Michigan Turn Around Tuesday: Focusing On Other Things (Sort Of)

Does anyone remember that Michigan has a game on Saturday? Yes, it's really just five days away.

So it's time to get back to football.

Wait a minute, I need to distract the media for a minute. Look guys, Brett Favre played a game last night! Someone in baseball got traded (By the way: can someone explain to me how all these players can get traded after the deadline? Does it have something to do with only getting players in return that are named later or prospects?), USC has a freshman QB, and Tim Tebow is pretty. That should keep the media busy for the next few days.

Wait, I can't help but take one last swipe at Rosenberg by one of his peers: Yes, he has strong opinions on Rich Rodriguez. (He's hated him from the moment he appeared on Michigan's radar and has made it his life's work to run him out of town.) But that's his right as an opinion columnist.

What's not his right, is conducting investigative journalism for a newspaper on a topic on which he has expressed such passionate opinions. In my primary field (writing about politics), no respectable newspaper would dream of letting an opinion columnist who had crusaded against an administration write a news article claiming to uncover dirt on that very same administration. It's wildly improper.

If I were a sports editor at the Free Press, and Rosenberg came to me with his stories about illegal workouts at Michigan, I'd thank him for the lead. Then I'd pass the information on to one of my reporters. I'd tell the reporter to look into several college programs, not just ones run by coaches Rosenberg was trying to get fired. If Michigan really turned out to be doing something unusual, fine. Instead, the Free Press published a prosecutor's brief, determined to make the case against Rodriguez, rather than present the facts in an evenhanded way.

IMO: Rosenberg needs to report the news instead of trying to make "the news". He can give his opinion about things if you care to read it.

Last take on this subject: The things I hear from reading articles are:

There is dissension in the locker room: Really? From the players that spoke to the paper or were tricked into answers, who may be at other schools? If you go on the record then you can say that. All I keep hearing, from players and players fathers, is that they support the Michigan program 100 percent. This take is a FAIL and we will see for sure on Saturday.

Things would have been different if Les Miles was the head coach: Are you kidding me? I'm sure Les would have had the Wolverines work 20 hours max. That is just a terrible take, another FAIL.

"Everyone is doing it" is not a defense: I somewhat agree, but I also disagree. If Florida is putting in 40 hours (like the the USA Today Survey says that most D1 football players are) then Michigan would be at a huge disadvantage if they only put in 20. Semi-Fail.

I sure hope Abbott and Costello have their facts right and did enough research when they decided to use freshmen and go with sources not on the record, or they will be looking for new jobs. I'm not worried about Michigan and the NCAA, I'm worried that these two clowns are going to increase the unemployment rate in the state of Michigan.

Now back to regular football news:

• BHB Field Reporter and former Pioneer HS QB attended the match up between Devin Gardner (Inkster) and Ricardo Miller (Pioneer) this past weekend and came away impressed with DG: "He looks just like Terrelle Pryor when running the ball but actually has solid throwing mechanics. I saw the 2nd half and he threw tight spirals and good touch when needed. I was impressed. The Miller kid for Pioneer was mainly used as a decoy in the 2nd half which was unfortunate but you could tell he is a freak athlete. A great comeback win for Pioneer and great to see Gardner show his stuff."

• Jeremy Jackson showed his stuff for Huron in a loss this weekend: The 6'3, 195-pound Jackson caught five passes for 85 yards and also contributed a two-point conversion in the loss. Jackson displayed sure hands as well as the ability to pick up yards after the catch in his season opener.

• Let's not forget RB Austin White: The 6'0, 190-pound White played nearly every snap of the game. He started at both running back and safety and also returned kicks for the Spartans. White scored Stevenson’s only touchdown of the game on a 16-yard run in which he bowled over a Franklin defender before crossing the goal line. He made several runs of 10-plus yards in the game and also turned several short passes into long gains.

• Michigan released it's depth chart: Not a ton of surprises: all 3 QB's are on top, Grady is the #2 slot WR, and Jared Van Slyke and Jordan Kovacs are the backup strong safeties.

Keys to watch for Western Michigan on Saturday:

• Senior QB Tim Hiller threw for 3,725 yards last year
• Offensive line returns 4 starters
• They lost their top two WR's from last year
• WMU lost their last two games to Ball State and Rice in the Bowl game
• WMU only returns 3 players on defense