2009 Michigan Wolverines football team

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The 2009 Michigan Wolverines football team represents the University of Michigan in the college football 2009-2010 NCAA Division I-BCS football season. The Michigan Wolverines football team, who participate in the Big Ten Conference play their home games at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The team will try and rebound from its worst season (loss wise) in its 129 years of football history.

The Wolverines have received several verbal commitments from 4-star blue chip players.^[1][2] Among the recruits are Anthony LaLota of the Hun School in Princeton, New Jersey who is ranked as the fourth offensive tackle in the nation by Scout.com and sixth strong side defensive end by Rivals.com.^[3][4] LaLota will appear in the U.S. Army All-American game on January 3, 2009 in San Antonio, Texas.^[5] Other top recruits include a top-ten-rated dual-threat quarterback (Tate Forcier - Rivals #6)^[6][7] to run Rich Rodriguez' spread offense and Justin Turner who is rated as the #3 safety.^[8]

According to Rivals.com, the overall 2009 class is ranked 12th nationally with only Ohio State having a better recruiting class in the Big Ten.^[9] However, ESPN only has Michigan ranked 24th and also has them listed behind Penn State.^[10] As the 2008 Michigan Wolverines football team had suffered the most single-season losses ever in school history,^[11] the entering class of 2009 has incurred five decommits (Anthony Fera - K, Bryce McNeal - WR, Kevin Newsome, Shavodrick Beaver--QB, and William Campbell - OT).^[12] Players will be able to commit and decomit until the spring. High school seniors must sign their letters of intent between February 4–April 1, 2009 in order to become eligible student-athletes in the 2009-2010 academic year.^[13]

The 2009 and 2010 Big Ten Conference schedules will omit both the Minnesota Golden Gophers and the Northwestern Wildcats. Michigan will host the Indiana Hoosiers (homecoming), Penn State Nittany Lions, Purdue Boilermakers, and Ohio State Buckeyes.^[14] Although the non-conference schedule will not be set until after the season, Michigan has committed to host the Western Michigan Broncos because they like to host one in-state Mid-American Conference (MAC) team each year. It will be the tenth consecutive year that Michigan has hosted a MAC team.^[15]

The tentative schedule is as follows:^[16]

• Sept. 5 -- Western Michigan

• Sept. 12 -- Notre Dame

• Sept. 19 -- Eastern Michigan

• Sept. 26 -- Indiana

• Oct. 3 -- at Michigan State

• Oct. 10 -- at Iowa

• Oct. 17 -- To Be Announced

• Oct. 24 -- Penn State

• Oct. 31 -- at Illinois

• Nov. 7 -- Purdue

• Nov. 14 -- at Wisconsin

• Nov. 21 -- Ohio State

Radio coverage for all games will be on The Michigan Sports Network, and on Sirius XM Satellite Radio. The radio announcers are Frank Beckmann with play-by-play, Jim Brandstatter with color commentary, and Steve Courtney with sideline reports.

On December 12, 2008 RB Sam McGuffie announced he is leaving Michigan for a school closer to home due to family issues.^{[17] [18]}