Big Ten Media Daze, Official Roster Released

Oh whadda whirlwind of activity going on in Chicago this week as the Big Ten officials, coaches and marquee players gather to discuss and over analyze pretty much every aspect of the upcoming season. Its a media circus. And for us bloggers, we went from having the "there's no news to report" excuse, to having the abundance of news and juicy quotes to mull over.

I've always thought of the Big Ten Media Days as pretty much just a dog and pony show. There's never really a lot to discuss that really matters a whole lot. Coaches and players sit in front of the microphone and give canned responses to canned questions. Its a lot like a Monday presser during the season. Coaches and players talk about all of the improvements that have been made and how excited they are to start practice. Coaches discuss how the Big Ten is on par with the other conferences in terms of talent and competitiveness. I can't speak for all of the Big Ten coaches, but Rodriguez's presser was pretty standard stuff.

Rodriguez's presser from today:


Only one little nugget stood out and that was that Michigan is efforting a 2010 home opener against a BCS opponent. Which, basically means an opponent from the Big 12, SEC, ACC, Big East or Pac-10. He did not disclose with whom they've been speaking, but it sounds like it could be a home and home type of agreement...and that disclosing it to the public at this point would end those talks.

mgoblog's take on who we might play is found here.

This comes as very good news to me. I was on the side of the fence that thought Central Michigan would roll into Ann Arbor for the christening of the newly refurbished Big House next year. Michigan owes it to itself to start scheduling like a top tier program should. I hope that Bill Martin realizes that no one wins when all we play is ND, 2 MAC schools and a FCS opponent every year. What's worse, scheduling Georgia for a home opener and losing to a prestige program, or scheduling Toledo and losing to them?

The official 2009 roster has been revealed...complete with updated heights/weights and incoming freshman #'s...and you can that here.

Sean over at Michigan Sports Center took the time and effort to pull the incoming freshman #'s...along with some notes about shared #'s...and they are:

2 – J.T. Turner
2 – Vincent Smith
4 – Je’Ron Stokes (I imagine this will be changed, as it would prevent Stokes and Brandon Minor from being on the field at the same time.  Also, Brandon Smith is listed as being #4 as well, and I doubt 3 people would have the same number.)
5 – Tate Forcier
5 – Vladimir Emilien
7 – Brandin Hawthorne
13 – Adrian Witty
14 – Teric Jones
15 – Thomas Gordon
16 – Denard Robinson
26 – Isaiah Bell
27 – Mike Jones
28 – Fitzgerald Toussaint
29 – Jeremy Gallon
34 – Brendan Gibbons
73 – William Campbell
75 – Michael Schofield
76 – Quinton Washington
77 – Taylor Lewan
84 – Cameron Gordon
88 – Craig Roh
90 – Anthony LaLota
Other noteworthy numbers:
4 – Brandon Smith (as alluded to above, he switched from #28)
19 – Kelvin Grady

Nice to see MBB star Kelvin Grady's name on the roster. I have no idea how well he'll manage on the football squad...but having another athletic slot-type receiver will only help us.

And finally, Bo Schemblogger has posted some fotos of Michigan's new indoor practice facility. Looks like progress is being made. It looks as if she should be available for practices starting this fall.