Thursday Quick Hits: Zack Gibson Also Injured?

• Zack Gibson was spotted wearing a boot and revealed that he will be sidelined for a few weeks with an injury.
  
• It appears Michigan has new hockey jerseys again, and this year it looks like they are all the same basic design.
  
• Had anyone looked at Georgia's future schedules from the very beginning, the rumor that Michigan was going to schedule a home-and-home with them probably wouldn't have gone very far. Thankfully MGoBlog did just that, revealing that the chances of Michigan and Georgia playing aren't all that likely, at least not in 2010 and 2011. If it were to still somehow happen, Georgia would have to rearrange its schedules quite a bit to make the matchup feasible.
• WolverineHistorian uploaded highlights of the 2006 Central Michigan game, which will always be memorable to me. It was the first and only time in Michigan Stadium history where there was a weather delay, and I happened to be in the press box with a media credential that day. Talk about perfect timing to watch a game in person while being indoors.
  

Wednesday Quick Hits: Non-Conference Basketball Schedule Released

• The full non-conference portion of the basketball schedule has been released:
  
  November 6 - vs. Wayne State (exhibition)
  November 14 - vs. Northern Michigan
  November 20 - vs. Houston Baptist
  November 26, 27, & 29 - vs. TBD (Old Spice Classic)
  December 2 - vs. Boston College
  December 5 - vs. Arkansas Pine Bluff
  December 9 - at Utah
  December 13 - vs. Detroit
  December 19 - at Kansas
  December 22 - vs. Coppin State
  January 17 - vs. Connecticut
• The Michigan Daily is reporting that rumors suggest Georgia could help U-M open the 2010 season in Michigan Stadium's first post-renovation game. If that were to happen, Michigan would make a return trip to Georgia in 2011.
  
  Home-and-home series of this magnitude are tough to come by for Michigan now-a-days, but Bill Martin seems set on bringing a big-name team to the Big House for the 2010 opener. The only way a team like Georgia will play at the Big House is if Michigan makes a trip to their stadium as well at some point in the future. Michigan has shied away from doing that type of thing recently because of the revenue generated by having as many home games as possible, but I think sacrificing an extra home game for a matchup with Georgia is more than worth it, so hopefully this rumor becomes a reality.
• Mike Favre is the new director of strength and conditioning for Michigan's Olympic sports.
  
• Michigan has announced a partnership with eSports, which has led to the creation of MGoBlueShop. The new store is what will replace the M-Den in Michigan Stadium.
  

Tuesday Quick Hits: Jordan Morgan Out 4-5 Months

• Freshman power forward Jordan Morgan is going to miss 4-5 months of action due to a left knee injury. Morgan is going to have surgery on his left knee tomorrow at the U-M Medical Center.
  
  This likely means that Morgan will be redshirted, as he isn't scheduled to return until November at the earliest. Once he can return, he will have to get back into playing shape and will be behind everyone on the court. I suppose it's possible he could be ready to play by the time the Big Ten portion of the schedule begins, but if he isn't going to get a ton of playing time or make a huge impact, what would be the point? It's not like a redshirt wasn't possible prior to his injury, so this likely will mean he sits all season. (Or at least after he is able to play without burning a redshirt like Ben Cronin did at the start of last season.)
• Angelique Chengelis interviewed Rich Rodriguez recently.
  
• The new ice at Yost Arena is being installed right now.
• Although he was a second-round pick in the NHL Draft this past weekend, Chris Brown is for sure going to play at Michigan this coming season. (HT: MGoBlog)
  
• Games Brad Nessler and Bob Griese announce this fall will be easier to listen to, as Paul Maguire is taking a "reduced role" next season.
  

Tim Hardaway Jr. Commits to Michigan

John Beilein picked up his second commit for 2010 today, as Miami guard Tim Hardaway Jr. verballed to the Wolverines. Hardaway participated in a team camp at Michigan this past weekend and played so well that he received an offer from Beilein. After getting the offer, it took Hardaway very little time to decide to commit to Michigan.

Hardaway is a 3-star shooting guard on both Scout and Rivals. ESPN grades him as a 93, which is very good. By comparison, Michigan's other 2010 commit, power forward Evan Smotrycz, is graded as a 95. Obviously stars and rankings aren't that important when you consider how unheralded Stu Douglass and Zack Novak were coming out of high school, but it is still nice to see future Michigan players rated highly by a site like ESPN.

One of the early criticisms of John Beilein was that the majority of his recruits were more like Douglass and Novak than highly rated players like Darius Morris and Tim Hardaway Jr. Well, I think it's pretty obvious that those criticisms weren't accurate, as Beilein has proved he can find diamonds in the rough and land some big names as well.

As you probably guessed by now, former NBA All-Star Tim Hardaway is the father of Michigan's latest commit. Hardaway Sr. played in Golden State and Miami for the majority of his career and was a very talented point guard. He was a five-time All-Star and won a gold medal with Team USA in the 2000 Olympics. Obviously Hardaway Jr. has some good basketball genes.

Monday Quick Hits: Maize Rage Rapidly Expanding

• The latest number of sold student season-tickets for next basketball season is 2,076. That is just amazing considering less than 500 tickets were sold last season. I guess it just goes to show what an effect a winning season can have, especially when that winning season came after the football team struggled so much. It also shows the effect that putting an option to buy basketball tickets on the football application had as well. I'm sure quite a few of the new season-ticket holders decided that for only $99, it was more than worth it to add basketball tickets to their list of purchases when buying them for football.
  
  Since most games next season (aside from the couple premium ones) are going to be first-come, first-served, getting to Crisler early will be very important. That will only add to the atmosphere, but it will also be necessary if students want to sit in the bleachers. I don't know where they will find room for 2,000 students, but based on the current size of the bleachers, the vast majority of those 2,000 will be stuck sitting behind the band or in the upper deck. Of course, not every season-ticket holder will go to every single game, but even smaller crowds will be much larger than usual.
  
  If the team can sustain its success from last season and keep interest in the program up on a consistent basis, it would not surprise me if the bleachers were expanded in the near future. It'll take consistency both from the team and in the sales department, but assuming demand remains high, the bleachers will someday begin to expand around the lower bowl. The dream would be to have them go around the entire lower bowl (similar to the Izzone's setup), but I'm probably getting a little ahead of myself at this point.
• Two of Michigan's 2009 hockey recruits were second-round picks at the NHL Draft on Saturday. A 2010 recruit was selected in the third round, showing off just how talented some of these incoming players are. I just hope they all make it to Ann Arbor, as professional hockey will be calling for some.
  
• The bleachers in Yost Arena will probably be replaced next summer, just in time for the start of the 2010-11 season. This probably won't be too noticeable of an improvement to many, but it's very necessary. The bleachers, at least in the student section, are in fairly rough shape. Part of the reason for that is because many times students stand on them during games, but even then, they probably shouldn't rock back and forth when there are students on them. It's only a matter of time until a row breaks and causes some injuries.
• There is no beef between Braylon Edwards and Rich Rodriguez anymore. Last summer Edwards went on the radio and complained about how Rodriguez gave the No. 1 jersey to a freshman defensive back. The problem was that Rodriguez wasn't made aware of the scholarship that Edwards endowed for the No. 1 jersey, nor the tradition behind it. Once he found out about the whole concept of the No. 1 jersey, no players were assigned it and whatever problem there was with him and Edwards was squashed.
• Michigan came in fifth in the final Directors' Cup standings.
  

Friday Quick Hits: Coaches Q&A

• Rich Rodriguez and John Beilein participated in a Q&A at a Michigan alumni golf outing recently (HT: It's Just Sports):
  

• Tate Forcier has bulked up to 190 pounds. (He was 175 when he arrived in Ann Arbor.)
• It doesn't appear likely that Kevin Grady will be kicked off the team, unless he "slips up" again.
• Nebraska-Omaha and Bemidji State are headed to the WCHA in 2010 and Alabama-Huntsville is likely headed to the CCHA to replace the Mavericks.
  
• It appears the Big Ten Network is having another "Michigan day" on Sunday.
• The UM-Flint club football team has basically made a mockery out of Michigan's winged helmet.
  
• Elvis Grbac was accidentally People's "Sexiest Athlete" in 1998.
  

Wednesday Quick Hits: Season Opener to Be Shown on ABC

• The start time and TV details have been announced for four of Michigan's games this coming season (all times Eastern):
  
  September 5 - vs. Western Michigan | 3:30 PM, ABC
  September 12 - vs. Notre Dame | 3:30 PM, ABC
  September 19 - vs. Eastern Michigan | 12:00 PM, Big Ten Network
  October 31 - at Illinois | 3:30 PM, ABC
  
• Tickets for the Western Michigan, Eastern Michigan, and Delaware State games are now on sale.
  
• Brian Ellerbe has resurfaced as an assistant coach at George Washington.
• Oregon has new uniforms, and they are actually worse than I originally expected. Since when is silver one of their colors?
  

Monday Quick Hits: Courtney Avery Commits to Michigan

• Ohio cornerback Courtney Avery has changed his commitment from Stanford to Michigan. Avery picked up an offer after attending a camp at Michigan and decided to commit a couple days later. Avery had originally decided on Stanford back in April, but that was obviously before picking up an offer from Michigan. Some of his other offers include Vanderbilt, Louisville, and Indiana. He is a 3-star on Scout and hasn't been evaluated yet by Rivals.
  
• Michigan has hired a new strength and conditioning coach for basketball and Olympic sports: Jon Sanderson. Sanderson previously was an assistant S&C coach at Clemson. Before that, he was the head S&C for Olympic sports at Marshall. He played basketball in college and started for two years at Ohio State and one at Ohio. He was a starter for OSU in 1999 when they went to the Final Four.
• The director of Michigan's club lacrosse program was interviewed by the Free Press.
• Fitzgerald Toussaint played well in the Big 33 game.
  
• Parking at the golf course this fall for football games will be a bit different than usual due to new rules.
  

Friday Quick Hits: Athletic Department Projects Another Surplus

• The athletic department is projecting an $8.8 million operating surplus for FY 2010 (ninth straight year in the black) and a surplus of $10.2 million for FY 2009 that ends on June 30.
• Once the renovation of Michigan Stadium is complete, Bill Martin will focus on giving Crisler Arena a makeover and replacing the bleachers in Yost Arena.
• According to Martin, 95% of preferred seat donations were renewed for the 2009 football season. He also joked that another bad season will probably drop that number down and cause this to happen:
  

  "Rich Rodriguez and I said the other day, and I don't mind saying it now, that if we go 3-9 again, we'll both have 'for sale' signs in our yards at this time next year," Martin said.

  If Rodriguez fails as Michigan's coach, Martin will not be given a chance to hire his replacement, so while it was probably a joke, another bad season could very well create openings at both football coach and athletic director. If Rodriguez were to be fired, Martin would likely be forced out as well.
• Jeff Rohrkemper is going to join the hockey team for next season.
  
• Mike Hart thinks Brandon Minor will have a breakout year.
• Chris Perry and Grant Mason were drafted by the UFL's Orlando team.
• The correct rosters for NCAA Football 10 will be posted on EA Locker in time for the launch of the game, and EA will try to patch online rosters. Another patch to fix ineffective sliders is also in the works, as that part of the game apparently doesn't work for the second year in a row.
  
  While it's nice to see that EA is actually fixing some of these problems, they should not have happened in the first place. This is the second straight year that sliders won't work out of the box and yet another year that other issues have hampered the launch of the game. The sloppiness displayed by the developers of the game is inexcusable, which is why I'm strongly considering skipping this game for the first time in a long time.
  
  (BTW, the demo was released yesterday, and it didn't change my opinion of the game very much. It felt like I was playing Madden 09 more than anything, so I guess I will have to test out the full version before I decide to purchase it or pass on it.)
  

Wednesday Quick Hits: Ricardo Miller's Move Set for Early July

• Wide receiver commit Ricardo Miller is moving to Michigan from Orlando for good at the beginning of July. With Ann Arbor Huron changing offenses, it is no longer certain that Miller will go there for his final year of high school. Some other schools where he could end up are Ann Arbor Pioneer, Inkster, Saline, and Chelsea. I personally am hoping he goes to Inkster, as that is Devin Gardner's school. It would be nice to have them working together for an entire season before they actually get to U-M.
• Michigan Stadium made the list of 45 stadiums that could play host to games as part of the World Cup if it were to be awarded to the United States in 2018 or 2022.
• The demo for NCAA Football 10 will be out later this week.
  

Tuesday Quick Hits: Cornelius Jones Commits to Michigan

• South Carolina dual-threat quarterback Cornelius Jones committed to Michigan yesterday, becoming the Wolverines' 14th verbal for 2010. He is the second QB to commit and will likely be the last at that position for Michigan in this class. Devin Gardner is already a part of this class, and Jones is a good addition for future depth purposes at QB or perhaps another position. He is an athlete, and it's not like the depth chart for QB should be all that thin by the time he gets here.
  
  There isn't a whole lot of information out there on Jones, as he hasn't been evaluated yet by Rivals or Scout. Some of you may remember Jones from last June, though, as word broke that he was offered by Michigan without even playing a down of varsity football for his current high school. He didn't play due to getting in some "trouble," but Michigan supposedly had offered him after getting some film from a scrimmage. Varsity Blue notes that an actual offer didn't come down until January of this year, but Michigan was on him for quite some time, so it is no surprise he committed.
• Michigan State picked up commits from Mylan Hicks and William Gholston yesterday. Gholston's decision was the big news, as he is the top recruit in the state of Michigan. It is a bit surprising he made a decision to publicly commit this early, but the school he selected is no shock whatsoever. After all, his prom outfit included an MSU hat, so this is not at all surprising.
• The M-Den apparently won't be selling apparel at Michigan Stadium anymore. Their contract with Michigan is up on July 1, and U-M is going in a different direction.
  

Monday Quick Hits: Rodriguez Provides Updates on Grady, O'Neill

• According to Rich Rodriguez, Kevin Grady will stay on the team if he takes care of all his probation responsibilities by when camp starts on August 9.
• Rodriguez also confirmed that Dann O'Neill left the team and doesn't know if the offensive lineman will transfer to another school. The consensus was that O'Neill lost the love for the game, so I would be surprised if he transferred for football reasons.
• There were worries about a few incoming freshman and whether or not they would qualify, but Rodriguez said there's "likely only one" who might not make the cut.
• Geena Gall and Tiffany Ofili both won individual national championships this past weekend. Gall finished first in the 800-meter for the second straight year and Ofili won the 100-meter hurdles for the third consecutive year.
• Aside from not even having accurate rosters, NCAA Football 10 appears to have mangled teams' ratings as well. They seem very inaccurate, and as usual, many teams (Michigan included) are very overrated. Like I said last week, the game does not look like something worth $60 this year.