Some Reactions to the Day

Mike Martin:  "It's something not in my control or our control as players," Martin said. "It's just something we have to deal with as a team. It's really hard on all of us. "He's my coach and he's been here since I've been here. I've built a relationship with him off the field as well as on the field so I'm always going to be with coach (Rodriguez)."


Thomas Gordon:  "Definitely I'm surprised," said Gordon. "I have a lot of love for Coach Rod. He's the guy who brought me here. He's a guy I definitely respected and I loved him as a coach."When asked what his future plans are, Gordon replied, "I'm here. I came to school for Michigan."Said Gordon: "Yes it is surprising, but it is what it is. You've just got to move on."

Denard's HS Coach Art Taylor:  "It just happened, so I haven't had time to talk to him," Taylor said. "I would advise him to wait and see who's coming in (as head coach)."


2011 recruit Dallas Crawford:  “(Michigan) is still number one right now, but I have to open back up and explore my options,” Crawford said.“Officially I haven’t talked to the coaches yet,” Crawford said. “In my mind, I am decommitted.”

Army All American Wayne Lyons:  "I'm still considering them because you have to pick the school and not the coach and Michigan is still a great school and a great program," Lyons said. "They're still in it. (The firing) is not a surprise. I kind of expected it. It's a great learning lesson because a lot of top schools for me like Stanford might get a new coach, Florida has a new coach and Michigan is getting a new coach so it goes to show the school is more important than the coach."

Army All American Kris Frost:  "It has a big impact," Frost said. "With him being fired of course it's going to make me think twice about it but at the same time people go to colleges for colleges. "I love Rich Rod and I love what he did offensively and defensively with the defensive coordinator. I feel like given another chance, they had so many young players, it would have helped out more to give him another chance. It's a business and we understand that."


"I'm going to rethink some stuff but at the same time the ultimate decision won't change on where I've been thinking about going or where I was planning on going with Auburn, LSU and Michigan," Frost said. "I have to reevaluate things when my mom and dad get here (Wednesday) and I'll make my decision from there.

Army All American and Verbal Commit Blake Countness:  "Right now I'm worried about winning this game, I'm going to focus on this game and then go back home and talk to my parents and see how things go but right now I'm sticking with Michigan," Countess said.



"I fell in love with the school so right now I'm staying with Michigan because of the school but hopefully I can build a relationship with the new coach. I'm just going to focus on this game and then evaluate what's best for me and my family."


"I don't eliminate them. Just the bond I had with the school, not the program, I don't eliminate them but you have to think about that kind of thing because it is about college and the education at Michigan is going to be great. At the same time, I don't want to waste four years of my football career."

Army All American LB Lamar Dawson: "It just eliminates them," Dawson said of the Wolverines. "I was going to take my official up there but since he's not up there I'm not going to do that anymore. "If he got fired I wasn't going to consider them. If he stayed I was going to consider them and take my visit up there."

How can a bad day get worse for RR and family?  Today they were notified they are being sued over the sale of their home in West Virgina.  I guess one room has a water leak and Rich Rod's boat wasn't included in the deal.   Well maybe they now can just move back in to the $1.3M home.  I would fix the water leak with his new check from U of M. 

Michigan Tuesday: Jimmy Has Some Decisions to Make

So Monday night Stanford won a BCS Bowl Game by playing good defense and beating Virgina Tech in the second half with a balanced offense.  Congratulations to Jim Harbaugh and Stanford on winning the Orange Bowl. 

Now what?  The best analogy I saw on Twitter yesterday was that maybe Jim would hold a press conference and have a 49ers, Broncos, Carolina, Stanford and Michigan hats all on a table.  He would then pick one and say he is committing to that organization.  

Reports are all over the board from, "if Michigan offered he would take it" to "Michigan is off the table and he wants to stay at Stanford or go the NFL".

Here is my take on his decision process:

49ers:  Pro's:  Close to home and comes with the largest paycheck.  Con's: In the NFL coaches are hired to be fired.  Could be there just for a few years. 

Stanford: Pro's: Build a very nice top 10 program there.  Con's: Will he ever make the money he wants at a private University?

Broncos: Pro's and Con's = John Elway.  A Hall of Famer who has never been an NFL executive.   Could be a good or bad thing, jury is still out.

Carolina: Pro's: Could draft his QB Andrew Luck.  Con's:  How far is that franchise away from being relevant again in the NFL?

Michigan:  Pro's: He is an Alum and former QB, his coaching mentor is Bo Schembechler and Michigan has been rumored to be his dream job.  Could be his 1 and only job for the next 10-20 years if he is successful.  Con's:  Did you watch the Gator Bowl?

I think all this insider stuff is BS.   We will know things when they happen officially.  I wouldn't expect Michigan to let RR go if they didn't already have at least a hand shake agreement with a new head coach.   Brady Hoke would take this job in a New York minute, I don't think Les Miles is a candidate.   Wild card could be someone like Pat Fitzgerald for example. 

My gut is telling me that its Harbaugh or Michigan keeps Rodriguez with a new defensive staff.   We should know something soon.  We need to because Michigan's 2011 recruiting class is hanging in the wind with official visits set up for this weekend and 2 big all star games coming up.

Michigan Tuesday: It's the Recruiting Quiet Period

Today marks the recruiting "quiet period" for football recruits.  This period allows coaches and recruits to take a break from the recruiting trail and enjoy the holidays or focus 100% on bowl preparation.  The quiet period runs from 12/21 - 1/3 and coaches are not able to contact kids pro-actively.  Kids can contact coaches on their own, but that is the only contact that is allowed. 

That means the recruiting news should be pretty light the rest of the year.  Michigan's next big official recruiting weekend will be January 7th.   Don't forget January 8th is the Army All American game and Michigan has a number of prospects in that game including: Dee Hart, Ha'sean Clinton-Dix, Wayne Lyons, Kris Frost, and Blake Countness.

It will be key to have RR status "cleared up" by 1/3 for Michigan to save players like Dallas Crawford and Dee Hart in this class.

• Past Michigan visitor 2011 WR Hakeem Flowers just visited Oregon and is also looking at MSU, NC State, UCLA, and GA Tech. 

• I know there has been alot of questions regarding a QB in class after Kevin Sousa changed his mind and elected to go to Wake Forrest which had a better path to playing time.  One of the QB targets is QB Tanner McEvoy from NJ who just visited South Carolina this past weekend and will visit Ann Arbor on January 7th as well.   Tanner won't list a leader until after all his visits are completed.   He is also visiting North Carolina and Rutgers.  Spurrier seems pretty high on this kid and has already done a in-home visit with him.

• Other visitors expected on 1/7 include: WR Devin Lucien, TE Frank Clark, DB Sheldon Royster, DB Dallas Crawford, and DE Deion Barnes.

 

• 2011 TE prospect Jack Tabb from NJ might announce his decision this week, as of right now I don't expect a Michigan decision. 

• Roderick Ryles, a 2011 safety and teammate of Dee Hart's at Dr. Phillips has been talking to the Michigan coaches and might make a visit to Ann Arbor in January.  A dream scenario for the Wolverines would be Hart, Clinton-Dix, and Ryles.  I know, I said it was a dream scenario! 

• Michigan 2011 Verbal RB Justice Hayes will be playing in the Offense - Defense Bowl in Myrtle Beach on 12/31. 

• Former Michigan LB Doug Mallory was named co-defensive coordinator for Indiana yesterday.

• It is clear the Michigan coaches want one TE in this class.  The latest guy to be offered is Dallas, TX TE Andrew Peterson who is rated a 2 star prospect from Rivals but has a nice offer list which includes: Tennessee, Utah, Texas AM, Nebraska, and Arkansas.