Thursday February ,2 3 michigandaity.comn sportsdesk@umich.edu GIe fiidijun 1 ii POR 3TSil 5A p Woodley mammoth J. BRADY MCCOLLOUGH Varsity nabs Saginaw prep star linebacker By Kyle O'Neill Daily Sports Editor SAGINAW - "Is the press conference over?" asked a student from a third-story window of Saginaw High School at 11:45 a.m. yesterday. The answer was yes, and highly-recruited linebacker LaMarr Woodley was officially a Wolverine. And while the press conference was yesterday, the decision was made long before then. "I kind of figured out last week sometime that I was going to go to Michigan," Woodley said. For the second-best outside linebacker in the nation according to recruiting analyst Tom Lemming, the announcement couldn't come fast enough. "You might be at the barber shop, just walking around at the mall: 'Where you going?"' Woodley said. "They'd tell you where you need to go. 'You need to get away from around here. You need to go where it's hot all year."' Woodley's not only keeping his surrounding tempera- ture the same, but his teammates as well. Running back Jerome Jackson - whom Lemming ranks as the best tailback in Michigan - has signed to join Michigan's 17-man recruiting class for next year. "Yeah, me and Jerome have been together since mid- dle school," Woodley said. "In seventh grade, he was the running back and I was the fullback blocking for him. We got to Saginaw High, and I was on the line blocking for him. And when we go to college next year, Highly-regarded linebacker prospect LaMarr Woodley (left) will be joined by his Saginaw High School teammate, Jerome Jackson, in donning the maize and blue. 'M' running more help ti K nown as a "bulldog" recruiter, Lloyd Carr has a reputation of being one of the most tenacious talent-seekers in the nation. He'll milk a cow. He'll sit on the porch with grand- ma and sip lemonade. He once took an eight-hour flight to Hawaii to woo a recruit - a recruit who later said "Aloha" (as in good-bye) to Michigan. Carr and his staff have consistently reeled in national top-10 classes, includ- ing three top-five classes in the six years after Michigan's 1997 national championship run. With such success on the recruiting trail, why has it been since the days of Anthony Thomas that Michigan boasted a game-breaking tailback? Next year's backfield features only one proven ball carrier in Chris Perry, who rushed for more than 1,100 yards and 14 touchdowns. Perry will be a solid runner for Michigan next year - if he stays out of Pizza House - but who will back him up? David Underwood was overshadowed by blue-chipper Kelly Baraka in the 2001 class, but even with Baraka gone, Underwood has been unable to become a force. The coaching staff went with departing fullback B.J. Askew as Perry's backup for most of last year. Tim Brack- en was good enough to be the starter in 2001, but a knee injury ended his sea- son. He hasn't been the same since. This duo was given a chance to earn playing time behind Perry last season, but they were ineffective in spot duty, and the coaches lost confidence in them. Fullback Sean Sanderson seems to have hit a wall after showing loads of promise early.in the season. Carr has voiced displeasure with the mammoth 290-pounder, saying yesterday, "I don't know where he is." This lack'ofproventalemt in the back- field certainly didn't happen because r game needs han it got Carrhas decided to switch to a high-fly- ing aerial attack. Carr still wants to pound the football like there's no tomor- row. But the problem is there isn't any- one there to pound it, and the reason lies in the crapshoot world of recruiting. You can call it misuse of God-given talent. You can call it bad judgment of character. Or, you can take accountabili- ty out of the question and write it off as bad luck. Whatever. The bottom line is that Michigan's inability to keep blue- chip runners in Ann Arbor for the past five years has set the program back from where it could be entering 2003. Oh, what could have been. This has been the theme of Michigan recruiting since 1997, and no one illustrates this more than Justin Fargas, the human loco- motive who highlighted Michigan's 1998 class as one of the nation's top backs. Fargas battled injuries to his right leg for thelmajority of his first two seasons at Michigan and struggled through his redshirt sophomore season in 2000. Doctors predicted he would never be the same running back. Carr and his coach- ing staff decided to move Fargas to safe- ty. Yes, safety, back there with headhunters Cato June and Charles Drake. He would add some much-need- ed depth to the secondary. It was an interesting move. Fargas would have none of it. He transferred back home to Southern Cali- fornia to play for new coach Pete Carroll. The decision left Fargas one year with the Trojans to show the world his worth. We watched in awe as Fargas resur- rected his career, making a statement in two 100-plus-yard, nationally-televised games against Notre Dame and Iowa. I couldn't help but wonder if Fargas sent Carr the game balls after disman- tling two teams that were able to shut down the Michigan running attack. See McCOLLOUGH, Page 7A he's going to be on the opposite side of the ball as me." When asked about his decision to come to Michigan, Jackson was beaming like the little kid that used to root for the Wolverines. "Michigan's a great school with a great tradition," Jackson said. "I've been growing up all my life liking Michigan, because they've been the team to beat. There's something about the (maize and blue) that makes everyone go crazy, so I had to pick Michigan." Jackson also said the presence of members of the Saginaw family at Michigan (Woodley, Saginaw High graduate Roy Manning and his sister, who just got accepted to the University) helped his decision. Woodley commented on the promise Michigan coach Lloyd Carr made to him as a turning point in his decision making. "Coach Carr and Coach (Fred) Jackson told me, 'when you commit to us, if you get hurt, you still have your scholarship,"' Woodley said. "That was the reason I really picked Michigan, too." And not only will the two soon-to-be former Trojans See WOODLEY, Page 7A Carr gets a kick out of new class By Jim Weber Daily Sports Writer Michigan coach Lloyd Carr will always love smash-mouth players. But at the annual Signing Day press confer- ence yesterday, he got excited about another type of player: his new kicker. In between talk-_ ing about the many FOOTBALL big, tough and physical players Notebook that officially com- mitted to Michigan yesterday, Carr took a break to express his delight in signing the 5-foot-10, 180-pound Gar- rett Rivas, one of the top kickers in the country from Jesuit High School in Tampa, Fla. "We had some of the leading kickers in the country last year in our camp," Carr said. "(Rivas) was the guy we wanted, the guy we highlighted right from the beginning. This guy can kick the football, now. He is going to have an opportunity." Carr had good reason to highlight Rivas; ESPN's Tom Lemming selected Rivas to Lemming's version of an All- America team, the "Super Team." Rivas also gives Michigan depth at kicker and punter, behind Adam Finley who starts at both positions. Finley performed well, connecting on 7-of-10 field goal attempts and earning an All-Big Ten second team selection as a punter. But backing up Finley at kicker is the duo of Philip Brabbs and Troy Nienberg, which combined to make only 5-of-14 attempts. The backup punter is Andy Mignery, a tight end. Carr said that even though last season was Rivas' first year as a punter, his performance at the new position was "outstanding." Carr credited Jay Feeley, the place kicker for Michigan during the 1997 national championship season who cur- rently plays for the Atlanta Falcons, for persuading Rivas to head north. On Feeley's kicking school website, Rivas states that he didn't even kick before high school and credits Feeley's tutelage, for his rapid development. FALSE START: As expected, offensive lineman Jeff Zuttah of Princeton, N.J. signed with Michigan yesterday. But Carr had other news about the recruit that was surprising. "There is a condition with Jeff that has, come up," Carr said. "It is medical- ly related, so I will make a statement at some point about what it is." DEFENSIVE SHIFT: Due to the departure of former defensive line coach and spe- cial teams coordinator Brady Hoke to serve as head coach of Ball State, Carr announced the "realignment" of his defensive coaches that resembled a game of musical chairs. Jim Boccher, who served as a gradu- ate assistant the last two seasons, assumed the special team duties held by FOR MORE ON WOODLEY, PLEASE CHECK WWW.MICHIGANDAILYCtOMl. Hoke. Bill Sheridan, who coordinated recruiting and served as the outside linebackers coach last season, assumedl Hoke's other responsibility: defensivel line coach. And alum Steve Morrison, who was a video assistant last year, took over Sheridan's role as outside lineback-l ers coach. See SIGNEES, Page 7A I. El wwIi~i jn Q4KM Y2k~' ..W 4J R< 90