Archives for March 2007

University of Michigan head coach Lloyd Carr has excused wide receiver Adrian Arrington from spring practice.

There are no specifics on Arrington’s violation. Carr mentioned that his return is “…possible, but not probable.” Which means, of course, Arrington will definitely be starting for UM later this fall.

Arrington got into some trouble early in the 2006 season as well, stemming from an assault, drunk driving, and auto theft accusation that occurred hours before his team’s game against Penn State. Feeling the pressure from being thin at WR for the important game (Mario Manningham was out with an injury), coach Carr allowed Arrington to play the game, then benched him for a series the following week (after Manningham returned). A few months later, Arrington’s victim did not report to court to testify against him, the evidence from her testimony to the police was not allowed, and the judge was forced to drop the case without a trial.

It will be interesting to find out the specific violation that caused Arrington’s dismissal from spring ball. Based on Carr’s history with Arrington, if domestic violence, underage drinking, and criminal activity only warrant sitting on the bench a few weeks later, then whatever caused him to be kicked out of spring practice must have been really bad. Like caught-snorting-coke-off-a-dead-hooker’s-body bad.

Also missing spring ball is Mike Hart, who finished fifth in Heisman voting last year. The recipient of the fifth most Heisman votes had arthroscopic surgery on his fifth-most voted for knee, and will not be practicing with his non-Heisman-vote-receiving teammates.

Carson Butler and Eugene Germany are also not playing spring ball. Neither of them received the fifth-most number of Heisman votes, so I guess it’s not important.