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Thursday Quick Hits: Talking Crisler Renovations, Recruiting, and More
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Leave a Comment- The first phase of Crisler Arena renovations will be up for approval at the next Board of Regents meeting (on January 21). Below is a look at what this part of the renovation would entail:
If approved, the project will begin in 2011, cost almost $20 million and the first portion of the renovation would deal with plumbing, heating, the Crisler roof, the replacement of lower bowl seats and aisle realignment, according to the Free Press.
John Beilein, as you might imagine, is excited for the renovation. Not only is he getting a practice facility, but finally Crisler will be renovated (assuming the Regents sign off on it).
- Jordan Dumars, son of Joe Dumars, has officially transferred to Michigan. He will not be a scholarship player, but rather a preferred walk-on.
- Darius Morris is dealing with elbow tendinitis.
- Michigan takes on Penn State tonight at 7 p.m. in Happy Valley. The game can be seen on ESPN2.
- In case you missed it, Braylon Edwards made headlines for saying that he was from “Lloyd Carr’s University of Michigan” during the introductions for last Sunday night’s Jets-Bengals game. The immediate reaction most had to the comment was that Braylon was taking a shot at Rich Rodriguez by trying to disassociate himself from the current coach. Braylon released a statement on Monday to deny that, saying the comment was a “tribute” to Lloyd Carr. I’m not sure what to think about the statement, but perception-wise it certainly didn’t do Rodriguez any favors.
- Dhani Jones talked quite a bit about Rich Rodriguez and the current state of the Michigan football program on Jim Rome’s show earlier this week.
- Devin Gardner, who threw a touchdown pass in the Under Armour All-America Game last Saturday, was hoping to enroll early at Michigan, but he was unable to graduate early from Inkster because the school is on trimesters. Marvin Robinson had also hoped to enroll early, but he also wasn’t able to. The six players who did enroll early are Stephen Hopkins, Austin White, Jerald Robinson, Ricardo Miller, Jeremy Jackson, and Christian Pace, all offensive players.
- It doesn’t appear that running back commit Tony Drake will actually become a Wolverine, as there are rumors about him being a long ways away from qualifying. Although Adrian Witty did qualify, I don’t believe he made it to Ann Arbor for the winter semester, which was the original plan. The rumor about that situation is that there is a hang up in the admissions department, which apparently may not accept Witty to Michigan.
- Michigan commits Cullen Christian and Will Hagerup will play in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl on Saturday.
- Detroit Southeastern defensive tackle Jonathan Hankins committed to Ohio State over Michigan, ending what can only be described as a strange recruitment.
- Brandon Graham and Zoltan Mesko are going to play in the Senior Bowl.
- 24 former Michigan football players and coaches are on the rosters/coaching staffs of NFL playoff teams.
- Michigan picked up a commitment from hockey player Cristoval “Boo” Nieves.
- Former Michigan hockey players Jack Johnson and Mike Komisarek are going to play for the United States in the Winter Olympics.
- Notre Dame’s new hockey arena is going to be based on Yost Arena, similar to how Notre Dame Stadium is based on Michigan Stadium. (HT: mgoblog)
- Former Michigan women’s track coach Red Simmons turned 100 last week, and AnnArbor.com had a couple great articles about what an amazing life he has lived. MVictors got the chance to interview him and shot some interesting videos of Simmons.
- Supposedly the Big Ten might consider expanding to 14 or even 16 teams, but after reading these two in-depth posts about the topic of Big Ten expansion, that seems beyond unlikely unless the new teams are all high-profile, big-name colleges.
- Bill Sheridan, father of Nick Sheridan, was fired by the Giants.
- The following Big Ten players have declared for the NFL Draft in the last few days: Ohio State’s Thaddeus Gibson, Penn State’s Navarro Bowman, and Iowa’s Bryan Bulaga. Penn State’s Evan Royster and Ohio State’s Chimdi Chekwa and Cameron Heyward have decided to return for another year.
Friday Quick Hits: Carlos Brown Absent from Injury Report
- It’s pretty obvious that Michigan’s weekly injury reports are not completely accurate in the sense that every injured player is accounted for. I say that because this week only two players — David Molk and Zac Johnson (both ruled out) — are listed on it. That isn’t accurate because Carlos Brown is injured and his status for Saturday is up in the air. It has been reported by mgoblog that Brown suffered a concussion during a drill in practice earlier this week, meaning he probably won’t play against Iowa. Just like how Tate Forcier was left off the injury report last week, my guess is that Rich Rodriguez doesn’t want Brown’s specific injury to get out in case he does play or just so future opponents are left in the dark.
- This week’s captains are Tim McAvoy, David Moosman, Tim North, and Stevie Brown.
- The weather for tomorrow night’s game doesn’t sound like much fun.
- Brandon Graham’s ferocious hit on Glenn Winston from last Saturday has been uploaded to YouTube by mgoblog. All I can say is that Winston now knows what it feels like to be assaulted.
- Punter Will Hagerup, a Michigan commit, has been named a U.S. Army All-American.
- The rink configuration for the 2010 Frozen Four at Ford Field has been changed, moving the ice from the middle of the field to one end zone. The new setup is like how basketball Final Four and regional sites did it up until recently, putting the court in an end zone and curtaining off the rest of the stadium. The reason for the change is because organizers realized that they weren’t going to fill up all of Ford Field, and making the change means they only need to sell a total 36,000 seats, 22,000 of which have already been accounted for.
- A new hockey student section group is going to help organize road trips, which I very much welcome. As someone who doesn’t have a car on campus, I really don’t have a convenient way to travel to away hockey games. Even then I would only want to drive to a few games, which is why going on organized road trips to various opponents’ venues sounds fun.
- Following up on yesterday’s mention of NCAA Basketball 10′s presentation, it turns out there will be multiple broadcast teams in the game this year. For games during the week and for specific tournaments, you will get ESPN’s graphics and broadcasters, and for weekend, NCAA tournament, and other high-profile games, you will get CBS’s graphics and broadcast team. The gameplay will ultimately make or break the game (I’ve never been a fan of EA’s basketball games) for me, but the presentation upgrades are tough to ignore. Making it feel like you’re watching a real game is just awesome, especially when there is more than one “channel’ in the game.
Will Hagerup Commits to Michigan
Wisconsin punter Will Hagerup committed to Michigan on Sunday, becoming the 19th recruit to do so for the class of 2010. Hagerup is the younger brother of Indiana’s punter, and he was at the game on Saturday for a visit. It didn’t take him much time after the visit to commit, which is great news because Michigan sort of put all of its eggs in one basket at the punter position, missing out on an in-state prospect while they waited for Hagerup to make a decision. Obviously the gamble paid off.
With Zoltan Mesko running out of eligibility after this season, Michigan needed to find a replacement for him. As we saw on Saturday, a punter can really affect a game, so it’s important to have a solid replacement lined up. I think it’s safe to say that Hagerup fits that description, as he is a three-star recruit on Rivals and Scout and a 4-star on ESPN. In general he is one of the top punters in the nation, which is obvious when you see that his offer list includes Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Ohio State, Tennessee, and Wisconsin, among others.
