For all the talk about the Big Ten Titles and inspirational messages worked into the new Michigan uniforms, until now, we had no idea what they would look like. Without further ado, the interior details on the new Michigan uniforms:

Posted under Misc.

…and your freshmen are numbered thusly:

Ricky Barnum – 56
Boubacar Cissoko – 33
Mike Cox – 15
Kenny Demens – 25
Justin Feagin – 5
JB Fitzgerald – 42
JT Floyd – 12
Taylor Hill – 36
Rocko Khoury – 63
Kevin Koger – 86
Mike Martin – 68
Sam McGuffie – 2
Elliott Mealer – 57
Brandon Moore – 88
Martavious Odoms – 9
Patrick Omameh – 65
Dan O’Neill – 78
Terrence Robinson – 7
Roy Roundtree – 16
Michael Shaw – 20
Brandon Smith – 28
Daryll Stonum – 22
Kurt Wermers – 64
Marcus Witherspoon – 4

Posted under Personnel

Pretty much as expected, from what we’ve been hearing lately, the official Michigan jerseys for 2008 have been unveiled on MGoBlue:

Let the bitching commence. I find them to be entirely inoffensive.

Posted under Misc.

Worried about the new home jerseys? Fear not, for they have been revealed!This is similar to, but not the same as, Phil Callahan’s description:

The home jerseys have a maize block “M” on the shoulder, the number is a little thicker and seems to be placed a little higher than on past jerseys. There’s also a small (1/4 inch wide by 1-2 inch) vertical maize strip running down from the collar that has Michigan in blue.

The strip on the collar (later clarified by Callahan to have a Block M, rather than the word “Michigan”) is there, the shoulder “M”s are not. No word yet on the away jerseys, described thusly by Callahan:

The away jerseys have a thin maize piping straight across the chest. There also have a small maize strip on the back of the collar that says Michigan in blue.

TV. The TV times for the first three weeks of the Big Ten Network schedule have been revealed as well, and Michigan isn’t on The Network in this timeframe. This means that the home opener against Utah and the non-conference tilt against Miami are on the Disney networks (Notre Dame is away, and therefore on NBC).

Since the BTN is guaranteed at least 3 games per team (and at least 1 conference game), this means that Michigan’s contest against Toledo will likely be relegated to a station that nearly everyone gets now. Two conference games (probably against “lesser” opponents like Northwestern (sorry, LTP) and Minnesota) will also have to end up on BTN to meet the minimum.

Grady. Through a friend-of-a-friend, I know one of the people he was “going out to get drunk with” (as described by the person in question’s mother). He blew a .281, achieving his goal and then some. Rodriguez will handle discipline internally after meeting with Kevin.

Posted under Misc.

RJ:

I was listening to a wtka podcast Phil Steele. He thinks Penn State is going to be good. Why is it that our transition to the spread is looked on as a rough one but Penn State’s transition is going to help them for next year already. What gives?

I admittedly have not finished the Penn State preview yet, but I do think a lot of “experts” are overrating them, if only slightly. In regards to the spread question, I think the transitions by Michigan and Penn State are rather different.

Michigan has a completely new coaching staff, with new terminology and a new base offense. Penn State, on the other hand, has the same coaching staff, and will still use the same base offense, but incorporate spread elements into it. Sadly, Penn State also has an experienced quarterback (Darryl Clark) with a skill set more suited to the spread than any of Michigan’s returning players.

Anonymous commenter:

I think Rich Rodriguez is trying to bring the West Virginia-style jerseys to Michigan. Didn’t he learn anything about Michigan’s tradition with the #1 jersey debacle?

The new jerseys probably have nothing to do with Rich Rodriguez, and I think he has far more important things to care about than what jerseys look like.

The “new jersey” that was leaked is a product of the Adidas deal (and Adidas trying to go for a change from the Nike jerseys) than anything to do with rodriguez. I don’t think it is likely to end up as the final product, and when a final design is decided upon, there will probably be some sort of official unveiling.

Commenter phillip provides:

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/recruiting/football/news/story?id=3459062

and I raise with:
http://www.roanoke.com/sports/college/wb/167203
These two articles definitely provide less chicken little-fodder for the Michigan fanbase. It is clear that Newsome is willing to do what it takes to improve his game, and become a better teammate, football player, and quarterback. As fans of the school to which Kevin is committed, that should be wholly acceptable to you, loyal reader.

The move to Hargrave, at this point, seems to be on account of his wanting to get the best coaching (and competition:

“The kid just came to play against better competition. That’s it. Nothing controversial. He gets to play against [junior-varsity teams from] Marshall, East Carolina and the University of Tennessee.”

) available and to get away from pro-VT pressure close to home. Until further notice, Kevin Newsome should be considered firmly committed to Michigan.

RJ:

do you think the fact that buckeyes class is virtually full will help Michigan..Especially considering the Zach Borens and James Jackson that Michigan didn’t want that bad?

It certainly can’t hurt with top prospects who like both Michigan and Ohio State because OSU simply won’t have enough room to take all of the guys who are interested in committing. That doesn’t necessarily mean those guys will come to Michigan, but there is certainly one less team in the running for a lot of top prospects that Michigan is interested in.

Posted under Coaching, Mail Bag

For those of you who are big fans of the Nike apparel that will no longer be donned by the Michigan Wolverines, your last chance to purchase officially-licensed merchandise from the MDen website is here:

Michigan fans – This is your last chance to buy Nike products on the MDen site. Adidas products will begin arriving in late July, so we have made final reductions on all our Nike clothing.

Screened replica jerseys 18.88.
Tackle twill replica jerseys 28.88
Authentic jerseys 48.88.

The official online retailer of the University of Michigan Athletic Department thanks you for your support of Michigan Athletics.

Visit the MDen site at MDen.com.

Posted under Misc.

I’ve gotten several submissions of alternate/new uniforms, however nearly all of them are… less than serious. Let’s keep those submissions coming and who knows, maybe we’ll see an actual design or two.

Coming later this afternoon: Notre Dame preview.

Posted under Blog News

After the pictures of the alleged new Michigan away jerseys leaked, fans were up in arms. While I don’t think that will be the final design (there will be slight tweaks if not something completely different), nor did I think the jerseys were that ugly, it was clear that the rest of the internetting Wolverine fanbase was less than pleased.

You may recall last year when I posted photoshopped alternate uniforms.Reactions to those selections were mixed as well, but now is your chance to create your own design. Using any medium of your choice (Photoshop, MSPaint, colored pencils and a scanner), create your own Michigan uniform designs. Nothing is too radical, nothing is too bland.

E-mail your entries (in any widely-used image or document format) to sullivti@umich.edu, and I’ll post them for discussion.

Posted under Misc.

Want to know what the new Adidas home jerseys will look like? A lot like the old home jerseys, with a different logo on them. Thanks to reader Paul for the heads up.

The Big Ten Network and Comcast are expected to announce a deal this week, according to the Chicago Tribune. This comes not one second too soon, and I think all parties involved are relieved to finally have this issue resolved.

For those who have been asking if Jim Stefani’s (awesome) work is available anywhere on the internet anymore, it can now be found here.

Posted under Recruiting

Originally, the announcement of the new Michigan apparel deal with Adidas rubbed me the wrong way. The tradition of Michigan being one of the original Nike schools, and the affinity I gained for Nike by virtue of their officially licensed UM gear really made me wish that Michigan would have stayed with the swoosh.

However, upon further reflection, I realized that these reasons weren’t good enough. If anything, they are actually criticisms of the athletic department by many Michigan fans: doing things the way they’ve always been done because that’s the way they’ve always been done, or because tradition mandates it. So in the end, while I’m sad to see something that has become somewhat of a tradition (being one of the original Nike schools) come to an end, it’s time.

There are also definite advantages of switching from Nike to Adidas as well. As mentioned by Brian, Nike has lately seen itself as the spectacle on display in sporting events, rather than just clothes worn during said events. The ugly Nike jerseys are no longer a threat to the aesthetics of the Michigan football team (for the record, I do not hate the piping on the away jerseys, though I’m apparently the only one). The Adidas deal also allows for slight redesigns to uniforms that may not have been possible staying with the same outfitter, allowing the Michigan look to maintain tradition without getting stale. And finally, the money factor. Michigan is making much more money out of the Adidas deal than they ever did from Nike, and the new contract has a clause guaranteeing Michigan preferred treatment from the clothier.

In the end, it’s sad to see one tradition end, but it opens the door for a new (and quote possibly better) one to begin.

Posted under Misc.