At Schembechler Hall yesterday, Will Johnson threw up the 225lb bench press a ridiculous 47 times to apparently break an NFL combine record in front of NFL scouts. Per mgoblue.com: Defensive tackle Will Johnson turned in the day’s most-impressive performance, wowing the scouts and onlookers with an eye-popping and record-setting 47 reps of 225 pounds. The effort eclipsed anything that has been previously achieved by a Wolverine and broke what was believed to be the NFL Combine record, 42 reps set by former U-M left tackle Jake Long last season. Johnson also clocked 4.9 second in the 40-yard dash. “It was exciting, but my goal was to put up 50 reps,” said Johnson. “I’m really pleased with what I was able to accomplish, though.” “Will’s performance on the bench was amazing,” added Rodriguez. “He showed great effort and determination in setting that record. Will is an intense competitor and a hard-working guy.” Photos are available from the official site here. Looks like some old friends stopped by as well to support the guys.
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U-M All-America Tailback Ron Johnson Passes Away (11/10/2018)
The official press release from Michigan athletics, announcing the passing of the great tailback Ron Johnson on November 10, 2018:
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Ron Johnson Rolls Up 347 (1968) – This Week in Michigan Football History
For this edition of This Week in Michigan Football history we head back four and a half decades to the home finale of the 1968 season, Bump Elliott’s final year at the helm of the Wolverines. On November 16, 1968 the Big House was barely half full. Those who didn’t bother to show certainly regret it as Michigan, Big Ten and heck, NCAA history was made by Bump’s badass back Mr. Ron Johnson. 347 yards on the ground. One man. Barely more than 3 quarters. Ponder that here in 2013. Today, Friday November 15, we are as far from that type of performance as we’ve been since that day 45 years ago. Johnson, along with Elliott and Old 98, graced the program cover (above) for this game and this was fitting. Johnson’s big day knocked out a couple of Harmon’s records, and of course it was Bump’s final home game. (P.S. I want one of those vintage ‘68 coaches shirts). You can catch all of the This Week in Michigan Football History clips here. Don’t forget to catch it live Saturday on the KeyBank Countdown to kick-off on WTKA 1050AM starting at 11:30AM Saturday. Follow MVictors on Twitter
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Rome Raps with USA’s Jack Johnson (audio)
Wallpaper via jackjohnson3.com – JJ official site Heard locally on WDFN 1130AM in Detroit, Jim Rome had a solid visitor today. In the wake of the epic win for USA hockey over Canada, former U-M defenseman Jack Johnson rapped with Rome this afternoon for a few words on the win and much more. He did a nice job. No Michigan mentions but he did note that he knew a lot of the USA players from the Ann Arbor development program. Audio (I missed the first 30 seconds or so): [display_podcast] .
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Yost Region Round II: Les Miles v Paul Johnson
The second round of the ‘Death March Madness’ tournament (current bracket HERE – background here). Here’s a printable version. Les Miles (LSU) vs. Paul Johnson (Navy) How they got here: Michigan Man and LSU head coach Les Miles received a bye in the first round as the #1 seed in the region while Paul Johnson slipped by Mount Union college legend Larry Kehres in the first round. What can I tell you about Les Miles [bio] that you don’t already know? Michigan player, Michigan coach, he’s had success at Oklahoma State and he’s done pretty well at LSU. The pros? Passionate about this school and its history. He loves this place and that’s got to worth something. He seems like a great leader and has done a nice job at LSU. Every indication is that he’ll take the job and Martin may not have to shell out NFL money to get him here. It’s exciting to think about this guy coming here. The downside? Maybe not the sharpest knife in the drawer. Those fourth down plays are borderline crazy. It’s fun to watch when it is LSU playing- not sure it’d be such a ball if all that stuff happened in the Big House. Also it looks like he and Coach Carr aren’t BFF, stemming perhaps from attitude differences when…
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Yost Region Round 1: Johnson v Kehres
The first round of the ‘Death March Madness’ tournament (full bracket here – background here). Here’s a printable version. Larry Kehres vs. Paul Johnson An interesting match-up a two coaches you may know about but have caught the eye of several Michigan fans. In the September poll of potential candidates to replace Lloyd Carr I didn’t include either of these men, but Kehres received a bunch of write-in votes due to his great success at tiny Mt. Union. Navy headman Johnson has caught some notice for his work with the Midshipmen and especially his great win over the suffering Irish. Here’s a little more on each man: On Kehres from the Mt Union official site: Under Kehres, the Raiders have won nine Division III National Championships in the last 14 years (’93, ’96, ’97, ’98, ’00, & ’01, ’02, ’05, ’06). Since 1990, the Raiders have made 16 playoff appearances while posting college football’s most wins and best winning percentage (216-10-1/.954). During the last 15 regular seasons, his teams have posted a phenomenal 148-2 overall mark. For his efforts, Kehres (246-20-3/.920 at Mount Union) has been named the AFCA Division III National Coach of the Year eight times (’93, ’96, ’97, ’98, ’00, ’01, ’02, ’06) – voted on by the American Football Coaches Association. On Johnson, from the Navy…
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Stevie Brown, 2009 Meyer Morton Award winner
This year’s Meyer Morton Award, which has been given out since 1925, went to Stevie Brown. It signifies the player that has shown the most progress in Spring drills. Past winners include Jamie Morris, Stan & Braylon Edwards, Desmond Howard, Jim Harbaugh, and in 1932, future president Gerald Ford. The PA announcer advised is designated for Michigan seniors, but traditionally this was not the case. Take Ford for instance, he was a senior and MVP in 1934 yet received the award two seasons prior. I wrote about this last year after the Saline spring game [see ‘On the Meyer Morton’: This is the oldest individual award given by the football program and its winners include the late Gerald Ford. I actually found this pic of Ford with the award (1932) when researching a post after his death: You may have picked up this mention on the great mgoblog within Brian’s spring practice post today: Will Johnson won kind of a weird award for a fifth-year senior and returning starter to pick up. Brian’s right. It’s a little weird for a 5th year senior to be getting this award. I’m still digging for the reference, but I’m 90% sure I read somewhere that this honored was originally reserved for underclassman. Take Ford for instance. The late president won the honor in…
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Alumni Game Roster Complete, more Spring Game details
Released tonight from State Street. Full roster from alumni flag football game: Per the release, “The teams will be announced during WTKA’s broadcast from Michigan football practice this Thursday, April 9 (3-6 p.m.).” One comment. Certainly the agenda is more than full, but one of the nice things they did at last year’s spring event in Saline was announce the winners of the spring team awards, like the Meyer Morton Award which has been given out since 1925 and went to Will Johnson last year. Past winners include Jamie Morris, Stan & Braylon Edwards, Desmond Howard, Jim Harbaugh, and Gerald Ford in 1932. The little ceremony took maybe 10 minutes last year if I recall; I’d like to see them do that again especially given all these former players will be around. [Update 4/8: Dave Ablauf at media relations confirmed that the awards will be announced at the spring event again this year. Good news.] Other stuff: – Members of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Super Bowl XLIII winning team, including linebackers Larry Foote and LaMarr Woodley, safety Ryan Mundy and assistant offensive line coach Harold Goodwin, will be recognized during the game. – In addition, three U-M national champions from this season, Tyler Clary (men’s swimming and diving), Steve Luke (wrestling) and Tiffany Ofili (women’s track & field), will be honored…
