So Maize Pages "officially" launches today. I am wrapping things up over here at Mets Maize and will be exclusively posting on the new domain from now on. Real content begins next week but first, some transition notes (these are the exact same items listed over at Maize Pages right now):
Obviously, you can delete anything Mets Maize-related and re-subscribe to Maize Pages on the right hand side (you can be a "Follower"!). For those of you who use Google Reader or other RSS feeds, you can make the appropriate change.
Twitter: @MaizePages. I don't think you have to do anything; Twitter lets you change your handle and convert everything over without losing your followers.
The site is still very much a work in progress. If you catch any errors, please let me know. Check out some of the new tabs/links; I'll be throwing up more stuff, like offer boards, as we go. Also, if there's content you'd think would be interesting, please let me know. Suggestions are always welcome.
Other bloggers: I created a preliminary BlogRoll on the left side. If you'd like to be added (or removed, I guess), please let me know.
Finally, I guess I'll do a semi-sign off even though I'm not technically retiring from the blogosphere... yet. Mets Maize started pretty spontaneously just under 2 years ago with little direction and no experience. And though the initial goal was to simply get me to write more often and consistently, regardless of topic, it's grown into something much more substantial and personally gratifying. I still largely have no idea what I'm doing but I love doing it. And so the experiment continues.
Mets Maize also started off as an extension of the numerous texts and email chains I used to (and still have) with my friends; the blog became a forum for those discussions. My friends and family have been not only my most avid fans but also my most loyal readers and for that, I am eternally grateful. Along this journey, I have also made new friends, including fellow bloggers, who I hope to continue working with and exchanging ideas. Their generous links directed thousands of new readers who would have otherwise never found this random blog. And those readers are still pissed they were ever linked in the first place.
So thank you all. Please join me over at Maize Pages. GO BLUE!
As the Mets' regular season winds down and Michigan's fall practice starts up, I have been re-evaluating the state of blog. It has been a pretty busy summer for me personally and therefore relatively quiet for the site. Hokeamania recruiting, to a large degree, has kept this bad boy afloat but--and you may have noticed for some time now--the Mets have been almost completely off my written radar. Not that I haven't been closely following the team, commenting on big trades like K-Rod and Beltran, or screaming at my TV every so often but none of this translated to posts on the Interweb. I seem to keep those tears in a different jar.
It makes no sense to call this site "Mets Maize" when I literally ignore half its name. The content is heavily skewed towards the latter. When I first started this blogging experiment just under two years ago, the goal was simply to get me to write more often and consistently. I chose Mets baseball and Michigan football as a starting point since they represent the two sports teams I cared most about and therefore would most likely write about. Turns out: the Mets not so much. Michigan football is what brings me to the keyboard. So I'm making a change. Without further ado:
Maize Pages
oooooooooooooo aaaaaaaaaaahhhh (there's no logo, sorry)
When I first solicited some advice from Brian @ mgoblog in 2009, he told me to find my niche. Mets and Michigan is admittedly a pretty random combo but it doesn't exactly attract new readers (I've met a lot of Jews from Long Island though). While there are literally dozens of blogs dedicated solely to Michigan football, and a constant rotation of which ones stay active, I'm going to throw my hat into the ring and keep on truckin'. At least for another season.
In the meantime, the blog will obviously go under some major construction over the next few weeks, including a domain name change (www.maizepages.com). I have to work out the logistics but updates will be posted frequently and I'll set a date for the big jump. Hopefully everything will be ready before the season starts. As far as vision/content, the goal is to provide a centralized resource for Michigan football-related content but specifically from Michigan blogs since that is what I believe drives a lot of the conversation and opinion. What does this mean exactly? I'm not quite sure yet. But in addition to basic information--roster, season stats, schedules--I'm going to try to create dedicated pages or sidebars to other Michigan blogs of particular subjects. For example, want to read all the "Hello" commitment posts about TE A.J. Williams? I'll have links from MGoBlog, MGoRecruit and The Wolverine Blog so you can read varying opinions on how he'll project. Editorial content will remain largely the same, except the breakdown will look more like this:
70% Michigan football
10% college football in general, Mike's pick 'em
10% Michigan hoops, Mets
10% Jets, Nets, Devils and spontaneous rants
To those who actually did find this blog through the random combo of Mets and Michigan, thank you for all of your support. You'll still see Mets posts on here from time to time so I hope you continue reading and checking back. To everybody else, especially close friends, thanks for riding the rollercoaster with me. I know I'm not the best writer nor have the most well-thought-out opinions but this is still fun for me and I'm going to keep doing it until I get either too bored or too busy.
More updates to come in the following days/weeks. Fall practice starts today. Season opener, 26 days.
In honor of the US finally reaching stumbling to debt deal before the August 2nd deadline, I decided look back at Michigan's past 8 recruiting classes, by the numbers, on this day. We already know how impressive Hoke has been on the recruiting trail--both in terms of quality and quantity--but exactly how unprecedented has this summer been compared to Rodriguez and Carr? Let's find out.
Below is a compilation of all the "verbal commits" before August 2nd of their respective year from 2004 to this year's 2012 recruiting class. A few warnings/caveats: 1) The stars/ratings (and therefore class averages) are from Rivals only, insert bias/disclaimer; 2) I am lazy and blogger incompetent so what you see are actually screen images; 3) Along those same lines, get ready to scroll a lot; final analysis at the end; 4) In transition years, credit is given to the coach who started that summer; 5) Save 2012, the stars/ratings are retrospectively finalized, meaning what you see is how they finished on NSD. This obviously differs from the current class' stars/ratings which are subject to change, not to mention verbals dropping altogether. In reverse chronological order:
BY THE NUMBERS: Well it's simple: Hokeamania does exist! At this time of the year, compared to the last 8 recruiting classes--5 from Carr, 3 from Rodriguez--Hoke's 21 verbals is by far the most. A distant 2nd place goes to Rodriguez's 2010 class with 15 commits and 3rd to Carr's 2008 class with 12. The average of the classes previous to Hoke is 8.5 recruits; Hoke has doubled that number and then some. At no point in recent Michigan Football history, under 2 different head coaches with varying level success on the field, have we seen so many kids pick Michigan this early. Carr's 12 came off of an 11-win 2006 season. Rodriguez's 15 came off of a treacherous 3-9 campaign after which he probably spent Christmas in Florida trying to get the right guys for his system. The fact that it's Hoke's first year as head coach makes high numbers in a transition year that much less likely and therefore that much more impressive.
Not too much to see here. Hoke ranks near the middle between Rodriguez's precipitous drop over the last 2 years and some of Carr's best (2006, 2008). Again, these numbers reflect pre-August 2nd rankings and not how the classes eventually finish. The quality is certainly up there though, especially considering the consistency from 21 verbals as opposed to much smaller sample sizes. However, this does reinforce the fact that Michigan, as TomVH has pointed out in the past, is unlikely to finish a top 3 nationally ranked class as currently projected. There is still room for improvement, yes, but a few other schools should pass us and will likely push us near the 5-7 range. WTF Hoke?
FINAL THOUGHTS/NOTES: Not much except it's sort of spooky seeing the level of attrition in some of Rodriguez's early commits. He also landed 5 WRs in that 15-(pre August 2nd)-member 2010 class including Dileo as the 5th. Rodriguez:WR::Hoke:OL. Fun to see some random items from Carr's classes: James Rodgers listed as an ATH (!), Zoltan in there early with 3-stars in 2005, Brandon Graham starting the 2006 class off with a bang. Sad to see Kellen Jones, the last pre-August 2nd recruit of the 2011 class, already gone; there are 3 DEs right before him too. With Wormley's commitment as this year's 4th DE, it probably goes without saying that there will be some serious competition at SDE and WDE, as well as position changes to 3-tech or LB.
EDIT: Uhhh... I thought I put this post up over the weekend. Apparently not. Sorry this seems late.
ON THURSDAY, the rest of the world got a glimpse of what we've known for 7 months now.
If Hoke were allowed to invent a word, he would totally combine legacy and tradition for the sole purpose of saving time when asked to describe Michigan. Didn't you know? Michigan Football is all about its legaditions. We weren't born yesterday: most wins in college football history, most Big Ten championships, most wins against Ohio State. And if you ask him obvious questions (obvious to him, at least), he will give you obvious answers. What I do I think about my players and coaches? They are tremendous. Why don't I add "State" after "Ohio"? Because I just don't. Why has recruiting been awesome? Because it's Michigan. It speaks for itself.
The swagger is certainly back: arrogant and unapologetic. Not even the lingering stench of Rodriguez or anxious questions surrounding another major offensive and defensive overhaul could bring Hoke down. The man exudes confidence. And can you blame him? Since he's taken over, literally everything has gone his way. The only reason he hasn't proven himself the field is because he hasn't figured out a way to fast-forward time... yet.
I'd normally caution against such lofty rhetoric but what else do we have to lose? So much of this off-season has been righting the wrong: uniting the base, changing the culture, fixing the attitude. And if this stuff works (apparently it does on recruits), then why not use it? I used to think the call-them-Ohio-not-Ohio-State thing was petty, but if it heightens the mindset and motivation of the players, I'm all for it. Even Denard doesn't say "State" anymore. I guess it's time we get on board too.
Hoke is setting the stage. By raising the stakes, he's leaving himself zero room for excuses, little wiggle room down the line. But he does convey a seemingly lost sense of accountability, no matter how egregious the cards were stacked against the last guy. Rodriguez has chimed in a couple of times this off-season, claiming he was only a year away from his great breakthrough. And though he may be right, Hoke is saying the breakthrough is happening now. Under his watch; It starts and ends with him. And he'll either be ridiculed for his lack of humility or give you one of these bad boys:
The numbers first. Siona Houma is 5-11, 210 lbs and becomes Michigan's 20th member of the 2012 class. The news comes as a bit of a surprise; Houma has gone largely unnoticed not only by Michigan fans but also by the recruiting sites, receiving a 2-star nod by Scout but unranked by the other recruiting sites (though FBs never get a higher rating than 3-stars). Ace @ TWB already threw up the immediate reaction here. Commitment posts by MGoRecruit and MGoBlog to be linked later. Video here:
I have to admit: my first reaction was more about Dunn than Houma. Given the limited number of scholarship spots and OSU being recently let off the hook (great post by Chris @ BWS), it would make sense if Dunn reaffirmed his commitment to the Buckeyes and Hoke re-opened the FB/RB spot. But the FB position being prematurely labeled as an optional scholarship spot is probably more from fan reaction to Hokeamania than the actual needs of the coaching staff. While some may subscribe to the belief that all FBs should be walk-ons, I don't mind having a scholarship FB on board in what will be, one day, a completely converted Pro-Form offense. If you recall, Hoke tried to take a 2011 FB last year but ran out of time so it's completely reasonable for him to take one in the 2012 class, while keeping a spot open for RB. Dunn is still attending the Big House BBQ this weekend after all.
It's hard to get excited for a FB but I like Souma's video. One thing that sticks out is just how low he can get in his stance, his explosiveness coming out and the way he maintains his balance with a low center of gravity--all perfect qualities for a FB. Plus the dude's Samoan (from Utah?); that's got to count for something. In the end, this is still a nice pickup for Michigan despite some diluted feelings from Hokeamania. As strange as this sounds, Souma is first offensive skill position commitment in the 2012 class (not counting TEs), symbolic of the type of football Hoke wants to play.
The unhealthy rate at which I think about Michigan Football is steadily increasing as the season draws nearer. So it randomly dawned on me today just how unique and special Denard's season openers have been and will continue to be at Michigan. Then I thought, "Man, I should write a post about this". And then, well, sup.
SEPTEMBER 5, 2009 - WESTERN MICHIGAN
Yeaaaa... doesn't get much better than a 43-yard TD run--botched snap and all--to open your Michigan career. It was a fitting introduction to "Shoelace"--a nickname that grew more irritating as the season went on because it was the only thing announcers would mention about him. While Tate maintained his starting role for that season, it was clear that Denard was going to be something special. Despite being completely underdeveloped in the passing game, he was simply too explosive on the ground to keep off the field, leading the Wolverines in rushing yards--11 carries for 67 yards--to a 31-7 victory. Think about that: A true-freshman, in the season opener, leading his team in rushing... as the backup quarterback.
But this play wasn't only our introduction to Denard, it was also our first real introduction to Rodriguez's never-fully-realized vision of his spread offense. With 2008 being an absolute mess at the quarterback position, Denard showed us the true potential when combining his talents and Rodriguez's playbook. We saw Denard sporadically for the rest of the season, but it was this play and this game many people pointed to during the off-season to help justify him to be the eventual starter in 2010.
Known only for his legs in 2009, Denard's improved passing abilities were on full display during his sophomore season opener. It was, in every way, his coming out party: 19/22 passing for 186 yards and 1 TD, 29 carries for 197 yards and 1 TD--leading the team in both passing and rushing yards to a memorable 30-10 victory. The one-trick pony became a one-man spectacle, an offensive juggernaut. It was a performance that sprung him to the Heisman Trophy candidate leaderboard.
I remember traveling to Chicago Labor Day weekend specifically for this game and actually being nervous during the drive. The last two season were unbearable and so many eggs were put into the 2010 season. No more excuses for Rodriguez; it was win or bust. We know how the story ends--I don't need to retell it--but it was this game that really set the stage for a season's worth of offensive spectacles, enough so to even lure Johnny @ RBUASout of hiding. Denard officially established himself, dreadlocks and all, as the new face of Michigan Football.
SEPTEMBER 3, 2011 - WESTERN MICHIGAN
So there was this off-season...
Think about this from Western Michigan's point-of-view: Back in 2009, your first glimpse of Denard was the back of his jersey as he dodged, dipped, ducked, dove and dodged his way into the end zone. 2 years later, here he is again--just as fast, athletic and lethal. But wait, whaaaaaat?!?
If 2009 Western Michigan represents the start of Denard, 2011 Western Michigan will be, in many ways, his rebirth. As the Hoke era officially kicks off, Denard will be tasked to run a very different-styled offense, while doing his best to maintain last year's production. 2 season openers, 2 years apart, under 2 different head coaches with 2 very different offensive philosophies; Western Michigan is the only constant in the equation. It's interesting that the Broncos will see the same quarterback under polar opposite circumstances. Hopefully, they'll only find that Rodriguez's Denard and Hoke's Denard differs very little when it comes to the scoreboard.
SEPTEMBER 1, 2012 - ALABAMA (in Arlington, TX)
80,000 seats: still not as big as the Big House.
It really doesn't get much better than this: finishing your senior year at Michigan with a nationally-televised season-opener. In Cowboy Stadium. Against the Crimson Tide. And with Alabama 4:1 favorites to win this year's National Championship, Denard would be the first face Saban sees. The magnitude of the game speaks for itself; this will be, by far, the biggest Week 1 matchup, perhaps all of non-conference play, which should not only dominate off-season headlines, but also have lasting implications on how the SEC and B1G shakes out. Denard and Michigan will be working out the kinks on the field this year but if they establish themselves going into the 2011-2012 off-season, they can really make a splash by pulling off this game. After that, all bets are off.
