Michigan Football: A Week in Review

Michigan Football: A Week in Review

The summer is finally starting to wind down and college football is just around the corner. The far, it’ll-take-more-than-a-month-to-get-there, corner.

Nonetheless, the push is on and the season feels as though it is fast approaching.

Albeit constant talks about Reggie Bush, USC, and numerous SEC violations, at least the sport is once again being spoken of within the realm of the four-letter network.

Hopefully that will help the time go by just a little bit faster.

Here is your Michigan football week in review:

1. Vinny Mac is Back - Well not quite, but he’s getting there.

The Free Press reports today that Michigan tailback Vincent Smith is making good progress in rehabilitating his injury from the Ohio State game last year.

In the final game of the year in ’09, Smith ended up tearing his ACL and needed surgery to repair it.

Although a true freshman last year, like a lot of the young talent on the roster, Smith showed some outstanding promise as a future starter for the Wolverines.

In 2010, experience or no experience, the Wolverines need Smith to step up and produce a formidable running game for a team that lost the majority of its veteran backs this past year.

If things continue the way they are, according to coaches and Smith himself, he should be able to do exactly that.

2. Stonum Sentenced - A somewhat big story that has kind of gone under the radar this past week is that of Darryl Stonum spending the 4th of July weekend in jail.

The punishment’s origin dates back to 2008 wherein Stonum was apparently caught operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol.

At the sentencing for the arrest, Stonum was placed on probation.

In terms of the football program, he was also suspended for one game by head coach Rich Rodriguez.

However, according to the Free Press, it appears over the past year that Stonum hasn’t been keeping up to terms with this probation and has violated it for multiple reasons including: leaving the state without permission and failure to submit to random alcohol testing.

This landed him in court before where upon the judge decided to place him in custody of the state for the entirety of the weekend.

What will be interesting to see is what punishment Rodriguez will put forth in the upcoming season.

So far, Rodriguez has been pretty good about hopping on these issues when they first pop up.

In this case though, it seems that Stonum has failed to live up to his end of the probation bargain for the better part of a year now.

Will the player be released from the team as in previous cases?

Will the punishment just be more severe than the last?

Or, given his place on the hot seat, will Rodriguez put his job before the punishment of a player?

We shall see.

3. Jake Fisher Signs The Dotted O-Line - Offensive Line recruit Jake Fisher chose the University of Michigan as his college of choice over the weekend.

Apparently after visiting the campus Fisher had one of those epiphany type moments (what I like to call a Michigasm) where he just knew the school was right for him, as the Free Press reported:

“It was after I left I thought 'that's it”.

When it comes to coach Rodriguez, Fisher is ‘all in’:

“I really connected with the coaches and thought I fit in there…Plus, the social network they have after college gives you an opportunity to put you in a job. That’s really it….I’ll follow him and learn a lot. It will be like having a bigger brother down there.”

No Fisher, it won’t.

It’ll be like having 400,000+ big brothers down there.

According to Mgoblog.com, Fisher also received an offer from Notre Dame but wasn’t interested.

Not only is that “point number two” for Michigan, but it also bodes well for other recruits we are competing against the Irish for.

The first person that comes to mind is Cyrus Hobbi, the four-star recruit out of Arizona.

Hobbi was part of the visit that changed Fisher’s perspective, and if the two were able to get along and have similar experiences, he may end up choosing Ann Arbor as well.

Looking at his offer list, the only schools which would logically seem as though they pose a threat to Michigan landing Hobbi would be Nebraska, Cal, and UCLA.

That is your Michigan Week in Review.

Shameless Self Promotion:

For this internship with the Bleacher Report I created a twitter account in order for some of those who appreciate my writing to follow me more closely.

So far, not a single person has decided to.

Because of that, I’ve decided to do a little shameless self promotion right here in the article.

If you’re into twitter, and would like to read the wisdom of a devilishly handsome and bright twenty-three year old Wolverine, go ahead do so.

Plus, your street cred will go way up.

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