My 8th grade teacher is good friends with Fred Jackson. He was lucky enough to go to the practice right before the spring game. Here is a few things he passed on to me.

-He loved the things Denard did that day but his lack of being able to read a defense pre-snap is alarming. He says Tate is still the man to start.

-Fred loves his stable of running backs but think Michael Shaw could break away from the pack after 3 or 4 games.

-Fred also said Shaw has good leadership and shows a ton of heart. The kid wants to win.

-Thinks the defense will be good, not great...not awful(nothing new).

-Said Mike Cox struggled with blocking and just knowing the plays. Which has been sort of floating around for some time.

-Fred thinks Fitz can be pretty good just needs game reps and to get a bit more focused.

-Gushed over Gordan(like everyone has).

-RR practice's are intense and nothing like Lloyd's.

Programming notes

 I will not be on tonight. I will be back Wednesday. You may have noticed that one writer has left MM. Tater and MM decided to part ways. You can now find Tater at http://tinfoilhatsportsblog.blogspot.com/ I wish him well in his blogging future and thank him for all his hard work here at MM.

Alright this isn't a monster truck rally but JC one of our great late night readers will be going to the spring practice on Saturday. Sunday night JC will be on Midnight Maize's Live Blog to share his day with UM and who stood out at practice. The special live blog starts at 12am est. Come join and see how well JC "lurked" at spring practice.

in other news....

-Coming up on the 100th Midnight Live blog. Punch and Pie will be provided for the celebration.

-We have a new writer if you didnt notice. I would like to welcome "Seth9". Seth will be doing Michigan stories outside the Big House. Sorta like "outside the lines" type of deal. He already "kilt" it with his first post here. So welcome Seth to our foot clan.

-I have gotten a few e-mails asking about ms paints and if I am still doing them. I have two in the works but slowed down due to the off season. Just keep an eye out.

-I will also be at the spring game(I've been asked a few times). I can't wait. I hope for a nice day like last year. That can really make or break for a lot of people.

I am proud to announce that Midnight Maize got two LOI to write for us. Both these guys are rated as 4 star writers with a lot of upside. I went out and got some writers to make the blog better. I am a terrible writer and needed some help. The traffic has been good but I know it can get even better with these some help from people who know how to write. I asked that they both write at least once a week. I hope we can build something here. Our Live blogs have been going really well and we will continue to build on those.