Michigan picked up commitment number 22 yesterday when Channing Stribling announced via Tremendous that he was committing to Michigan. Stribling is about as under the radar as they come. Scout lists him as a two-star, 247 lists him as a three-star, and Rivals hasn't ranked him yet.
Stribling is a long defensive back (6'2, 175lbs) that will be joining Michigan's 2013 class as its third corner, and the second that is 6'2. Michigan is obviously valuing height on the outside more than it has in recent years.
A word of warning, google carefully:
DO NOT SPELL CHANNING STRIBLING'S LAST NAME WRONG ON GOOGLE. YOU CAN NOT FORGET WHAT YOU SEE.
— Mark (@Mgobluegr) June 21, 2012
Congrats to Channing on getting his offer and joining team 134. Now onto the li---
/BEGIN TRANSMISSION
ATTENTION, THIS IS AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE COMMITTEE OF COMMON SENSE IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL FANDOM. WHILE WE HAVE BEEN BUSY TRYING TO SEE THIS PLAYOFF THING THROUGH, WE FELT IT NECESSARY TO SPEAK OUT HERE.
TRUST THE COACHES
WE KNOW YOU ALL HAVE VISIONS OF THE NUMBER ONE CLASS IN THE NATION COME FEBRUARY DANCING IN YOUR HEAD, WE GET THAT, WE LIKE IT TOO. BUT DON'T DOG A KID BECAUSE RIVALS HASN'T RANKED HIM YET OR SCOUT WASN'T IMPRESSED. THOSE SCOUTS WON'T BE COACHING STRIBLING FOR FOUR YEARS. GREG MATTISON WILL. DO YOU KNOW MORE THAN GREG MATTISON ABOUT DEVELOPING COLLEGE FOOTBALL TALENT? THEN STOP, YOU SOUND SILLY.
/END TRASMISSION.
---nks:
Michigan football moments to remember: The touchdown that wasn't, a 205-17 quarter and a tearful admission - AnnArbor.com will be doing a retrospective on Michigan's 2011 season, and this is part one. Read about the catch that wasn't and almost saw me put my fist through a wall, Northwestern's belly up act in the third quarter, and what Mattison had to say about the defense after the Illinois game.
Michigan Wolverines push marketing envelope
"[Hashtags for the spring game] was a lightning rod in many ways," Lochmann said. "But the Thursday before the spring game, it was the third story up on [ESPN.com] and people were talking about it.
Our beloved athletic department is now governed by the policy there is no such thing as bad publicity.
Michigan's John Beilein to cut Trey Burke's minutes
"We'll wait and see, but our idea is Trey Burke needed to get rest with how close games were, and how difficult it was (to do that)," coach John Beilein said recently. "The amount of time, the game has changed, and the point guard has the ball much more than he ever had it. Where Stu Douglass would stand in the corner for 20 seconds waiting for Trey to make something happen, Trey needed rest. We realized that. But he was a horse the whole year and still was able to perform. But we realize that's not the best practice."
It was painfully obvious in some games last year that Burke simply wore down. He had the largest burden of any player on the team, and the least time to train for the college game, but still he made it work. If the combination of Eso Akunne, Spike Albrecht, and Nik Stuaskas can provide Trey with 8-10 minutes of rest in most games without a significant dropoff in production it could do great things for Trey's already very good closing ability.
The variance of styles, recruiting rankings, stories and development trajectories is unique. Glenn Robinson III climbed from 3-star junior prospect to top 30 player. Mitch McGary rose from an intriguing Midwestern big man with some grade issues to the No. 2 player in the country, then subsequently slipped back down a few slots in the rankings. Nik Stauskas rose steadily throughout his career while Caris LeVert was a late bloomer that decommitted from the school that upset Michigan in the NCAA tournament. Mitch McGary committed on national television while Spike Albrecht and Caris LeVert chose the Wolverines quietly on Friday evenings.
More roundball as UMHoops takes one last detailed look at the class of 2012 before they arrive on campus shortly.
Big Ten class of 2013 team rankings - Just in case it has been a while since you've seen Michigan's name at the top of any recruiting lists.
[Coach's Name] Field at [Trustee] Stadium - Paul Myerberg on the strange practice of naming stadiums after guys who never coached. You know what conference doesn't have that at all according to his list? The Big Ten. Strange.
Top 10: The easiest nonconference schedules of 2012 - Indiana is the only Big Ten team on this list, and the Hoosiers rank fourth. Not a surprise given the way Indiana has scheduled as of late. Let's hope they can turn those four games into four wins.
Whatever comes next, playoff consensus is one great leap for college football
So the victory for playoff advocates is simply that a playoff is going to exist. That in itself is the giant leap forward. If they follow through on today's promise, the commissioners cannot screw it up, because they've bought into the basic premise: After 80 years of living under the thumb of subjective opinion polls and computer algorithms, the championship of the sport is actually going to be settled by teams playing the sport.
Matt Hinton on what it means now that its been decided that it's a four-team playoff.