In college football, recruiting is almost as rough a battle as the game itself. In Michigan, they're showing off a new building. In Nebraska, they're fretting about how little some of the high schools are getting visited by the new head coach.

Michigan's new $4.5 million all-sport recruiting center sits between Michigan Stadium and Crisler Arena:

There's blue carpeting. And neon lights, shaded blue, that help illuminate the 11,000-square foot building that features a 5,600-square foot main event space, a catering kitchen, restrooms, a storage area and a wide curved walkway that runs from the football team's locker room to Crisler Arena.

There's a mural of athletes and coaches, representing all 25 varsity sports, that adorns one wall. There's an array of audio/video components. Six 42-inch LCD monitors are spread along the back wall, while another wall is dominated by a rear-projection monitor that measures 12 feet wide by 7 feet tall. ... "We have wonderful buildings all over campus," [assistant athletic director Scott] Draper said. "This gives you the feel that Michigan is committed to doing things the right way. Not that we lacked that in the past, we just didn't have this kind of venue."

Nebraska's high school coaches aren't feeling nearly as positive about their program:

Six coaches from traditional Nebraska high school powers said NU recruiting coordinator Scott Downing has done a good job maintaining ties with the state's high schools. But five of them said there seems to be a distance between Callahan himself and the high school coaches, leaving them to wonder how genuine Callahan is in his interest in kids from Nebraska.

Some of this may just be related to changes on a scale not seen since 1962, when Bob Devaney (who grew up in Michigan) was hired to coach the Cornhuskers, brought in a young guy by the name of Osborne, who had a pretty good run and turned things over to this Solich character, who got run out of town by the new AD, who decided to put a different stamp on the program:

When Callahan talks about "flipping the culture," as he often does, he's referring to more than the switch from the powerful triple-option offense to the high-finesse West Coast system.

Reaching back into the archives a bit, the Lincoln Joural Star had a quick rundown of Michigan, with quotes from a few Nebraska players about how, before the bowls came out, they kinda hoped to get a chance to play a Big Ten team.

"I wanted to play one of those Big Ten teams, because it's just one of those classic matchups," Taylor said. "Everybody always thinks of the Big Ten, Big 12 and Big Eight having all those powerhouses.

"I'm excited. I don't think we could have been put into a better bowl game at this time."

Nebraska practice reports have started. Defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove (who spent 22 seasons at Wisconsin at Illinois) is quoted as being quite impressed with Chad Henne and Jason Avant:

"He is an outstanding quarterback," Cosgrove said of Henne. "He has a strong arm and gets the ball out quickly."

Avant, who leads Michigan with 74 receptions, is a "big-time receiver," Cosgrove said.

Expect a Big Red crowd at the game. Nebraska reports it's already sold out of its original allotment of 10,880 tickets to the game and got more. Michigan's priority ticket program signup ended Friday and the alumni association has links to all kinds of stuff with the official tour, so we'll see if that draws them in or if being deep in the heart of Texas just isn't that appealing. One upside: a bowl trip will get you out of the snow.

This entry was posted in the following categories: Alamo Bowl 2005, Michigan, Michigan Football