Wolverine Wednesday: News and Notes Edition

• Ohio State hired Oklahoma State's DC Jim Knowles.  If you're looking for a DC you usually don't go to the Big 12, but Jim's unit had a good year.   I watched a couple games this season and wasn't impressed.   

• Josh Gattis won the Broyles Award last night.  Congratulations to him! 

• Tom Brady SI Sportsman of the Year

• Junior Colson was named to the On3 Freshmen All American Team

• Michigan Basketball loves to play Nebraska and put up 102 points on them last night.  Brandon Johns and Terrance Williams both went for 20 each.   Wow! 

• One week away from the Early Signing Date for College Football Alert!  

• Jimmy's staff is all over the country visiting commits and prospects. 

• The Staff will visit 2022 WR Kaleb Webb this week but he is trending hard to Tennesse right now

• A name to watch in the replacement for Courtney Morgan's role is former UM student and current CMU's Director of Player Personnel Albert Karchnia.  From his CMU page:  

Albert Karschnia is in his fourth season as the director of player personnel for the Central Michigan football program.

Karschnia worked in 2015-16 on the football staff at Michigan, serving in various roles including that of assistant recruiting coordinator.

In that capacity, Karschnia was responsible for the oversight of recruitment of offensive players, directed on-campus recruiting efforts, and managed the program’s preferred walk-on program.

A Michigan native and a graduate of St. Mary’s Preparatory in Orchard Lake, Karschnia earned a bachelor’s degree with a major in sport management from Michigan in 2015.

While at Michigan, he served as the Director of Professional Development and Alumni Relations Chair for the University of Michigan Sport Business Association.

Michigan Tuesday: The Don and Josh Show

Sounds like a new show on Nickelodeon, as both Coordinators answered questions yesterday as Jimmy took the day off from the media during the bye week.

I watched both interviews and tried to gardener what they were saying even though everything was spun mostly positive.

Don Brown is full of personality, he is the guy you could have a beer with and think your best friends after two beers. Don's son called him and asked why they didn't play a 4 man front against Army?  Which is exactly what I would have asked.   Don thinks Glasgow is one of the best defensive players in the Big Ten, he also doesn't have a true position.   So Don preferred to keep Glasgow on the field to try to stop the option pitch play.   Ok, I can see that and Michigan seemed to do a decent job against the pitch.  The issue is Army was killing the Wolverines at 4 yards a pop with the FB dive.   Keep the beef in first and second down!   Don also continued to mention how difficult it is to prepare and play Army and is looking forward to getting back to playing Michigan defense against Wisconsin.  He said they had to prepare for the Run and Shoot week 1 and the triple option week 2.

Don also sent in the play where the FB started to crawl towards the line of scrimmage on the goal line.  When I saw that, I wondered how it was a legal play even if he re-set.

Josh was also very positive and talking about what went right against Army.  The issue with the offense is the drive killers which include 7 fumbles, 10 penalties, and 7 drops.    I would also include 1 missed field goal and 2 change of possession on 4th down.   Josh feels that is the #1 concern with the offense right now, protecting the ball.   Which I would agree with.

Both Jimmy and Josh said that Shea was healthy (Josh did say that Shea was dealing with an oblique injury from the MTSU game but wasn't limited in the game) and had the ability to keep the ball on the option plays.  If I can read between the lines, it also seems both are not happy with the amount of time Shea is taking in the pocket to throw the ball.  Right now I see a senior QB that is lacking confidence and trying to "over think" the game.  I'm sure he is a bit banged up but has to play better if this team is going to compete in Madison and beyond.

I think Don Brown has too much power on the defensive side of the ball.  I don't believe his formations were sound against Army and there needs somebody checking his game plans and theories.   Turnovers are offensive killers and right now Shea seems to be the issue.   He needs to play better or he is going to end up like Quinn Nordin, who has clearly lost his confidence.  I'm guessing practice Shea is much different then game day Shea right now.

Wolverine Wednesday: Lands More Speed in Space or Island

If you ask any person living in Michigan in January, if they rather be in Ann Arbor or Hawaii?  I think 99% would answer, Hawaii.  

Not 2020 4 star WR Roman Wilson, he picked Ann Arbor from Honolulu, Hawaii.    He is going to take his talents on an 8 hour flight to play for Coach Gattis and Coach Harbaugh.  

You want to talk about fast?  Roman runs a laser timed 40 yard dash in 4.37 seconds.  That's crazy fast!  Combined with AJ's commitment, its been a good 10 days for the Wolverines and their WR recruiting.   Roman's offer list included the likes of  Oregon, ASU, Colorado, Hawaii, UCLA, Cal, Washington, and Wisconsin.   He had 32 catches for 812 yards and 7 TD's as a Junior. 

Roman might need to put on a few pounds as he looks a bit slight on his 6'0 175 pound frame before he sees the field in Ann Arbor.   Either way he is the type of game breaker that Coach Gattis  is looking for.  

Welcome to Ann Arbor Roman, I would recommend waiting to buy your winter coat in Ann Arbor as the weather might be a little different then your used to.  

So how many coaches want to visit Roman prior to signing day?

• Former Michigan WR commit Kalil Branham from Columbus committed to UK yesterday.  Branham has had a strange recruitment, he committed to Michigan and then later Coach Gattis asked him to "look around".  He de-committed and really didn't get a ton of high profile offers, his other offers were from the likes of IU, EMU, UC, BC, Akron, Louisville, Kansas, etc.  

• Michigan also has Jerry's son Brenden Rice on their WR wish list for this class.  I would also add Instate 4 Star WR Maliq Carr from Oak Park.  He is a 4 star and 6'4 230 pounds and rated as a TE by 24/7.   Right now it seems Purdue is leading in his recruitment. 

• Michigan Basketball gets it first taste of Juwan Howard today as its the first workout for the team with its new coach.