The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Thursday, October 21, 2010 - 7A
Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez has three full recruiting classes since he came to Michigan in 2007 after Loyd Carr left the program.
Something is notri ith
ยง1V'player developmeq. nt,
Despite few goals,
Hagelin making
presence felt again
Berenson not After receiving a pass inthe right
corner from fellow senior Matt
concerned about Rust, Hagelin looked to return
captain's lack of the puck back to Rust. But with
CYf a cheating defenseman inching
early scoring toward Rust, Hagelin opted to cut
to the net, where he saw a Wildcat
defender staring him down.
By MARK BURNS But Hagelin picked up his head
Daily SportsEditor and saw junior defenseman Bran-
don Burlon cutting down the left
He's been all Swedish and no side of the ice to the back door,
finish for the Michigan hockey and with a quick move, dished the
team so far this season. puck to Burlon who deposited the
Through four games, senior puck short side past the Wildcat
forward Carl Hagelin, a native of netminder.
Sodertalje, Sweden, has tallied Burlon then proceeded with
just one lamplighter - an empty- what Hagelin described as "one
net goal against Bowling Green in of the worst celebrations I've ever
Michigan's first conference series seen."
of the year. All joking aside, that particular
"My shot just isn't good enough play had been one the Wolverines
to be a goal scorer at the moment," have practiced since last season,
Hagelin said, laughing at practice according to Burlon. The secret to
this week. "I go through phases the play lies within the non-verbal
during the year when I score communication between the two
more than get- players.
ting assists some- Burlon men-
times. I'd like to tioned that
score more, but I "My shot just isn't knowing where
just haven't been the other player
able to make my good enough to is on the ice and
chances count. being familiar
Michigan be a goal scorer at with his tenden-
coach Red ies definitely
Berenson com- the m om ent..." helps in orches-
mented that trating the play
he isn't too con- to perfection.
cerned with his "I give credit
veteran's lack of production so to Carl and Rust working down on
far. But at the same time, he hopes the far side," Burlon said. "I was in
"Carl can get his game going as the right place, Carl knew where I
quickly as he can" since he is such was and he put it on my tape and
an integral part of the offense. luckily I finished."
Despite Hagelin's inability to Besides having the ability to
finish as frequently a's he would locate a teammate on the ice,
like, he has been setting up his Hagelin added that it's crucial
teammates all over the ice and has for Burlon to make a subtle move
a team-leading four helpers. to the net rather than "drawing
Last weekend at then-No. 9 attention to himself" by yelling or
New Hampshire, he registered slamming his stick on the ice.
two primary assists, both of which And while the play seems rela-
came on the power play for the tively inconsequential, it's the
Wolverines. His second assist on heads-up move by Hagelin that
Michigan's third goal was the type will help place Michigan among
of play that Berenson hopes to see the nation's elite as the season
more of as the Wolverines host progresses. That type of tic-tac-
non-conference opponent Nebras- toe passing and vision on the ice
ka-Omaha this weekend. sets apart great players from good
"We're telling him, 'Look for players.
the open man, and move the puck "He saw the open ice and made
quick,' " Berenson said. "Then, it the play," Berenson said. "That
takes the patience and the skill to should happen. That's something
make the play - it's all timing." all of our top players should defi-
Midway through the third peri- nitely be able to do, and Carl's
od on Saturday and with the score one of our top players. I'm not
knotted at two, Michigan had a surprised or overly impressed, I
man-advantage for athird time. expect that."
On Tuesday during the weekly
Big Ten teleconference, Michigan
coach Rich
Rodriguez
announced that
former five-star
defensive tackle
Will Campbell
maybe on his
way to the other
side of the ball.
I know, it RYAN
sounds insig- KARTJE
nificant. Maybe
Campbell will
indeed help the Wolverines more
on offense than he can on defense.
He is, after all, a behemoth of a man
who was probably too big with too
little technique to succeed on the
defensive line.
Plus, Michigan has a pretty good
defensive line, even if everything
behind it is below average.
But Campbell's move is the straw
that broke my camel's back. A move
to offensive line? If you watched
the replay of the blocked field goal
on Saturday, a great deal of the
blame was on Campbell's shoulders
for faulty blocking, having stood
straight up and allowingIowa to
get more penetration.
So I came to the conclusion:
Either there is something wrong
with the recruiting experts or the
Wolverines are doing a pretty poor
job at developingtalent.
From 2002-08, aside from play-
ers like Brandon Graham, LaMarr
Woodley and Chad Henne who are
staples in the NFL, Michigan has
had a few other recruits flame out
similar to how Campbell has so far.
Obviously, there's a few transfers
who don't really count in this cat-
egory. Justin Boren and Ryan Mal-
lett especially, since they're doing
so well at their respective transfer
destinations.
But a lot of other transfers
might have left because things
weren't quite working out in Ann
Arbor. Guys like Taylor Hill, Dann
O'Neill, Marcus Witherspoon and
Cobrani Mixon are all names most
Michigan fans probably don't even
remember anymore. They were all
pretty highly touted four stars, too.
Then, there are guys like Camp-
bell and Justin Turner and Kevin
Grady, who were big-time five-stars
and never reached their supposed
potential. Prescott Burgess, mean-
while, one of the Wolverines other
big-time five-stars, had a pretty
good career in Ann Arbor. But by
no means was it great.
So what's going on? Guys like
Mike Williams and Boubacar Cis-
soko were supposed to be staples
in the secondary, a group that defi-
nitely needs them right now. But
Cissoko is in prison after being a
below average cornerback to start,
and Williams lost his spot several
times over to players in the second-
ary now.
Any of these recruits blossoming
on defense might have been a wel-
come help to what the Wolverines
have seen on the field so far.
What about Jason Kates? Or
James McKinney? Or Justin Schi-
fano? Or Zion Babb?
All four stars, all either slid into
obscurity or are no longer in Ann
Arbor. Yes, a great deal of that had
to do with the Carr-Rodriguez
coaching change. A new era at such
a tradition-laden college football
program is bound to bring some
defections.
Butthe Wolverines haven't been
putting nearly as much talent into
the NFL as they used to. Michigan
used to be the prince of develop-
ment, but now it seems to be the
pauper.
ESPN's Colin Cowherd called
attention to this on his radio show
a while ago. And thoughI was
initially hostile toward the accusa-
tions, maybe there's some founded
takeaway points from the Wolver-
ines' bizarre lack of success stories.
The weirdest part of Michigan's
development, however, has been
its number of positive accomplish-
ments with lower-starred players.
Guys like David Harris or Mike
Hart, two of the best in the last
decade were three-stars. Patrick
Omameh, who should start on the
offensive line and be a rock in the
position group for the next few
years, was a two-star.
Maybe recruiting just doesn't
make sense. But news of Campbell
moving seems to be a white flag
from the coachingstaff, and it's
time for the Wolverines to at least
start noticingthat something is not
quite right.
MpARISSA MCCLAIN/Day
Sophomore Will Campbell (73), a 6-foot-5, 333-pound sophomore defensive tackle who was rated a five-star recruit out of high school, might be moved to offense.
TME THOMAM
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