Michigan’s Marcus Ray comments on the early departure of corner Donovan Warren – who he coaches in 2007. Ray says that with a lack of personal and team progress on the field, there wasn’t enough reason to stay for Warren’s senior season (run time is 9:14; transcript is after the jump).
[podcast]http://www.lostlettermen.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Skype_recording-87.mp3[/podcast]…
Lost Lettermen: This is Jim Weber from LostLettermen.com and I’m joined by former Michigan safety Marcus Ray.
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Marcus, obviously the big news coming out of Ann Arbor is Donovan Warren heading to the NFL. Speaking as a Michigan fan, obviously the defense was abysmal and now losing Brandon Graham and Donovan Warren, their two best players.
Does it seem like all hope is lost already for the Wolverines?
Marcus Ray: No. All hope isn’t lost but it just means that these coaches have to go hit the road in recruiting and find some premier talent. It’s very hard to replace a guy like Brandon Graham. I don’t think Donovan dominated the way he could have in his three-year career.
But people leave school for different reasons. I don’t think Michigan fans should panic because there’s a chance that we may land some big-time recruits in the next 30 days or so and then we’ll be able to keep the ball rolling.
LL: Do you feel like this opens up the door for Boubacar Cissoko? That they almost have to take him back now that Warren is gone?
MR: That’s something to think about. But if you look at it from a coach’s perspective. Coaches look like they don’t have to do anything. They don’t see it as their hands are ever forced. So it’s really a thing where if Boubacar wants to come back, he’ll have to earn his way back. But I don’t think that the Michigan staff is going to panic and say now that we’ve lost this guy, now we have to take this guy back. Coaches don’t look at it that way.
Maybe sometimes they should but sometimes they’ll just get another guy and just take the hit and keep on moving.
LL: You said Rich Rodriguez will hit the recruiting trail hard, which I think he will but for Michigan fans I think it’s safe to say that Rich Rodriguez won’t be there if he misses another bowl game. And the defense was the biggest flaw last year.
How do they get the defense where it’s at a point where they make a bowl game with a bunch of freshman possibly next year?
MR: Well, that’s a really good question because Michigan didn’t have any depth from the get go. They lost some games because they couldn’t stop people and even with Brandon and Donovan we still only won five games.
Now I’m not sure what they have as far as redshirt freshman or second and third year guys coming back. I haven’t really followed the recruiting trail since I left there but it’s going to hard to win in this conference with a lot of young guys going into your third year.
It’s like starting a freshman quarterback three years in a row at the same school. So everyone is going to have to find a way, either really coach those guys up in the spring and develop those guys they already have or they better go somewhere and find some big-time guys that will have an impact right away.
But really, if coach Rodriguez misses a bowl game that’s not going to be a good thing. In my opinion, as I look at scheduling, making a bowl game is just winning six games. Michigan as went from expecting to win to hoping to win and we wanna make a bowl game. There’s 34 bowl games, Jim. That’s 68 teams playing the post season. 68 out of 120, that’s like 52 percent.
Just making a bowl game or even 8-4, all that is unacceptable because I’ve been looking at ever since Lloyd left, when you bring in a new coach at Michigan, what is this new coach supposed to do? Is he supposed to win a Big Ten championship? Lloyd did that. Is he supposed to win a national championship? Lloyd won one of those. So my thing is, hey, whenever you bring in somebody else to replace a guy with a great legacy like Lloyd, he has to win the national championship year in and year out or at least be up for it the same way Tressel was, the same way Pete Carroll was, the same way Oklahoma was, the same was Texas is and Florida now. That’s how you replace the next coach; I mean that’s how you replace Lloyd Carr at Michigan.
You have to make a move like that. Other than that we could’ve hired fro within and just kept it moving.
LL: Right. I think it’s safe to say that Michigan is a couple of steps away from competing for the national championship again.
But I wanted to get your thoughts on Donovan Warren from a players’ standpoint. Do you think this was the right move to go pro?
MR: I’m going to say yes and no. My guess is Donovan had a lot of hype coming out of high school. He’s had two different secondary coaches in three years. I think he’s tired of maybe losing and he’s probably looking at it like he’s not going to get any better. Only thing he can do is get worse.
So, when kids leave early, I’m actually in favor of that as long as they’re on some type of pace of graduating as well. But you never know what a kid’s financial situation is. You never know what’s really going on in their lives to where they may need that money. They may need it now. You can always go back to school.
My grandma is 75, she could go get a bachelor’s right now. So I think people pay too much attention to guys, oh he can’t leave school, he’s not ready. How much difference has Donovan Warren improved between ’08 and ’09? He looks like the same guy.
LL: Right
MR: So are we going to look at the same guy in 2010?
He may be unhappy; he may feel like he’s not getting any better. You have to realize that part of his background; he had a relationship with former All-Pro NFL safety Mark Carrier. You never know who’s in these guys’ ear but is it safe to tell Donovan, “You need to stay one more year”?
And do what? Get beat by average receivers in the Big Ten?
So when you think about it, he may be ready to say, “I would rather start working and try to make it in the NFL” because he may get drafted. Donovan will get drafted if he runs sub-4.6. Let’s just say that because those NFL GMs, they go by potential. They can look at “Oh he wasn’t very good in college or he didn’t dominate but I got some guys that can coach him and make him better.” So just think about that. Morgan Trent did not have a stellar career. Morgan Trent is playing for the Cincinnati Bengals. Morgan was a fifth-year senior and he never really got any better, either.
LL: Right. Last question for you: where do you project Donovan Warren going? People say late second round, early third round. Do you think that’s too high or do you think based on potential he can actually reach that?
MR: Well I think he’s got good size. It has a lot to do with how they grade him. But those first three rounds are really guys that had the best workouts. Then it goes by production, then it goes by potential or sleepers. Is Donovan going to have a first-round workout? OK, if Donovan runs a 4.3 and if he does 20-25 reps and jumps a 40”, he’ll go in the first round.
So as far as projections, after we see his work out, I think then its safe to project but I don’t think there is a great talent pool of corners coming out but I think there is a chance he could go on the first day. He has good size. I think he needs to work on his ball skills a little but more. I haven’t really seen his footwork since he was a freshman and I think that he’ll get drafted and I think that he’ll be OK. Maybe not right away in the league but I think there’s a chance he’ll go on the first day.
As long as he doesn’t run in the high 4.5s or maybe in the 4.6 because when you look at it, Mario Manningham left early. He didn’t run a great time according to a lot of people, a 4.6. And he went in the third round I think or whatever it was and he’s making plays. I just saw him score a touchdown last night.
It’s just a matter of getting in and then it’s a matter of making some plays when you get there.
LL: I think Mario Manningham is exactly what Donovan Warren is looking at and saying, “Even if I don’t go as high as I think I can, I can make plays at the next level.” So it’ll be interesting to see what happens and thanks so much for your time again Marcus.
MR: Take care Jim. Any time.
