Michigan Tuesday: Trying to De-code the Injury Updates and Some Recruiting Briefs

With a new coaching staff at Schembechler Hall you get new and different things.  One of the changes has to do with injuries.  I will give you an example:

Lloyd Carr when asked about injuries would smile and give a short response like this, "next question"

Rich Rodriguez:  Put out an injury report on Thursday night listing 3 level of injuries:  Probable, Questionable and Out.

Brady Hoke yesterday on the status of Troy Woolfolk:  Were you concerned about him being a little hobbled on his ankle? “He’s fine.”

It's clear Coach Hoke leans more towards Carr's policy then Rich Rod's.  Which some will argue is a good thing, "why give your opponent more news then they need?".  Others will argue the Vegas point, which was the reason the NFL made injuries public so betting insiders wouldn't have an edge. 

It seems Odoms, Cam Gordon and Brandon Herron continued to be banged up and probably won't play against Eastern.  I am willing to bet a beer we won't see Troy either.  That guy had more tape on Saturday then my first car. 

If we are not going to redshirt the likes of Blake Countess and Greg Brown, let's hope they get some good experience this weekend.   Blake has played on special teams and Greg looked pretty good in the spring game.

Craig Roh was suffering from Mono like symptoms during fall camp.  I don't think he is 100% yet as he has ZERO tackles in two games.

Fitz continues to get banged up in every game he plays. We didn't see him at all against ND and I would say he is questionable for EMU as well.

Back to Back Noon Starts

Michigan will have two back to back noon kick offs on the Big Ten Network.  Which seems like a big change coming off a 3:30 and 8:00 kick offs.   The one thing to consider is the "jet lag" of playing SDSU at noon.   I sort of thought that ESPN or ABC might pick up the SDSU game since there is plenty of intrigue playing Coach Hoke's former team.   BTW: SDSU beat Army 23-20 last week and has Washington State this weekend before heading to the Big House (they also play TCU the week after Michigan and Boise State in November).

• Denard was named the Big Ten Player of the week.

• Brady and Chad both played well last night on MNF.  Brady played better.  They nearly combined for 1000 yards passing.

• Sports By Brooks has photos from the charity event in question for the suspended OSU players.  It seems this "charity" event has been a good gig for OSU players for a number of years.  The NCAA spent 14 months in Ann Arbor and found a couple practice overages due to stretching and non-coaches coaching.  The NCAA is spending time in C-Bus and coming up with this type of stuff.  If Toledo had scored on the final drive last week, there would be a huge meltdown in Ohio right now.

• It  will be really strange for Mike Hart to be on the other sideline on Saturday as an EMU coach.  It's a great opportunity for Mike, just feels strange.

• Vegas isn't buying MSU right now as they are a 5 point dog to ND in South Bend.  MSU played three good teams last year and went 1-2.  The two losses weren't close.

Recruiting Updates

• 5 Star Mitch McGary spent the weekend on Tobacco Road at NC and Duke.  He enjoyed both visits.  
• One thing I hadn't considered is Michigan is recruiting lineman Zach Banner for Football and Basketball.  Michigan would let him play both if he is interested.  He is 6'9 310 pounds.  So, yes please!
• Brionte Dunn visited Penn State last weekend for the Alabama game as his cousin was committing to the Wolverines.  So it seems Brionte is serious about looking around as he stays verballed to the Buckeyes.