Maize n Brew gives you your daily (or semi-daily) rundown of all the Michigan Football, Michigan Basketball, College Football, and College Basketball news you need to get through the tedium of your boring desk job. For good measure we'll throw in a little irreverent information, comedy and commentary to help you salt away the time until the clock strikes 5pm. We're on a Facebook and Twitter drive, so be our friend or follow us! If you don't know what that means, you're old. If you want Maize n Brew in 140 characters or less, follow us on Twitter! Or you can friend us on Facebook and become a fan of Maize n Brew on Facebook for more links. Here's what's ON TAP:
Programming Note (Radio Time)
If you're out in New Mexico, I'll be appearing on FoxSports1340.com tomorrow (Tuesday, for those of you still lost in weekend mode) at 9:30 EST to preview the Big Ten with Steve Bortstein. If you're in New Mexico, turn on your radios and get your Big Ten helpin'. If you're somewhere else, log on to their website for the streaming audio. Either way, should be a load of fun.
Stuff You Should Read Right Now
Mitch Albom Interviews Rich Rodriguez - Posting this link goes against my policy of not linking the Detroit Free Press after their concerted and vile effort to contort everything Rich Rodriguez has done or said into something awful. However, I will give credit where credit is due. Mitch Albom sat down with Rich Rodriguez for an extensive and, in my mind, very fair interview. If you are a Michigan fan, this is a must read. Albom summed up a portion of my personal opinion about Coach Roriguez this way:
[In] person I've always found Rodriguez affable, reasonable, even self-deprecating, and I wonder if the man they call Rich Rod has spent an unjudged minute in the state of Michigan.
While it's more a transcript than an article, Albom's interview is well done. He asks some fair questions and Rodriguez provides some candid answers (even though he's always been candid with reporters, IMHO). Definitely worth your time.
The Official-ish Michigan Depth Chart- At this point I'm relying on Brian's access to Schembechler Hall. While the Offensive surprise is the whole OMG3QBZ!, I really don't care that much about it at this point. I think any of the three quarterbacks will do an outstanding job and if Rodriguez was worried that they couldn't do the job, well, then you'd have them listed as options 1 through 3. No, the big surprise is Freshman Safety Carvin Johnson who has very stealthily usurped the starting "Spur/Stevie BrownMemorial Career Saving Hybrid Postion" away from redshirt freshman Thomas Gordon. This is a big deal. Johnson is still somewhat of an unknown to me, and really to most of the people without daily access to the practice field. The only real information I have on the kid is from MGo's recruiting wrap up, and some reports from the Beanie Bowl. Apparently he's a ball hawk. So we'll have to see what happens. The other big change on the depth chart is Mark Moundros slated with Obi Ezehat Middle Linebacker. If I'm a betting man, Moundros starts. Regardless of the above, if we don't get better linebacker play this season, it's not going to matter who is in the secondary, so please, Mark, be serviceable.
Surprise! UConn's Greg Lloyd to start at middle linebacker against Michigan - UConn linebacker Greg Lloydwill play this Saturday against Michigan, despite earlier reports that he was expected to be out for the season with a knee injury. Who knows. Knee injuries don't miraculously heal themselves. We'll have to wait until game day to see how well his knee hold up or whether this is just Edsall blowing smoke.
Wolverine Elliott Mealer and his brother, Brock, bounce back from 2007 tragedy- The AP catches up with Brock Mealer and his family. Seriously. I'm going to bawl watching him walk out on the field. He's an inspiration to us all.
Michigan Football and the 2010 Michigan Football Season
The Story, 2010: Step Forth | mgoblog - Brian and I have had our share of disagreements this off season on some of the things that have gone down around the program and the big Ten in general. However, despite his trepidation on this season, he sums up my preseason position on the 2010 Michigan football season quite well:
Brock Mealer's going to walk, though. On Saturday he's going to get up and walk under the MGoBlue banner in an act of defiance aimed at no one in particular. From the outside, what happened to Elliott Mealer and his family looks like an event that would physically and emotionally cripple anyone it happened to. It's orders of magnitude beyond any of the things I—we—have felt sorry for ourselves about over the past couple years. Something in them was resilient, though, and with the aid of this staff they'll reclaim a small part something they thought lost on Saturday.
They can—probably already have—transfer this to the people around them. As I said about Manningham :01:
In the end, the game served as a reminder that bitterness is no fun, faith is rewarded, the kids on the field are more resilient than we are, and sometimes they can let us borrow some of that.
As you all know, optimism, even in the face of cold reality, rules around here. The alternative is just too depressing. Hope begets hope. Strength begets strength. We will always believe in the best for Michigan and we will always believe that the improbable, and sometimes the impossible, can and will happen.
Bulked-up linebacker Craig Roh to anchor young U-M defense - Apparently "bulked up" means 251 pounds. The Sophomore linebacker with a laundry list of duties will key the Michigan defense this season. Here's hoping he can live up to even a fraction of the hype we've given him this year.
Devin Gardner will 'probably not' redshirt, plus other Michigan football team news - DAMMIT. If he plays, and plays well, this is worth it. If he's playing in mop up duty, I'm going to be pissed.
Rivals.com Michigan Football Preview, "Rodriguez knows there are no guarantees" - Rivals experts have Michigan making a bowl. Tom Dienhart, whom I'm gaining a lot of respect for totally unrelated to this piece, predicts 8 wins. That would be pretty amazing.
Here's what needs to happen for Rich Rodriguez and the Michigan football team - Pete Bigelow looks at what has to break right for Michigan in 2010.
Youth will be served on defense - We're going to have a lot of youth on Defense. Oh wait. You knew that already. It will be served or it will get served. I have no idea either way.
With limited running game, Tate Forcier should be Wolverines' starting quarterback - David Mayo takes a stab at five "pressing" issues for Michigan this season. While I agree with most of what he writes, this is simply off base:
"Denard Robinson, a run-oriented quarterback, has drawn favorable comparisons to Pat White, the quarterback who helped turn Rodriguez's West Virginia teams into a big winner. But White also had the benefit of running back Steve Slaton, whose presence in the backfield prohibited opposing defenses from focusing on one or the other. The past two years, Brandon Minor led U-M in rushing with 533 and 502 yards, the two lowest totals to lead the Wolverines since 1963. They're even less experienced at running back this year. But they do have experienced wideouts. Robinson is a perfect quarterback for the spread offense if he has help at running back. Absent that, it's Forcier or bust."
No that's not right. Even in opposite world. BecauseMichigan could potentially struggle running the ball you need Denard in there, not the opposite. Just wrong on so many levels.
Twitter / Dave Revsine - "Today is the 3 year anniversary of the launch of The Big Ten Network. Thanks to all who have supported us - it's been a blast so far." Congrats to Dave and the BTN. I can't imagine Big Ten Football without the BTN now.