What Might Have Been: Sammy Watkins and Other Fabulous Freshman

If you're half the loser I am, which would be a feat, you no doubt remember teammates and Michigan targets Sammy Watkins and Dallas Crawford.  Michigan was oh so close to signing Crawford last year and many fans (read: people with far too much time on their hands and far too much interest in the comings and goings of 17-18 year old men) believed that Watkins would follow Crawford.  Something weird happened though, something about a coaching change I believe, and Crawford ended up with Miami and Watkins went to Clemson.

Perchance you've seen what Watkins has been up to this year.  Spoiler Alert: He's scoring shit tons of TD's.

Sammy Watkins - 21 catches, 292 yards, 4 TDs, 12 rush, 94 yards - I've rewatched the below video several times and can't help but think that Drew Dileo would have been in the endzone 2 seconds before Sammy on the same play.  That said, he's still pretty decent and maybe, just maybe, we wouldn't have given him a medical red shirt out of spring practices.

Jeremy Gallon says, "Come on bro, you've got me."  Fine Jeremy. Fine.

Oh but Mr. Watkins isn't the only Freshman who's whooping that ass through 3 games of the season.

De'Anthony Thomas - 22 rush, 170 yards, 10 recepetions, 153 yards, 2 punt returns, 64 yards.  Not even Lane Kiffin's lovely wife and endless improper golf cart rides could stop DeAnthony from heading to Eugene and spurning the hometown Trojans.

RB - Isaiah Crowell -47 cards, 254 yards, 2 TDs

DE - JaDeveon Clowney - 12 tackles, 2 sacks, 1 FF - Recruiting nerds and regular nerds alike probably remember this guy. JaDeveon was the consensus #1 recruit in the country and signed with South Carolina in a recruiting coup that can only be described as illegal in at least 11 ways that Mark Emmert will turn a blind eye towards ("oh yeah Anthony, check this shit out. SC athletes were saving $14 a night on hotels.  Athletes were also being served continental breakfast after hotel designated hours at no charge. Listen evil-doers, it's a no fly zone while Emmert's in charge. DEATH PENALTY. Emmert out").  He's about 6'6" and 250 pounds of terrible intentions directed toward people that throw footballs (namely Aaron Murray in the below clips).

RB - Malcolm Brown - Texas - 52 rush, 254 yards, 1 TD - More Malcolm Brown for people who are as weird or equally as weird as me.

There is still time for a Frank Clark or a Thomas Rawls-like substance to emerge for our Wolverines, but a Watkins-like impact is all but off the table. In situation where you've missed out on anything, it's very important to place blame. While blame to Crawford and Watkins seems reasonable because they didn't sign with Michigan, they're only a red herring. The real blame needs to be place right at the doorstep of Al Golden's absolutely adorable combover (don't you dare point like our Brady bear), which undoubtedly closed the deal itself on Dallas' official Miami visit.

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