14
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
BELL
From page 13
reviews and a lot of advice following his
junior season at Michigan.
Both were told they had first round
talent written all over them.
Both saw their stocks drop as draft
day approached.
And both watched as the first-round
promises and visions of superstar-like
contracts flew out the window on draft
day.
Shazor went undrafted, later signed
as a free agent with the same Cardinals
team that drafted Branch last weekend
and is already out of the NFL. At last
check, he was refusing to report to the
Arena Football League.
I'm certainly not predicting the same
fate for Branch. He's physically gifted,
made some huge plays last season and
a lot of the laziness that analysts like
Mel Kiper, Jr. accused him of was pretty
exaggerated. But he definitely could
have used another year at the college
level, and Michigan certainly could have
used him next season, too.
Parallels between individuals not
enough to send you down Depression
Avenue just yet? Try this on for size.
Despite an embarrassing Rose Bowl
loss to end last year, the Branch-less
Michigan team will enter the 2007 sea-
son almost undoubtedly as a top-five
team.
Two years ago, the season following
Shazor's early bolt (and a Rose Bowl
loss), the Wolverines rode high expecta-
tions and a top-5 ranking into the sea-
son, too.
Twelve games, three losses in rivalry
games and a 7-5 overall record later,
many were left wondering how much
different things would have been with-
out Shazor's departure.
So pick your own legacy for the 2007
NFL Draft. It's hard to ignore that
nearly 10 percent of the players taken
in the first round-and-a-half came not
only from one school, but from one side
of the ball.
But as strong of a positive statement
as that is about last year's team, it may
be equally as strong of a negative one
about the upcoming season's squad.
- Bell can be reached at
scotteb umich.edu.
Athletes
allegedly
pulled over
By SCOTT BELL
Daily Sports Editor
Three passengers, allegedly including two Michi-
gan football players, were in a car that reportedly con-
tained drugs, according to the Monroe News.
Traces of marijuana and tablets of Vicodin were
See MONROE, Page 15
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