying about dealing with the press.
• Darryl Stonum has debunked the rumors that he’s intending to transfer from Michigan at the end of spring practice.
• SPRING GAME WOO GET AMPED.
• VB (Paul and Tim, at least) plans to be at todays 3:05 PM baseball game at the Fish. Feel free to say hello to us.

And, in site news: If you take a look at the top of the right sidebar, the subscription options have changed slightly. You can still subscribe via RSS, but there are now other possibilities. There is now an official VB Twitter account to which you can subscribe @VarsityBlue. You can subscribe via e-mail, which will inform you whenever there is a new front page post on Varsity Blue. And, perhaps what we’re most excited about, we’re going to start rolling out a VB Newsletter, which we’ll send out once a week (you can help us determine which day when you sign up), and will include a recap of the week’s action on Varsity Blue, along with a bit of information that may not have made it to the front page, and even a preview of what is coming in the next week. It might start out a little spartan in design (no pun intended), but we’ll be beefing it up in short order.

In other site news, we plan to debut a couple new features on VB in the coming weeks, though they’re not quite ready for public consumption yet. I’ll keep you posted when everything is ready to go live.

Posted under Baseball, Blog News, Football, Personnel, Recruiting, Spring Coverage

Paul is attending the Rich Rodriguez press conference currently underway, and sending me updates to relay. Check back as I update this post with new information.

1. Nick Sheridan has suffered a non-displaced fracture of his leg that will not require surgery. He will be out 4-6 weeks, and will be back with the team in time for summer workouts.
2. To help deal with the dwindling numbers at the QB position, Justin Feagin (QB last year, slot this spring) will continue taking snaps at the quarterback position in Spring Practice.

End relevant information. Paul will update with video shortly.

 

 Rodriguez Talking about Sheridan: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Posted under Football, Personnel

An intrepid Bleacher Report author has gotten his hands on “leaked information” (read: has probably posted something he read on a premium message board) that Nick Sheridan and David Cone both sustained injuries during practice yesterday, though it’s unclear how long they’re out (if each does indeed have a broken bone, it’ll probably be until the end of spring).

This is obviously bad for several reasons, most notably because it leaves Tate Forcier as the only QB on the roster who was deemed worthy of a scholarship offer out of high school. The only other QB who took snaps in practice Saturday was #18, deemed not even important enough to have his name on the spring roster.

I foresee Justin Feagin, Carlos Brown, Terrence Robinson, et al probably getting a few more reps at QB than they were planning on this spring, if only because there are practically no breathing bodies left.

EDIT: I should probably note (though it’s obvious from no link) that there is no confirmation of this from a free source.

UPDATE: Someone from the football program (presumably Coach Rodriguez) is going to be holding a press conference tomorrow presumably to address the injury rumors. Team coverage and whatnot forthcoming.

Posted under Football, Personnel, Spring Coverage

Junio-to-be wideout Toney Clemons has left the Michigan football program, as I speculated when he was absent from practice Saturday. Clemons cited a desire to play in a more pro-style offense, where he feels he would get more opportunities to catch the ball and make plays. Perhaps most importantly, he didn’t try to slam the coach or school on the way out, simply citing his philosophical differences.

He intends to transfer to a school in one of the other BCS conferences, where he’ll sit out for a redshirt year before returning to the field in 2010. Clemons was one of my favorite recruits a couple years back, and I was already rooting for him to become a difference maker on the field. I’ll continue doing the same at his new destination.

Scholarship count and depth charts updated in the Personnel HQ.

Posted under Football, Personnel

In this Blogcast, Tim gives you an overview of all the new Wolverines. If you have any ideas for future blogcasts, let us know in the comments.

 

 Varsity Blue Podcast for 2/25/2009: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Posted under Blogcast, Personnel

After being the subject of rumor for the past week-plus, Steven Threet has officially told the press that he plans to transfer from Michigan. Threet was the starting quarterback for large portions of 2008, and was actually quite successful when healthy. It’s a shame to see the young man leave, but you really can’t blame the kid, as he really wants to play, and do so in a scheme that fits his skill set.

The Threet transfer probably does mean one positive thing for Michigan fans: that Tate Forcier has looked good enough in the training program and volunatary QB-WR workouts as to pose a significant threat to Threet’s starting position. Of course, it also means bad things, like “Michigan only has 2 quarterbacks between safety and Nick Sheridan.” The QB depth situation becomes almost as bad as it was last year, though the second option (likely to be Denard Robinson) is a step up from either Sheridan or Justin Feagin.

This clears out the depth chart somewhat for a class of 2010 prospect to find it quite appealing (Devin Gardner, come on down!), but harms Michigan in the short term. Wherever Threet ends up (rumors have said Eastern Michigan, under former Michigan DC Ron English), I certainly wish him the best of luck.

Posted under Football, Personnel, Recruiting, Spring Coverage

When Will Campbell was being interviewed they had him step off the stage, so he wouldn’t be too tall for the cameras.  Will’s personality, his bubbliness and goofiness remind me a lot of Terrance Taylor.

 

 Will Campbell Signing Day Interview: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Posted under Personnel, Video

Surprisingly, there wasn’t a shoving match in order to get to Mike Jones. Apparantly he seemed hesitant or nervous on WTKA, but he sounded comfortable and excited here. I apologize for the lack of good questions. I was sort of a one man show at this point:

 

 Mike Jones Signing Day Interview: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Posted under Personnel, Video