First, there’s word that ESPN is reporting that Rodriguez has offered an opportunity to play (*not necessarily a scholarship, but what’s the difference?) on the team to Duke’s Greg Paulus. [HT: Varsity Blue] Next, after a morning press conference Paulus jumped on Dan Patrick’s radio show to talk about his plans.   Here’s the audio, endure the ad at the beginning.  It’s pretty much exclusively about the Michigan opportunity, Paulus says he’s been offered a chance to enroll at U-M and “compete” on the football field: [display_podcast] Here’s the summary thanks to danpatrick.com: — Paulus said that there is an opportunity for him to play football at Michigan. He said he would continue his education in a masters program and join the team. — Paulus said that he spent the day around the Michigan football program and liked getting to know coach Rich Rodriguez. — Paulus said he has also spoken with a Big East and Big Ten team, as well as other schools, about being quarterback.

Update:  Now Mlive picked up the story, so go there for more details: From MLive Original Post: So, you debate whether to post a link to stuff like this. I didn’t sign up for this to get personal or embarrass individuals, and perhaps I’ve crossed that line a couple times. A friend of the site forwarded this story along. When Jim Cnockaert was let go from the Ann Arbor News in 2003 there were rumors that he was found with porn on a work computer. To me, it was scuttlebutt, nothing more, I don’t know if any specific charges were brought against him or if anything proven. He suddenly moved on and I don’t know if any formal reason was given. Apparently he lost another job in spring 2008 at the Bozeman Daily Chronicle for allegedly the same type of issue. He went on to a new gig in Virginia, but this time he’s being brought up on federal charges for the Bozeman incident: Cnockaert, 54, was fired from the Chronicle last spring after a co-worker told supervisors that she saw Cnockaert viewing child porn on a computer in the newspaper’s advertising department. According to court records, Chronicle publisher Stephanie Pressly and managing editor Nick Ehli confronted Cnockaert, and he acknowledged that he had used the computer to view pornography.…

A nice read in the Daily Orange, the Syracuse campus newspaper, on former M defensive coordinator Scott Shafer.  He sheds a tiny ray of light on what he thinks went wrong and points to issues with compatibility with Rodriguez’s staff, not a surprise: Shafer resigned soon after the season, and he has been public about the philosophical differences he and Rodriguez had during the 2008 season. "I took the job for all the wrong reasons," Shafer said. "I took it because it was Michigan, it was the Big House, the tradition. All great reasons. But at the end of the day, it’s got to be a good fit for you as a coach, and the guys you’re working with on a daily basis." After Michigan, Shafer knew he had to change his approach in looking for a new job. As he spent the holidays with his family and went about picking his next destination, he put a much larger emphasis on compatibility within a coaching staff. A soft jab at the current gang in Ann Arbor perhaps.  But then, building on the compatibility issue, Shafer said this about his new coaching staff: "Philosophically, things have meshed well so far," Shafer said. "More importantly, it’s fun to go to work with these guys. We’ve got guys who are fun to work…

His jersey number is about the only thing that didn’t change for Vince Helmuth last season. The arrival of Rich Rodriguez’s spread offense in 2008 brought with it a diminished role for his brand of fullback, the position Helmuth was recruited to play for then coach Lloyd Carr.  He did not see the field in the final six games of the season, something foreign to the Saline High School football star and 2007 letter winner. That drove Helmuth to give defense a try and he’s currently working to secure playing time at noseguard or tackle.  In Saturday’s spring game he made a few nice stops and will be working this summer to prepare for fall camp and the 2009 season. Helmuth and I spoke last week prior to the spring game about his decision to move to defense, on Rich Rodriguez’s comments about his weight, about the prospect of his brother Gabe joining him on the team, on new coordinator Greg Robinson and more. MVictors: Rich Rodriguez confirmed this spring that you are making the switch to defense.   How did you approach the coaches about the change? Helmuth: I played defense in high school and was pretty good at it, but I didn’t know exactly what it would take to play defense at a school like Michigan. Midway through last…

Via Dave Curtis in the Sporting News: And after this newest edition of Wolverines football ran around for an hour and a half, the day also brought so many conversations like these, overheard in a Michigan Stadium men’s restroom: “They look good,” the short guy said to the bald guy. “Hey,” the other guy said, “it’s already better than anything we saw last year.” If you can get beyond the two guys peeing, the misspelling of Greg Mathews’ surname and Curtis calling Michigan’s fight song ‘Hail to The Victors’, it’s worth a read.