Jethro's UM Football Thread

[Zip Goshboots]

If you haven't watched the Barwis video from the link Tahoe has provided in the above post, DO IT NOW.
I'm purposely going to gain 100 lbs of fat in the next six weeks just so I can start working out this spring and my only motivation is going to be playing that video clip. I'm totally Barwissed. ARE YOU??

[Zip Goshboots]

Michigan Hockey is Barwissed. They barwissed Western Michigan tonight, 6-1. Apparently, they were chanting "Barwis Ohio State and get Pryor". This is unbarwissable. The whole world had gone completely mad! Just a few seconds ago, my daughter was so barwissed, she asked me to help her with her homework! I fuckin' barwissed her into next Tuesday with a hip check half gainer. Fuck that punk!
Anyway, UM football is going to Barwis the Big Ten for the next twenty years. I'm totally barwissed about this shit.

[Jethro34]

Why are you asking me to name this thread? It already has an amazing name?

Maybe a subtitle - powered by Tahoe with contributions from Zip?

[Jethro34]

And then another subtitle, a subsubtitle per say:
driven by Barwis

[Zip Goshboots]

Jethro:

Jethro's Big Rod Michigan Football Thread

Presented by Tahoe
Powered by Barwis

[Jethro34]

Outstanding, but one more suggestion -
subsubsubtitle
Connected tenuously

[Zip Goshboots]

Here's some juicy info on Shafer (now that he's the UM DC, no first name needed. His parents probably looked at him when he was born and thought "Someday, he'll coach Mighigan. No stupid first name could equal "Michigan Defensive Coordinator", let's just call him Shafer". This is from a coach in Ohio who writes for Scout:

(Thanks to CoachBt for this! These are his words. TJB)

I have seen Coach Scott Shafer talk three times and have visited him for practice also. He was at Northern Illinois at the time. NIU was very successful then (1996-2003) and their coaches were in big demand. The first time I heard his clinic presentation he was DB coach, and last two he was Defense Coordinator. Everything I am sharing comes from my notes at the clinic or what I witnessed at his practice seesions.

I have seen hundreds of guys talk over my 20+ years in coaching, and you can tell that many just show up because they have to. But Coach Scafer impressed the HELL out of the entire room. He was really trying to help us. He was very open, a gave out his card and phone number.

He talked about same things all three times.

The Fronts:

One thing he said all three times was not to get hung about fronts, 4-3 , 3-4, or whatever. because it was what you did out of fronts that was key.

As most of you know by now, Coach Scafer uses what he calls an "Attack 4-3." But he also used some 3-4 as nickel, and even occasionally some 4-2. The first thing Coach emphaszed each time has being fundamentally sound. He spent at least half of each sessions talking about being, drilling, fundamentals. Those fundamnettals included sound tackling, proper hustle and pursuit to the ball, and staying in lanes. Next thing he did was turn to the ball and write in big letters HUSTLE. With hustle he talked about getting as many hats to the ball as possible, getting to fumbles, and never quitting on a play.

Basic Principles:

Some of the basic principals about his defense philosophy were attacking or "stressing" the offense. He said he did not want to be in position of sitting back and letting the offense take fight to the defense -- because that would give all advantage to offense. He said he felt it was important for the defense to make the offense make mistakes -- and that those mistakes had to be forced. With offenses being so multi-dimensional, they would pick a defense apart if the defense did not attack them aggresively. You could hear in his voice and his mannerisms that he was serious about this "attack" philosophy. Some coaches just keep the same monotone voice throughout, some you can tell are just acting to try and impress you -- but Coach Scafer was serious and genuine. He meant every word he said.

Defensive Keys:

He listed a number of keys that he felt were necessary to the defense being successful.
-- #1 each time has stop the run, to make offense as one dimensional as possible. I chuckled when I read the press release -- it was the exact same thing he told us.
-- #2 was creating negative plays, especially on early downs.
-- #3 was confuse the offense: he talked about mixing fronts, coverages, and blitzes.
-- #4 was to create TO's. He gave us some drills -- chase and punch: 1st guy enwrap the ball carrier, next man go for ball, etc., to create TO's.
-- #5, SCORE. Coach Scafer talked about the defense scoring being a momentum switcher and having an unreal effect on a game.

Shafer at Practice:

At practice Coach Shafer was as detail oriented as any coach I have seen. He stopped practice to correct the smallest detail and it seemed like nothing escaped him. He moved DB's over an inch, and moved their feet small distances. He explained that 1 inch would become 2 and before you knew it the fundamental positioning would be lost. Coach Scafer even coached up other coaches, making sure they knew exactly what he wanted and why. He demanded 100% on every play/rep from his players. What intensity he showed! Every drill, every little thing was just as important as the big stuff. Not sure of the exact quote, but he said something like: a big thing happening well is nothing more than a lot of little things all coming together -- sweat the small-stuff. He did even the small details with passion and fire.


Men, this thing is growing by the minute. Michigan Football is poised to assert itself as the Supreme Czar of the Universe.

[FillyCheezeSteak]

Hey Zip, Art or anyone else............

What are you hearing about RR making a push to contact Charles Burrell for the purpose of having him play QB???

[Zip Goshboots]

I've seen nothing on that on either Rivals or Scout (Burell).
Right now UM is courting Pryor, and seems to be making a play for Star Jackson. The Souct boards are hyping BJ Daniels as well.

[Zip Goshboots]

FillyCheeseSteak:

Here are some preliminary scheduled visits by recroots (per Scout):

Weekend of Jan. 18th
-- Adrian Bushell. Visited OKST, and has Fla Jan. 11 and T-Tech Jan. 25.
-- J.T. Floyd (Tenn the 25th)
-- Mike Martin (also... visiting ND the 25th now)
-- D.J. Woods
-- Boubacar Cissoko?

Weekend of Jan. 25th
-- Nick Perry ... USC, U-M, Miami on consecutive weekends
-- Jaron Brown ... Clem and SCAR, his big leaders, on 2 weekends prior.

Weekend of Feb. 1st
-- Terrelle Pryor ... visited OSU in Nov., possibly PSU Jan. 18, possibly Fla.

Others possibly visiting in January:
-- Keanon Cooper. Visited Minn, visiting Wis. Will U-M still be set up?
-- A.J. Price. Will also visit PSU in Jan., visited Vir. in Dec. ... **U-Mvisit a little less likely at this moment.
-- Vaughn Carraway? ... we'll see if U-M brings him in

++++++++++++++++++

Other Possible new QB recruits:
-- Run-pass QB Star Jackson (6-1, 195, 4.5) from Lake Worth, Fla (ALA commit, former WVA recruit).
-- Run-pass QB Dominic Britt (6-5, 195, 4.65) from Trottwood-Madison, Ohio.
-- Run-pass QB D.J. Daniels (6-1, 195, 4.5) from Tallahassee Lincoln.
-- Run-pass QB Charles Burrell from Det. Southeastern.

Possible new RB recruits:
-- RB Cyrus Gray (5-11, 200, 4.45) from DeSoto, Texas (CB Adrian Bushell's teammate)
-- PSU decommit Michael Shaw (6-0, 190, 4.45) from Trottwood-Madison, Ohio.

Possible new LB recruits:
-- LB Taylor Hill (6-2, 205) from Youngstown Cardinal Mooney, Ohio ... WVA commit, he reportedly has a U-M offer at this point. He is visiting MSU this weekend.
-- LB Lerentee McRay (6-2, 200, 4.5) from Dunnellon, Fla. He's visiting FSU this weekend and Fla. next, and has already visited Tennessee ... he reportedly has a U-M offer now.