2019 Michigan Season Thread

[MaximumSam]

Just getting back from a four-week vacation (Utah Nat'l Parks in the offseason!!) and am slow on the uptake, but if you are implying this could be similar to the Nussmeier hire (...) maybe (...) because always maybe. But the situations aren't very similar.
For one, Harbaugh, not Hoke, made the hire and he has been a great hirer of coaching talent**. For two, whereas Alabama fans were cheering Nuss out the door, they are clearly disappointed about losing Gattis. And in the neutral-but-different-than-Nuss category, Gattis hasn't ever been an OC. That last one remains a legitimate question/concern/curiosity, but in his last two stops, he's been part of two "highest end" offenses, likely absorbed plenty, and is a fast rider for other reasons. I.E., no one is questioning his recruiting or WR chops.
**(this one is worth spending an extra second on, however, since both of Harbaugh's failed hires - Drevno and Pep - have been OCs. Skepticism is healthy. However, both of those were lapdog hires, whereas Gattis is the first Harbaugh OC to be reported to take over play calling. Maybe that doesn't qualify as a paradigm shift, but it is an extra reason for positivity.)

I'm not implying anything.  Alabama had a historically good offense this year.  THE OC gets a head coaching job.  The position coaches get better jobs.  Gattis was the co-OC.  One would logically assume that Alabama might want some continuity on the offensive coaching staff given how good they were and how many people are returning.  Unless Gattis just didn't like Alabama, he didn't have the option to stick around as offensive coordinator.  I just don't understand why.  

[Mdot21]

Enos just named OC at Miami, so...

Bama247 saying Saban is zeroing in on ND OC Chip Long.

[ELA]

I think it's both a good hire, and clear Saban wanted to clear house on offense.

[MaximumSam]

I think it's both a good hire, and clear Saban wanted to clear house on offense.

But isn't that weird? Far be it from me to question Saban, but cleaning house on offense after last season seems...odd.

[ELA]

But isn't that weird? Far be it from me to question Saban, but cleaning house on offense after last season seems...odd.

So does leaving MSU to go live in a swamp 

[Honestbuckeye]

Seems like a really good choice- especially if he is allowed to call plays. 

Wolverines have 3 elite level WRs and a damn good QB,  plus most of the offensive players back.  

A potential for some dynamic offense.   

[Mdot21]

Seems like a really good choice- especially if he is allowed to call plays.

Wolverines have 3 elite level WRs and a damn good QB,  plus most of the offensive players back.  

A potential for some dynamic offense.  

Press release said Gattis would be calling plays. I have my doubts Harbaugh will back off. We’ll see.
Michigan hasn’t had this much WR talent going into a season since like 2004 with Braylon, Avant, and Breaston. 
They also brought in two frosh from the 2019 class that look very promising in slot ninja Giles Jackson and a kid that honestly looks like a Tarik Black clone in Cornelius Johnson.

[Brutus Buckeye]

Just getting back from a four-week vacation (Utah Nat'l Parks in the offseason!!)

Did ya get up on a little Zion and Bryce? 

[Anonymous Coward]

Did ya get up on a little Zion and Bryce?

Thanks for asking, man!🙃
Bryce and Escalante didn't fit our road map. That'll be an incentive to come back for the next trip! I'd really love to win the park's lottery to be one of the 10-20 people per day with permission to see The Wave. And despite having two nights in Zion for Angel's Landing, Observation Point, etc., we'll definitely be back for the Narrows, the Subway, and Kolob.
Ten nights in all. Got in like 70 miles of primitive hiking (some was less than primitive - true wilderness, which is the real dream) all throughout the UT, with a touch in AZ.
Usually stayed in airbnbs or NP lodges for the wife but also satisfied my cold camping itch: At Goblin Valley, we holed up in a yurt (wish I had brought my telescope!) and at Canyonlands, I set up my tent a few steps from the cliff at Island in the Sky. It got down to 16*F that night. Brrrrrr!
Flew into SLC and after grabbing bear mace and booze, we were off to Capitol Reef NP for a day and night. Then Goblin Valley and Little Widhorse. Then Arches NP, then Canyonlands NP. Did Monument Valley (was minorly bummed at how that's less hiking than a restaurant and driving around). A day in Antelope Canyon plus Coral Pink Sand Dunes. And finally the 48h at Zion.
From talks with rangers, the parks seemed to top out at 50-200 people per day. And very few of them were hiking. Stuff of dreams.
Crazy how many times we saw tracks that clearly belonged to a big cat (cougar, not a dog). Was glad to have the bear mace. But, unlike a grizzly, you always wonder what your odds are of knowing you have to ward the cat off before it's at your neck and game over.
We finished with 24-hours in Vegas. Which is probably the ideal amount of Vegas for Beth and I. And after showing up late and lying about it being our honeymoon, the Bellagio upgraded us to the stupidest suite I may ever see - penthouse, private elevator, overlooking the famous fountain. So so so perfect and dumb.
Looking back, wow. Never seen anything like Utah. Well I went as a child but had forgotten. Still, it was the right length of trip because just as it was ending, we were ready to be elsewhere, home with families in Algonac, MI then across Canada to Buffalo, NY. So whew - we've put in some miles.

[MrNubbz]

Crazy how many times we saw tracks that clearly belonged to a big cat (cougar, not a dog). Was glad to have the bear mace. But, unlike a grizzly, you always wonder what your odds are of knowing you have to ward the cat off before it's at your neck and game over.

Nice write up it's been more than a few years - I've had brushes with black bears in Canada.Happened to be fishing off of a 20 ft ledge when I realized there were wild berry bushes all over the place a bear passed prolly 50 yds away but fortunately going parallel.Nothing like looking around the shore and seeing Bruin paw prints everywhere.Fortunately I was much faster than my fishing buddies.But cougars don't make any noise when stalking.Bears are used to being the baddest thing around so they don't care how much racket they make - they take what they want

[MrNubbz]

Michigan hasn’t had this much WR talent going into a season since like 2004 with Braylon, Avant, and Breaston.

Truth.Not sure about Manningham but wasn't Arrington on that team also

[ELA]

Truth.Not sure about Manningham but wasn't Arrington on that team also

I think they were both freshmen in 2005?
Jason Avant = most underrated UM player in my lifetime

[Anonymous Coward]

Nice write up it's been more than a few years - I've had brushes with black bears in Canada.Happened to be fishing off of a 20 ft ledge when I realized there were wild berry bushes all over the place a bear passed prolly 50 yds away but fortunately going parallel.Nothing like looking around the shore and seeing Bruin paw prints everywhere.Fortunately I was much faster than my fishing buddies.But cougars don't make any noise when stalking.Bears are used to being the baddest thing around so they don't care how much racket they make - they take what they want

Hahaha, faster than your buddies? A little dark but that's all it takes. 😂
It's easy to have respect for bears. Like you say, biggest and baddest thing out there. But it's kind of reassuring to know that encounters almost always give an opportunity for smart gesturing to negotiate a way out on both sides.
And sometimes it's a pure mistake and they just lumber by with apathy. I can't imagine people and cougars accidentally stumble into one another that often. Big cats are too perceptive and intentional.
Anyway, it's probably against policy, but I FedEx'd the bear mace home (it was like $60 with the holster -- too much to want to trash or just donate) and will be happy to have it in the Adirondacks this summer. I've never hiked with a firearm. A month "making it" in Alaska wilderness (like, Denali NP and Bristol Bay) is a goal before I die, and I'll obviously have a firearm then. But mace is the readiest I'll choose to be until then.

[Brutus Buckeye]

Thanks for asking, man!🙃
Bryce and Escalante didn't fit our road map. That'll be an incentive to come back for the next trip! I'd really love to win the park's lottery to be one of the 10-20 people per day with permission to see The Wave. And despite having two nights in Zion for Angel's Landing, Observation Point, etc., we'll definitely be back for the Narrows, the Subway, and Kolob.
Ten nights in all. Got in like 70 miles of primitive hiking (some was less than primitive - true wilderness, which is the real dream) all throughout the UT, with a touch in AZ.
Usually stayed in airbnbs or NP lodges for the wife but also satisfied my cold camping itch: At Goblin Valley, we holed up in a yurt (wish I had brought my telescope!) and at Canyonlands, I set up my tent a few steps from the cliff at Island in the Sky. It got down to 16*F that night. Brrrrrr!
Flew into SLC and after grabbing bear mace and booze, we were off to Capitol Reef NP for a day and night. Then Goblin Valley and Little Widhorse. Then Arches NP, then Canyonlands NP. Did Monument Valley (was minorly bummed at how that's less hiking than a restaurant and driving around). A day in Antelope Canyon plus Coral Pink Sand Dunes. And finally the 48h at Zion.
From talks with rangers, the parks seemed to top out at 50-200 people per day. And very few of them were hiking. Stuff of dreams.
Crazy how many times we saw tracks that clearly belonged to a big cat (cougar, not a dog). Was glad to have the bear mace. But, unlike a grizzly, you always wonder what your odds are of knowing you have to ward the cat off before it's at your neck and game over.
We finished with 24-hours in Vegas. Which is probably the ideal amount of Vegas for Beth and I. And after showing up late and lying about it being our honeymoon, the Bellagio upgraded us to the stupidest suite I may ever see - penthouse, private elevator, overlooking the famous fountain. So so so perfect and dumb.
Looking back, wow. Never seen anything like Utah. Well I went as a child but had forgotten. Still, it was the right length of trip because just as it was ending, we were ready to be elsewhere, home with families in Algonac, MI then across Canada to Buffalo, NY. So whew - we've put in some miles.

Yeah, you pretty much conquered Utah. My folks grew up out there, and retired to the Zion area about a dozen years ago. It is definitely best in the off season. Good call.