With football season starting up and some good live blogs(thanks 247 crew) we have going on, I will be in the need of some more help. I would like to add live blogs to almost every night. I don't expect SCS to do that all on his own. I have Thursday night through Saturday night. I will find out what SCS is planning on for the nights he may be able to take. Then fill in the open days with some fresh meat. Also check out the more committed jobs the site needs.

Openings
Live Blog Mod-You accept the comments, edit them if anything is out of bounds(not much is). Post up the live blog from 11pm or 12am to when ever it slows down. You are not required to post any sort of content or blog postings. Just all Live Blogs. Depending on what SCS plans on doing I may take as many as two people to fill this need.

Recruiting Guru-Still trying to get this off the ground. I am doing my own search but I am willing to listen to anyone who is interested that is really committed to doing this job. You more then likely will be posting many times a week any updates. You will also need to keep some sort of recruiting board(maybe implant a system on Michigan's chances with recruits). If you could write a review of a commit that talks about his strength and weaknesses would be a plus. I am really looking for a serious recruitment nut to take this. I can't have people quitting after a week like in the past. It should really be a passion.

Insider-Not sure if there is anyone out there that can really fill this role(Ace don't apply). Any things you can find out about the players,coaches,water boys... and team. Updates in anyway on those things. This maybe a pipe dream.

If you have questions or are interested in any of the above jobs please contact me at midnightmaize@gmail.com

I did a few of these for some opponents last year and I figure why not vent what I didn't care about during the Richie Era. I will say I was fan of the "idea". The idea that Michigan would be this fast spread and shred team. That we wouldn't be so predictable and stale. I really thought Rich was the best man to do that. It wasn't meant to be and this blog moved on the day Rich was fired but lets revisit the things that chapped my ass.

10. 3rd and STUFFED!

I lost count on how many times RR would send in the smallest running back(V.Smith more then not) and throw him into a power I. The play would get stuffed 90% of the time. Why ask our line and RB to do something that isn't its strength on some of the most important plays? Might as well run Denard...again. He was running 80% of the time anyway. Why not 85% and get the first down? It was just dumb.

9. Lets Be Real

I felt like sometimes that Rich wasn't himself most the time. Like the pressure to impress or live up a image in Ann Arbor kept him from ever being this larger then life leader that we all wanted. He never came off as on the edge or super confident liked I expected right when we hired him. Most his interviews were canned responses all the time and he seem defeated with all the downs that came his way. After big loses he would just repeat the same things from the loss before. I just never felt like we got the real Rich Rod. I never expected him to go up to the mic and say "what fuck do you want me to get out of Steven Threet?" but I expected more.

8. Hey Idiot.. DUH!

I think the fundamentals and football IQ that the team showed since Rich Rod took over down right sucked at times. Tackling looked worse every year. Some how Obi peaked as a RS Frosh and got worse since RR showed up. Botched punt return after botched punt return. Fumbles galore... Oh and twice last year after blocked FGs the team failed to realize that the BALL IS STILL LIVE! The other team would scoop it up and run in the other direction as the Michigan players seem confused. A lot of this may have been due to some of the position coaches which brings us to number 7.

7. Coaching Follies 


Rich hired a "meh" DC from Stanford. He then fights with him every week and forces his will at Purdue as the team runs the 3-3-5 and is beaten on a hook and latter play. Rich fires the dude(who goes to Syracuse ironically and coach a pretty damn good defense) and hires a Orange Reject. Not many know how to take this hire but the dude does have killer silver fox hair. The defense takes a bigger nose dive as we switch our base defense every year. By 2010 the players are thinking so much on the field they forget they are playing football and it costs the team one win after another. A stuffed bear is used to motivate players and darkness falls on Michigan Stadium. Rich also refuses to fire coaches who are lacking. Many say they are his "buddies" and they keep their jobs even though the team is a joke at many defensive positions. Rich may have been screwed the day Casteel refused to follow him to Michigan.



6.MSU or EMU?

During the 3 games in which Michigan played MSU I couldn't tell if Michigan was playing a major rival. I could tell MSU was but Michigan just didn't bring any fire or passion to the MSU games like in the past. By the players body language I couldn't tell if they were playing MSU or EMU. They looked like they took it as just another game. I am not saying that is how the team took MSU but from this persons POV they lacked a lot of  heat and intensity in this game. Michigan was 0-3 in these games. I now live in a bizzarro world where Michigan State beats us in football and we beat them in Basketball.

5. Fine get the hell out of here! Who needs yea!

This maybe more to that bad luck thing but Rich didn't have much time for players who were drowning. Rumors would spread that a player maybe leaving the team and then bam! The next day they were gone. I don't know all that went down behind closed doors but it just seemed 2nd chances or helping players turn it around wasn't something that was going on. Guys like Shawn Crable would have been gone in flash under Rich. Justin Turner one of his highest rated recruits was gone before the start of his 2nd season. Did Justin suck at coming to camp ready? Yeah. Could he have been used? YES. But that may have been a good call since he now plays intramurals brother. RB Austin White didn't even make it to camp his Frosh year. Does anyone else think this kid could have used another chance? He didn't even get his dorm assignment for god sake. This was another reason why the roster numbers were so low.

4.The dude didn't even pass 8th grade 

Oh lets do it! Or lets not. As much as the fans wanted and welcomed Demor Dorsey he wasn't gonna get in. People slammed Michigan for not letting him in. Then word came of how bad his HS transcripts were. Every school wouldn't let him in. He didn't even get through HS. He ended up at some school for kids who can't handle HS. Why did Rich spend so much time recruiting a kid he had to know had no chance of getting into Michigan. I maybe missing some info that I missed where us and other schools were lead to believe that his grades were fine but if not then why waste so much time? The team had so many needs on that side of the ball. Now Demor is going to GRCC last time I checked and their credits do transfer to Michigan pretty easy. I have no idea what his motives are at GRCC but it may take a miracle if he ever ends up playing D1 ball someday.

3. Pssh! Red Shirts

You would have thought that Rich Rod thought red shirts were some mythical creatures who don't exist. He would burn players red shirts on special team plays, garbage time and refusing to play a certain pain in the ass QB ahead of Devin Gardner. There is no way Je'Ron Strokes should be a Junior right now. Devin Gardner should be a RS frosh. Will... The list goes on and on.  This is the stuff I figured out how to manage while playing NCAA Football 2002 back in High School.

2. Defense

Rich just didn't handle the defense with care. It treated it like it was there to get the offense ready in practice and not stop anyone. I think he really thought at times they he could just out score everyone which of course is unrealistic. Hiring and firing DCs and changing schemes every year was huge mistakes. The players didn't know their head from their ass. I think they still don't but Hoke and Co. are working on sorting that out.

Spinner, 3-3-5, 4-2-5, death backer and all these cool names didn't mean shit. We could even go into why in the world is Roh playing OLB? Why isn't Demens starting? Why is Cam Gordan a safety? Why does our DC pick his nose? Why can Wisconsin run the same play 20 times in a row and we can't stop it? Why do I feel bad for Brandon Graham? Why can Penn States Red headed Steven Threet beat us? Why are the Zookers scoring 65 points? Why can't we stop the UMASS Roll out? WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON? The whole defense turned into a giant joke under Rich and it was really the main reason he was fired.


1.Luck

I didn't enjoy Riches Luck the most. Rich must have did something awful to someone above because the dude had one bad thing happen to him and the team one after another. It was was almost comical how bad news was just never ending. Like is this for real?

The Gods couldn't stand him being the coach at Michigan. They struck us with a corner back plague. Transfers left and right. They took our bowl streak and had a news paper start a witch hunt. It was Rich and his bad luck that has cursed Michigan for the last three years. I have no idea how Denard made it to Michigan without being struck my lighting or being contacted by god to join a monk church.

Like I said. I rooted for Rich and this isn't meant to just slam him(which it does). I could make a top 10 things I liked about the RR era as well. If anything it taught us how fast things change in college football and to never take for granted how good you might be and 9-3 or 10-2 isn't all that bad..

and we can now stop the "Well this is Michigan" shit. We can thank your bad luck to that Rich.

This is a bit late but I just wanted to comment on the two commits Michigan just picked up.

Jarrod Wilson

He is a 4 star across the board but we at Midnight Maize hand up to 10 stars so he comes in at a 6 star. With a good senior season he may get a 7th star. It pretty refreshing to have a true safety finally commit. I was getting pretty sick of the all the hybrid non sense.

Hybrid safety/LB is like Lost's Kate and Jacks will they or won't sex tension... but not sex tension but will they pan out at either position.

We don't have to worry about any of that crap with Wilson. This kid looks like the first legit safety since Earnest Shazor(sorry Adams). He got the body and has great instincts. He makes great breaks on the ball and had 10-12ish INT depending on what stat boy you believe. I think instincts might be the most important factor in a safety. Breaking on the ball, laying hard hits, reading QBs and all that comes down to great instincts. I think Jarrod has top end instincts from the film I have seen.

I could see him getting some PT in his red shirt sophomore year. With Marvin Robinson gone it may be his job to lose.

They say the kid is a real Ball Hawk... What the hell is that? I always think of this...

Kyle Kalis

Former OSU commit Kyle Kalis gave Michigan a verbal after dropping the buckeyes. Kyle is a 5 star on Scout and 4 on the rest with ESPN acting like they don't know him. On Midnight Maize he grabs 8 stars. He is a very big and physical OL.

In his highlight tape he is pancaking 8th graders left and right.. Well that is what they look like anyway since he has a man body. There was some chatter that his arms are a bit shorter then liked but either way he is gonna be a great guard or tackle.

He could play early with shallow OL Michigan has right now. Maybe as fast as a Red Shirt Frosh. But with all the new OL commits we will see what happens. He has all the tools to be a all big ten type. His offer list was also..the tits.

Naturally OSU fans acted like it wasn't his god given right as a American to choose what college he should be able go to. With not one.. not two.. but three threads on what a loser Kyle is for having free will. People were even hoping injury on the poor kid.

You would have thought he joined P.A.G.A.N. and wasn't recruited by Brady Hoke but Emil Muzz  and was wearing Goat leggings and dancing around a water pit with a giant snake slithering through it while trying to eat a virgin women wearing a white wedding dress.... The nerve.

All he did was choose the school that won't be missing bowl games and won't have to worry about a new coach in another year. He didn't push the Virgin in... OSU fans are ruthless animals.

User JCGolf posted a pretty good Denard pump up video

I am not crazy about the music but it has every Denard highlight from last year with good editing. Nice work.

Thunder at Touch the Banner continues to rank the players on the team. Tony Anderson comes in at #61. The most note worthy thing from the post didn't have anything to do with Anderson...

Cullen Christian was avoiding tackling, and Greg Brown was an early enrollee freshman.  That left returning part-time starter Courtney Avery and Anderson to be the #1 cornerback tandem.  And from what I saw, Anderson didn't do too badly.

I had no idea CC was avoiding tackling. That is a huge issue for a college football player. Good luck CC..at Pitt? I forgot.

Mgorecruit profiles the latest commit Blake Bars

I know there will be a few of you thinking, why didn’t Michigan hold out for guys like Andrus Peat, Zach Banner etc instead of taking this three star guy. Well the truth is that those guys are still longshots even if they visit Michigan. Bars has a lot of potential, and thus we should be happy about his commitment. Trust the coaches!

Yeah I heard those rumblings as well. I have no issues taking a 3 star guy who could be a stud down the road and wants to be at Michigan.

SE Michigan Sports(Yak) does his happy dance on Tressel ball's grave.

Yep. It saddens me a little. I foolishly thought he was clean. I knew Pryor was a "well compensated student athlete." Everyone did. Everyone whose school he was considering knew there was a fairly decent chance he would end up driving nicer cars than the coaching staff. Hell, I was happy with my 2008 Impala until he was seen driving around in this....

This picture is titled "pryor-fucktard.jpg" which is nice

Yak writes great stuff... But come on! you thought he was clean? PHhhssss!

Greg at Mvictors talks Mascots.
That sounds like a damn good MS paint.


Maize and Brew loves Canada. Brian pubs his great Maple Street Press.
MGOvideo finds Mike Martin at Suh camp. Seems fitting.

Blast from the Past


Remember when Grady was the next great RB? I do.