Even though Michigan is bringing in a great offensive line class in 2012, they are looking to add more "big uglies" to their 2013 offensive line recruiting class. Michigan is only planning on taking 3-4 offensive lineman next year, so they must offer prospects who they feel will help improve Michigan's rushing attack for years to come.

Ethan Pocic from Lemont, Illinois.

One prospect that Michigan has been in contact with is offensive tackle Ethan Pocic from Lemont, Illinois. Ethan Pocic stands at 6'6 285 lbs., and has great size for an offensive tackle. Pocic is very strong as he can squat 420lbs., and bench 305, respectively. Pocic comes off the snap with great quickness and generates a good push on the line. Pocic also has extreme toughness and isn't afraid to put players on their backs once he gets a hold of them. Even though Pocic has the ability to get to the second-level of the defense, he needs to gain more strength and get down to a healthier weight to become a better overall offensive lineman.

After Pocic's visit for the Notre Dame-Michigan game, I was able to catch up with Pocic for an interview regarding his recruitment.

SimplyComplex: How was your experience at the ND-Michigan game?

Ethan Pocic: "It was crazy. I've never seen an atmosphere like it."

SC: What do you think your strengths and weaknesses are at the OL position?

EP: "My strengths are-Toughness,Quickness, and getting to the second level of the defense.
Weaknesses-getting stronger and getting down to a healthier weight."

SC: Which schools are you recruiting you besides Michigan?

EP: "Illinois,Purdue,Michigan St.,Wisconsin,West Virginia, Arizona,and Notre Dame have all offered."

SC: Who are your favorite NFL and College player?

EP: "I like to watch Adrian Peterson and the Bears defense."

SC: On your visit, Did you meet with any of the coaches?

EP: "Coach Funk, but only for like five minutes."

SC: Do you have a timeline for when you'd like to make your decision?

EP: "Don't know yet."

SC: Who in your life inspires you?

EP: "My family inspires me the most."

SC: I's distance a factor in your decision?

EP: "No, not at all."

SC: What's your favorite thing about Michigan?

EP: "Everything!(laughs) My favorite thing is their rich tradition."

SC: Could you see yourself attending Michigan?

EP: "Yes, I could see myself attending any school that is interested in me."

SC: Do you think Michigan fits your style of OL play?

EP: "Yes, definitely."

SC: What are you looking for in a college?

EP: "The coaches and players[are important]. And a winning tradition,too."

Look for Michigan to offer Pocic in the coming weeks. Already a 4* prospect according to Scout.com, Pocic will likely be one of the best offensive lineman in the 2013 class. Pocic has already taken unofficial visits to Notre Dame,Wisconsin, and Purdue. All we can hope for is Pocic to visit, and commit to Michigan so he can become the next Jake Long.

Ah, Michigan State. One of a very few reasons I am glad to be from New York; none of the douchebags from my high school graduated and became douchebags from Michigan State. Let’s be real here, everyone who went to high school in the state of Michigan has at least one classmate who couldn’t be saved from their sad Sparty fate. And everyone who has a “friend from State” likes to pretend that their friend “isn’t like the rest of those douchebags.” Well, tough shit kid, your high school BFF just turned into an UNACCEPTABLE turd sandwich, and you did nothing to stop them.

But wait, you say. CMR, you are from New York, how can you hate MSU and their fans so much? Elementary, my dear MMers, let me count the ways:

1. FYS. If you are not a hockey fan, you may not be aware of this one. I saw this firsthand at Yost as a freshman, and it is seriously one of those scenes that will haunt you for the rest of your life. Shit like this is not supposed to happen in college hockey, nor hockey at any level, yet it happened at Yost, and I hope to never witness an event so egregious that every usher in the stands turns a deaf ear to the student section: 
   FYS.
2. “Our parties are better and our chicks are hawter!” Oh yea Sparty? Since your parties are so sweet, (paying for fratty ice is sick, brah!) stop crashing ours and stop trying to get me to dance with you, I can sense your inferiority complex from across the room. I also sense that I should try using smaller words too: You are rather ugly and not even clever, nice, funny, or (sure, I’ll go there) rich enough to make up for it… explain again why you deserve hawt chicks?
3. “LOLMart Wolverines!!” Well that’s up there with Nicky Minaj calling Lil Kim trashy. Try again.
4. “Look at how old that picture is. They had to go that far back since a wide out from U of M has caught a ball.”* What is this I don’t even? Many facepalms to you, you poor uneducated soul.
5. “You're right. It's not a rivalry. The Spartans have won the last two games.”* I’ll say the same thing I told the troll on DB’s porst: there’s a reason no one else brags about beating two of the worst Michigan football teams in the past 130+ seasons. Congrats guys, you accomplished the football equivalent of kicking a puppy and bragged about it. If you had taken a better look, you might’ve realized it was a wolf hybrid puppy. Those mature around age three. Your bad, brah. And by the way, if winning the last 2 ends the rivalry... was there ever one to begin with?
6. Oh and on that note State fans… you don’t get to call anyone “Little Brother,” let alone Mike Hart’s team. Stop trying.
7. “Wow, it certainly was nice of my friend here at UM to get me and my brahs these tickets… TIME TO REPAY THEIR KINDNESS BY MAKING A COMPLETE ASS OF MYSELF!** I will pick a fight with the diabetic girl standing in her seat in front of me!”***
8. And of course… history. My grandparents’ true disregard for Michigan State football (they’d rather drive out for a homecoming against Eastern than the MSU game, since EMU and MSU have about the same standing to them). Spartan Bob and Clockgate. Mike Hart vs Coach Dantonio. The Catch. The Interception. The chronically cheating first boyfriend of my little sister’s who I never got to beat the self-righteous snot out of and who also just so happens to root for the Patriots and MSU. The crowd of student-section-invading assclowns who tried to get me and my roommate (our average height: 5’2”) to fight them. Losing in overtime. We know any memories beyond the past two years are a scary place for you, but at least try to appreciate everything that has led to this Saturday.

Oh, and don’t let this get to your head now, Sparty, I still hate Penn State, ND, and OSU so much more than you :]

*Direct quote from a Spartan fan on a Facebook event with the “He Didn’t Know Charles Woodson Could Jump 15 Feet in The Air” picture

** Direct quote from the brain of almost every Sparty jackass in Ann Arbor for the game... not really but still.

***…yea, really.

So I’ve recently taken a few days off from writing my traditional emo posts. Why you might ask? Well first of all I’ve been sky high recently, the win over ND was huge and yes I am still flying high. Also Dark Blue has met a girl and well use your imagination.

So 2 weeks into the season and what have we learned about Michigan Footbaw? First, Denard Robinson is the shit. This guy if he plays even half as well as he’s played so far, will win the Heisman this year. He has done everything, and I mean everything for your 2010 Wolverines. He has proven that he can throw the ball when needed, everyone who follows college football knows he can run. He so far, has made good decisions with the ball in his hands, and he has yet to turn the ball over. How Rad is Denard Robinson? He is the raddest man in the world.

The second thing we have learned about this team, is our defense isn’t as bad as we thought. Yes we will give up some yards, yes there is some weakness in the secondary. But for the most part this defense has bent, but has yet to break. I think the secondary, minus some terrible mistakes by RS Frosh Cam Gordon, has played pretty well. Both JT Floyd and James Rogers have played very well. In fact most people thought that James Rogers spelled certain doom, but he has preformed above and beyond what the critics have said. Jordan Fucking Kovacs has continued to be Jordan Fucking Kovacs, a solid tackler who doesn’t make many mistakes. Cam Gordon is probably the weak link in the secondary but again he is a RS Freshman. He will get better, and will turn into an All Big Ten performer. Carvin Johnson is out for the next couple of weeks with a sprained MCL, and Thomas Gordon is filling in while he is out. Johnson looked okay against UConn, and Gordon looked ok against ND. This unit will improve with more game experience, have no doubt about it.

The third thing we have learned is our special teams suck. The kicking game is awful, who knows who the kicker will be from here on out. I have hope for Gibbons but the dude needs to improve. So far Hagerup has performed like a true freshman. He’ll get the shanks out of his system, and will be fine but for now hopefully we won’t have to punt very often. The punt returners HELD ON TO THE GODDAMN BALL against Notre Dame, hopefully sometime in the near future they can actually get some return yards. 

So what does this mean for the rest of this season? Well the dream of 13-0 is still alive. We have beaten two respectable BCS schools, according to the Sagarin ratings the only school to play a tougher schedule in the first two weeks was USC. Am I making this fact up? Maybe, but whatever it sounds good. The road from here on out will be a tough road, but adversity is one thing these young Wolverines are used to. Big Ten play will not be easy, they will be gunning for young Denard Robinson. There are some good teams in the Big Ten who will test our linebackers with play action passing. Can we overcome these things and remain perfect? Only time will tell but the optimism is running high.

 

MICH (1-0, 0-0) vs. Notre Dame (1-0)

Are you ready for a rivalry game? Well dudes I hope you are, because the “Season” kicks off for real this Saturday in South Bend. Michigan, who I might add, holds a 21-15-1 record vs. the Fighting Irish (whoa racist much?), makes the trip into the LoLoosier State looking to give RR that elusive second road win. Can it be done? Well some charts and graphs and pictures make everything all right.

Notre Dame Offense:

Can you say yikes? Our young secondary has the tough task this week of trying to cover Michael Floyd. If we had Charles Woodson playing corner for us, I would probably feel a little bit better about this matchup. Instead we have JT Floyd and James Rogers. This game will test how well these guys are ready for the big stage. Notre Dame is going to be able to throw the ball, make no mistake about it. Notre Dame’s run game comes in after turning a very good performance against Purdue. Armando Allen played well rushing 18 times for 93 yards. Cierre Woods also played well rushing 7 times for 58 yards.

Crist had some problems hitting his receivers down the field. All of the trademark Brian Kelly short stuff was executed well, but there were a couple of times that he went down the field to Floyd and came up empty. I know that ND will test the Michigan secondary this week, and will take plenty of shots down the field. This will be a HUGE challenge for them. If Michael Floyd finds holes in the zone 20 yards down field look out.

Passing Offense	Rushing Offense	Total Offense	Points Scored
205 yards	153 yards (4.3 ypc)	358 yards	23

Keys to stopping the Irish:

First of all we have to stop the run. Jordan Toddman ran the ball 20 times for 105 yards and a score against our D. We must do a better job against the Irish. If we can force ND to become one dimensional, this really improves our shot at winning. The second key is to put pressure on Crist. Whether it is by blitzing, or just with normal pass rush, this has to be done. We cannot afford to let him have all day in the pocket.

Notre Dames offense didn’t looked completely gelled against Purdue. While I have no doubt Brian Kelly is going to make ND a winner again, it takes time to install a new system and get your pieces in there. Here’s hoping the offense hits a bump in the road Saturday.

Notre Dame Defense:

Well the news is somewhat more optimistic when the Irish are on defense. Although Notre Dame racked up 4 sacks and a couple of interceptions in the win against Purdue, Purdue moved the ball pretty well. This included a 24 yard touchdown run by Robert Marve, and we know how fast Marve is (LOL). ND did put good pressure on the Boilermakers QB as I said earlier getting 4 sacks on the dude.

Purdue moved the ball well though, or at least through the air they moved the ball well. Marve finished the day 21/42 for 220 yards and 2 picks. If he doesn’t turn the ball over we probably have a very close ball game. Purdue’s ground attack wasn’t nearly as effective as the passing attack. They ran the ball 32 times for 102 yards. Not a great day was to be had by the Purdue running backs. What impressed me the most about the Irish defense was the tackling. They really seemed to wrap the ball carrier up well.

Rushing Yards Allowd	Passing Yards Allowed	Total Yards	Points Given Up	Turnovers forced
102 (3.2 YPC)	220 (5.2 YPA)	322	12	2

Keys for moving the ball on the Irish:

First key is to take some shots down the field. Notre Dame is going to put 8 guys in the box knowing what Denard Robinson can do. This means we are going to have some shots to go down the field. With all of the speed that Stonum has, we need to go over the top to him at least a couple of times. The second key is to do what we did against UConn, let Denard hum this offense right along. If he makes good decisions on the Zone Read, we should be able to gash Notre Dame for a lot of yards on the ground. The third and final key is to HOLD ON TO THE GODDAMN BALL!! Turnovers have killed us these past couple of years, so do that and we should be okay.

GRADES?

Position	MICH	ND	Advantage
QB	A-	B	I know its only one game, but Denard Robinson looked like a star in the making against UConn. Crist looked okay against Purdue, but MICH has the advantage here.
RB	B+	B+	Our Running backs played well. Sure they didn’t have a whole lot of yards, but when your QB is rushing for 200, you don’t need a lot. Allen and Woods both played well for ND, this is a push
WR/TE	A-	A	Can we stop Michael Floyd? Probably not, but stranger things have happened.
O Line	A	B+	Our line played so well against UConn, they smashed dudes in the mouth. ND played Purdue so I believe nothing about them. Plus with Wenger being out this hurts the Irish
D Line	B+	B	I’m going to give us a slight advantage here. We didn’t generate a lot of pressure on Frazer and these guys must do better against ND
Linebackers	B-	B+	Even though Mouton played well against UConn I still have some doubts about these guys. Hopefully they can continue the good play against ND.
Secondary	C+	B-	Well we didn’t get torched, that is a good thing, right? ND’s secondary didn’t look great against the BoiLOLermakers.
Special Teams	C	B+	We only punted once and it wasn’t a great kick but took a great bounce. Our Punt Return unit still needs to hold on to the ball, and or Kick Returners didn’t make a whole lot of noise against UConn, oh and the field goal unit wasn’t very good either.

 

Prediction:

Okay I’m gonna try and be fair about this as I can, even though I am a huge homer. I expect Michigan to win this game, but its gonna be close. Notre Dame will rack up some yards on us, but hopefully they find a way to score one less point then we do. MICH 38 ND 27