Daily Brews: Rashan Gary allegedly offered $300k by another school during recruitment

The Brews are back and will be a daily feature moving forward, as we mentioned last week. Let’s get caught up from the weekend that was and start Monday off with a check of the news in and around Ann Arbor.

Gary allegedly offered $300k during recruitment

Recruiting can be a dirty game sometimes, especially when it comes to elite prospects and even moreso when it comes down to one of the top two or three guys in the country. Another example of that appears to be in the courtship of former five-star top overall recruit Rashan Gary, who chose Michigan over schools like Clemson, Alabama, USC and more.

While appearing on WTKA’s The Michigan Insider on Friday, Michigan fixture and author John U. Bacon stated that Gary was allegedly offered $300,000 by a school during his recruitment before choosing Michigan. Usually I would warn you to take it with a grain of salt, but Bacon would never drop info like this unless he was sure about it, so that that for what it is.

I remember hearing something similar after the decision went down, but I don’t report rumors and definitely don’t scoop people in the industry who are kind of enough to share info privately. But yeah, there have been whispers of this for years.

As far as who the school was, use your imagination.

The latest over/under win totals

The most recent batch of over/unders are in from SuperBook USA, who have Michigan in some extremely elite company heading into 2019. The Wolverines are listed fourth in the nation (Phil Steele forgot to include Georgia at 11 wins) with their over/under for the year set at 10.5.

It may feel scary that Michigan is thought of this highly going into the year because it could increase some people’s chances of being disappointed, but this is another batch of that fresh preseason hype slop that we try not to overindulge on. It does not appear to be any closer to evaporating as we inch closer to the opener.

The number being set at 10.5 is a huge one for them, but it obviously points to the betters believing that there is a really good chance that once again, this team may lose either one or two games in the regular season. If I were a betting man, I would probably take the under here, but for reasons we already discussed last week, this schedule sets up well for them if they take care of business.

Mason vows to produce at defensive tackle

Ben Mason is making the switch from fullback to defensive tackle this season and figures to be a part of a deep position group, where he says he is just focusing on being productive in his role in 2019.

“During the spring, it was really my first time playing (on the defensive line). It took a little bit to adjust but now I’m feeling really comfortable,” Mason said, via The Michigan Insider. “I mean, back in the spring, I thought I felt comfortable but just having a whole summer to really hone in on my technique was really helpful and I’m reaping the benefits now. Having a lot of fun.”

Michigan’s philosophical changes on the offensive side of the ball could mean less opportunities for fullbacks and they feel Mason is too good a player to be on the sidelines, so he should still carry a variety of roles. One would assume he still may have a handful of goal line opportunities for himself.

Winovich continues to show out with Pats

Chase Winovich was pegged as one of the potential steals of the NFL Draft process all offseason long, so naturally he wound up in the hands of the New England Patriots, who continue to make the rest of the NFL pay for overthinking on draft night instead of watching the tape.

Winovich had another strong outing during the preseason in the Week 2 outing against the Tennessee Titans and showed the media once again that he is a quote machine, which may soften the blow of losing out on Rob Gronkowski soundbites now that he is retired.

“Ever since high school, my grandma’s been promising me that if I played hard and didn’t get hurt she would give me five dollars and a chocolate bar,” Winovich said.

“So, [Saturday] was just another day where I went out there and said, ‘You know what, I got to play hard. I need that five dollars and I need that candy. “I joke, but at the end of the day I know that I have a lot of support and a lot of people that believe in me, and I feel like I represent the whole Pittsburgh area in a sense, and there’s a lot of pride that comes with it.”

Never change, Chase.

National Brews

• Former Texas Longhorn great and NFL running back Cedric Benson was involved in a motorcycle accident over the weekend and passed away at the age of 36. He played for the Chicago Bears and was the No. 4 overall pick in 2005. Benson also spent time with the Cincinnati Bengals and Green Bay Packers. He has a tie to Michigan, as he was part of the team that beat the Wolverines by a score of 38-37 in the 2005 Rose Bowl, finishing the game with 23 rushes for 70 yards.
• Former four-star QB recruit Malik Henry, who originally signed with Florida State before transferring and going to JUCO, has lost out on the starting quarterback job at Nevada, being beat out by redshirt freshman Carson Strong. Henry was the fourth-ranked passer in his class and was in the same recruiting cycle and current Michigan quarterback Shea Patterson (1st), former Wolverine Brandon Peters (6th) and former Ohio State signal-caller Dwayne Haskins (7th). (Brett McMurphy)
• Notre Dame wide receiver Michael Young, who was being hyped as a potential starter heading into this upcoming season, reportedly broke his collarbone over the weekend and will be out for the Irish to start the year. Chase Claypool and Chris Finke are still expected to be the top two options, but this is a bit of a blow to their depth to start the yeaer.

That’s it for Monday. Anything you found interesting from over the weekend? Sound off in the comments section below!