Carlos Brown Doubtful For Iowa Michigan Game

by Maize n Brew Dave on Oct 8, 2009 11:03 AM CDT in Michigan Football

After a series of ongoing reports of Carlos Brown being limited in practice this week, MGoBlog is calling the likelihood of Carlos seeing the field this week "very doubtful."

According to MGo:

A reliable source says [Brown] was concussed in a full-contact drill and he is very doubtful for this weekend.

No word in the papers or the official team site as to whether Brown is actually out or not, but all signs point to no. Ann Arbor.com had this to say about Brown's condition:

Running back Carlos Brown did not practice Wednesday because of an undisclosed injury. He missed part of the Indiana game with what was originally termed "sore knees" and later described as an ankle injury.

So, nothing to verify the concussion possibility yet, but I'm taking Brian at his word on this. I don't think we're going to see Mr. Brown on the field in Iowa City. On the other hand, that does mean a bigger dose of Brandon Minor and Michael Shaw. Rodriguez said that Minor is as close as to 100 percent health as he’s been all season (according to AAdotCom).

"The past few weeks he’s been limited during the weeks," Rodriguez said. "Tuesday practices are our most physical practice and (this week) he went through the whole practice on Tuesday. It’s probably, and again talking to him, it’s the best he’s felt in several weeks."

A healthy Minor should off set the loss of Brown to some degree, though I seriously doubt Brandon is going to be able to make the cuts he could make at the season's start on his gimpy ankle. In Brown's stead, especially in the two back set, Iowa's going to see a lot of speedster Michael Shaw, who's ability seems to mirror Brown's. Including, unfortunately, his penchant for getting injured.

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So what's the takeaway

If Iowa sees more Minor and Shaw, and Brown is out, how does that change the running game for Michigan?

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by Bama Hawkeye on Oct 8, 2009 4:40 PM CDT reply actions

Very little...

Aside from the obvious home-run ability of Brown, there isn’t much of a change. Shaw and Brown are fairly interchangeable in terms of running style, while Minor is obviously more physical, but in-so-far as whether it changes the play-calling I would say it won’t affect it in any way. My concerns in short list form:

1. Making sure that guys like Shaw and Smith handle pass-blocking situations simply because they just haven’t been on the field that much so far this year.

2. Shaw, while very explosive, has shown more of a tendency to dance and turn a safe 4 yard gain into a no-gainer while trying to wait for a hole that doesn’t open up… Michigan desperately needs to avoid the 2nd and long type of situations that would let Iowa pin their ears back with impunity.

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by SCM on Oct 8, 2009 5:43 PM CDT up reply actions