Michigan will close out its 2007 season with tomorrow’s Capital One Bowl against Florida at Orlando’s Citrus Bowl Stadium.
Kickoff is at 1PM (ET) and will be broadcast in HD on ABC.
Here’s to hoping the team sends out its seniors and Coach Carr out with a win!
MORE:
Capital One Bowl website
Capital One Bowl Game preview video @ MGoBlue.com
MGoBlue.com Capital One Bowl page
Since the Capital One Bowl is nearly upon us, I thought I’d share my favorite on-the-field Mike Hart moment of the 2007 season. I had a lot to choose from, but this one just stood out from the Purdue game. I hope to see more moves like this during the game!
Having already graduated from the University of Michigan, Mike Hart’s U-M responsibilities will be completed after the Capital One Bowl.
As already mentioned, Mike’s focus will turn towards preparing for the NFL draft.
Teammate, and close friend, Jamar Adams gives us a small look into his plans, for the immediate future while the team redeemed their Best Buy gift certificates. FYI: Mike picked up a PlayStation 3 during his spree.
Adams will make Florida his new home, at least for the next couple of months. When the Wolverines wrap their season with the Jan. 1 Capital One Bowl against Florida, Adams will start preparing in Naples for February’s NFL Scouting Combine.
To get ready for the combine, where players are closely evaluated by NFL scouts, coaches and front office personnel, Adams will work out at a Velocity Sports Performance training facility. He said he’ll be joined by Michigan tailback Mike Hart and former Wolverine safety Ryan Mundy, who is completing his career this season at West Virginia.
Classic statements from Gator receiver Andre Caldwell:
”We’re trying to go out there and make a statement and show that the SEC is the best and most competitive conference with the best athletes. We’re going to beat those guys and hopefully the other SEC teams can do the same thing to their Big Ten opponents. I don’t think they have seen that many athletes like us [fast]. They have a couple of them, but in the SEC we have a whole team of them. It’s a big difference and they think they have bigger, more physical teams, but they don’t.”
Man, who crapped in his cereal? Either he’s terribly misinformed, or he’s been sippin’ on that SEC Kool-aid. If the Big Ten teams are so horrible, why are their W-L record against the SEC in the past 7 meetings, 5-2? It’s probably because Florida blew out the Buckeyes earlier this year. Nevermind that the Big Ten vs. SEC bowl record from last season was 2-1 in the Big Ten’s favor. Guess our conference just got lucky, huh Caldwell?
Mike Hart’s “little brother” comment towards Michigan State’s program is still reverberating. One would have thought they’d have moved on, by now. Guess not. I understand the concept of bulletin board material and all, but the teams aren’t going to meet for 11 more months. Worry about it next season!
The teams were both on hand at the Bowl-a-palooza Wednesday, in Orlando, as part of the Kids and Fan Festival for Orlando bowl participants. So Michigan, Michigan St., Florida, and Boston College players were all in attendance and rubbing elbows.
When the subject of Mike’s November 3rd comments were brought up, it’s clear that he got significantly under their skin with his remarks as if he had just said them a couple of days ago.
Here is a gem from Javon Ringer:
“It all depends on the player. Some of the players, I’m pretty sure they got their own little personal agenda about how they feel about that stuff. Guys were (ticked). But that just varies from player to player. Some players, that’s still eating them to this day. And the rest of us … it still eats us, but we’re just good at hiding it.”
So, as the post title says, “Seriously? Let it go!” I’m well aware that the topic was likely brought up by the media and not MSU payers. However they would have been better served concentrating on Boston College and not their hatred towards U-M. MSU fell to Boston College today by the score of 24-21.
Mike shrugged off any suggestions that MSU players would confront him about his infamous “little brother” comments, telling the Detroit Free Press “I don’t care. What are they going to say? The only people who can say anything to me is Ohio State.”
More from the Detroit Free Press.
Mike Hart was a guest on Jim Rome’s Radio show this afternoon. You can download listen to the interview on Rome’s website for a nominal fee. Nothing’s free anymore, ya know.
INTERVIEWED BY JUNGLE GUEST HOSTS: Jason and Randy Sklar
INFO & STATS: Running Back Michigan Wolverines / Team Captain.
TOPICS: Preparing for the Capital One Bowl / Staying focused during coaching and staffing change / Preparing to face the opposition / Guarantee win statement against Notre Dame / Thoughts with departure of Coach Carr / Rich Rodriguez’ becoming the new head coach of Michigan. / 12-27-2007
During a pre-bowl media session, Mike Hart’s teammate and close friend, Jamar Adams, went a little beyond the staple injury update and voiced his thoughts on how he felt Mike’s injuries affected him this season.
From Toledo Blade:
“It was frustrating because he couldn’t do some of the things he wanted to do physically. I was frustrated as well. I thought Mike had a great chance of catching some of the awards that were out there.”
Considering how Mike fought through injuries and still put up a 1200+ yard rushing season, it’s hard to not imagine how many more yards, touchdowns, and records he may have taken down had he been able to stay healthy.
And what about is 2007 Heisman candidacy? After finishing 5th in total voting last season, how can we not think about him being invited to NYC, this year, for the ceremony and possibly picking up College Football’s most prestigious award?
Its nice to think about what might have been, but what ifs don’t count. The team, which arrived in Orlando yesterday, and held their first practice today, is focused on the task at hand: beating Florida on Tuesday. If Mike looks as good, during the game, as he’s said to be during practices, I think we’ll all be in for a treat!
BONUS: Listen to U-M players as they preview the bowl matchup
The emphasis of this particular preview segment is how the Wolverine offense matches up against the young Florida defense.
Mike Hart did not attend Michigan’s pre-bowl press conference today. Neither did Coach Lloyd Carr. That only meant we couldn’t hear, from the horse’s mouth, the latest update on Mike’s recovering high ankle sprain.
In his absense, we did receive a small update from today’s presser. Other players attending essentially repeated what Carr stated a few week’s back: Mike Hart will definitely play in the Capital One Bowl vs. Florida. The Ann Arbor News reports that Mike has been looking good in practices. Not surprised.
More good news: QB Chad Henne reveals that he is recovering well and notes that he feels his strength returning.
In particular, this little nugget from Jake Long, should ease our minds:
“I think everybody’s feeling healthy and doing well. You can tell this rest definitely helped us all out because we’re having faster, harder, more intense practices.”
The team will leave for Orlando on Tuesday, Christmas Day. In addition the warmer climate, the players are probably looking forward to their $400 Best Buy Gift Certificates. The Wolverines and Gators will redeem them in privacy, as the store will open early to accomodate them.
Well maybe that’s not entirely accurate, but from his most recent mock draft, it seems that Mr. McShay might need a little convincing of Mike Hart’s ability to succeed at the next level.
His argument for why he feels Mike will be selected late second to third round is not original. Actually, it’s pretty played out.
He’s too slow
He’s too small
He was good at the college level, but he won’t be effective in the NFL
These are all the same arguments the analysts stated repeatedly back when Mike was a college recruit. For the last statement, simply switch out the college/NFL, replace it with high school/college, and you have the reasons why Mike would not be a successful collegiate back. We all saw how that turned out.
It humors me that these so-called experts are once again sleeping on Mike Hart. At the same time, I’m not surprised. Mike’s been making others look foolish for years now and I don’t see that trend ending any time soon. All of the teams with RB needs, that pass on him, will have mud slung at their organizations once Mike starts torching their defensive lines. I, for one, cannot wait!
Below is the video segment from College Football Live (Dec. 18) where McShay informs us that Mike is the #6 running back on his board. Whatever dude.
* If video isn’t appearing, it’s because the site is switching servers and the DNS has propogated yet. Sit tight!
