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Tuesday Morning Brews: A Coach's World

A busy weekend of spring games, a lot of exits stage left, and coaches doing all sorts of things.

By Nick Bodanyi
MGoBlog

Hitting the Links Buries The Hatchet

Rich Rod Sides With Michigan In Satellite Ban Fight

Heeey, Rich Rod, you're all right. (Too soon?)

A Complex Role For Peppers, With Gary Waiting In The Wings

Now I want a picture of Rashan Gary with a shirt that reads, "Life is good, and I am very good."

Don Brown Is Confident In His Freshmen | How He Recruits

While the defensive line has enough depth to supply a couple good teams, the linebackers and the secondary could get punctured with enough injuries. How well the freshmen perform will be important in that regard.

U-M Announces Aerial Assault Quarterback Coaches

Out of all the events Harbaugh does, the A2 QB Camp is turning into my favorite. George Whitfield gets top billing next to Harbaugh.

Michigan Players Show Growing Confidence On Twitter

I love seeing players who aren't afraid to speak up. It adds some flavor to the game.

Warde Manuel Talks Expansions, Improved Weight Room

I had put in a link about this before, but it's something important that has gone a little under the radar so far. Getting Tom Brady's support would be huge.

Iowa Lands Commitment From Eno Benjamin

Normally I go easy on Big Ten recruiting links, but Eno is a guy Michigan has been chasing for a while. A commitment from him would have also been good news as the staff pursues Baron Browning, but it was not to be.

D.J. Durkin Gets Animated

Oh my god. I can't get enough of this guy.

News and Notes From Illinois' Spring Practice

I would have been deeply surprised and excited if Illinois was switching to just Tampa 2, which was a defense made famous by Tony Dungy and Monte Kiffin in the mid-90s. In essence, Tampa 2 involves a middle linebacker dropping back to act like a safety when a pass play happens. It's one of the more interesting cover schemes to read about if you're a nerd like me and read Wikipedia pages for fun.

TCR Roundtable: Talkin' Defense

This was a very well-done roundtable. Hats off, guys.

McGee Tries To Be Optimistic About Dudek's Recovery

This got lost last week in all the satellite camp brew-haha, but Mikey Dudek's injury was indeed terrible - an ACL tear in the same knee he had injured before. It's doubtful he'll make an impact in 2016.

Some other injury news to report: Purdue's sometime-starting running back, D.J. Knox, will miss 2016 with an ACL. I looked for a really good highlight of him, but YouTube and ESPN care as much about Purdue as you might expect them to.

The Last Iron Man

Long, long before Robert Downey, Jr., there were the 1939 Hawkeyes. The final member of that team died the Friday before last. Rest in peace.

A couple other transfers to mention as well: Minnesota's Chris Streveler and Indiana's Dominique Booth will both be moving on to other opportunities. Also, Michigan State defensive ends Montez Sweat and Craig Evans have left the team. Happy trails to all.

Nebraska Spring Game Reactions | "Run Tommy," More Reactions

Hidden discreetly in the defensive line section of link #1, you can smell a whiff of drama. Strongside defensive end Greg McMullen, who is retiring, will be remembered by me for his role in helping Melvin Gordon get to 408. McMullen contributed more than his fair share to the poor reputation Nebraska has gotten the last few years over its run defense.

Urban Meyer Discusses Cardale Jones And The NFL

The "school" quote from this interview caused a little (overblown) drama. Overall a very honest take from Meyer.

Some other Ohio State news: the Buckeyes sold out their spring game, and reported after that the 100,189 in attendance marked a college football record. Also, they picked up a Notre Dame tight end graduate transfer who has one career catch for 6 yards. In debatably interesting news, a 2018 Michigan commit was spotted at the game wearing scarlet and gray. I'll make sure to have more analysis of their spring game up this week or next week - but in the meantime, you have to check out this one-handed interception by Jerome Baker.

Maryland Spring Game Takeaways

Durkin has added an enjoyable rah-rah aspect to moving his program forward.

"Every guy that practiced with us this spring played in that game. That's what it was about to me. We've asked a lot of our guys throughout this spring, we've really put it on them hard, and today was a day for them to come out and have fun. It wasn't about win or lose - €”that's why we did offense and defense. It was just go out there and play some ball."

A Case For A Dominant Michigan State Defense

If Ed Davis does get a sixth year of eligibility, pencil him in for All-American honors.

Punt, Pass, & Pork: MSU's Season, More

I wouldn't have included this if not for the three paragraphs on satellite camps further down. Still, interesting stuff all around.

Oh, hey, while we're talking about satellite camps, here's a fascinating piece by SB Nation. Also, apparently Bret Bielema was planning satellite camps up north.

Top Ten Players: Ohio State | Penn State | Iowa

We'll see if the fourth time is the charm with Dontre Wilson or if the hype he's carried with him all these years was more an example of crying wolf.

Top Ten Players: Illinois | Rutgers

Quick: name three players on Illinois' list. Name three on Rutgers' list. Yeah, not easy.

The Best And Worst Destinations For Christian Hackenberg

I'm tired of pointing out that Hackenberg is actually not a good player. So, let's jump on the Hackentrain! Hackenberg to the Jets seems like a Super Bowl waiting to happen. Or, the Cowboys! Even better!