In case you were wondering, yes, the news does go on vacation. However, I am back in this lovely Michigan weather and ready to talk about the Wolverines. A lot went down over the past week for the Michigan Athletic department, so let’s examine by sport by sport.

Football: I was incredibly surprised to hear that quarterback Shavodrick Beaver dropped his commitment to Michigan only two weeks before he was supposed to enroll for classes. Not only is he not coming early to Ann Arbor for spring practices, but he seems to be a lock to play for Tulsa next fall. This means Michigan’s other four star dual-threat quarterback recruit, Tate Forcier, will be taking the snaps this upcoming season. Forcier was reportedly ahead of Beaver at this point, so it’s not quite a Terrelle Pryor situation on our hands. However, it would have been nice to have a solid backup in case Forcier is McGuffied (v. to get knocked out like a rag doll) during the season, leaving only Threet and Sheridan. On the brighter side, we won’t ever have to hear “Beaver gets stuffed at the line of scrimmage” or “He got a hand on Beaver” or see any innuendos on an MSU or OSU T-shirt.

Basketball: We cracked the top 25! For the first time in almost three years, Michigan basketball (9-2) is ranked-- #24 in the Associated Press Poll. Laval Lucas-Perry, who had to sit out a year after transferring from Arizona, made his debut last week and is averaging 12 points in his first two games. The Big Ten season begins in one week (12/31) against Wisconsin. The conference is looking to be very strong this year with Purdue, Michigan State, Ohio State, Michigan and Minnesota already ranked in the top 25, Illinois and Wisconsin receiving votes, and even Penn State (11-2) and Northwestern (8-2) getting off to great starts. On a side note, DeShawn Sims had 20 points and 20 rebounds against Florida Gulf Coast, the first 20-20 game by a Michigan player in over thirty years.

Hockey: Steven Kampfer, the defenseman who suffered a fractured skull after being body-slammed by former football walk-on running back Mike Milano, may see his first game action of the season on Saturday in the Great Lakes Invitational tournament at Joe Louis Arena. It’s great to see Kampfer returning to form after the incident that caused serious doubts about his promising future. A healthy Kampfer should help propel the Wolverines from their #12 ranking to another shot at the Frozen Four and, ultimately, a championship.