Happy Tuesday, folks. Welcome to Morning Brews. Today is Day 2 of Big Ten Media days in Chicago and, while Jim Harbaugh’s press conference was yesterday, Maize n Brew will have you covered on all things Michigan that go on. To start off today, we have a football and basketball focused edition of the Brews:
Let’s get to it:
Aaron McMann’s projected starters. Aaron has posted his projected Week 1 starters over at MLive, and they’re pretty much as expected. Shea Patterson at QB and Karan Higdon edging Chris Evans for the nod at RB are about as controversial as they get. McMann has Tarik Black and Donovan Peoples-Jones leading the way at WR, Sean McKeon reprising his role at starting TE, and a defense anchored by Rashan Gary, Devin Bush Jr., and Khaleke Hudson. Of course, we’ll find out who the real starters are in September, but with the exception possibly of Higdon over Evans I think Aaron gets these just about perfect.
Wolverines dominate Free Press awards. Apparently the ESPYs happened recently, which I was wholly unaware of. Playing off the event, Jamie Samuelson of WXYT’s “Jamie & Stoney” recently announced his Detroit focused “DESPY” award winners in the Detroit Free Press. How did Michigan do? They blew away the competition. Winning four of the five awards, the Wolverines won Play of the Year (Jordan Poole’s buzzer beater), Coach of the Year (John Beilein), Player of the Year (Moritz Wagner), and Team of the Year (Michigan basketball). Obviously this was all for fun, but it is worth reflecting on basketball’s season and how good it was.
Beilein to earn $3.8 million per year. John Beilein is receiving a raise of approximately $500,000 per year under his new contract. After signing his new deal, Beilein’s compensation will jump from approximately $3.37 million per year to $3.8 million per year. As seems to be standard practice these days, most of that money is classified as compensation for services other than coaching—like media appearances, shoe and apparel promotions, and so forth. Despite the raise, Beilein will still be just the third-highest paid coach in the conference next season behind Ohio State’s Chris Holtmann ($7.15 million) and Tom Izzo ($4.36 million).
THIS WEEK: @ManUtd and @LFC are coming to The Big House!
— Michigan Athletics (@UMichAthletics) July 23, 2018
YOU IN?
GET YOUR TIX: https://t.co/nIj18EdjHz #ICC2018 | #ChampionsMeetHere | #GoBlue pic.twitter.com/reGxYbmBr8
Michigan is a fútbol school, or at least it will be this weekend when English Premier League clubs Manchester United and Liverpool play an International Champions Cup match at the Big House. This sort of thing is basically a glorified friendly meant to grow the game, so grab some tickets and go check out the match this Saturday. Tickets appear to be priced roughly as they would be for a home football game.
Nebraska’s Scott Frost: “I know people in Michigan don’t like me very much”
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) July 23, 2018
Well, Scott. I have to agree with you on that one.
That’s all for today, folks. If you missed our coverage of Big Ten Media Day 1, you can catch up with the stories below:
Karan Higdon Looking Swole and Ready to Roll in 2018
Chase Winovich: Michigan Offense Will Change to Best Utilize QB Skill-Set
Video: Jim Harbaugh Speaks at Big Ten Media Day
Big Ten Media Days: Jim Harbaugh Press Conference Transcript