Big House Blurbs

Chris Barnett leaves Michigan - but don't be surprised

For the third time this week, a Michigan football player has left the program, and this time we're talking about true freshman tight end Chris Barnett. His announcement via Twitter that he's "no longer at the University of Michigan" comes on the heals of freshman offensive lineman Tony Posada and junior receiver Je'Ron Stokes exiting the program earlier in the week.

In all three cases, we shouldn't be surprised.

A quick story, that seems to be relevant today: In 2008 I covered Bowling Green football when coach Gregg Brandon was recruiting an offensive lineman from the state of Indiana. Ball State, and then head coach Brady Hoke wanted the kid, too. The recruit (his name is not important, and I can't remember it anyway) waffled and waffled and waffled before signing with Ball State --- but not until a week AFTER signing day. Given that, no one was suprrised by what ensued. His career at BSU lasted just one week of fall camp before he transferred to, yep, Bowling Green. Within a week or so, he left Bowling Green too. The signs were obvious --- this kid lacked the maturity to cut it in D-I football.

And it was obvious Chris Barnett wasn't going to last long at Michigan. In high school, Barnett bounced around from school to school. I won't pretend to know all of the particulars, but what appears to be bad often is. When it came time to picking a college, Barnett chose Oklahoma. And then Arkansas. And finally Michigan. Whether Oklahoma and Arkansas soured on Barnett, or whether he walked away from them, is irrelevant. What appears to be bad often is. I kind of figured Barnett wasn't going to hack it at Michigan, and that was before he arrived to camp over weight at 278 pounds. That's simply too big for a tight end who is expected to stretch the field. 

As for Posada, no surprise there, either. He checked into camp at 340 pounds. Read into that what you want.

Regarding Stokes, his departure appears to be the result of a numbers game. He barely played the past two years, and that was in a system with three or four receiver sets. With the emergence of a full-time tight end and a fullback this year, Stokes simply was not going to see the field behind proven guys like Roy Roundtree and Junior Hemingway. He didn't appear to be next in line either, as Martavious Odoms (when healthy) and Jeremy Gallon seem to be the next best. Can't blame Stokes. When you put in the hours of a Division I football player, you want to play. 

So I guess the moral of the story is, if something looks odd, it often is. Chris Barnett's chances of playing four or five years at Michigan have gone from slim to none.

 

 

Stonum to redshirt; Hagerup and T. Robinson and suspended

Bad news out of Ann Arbor a day before camp begins.

Darryl Stonum will redshirt during the 2011 season, the apparent result of his DUI arrest in May, and punter Will Hagerup (four games) and receiver Terrence Robinson (one game) have been suspended.

Short of the Michigan athletic department confusing Terrence Robinson for Denard Robinson, this one should not be a big deal. From what I gather, T-Rob has two catches in two years. Besides, he'll only miss one game, and it's against Western Michigan, a team Michigan will crush.

The news of Stonum sitting out this year comes as a relatively big surprise. Reading between the lines at Big Ten Media Day, Hoke didn't seem as if redshirting Stonum was a likely possibility, and it appeared Stonum was a week or two from re-joining the team. Maybe something changed. Maybe Stonum didn't fulfill his obligations for returning to the team. Whatever the case, losing him hurts. In 2010 he was second on the team in catches and receiving yards, and he's probably the team's best kickoff returner when healthy. Too, by Stonum sticking around another year, that could mean Michigan will have one less scholarship to give in the 2011 class. Who will replace Stonum on offense and on special teams? I think that will shake out in fall camp, but there is no shortage of options.

Hagerup should be ashamed. He missed the Ohio State game last year for breaking team rules, played in the Gator Bowl, and is now going to sit the first month of his sophomore year. He will have missed five of his first 17 college football games because he couldn't stay out of trouble. Not good. I'm a big, big Hagerup guy. I've written in this space before I think he's a top-five player on this team. Aside from a few errant punts early last season, Hagerup was brilliant. Now, we could see true freshman Matt Wile pull double duty as place kicker and punter. Fans seem high on this guy, and maybe the optimism will be justified. I just know I saw two Michigan freshman kickers last year who wilted under the pressure of big-time college football. And they only had to focus on kicking, not punting.