First, how about a hearty welcome to the nation's premier prep CB, Jai Eugene. On Saturday at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio, Eugene chose to play football for and get his education from the University of Michigan. Brian has more. San Antonio has been really good to Michigan this season month week...
Jai can have Matt Gutierrez's scholarship, because Matt has transferred to Idaho State. Read more here. For those scoring at home, here is the current UM depth chart at QB (next season's eligibility year is listed):
First string: Chad Henne, JR
Second string: Jason Forcier, FR (RS)
Third string: David Cone, FR
Or, when put another way: 2007 uber-recruit Ryan Mallett, come on down! (Or, perhaps, even the supposed "LeBron James of football," California god Jimmy Clausen? You may know Jimmy from such things as ESPN SportsCenter, a program on which he was featured over Labor Day. He's the one whose quarterback coach doesn't let him throw with NFL QBs because Jimmy's perfect mechanics, impressive arm, and heavenly body--well, at least, if you believe all the grown men who grovel in this boy's presence--intimidate all the grown-ass millionaires.)
It will be interesting to see if Gutierrez's departure forces Chad Henne to assume a leadership position during off-season workouts now and over the summer. The internets have provided we hopelessly devoted fans with story after story about how, among his other problems, Henne struggled this season because he never captured the respect and faith of his teammates over the summer because he was either absent or unenthused. Coming off of a 7-5 season during which his leadership was either negative or none, Henne has no excuse to do anything but be a superstar. In fact, I hope that in July, I read internets hype about Henne saving people from burning buildings, getting cats out of trees, and restoring Notre Dame football to prominence. That's how much of a saint he needs to be.