By: Courtney Ratkowiak
Daily Sports Editor
Published November 23rd, 2008
There had been hints of it all season, but the careful display of team unity the Wolverines tried to preserve all season finally crumbled Saturday.
- Jeremy Cho / Daily
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It had been starting to publicly unravel for a few weeks beforehand, when Rodriguez announced last week that Zion Babb and Jason Kates were no longer on the team. Others will certainly follow, including the still-unannounced but likely departure of sophomore safety Artis Chambers.
Upperclassmen David Moosman and Terrance Taylor have both said more than once in the last few weeks that some of their teammates don’t always understand the importance of playing hard.
"Some people in the shadows that maybe have different agendas, we're weeding those people out," Moosman said last Monday.
But it wasn’t until Saturday that the team’s disconnect became glaringly, embarrassingly clear, starting with senior Charles Stewart’s fight with the coaching staff in the first quarter and ending with Brandon Minor stopping just short of calling his teammates out by name after the loss.
“It’s like some people don’t even like leaving theirself when they step on the field,” Minor said. "Can’t really blame Rich Rod because everybody on the team didn’t buy in like they were supposed to."
Going into next season, Rodriguez’s first priority needs to be getting his team to act like a team again. He has said he wishes he got to know his players better on a personal level, and starting now, he should make sure he does that.
In the end, Rodriguez said he hopes this 2008 season will be remembered as a “blip on the radar.” With all the notoriety it has gained, that’s doubtful.
Tying a program-record, five-game losing streak within a season.
Five more average points per game allowed this season than the previous worst Michigan defense.
Five more losses than the Wolverines had last season.
That just means five months from now, with spring practice done and the start of season two in the transition looming, the Wolverines' progress needs to be obvious.
— Ratkowiak can be reached at cratkowi@umich.edu.
