Status of Fitz Toussaint and Frank Clark still undecided, Brady Hoke says - Carry on, nothing to see here.
Jake Ryan, Devin Gardner among possible Michigan football breakout players to watch in 2012 - AA.com's two (phenomenal) beat writers bring up some very good names, and I have a hard time settling on just two of them. However, I have to agree with the Jake Ryan pick. Ryan is just too explosive a player on the edge, and now that he has -- hopefully -- ironed out his technical issues in edge contain, this season should be a big one for him. Offensively there are too many question marks and established players to make a choice I feel good about, but I keep coming back to Jerald Robinson. Let's hope that hunch is right.
2012 Recruiting: Jehu Chesson - This is cribbed from a quote Brian pulled from a paysite, but it is too good not to repost:
Sam Webb: Pretend you’re a coach for a second… give me a little scouting report on your game.
Jehu Chesson: "First off, if I was the coach, I would look at the little details that he would do when he goes to the huddle… like what’s he doing? Is he paying attention? Does he walk to the line of scrimmage, which I do not walk because we’re disciplined like you have to run up to the line of scrimmage. Then getting off the ball, your first three steps have to always look like a fade unless you doing a one step plant. Then does he stalk block and how well does he block? I would say that he blocks pretty well. When he drops a pass, what does he do after? Does he come back and does he put his head down? Because for me it is not just in football, when something goes bad you got to keep your head up and everything. As far as what he does, like what the corner, whatever the corner like man, cover-1 or cover-2. You have to make sure what the outside backer is doing if you run a slant… does he handle that well? Does he find the open zone where he can run like a post or like a dig? He does do that. It is just like a little checklist that I have to keep to myself."
If at the end of that you don't have Jehu Chesson as your favorite freshman, I don't know what you're thinking. That right there was what anyone who has ever coached football wishes one of his players would say to him when asked to evaluate his own play.
Sacks Ain't Rushes - KJ Says what we were all already thinking.
I can offer no comprehensive solution to this quandary, so instead I'll suggest a more modest adjustment: stop counting negative sack yardage in rushing totals. College football box scores classify all yardage gained/lost as either rushing or passing. If you don't attempt to pass the ball, then the result of the play goes into the "rushing" category--even though a quarterback who gets sacked clearly wasn't attempting to rush the ball.
Preach, brother.
Better Know a Blitz Package- Double A-Gap - Also over at The Only Colors, Heck Dorland takes a look at that double A-gap blitz that we have all grown to hate. There are quite a few tweaks and adjustments, and Dorland does a great job laying out each one. This is absolutely worth your time.
The Total Package - Chris Brown of Smart Football on packaged play concepts.
That seemingly straightforward screen pass to Ryan Grant suggests that now things are no longer so simple. There's a new game, and it takes those time-tested plays and blends them into something new. It blends them so seamlessly that it threatens to upend the very idea of "run" and "pass." These are the "packaged plays," and because of them real football is ahead of the video games - both old and new. The answer to "What play was that?" is no longer so simple, because it's increasingly "All of them."
Why Your Team Sucks 2012: Detroit Lions - Because you are either a Lions fan or you hate Lions fans.