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So far this Spring, a lot of fans and skeptics I've talked to have been quick to write off the Wolverines as nothing more than a punch-line on their way to a 5-7 season in 2009. They see a quarterback jumping ship, and a depleted defensive front, and the scathing sarcasm rolls off their tongues like this is just another season. Wolverine fans have always been tough to impress and, often times, impossible to please.

But don't think the Wolverine players have bought into the talk.

Tell Tate Forcier this season will be similar to the last one. He's been spotted in Oosterbaan Fieldhouse practicing roll-out drills and firing pass after pass into the chest of a practice dummy. This all happens after strength drills and each teammate has gone home to ice sore limbs... and after you can still hear a faint echo of Coach Barwis' voice ringing in your ears. The lights aren't even turned on as Forcier tries to pop the dummy with a spiral, but hey.... its not like the Big House has lights, either. Good practice for night games.

Tell Stevie Brown this season will be just like his previous two. He was burned on more slant patterns than a Detroit Lions cornerback. But he can't hear the talk. He's too busy with becoming one of the quickest guys on the team and making sure he has calf muscles Usain Bolt would approve of.

Tell Will Campbell his presence won't make a difference. He could have stayed in school to hang with his football buddies for one last semester. But, instead, he graduated early to vacation on Barwis Beach and show his coaches he was born to play on weekends. Hey, after all, Prom is on a Friday and Cass Tech is only an hour away.

Lastly, tell Coach Rich Rodriguez this season might not turn out the way he wants. He'll just flash his patented "half-smile" and tell you about how good this team's young core is going to be. He knows that by the time the first leaves of autumn hit the ground, he'll have a state of the art practice facility and stadium (almost done) that would make any Midwest recruiter cringe with fear. Think he's worried about the future?

Still a long way to go until football season (I'm not going to break down positions that could possibly change hands five times before September), but these are the things you can see now that shows all this "talk" about Michigan's last season is just....well, "talk."

Photo from spawn of m zone