Yesterday evening, Michigan picked up its 17th commitment for the 2013 recruiting cycle, this one being four-star linebacker Ben Gedeon out of Ohio. Gedeon has long been rumored to be a heavy Michigan lean, and the staff turning away the visits of other highly recruited linebackers in the past few weeks has only added more fuel to the fire.
Gedeon is about 6'2 215lbs and is probably slated for the weakside linebacker position. His strengths are his athleticism and his coverage ability, and he is a top-250 type player to all three sites (ESPN has yet to rank players). Here is the obligatory mgoblog "Hello: Ben Gedeon" piece, as well as scouting reports from Touch the Banner and Tremendous.
Welcome to the family, Ben.
Now, let's run down the links:
Postscript: What Trey Burke’s return means to Michigan
Burke, like every young basketball player, has an end goal in sight: the NBA. That’s not to be read as a knock, to doubt his love for Michigan, or anything else. It’s a simple fact of the matter. Suddenly, he thought he had the opportunity to achieve his dream and he looked long and hard at the opportunity. It’s tough to fault a kid for chasing his dream. At the end of the day, he took in all of the data from his parents, coaches and mentors and made what seems like the right choice. A fact that will be judged in the years to come. For now, draft gurus feel that Burke has a very real chance to emerge as a first round pick:
Our own Dave Ryan covered this same thing yesterday with a piece on the historical precedent for players coming back and improving their draft stock. It feels really good to be having these types of conversations.
Trey Burke named Michigan basketball team's most valuable player - Obvious news is obvious.
5. Michigan Wolverines - The return of Trey Burke was huge, and this could be a scary good team with the addition of Glenn Robinson III and Mitch McGary. McGary is a beast that will be able to bang with anyone down low, and Jordan Morgan gives them two legitimate bigs. Still, there are some concerns. This team lost two good senior leaders. They didn't exactly finish strong, either, as the loss to Purdue cost them an outright Big Ten title and the first round loss to Ohio wasn't encouraging. Something felt off about this team from the Purdue loss going forward. Will it be corrected?
I really feel like H&R is underrating Michigan a bit, but in a world where the hype train for next year has quickly gained steam it is nice to see a contrary opinion.
Michigan Football: Josh Furman Case Has Lots of Unanswered Questions - Michigan safety Josh Furman is in some legal trouble, but the details of the case are still hazy enough that it could blow over. Thankfully, safety depth isn't atrocious this year.
Let's Overreact To: Spring Scrimmage #3 - Mgoblog takes another gander at spring practice video to make a few observations. Of note: both Rawls and Hayes look good and could be in line for a role in the offense, Campbell looks good and more importantly isn't in when there is a huge gaffe by the NT, Gardner is looking solid, Denard made a few big plays, Countess had a Woodson-esque moment, and Michigan's offense is adding wrinkles.
Video: Michigan DE Craig Roh - Brian Bennett talks with Craig Roh about spring football, his position switch, and the joys of weight gain.
Starting with McGee before branching out - Now that Bobby Petrino is out, who does Arkansas turn to as the next coach, and when does the university look to hire someone else?
BUT WHAT DOES INTERNET LEGAL EXPERT CLAY TRAVIS THINK?
Say what you will about the man's offensive vision and ability to convince people in power time and time again of his inherent trustworthiness, no one makes an exit quite like Petrino. The SEC's once and former western most outpost will now have to hope Taver Johnson, he of last season's wounded duck in Columbus, can steady the ship and keep the instability and distractions of what surrounds the program from derailing what some envisioned as a potential march to a December date in Atlanta. Somewhere in suburban Jacksonville, Ron Prince once again readies a cover letter which may or may not actually be a kids menu from a local Mexican chain.
EDSBS closes the book on Petrino.
The Future of the NFL: More Up-tempo No-huddle
It’s only a slight exaggeration to say that huddling is an archaism destined for the dustbin. I say it’s a slight exaggeration because there is a value to huddling, primarily when you have a great leader at quarterback as a huddle is an opportunity for him to show his leadership skills. But otherwise, it’s inherently inferior to going no-huddle. It’s slower, which is a problem both in games but also in practice where your offense gets fewer reps, and, maybe most importantly, the safety net of a huddle leads coaches to transform plays that can be communicated in just one or two words into multi-syllabic monstrosities. That’s the sad secret of those long NFL playcalls: They convey no more information than can be conveyed with one or two words or with a combination of hand-signals.
Chris Brown of Smart Football takes a look at the way the NFL is moving when it comes to play calls. Brown is always worth a read.