Michigan tailback Brandon Minor ignores bad ankle, has his best game
Michigan running back Brandon Minor bolts through the Purdue line before heading upfield for a 55-yard touchdown run during the second quarter of Saturday, November 7th's clash between the two teams at Michigan Stadium. Minor rushed for 154-yards and three touchdowns on the day, but it wasn't enough as Purdue beat the Wolverines 38-36, their first win in Michigan Stadium since 1966. Lon Horwedel | AnnArbor.com
Whether it was shedding on-coming defender a high ankle sprain that has limited Brandon Minor productivity for much of the season, the Michigan senior tailback prefers to keep surging ahead.
With the Wolverines' bowl chances dangling on the verge of non-existent before Saturday's game against Purdue, Minor ignored the nagging pain that he's come to live with and tried to will Michigan to the win it needed to become bowl eligible.
A week after being limited to a cameo appearance in Michigan's loss at Illinois, Minor registered 19 carries, averaging 8.1 yards each time he touched the ball.
Often, he broke through tackles, dragging Purdue defenders with him, doing anything he could to snap Michigan's run of four straight Big Ten losses.
"That's my personality - I don't like going down easily," Minor said after running for 154 yards and three touchdowns in the Wolverines' 38-36 loss to Purdue. "I feel ashamed if I get tackled by just one person."
"In my eyes, I'm going to put all the pressure on my back, because I don't want to let the team down."
There are days, Minor said, when he insists he's fine but will be limited in practice. Other times, he knows he can't go. Last week against Illinois, he told Michigan coaches he could go if they needed him to. When he didn't play until late in the game, he figured he didn't do a good enough job selling his availability.
Asked after Saturday's game how close he was to being at full strength, Minor - who scored on runs of 29, 55 and 1 yard - admitted to being about 90 percent before quickly upgrading himself to 100 percent.
For Minor, it's his way of trying to convince those around him that he wants to carry as much weight as he needs to.
"Just with the way he plays and him playing hurt, it's almost sending a message to everyone else," Michigan quarterback Tate Forcier said. "If you're hurt, you just deal with it. You've got to leave it all on the line."
With stiff tests against Wisconsin and Ohio State looming, Minor doesn't want to allow his health issues to be an obstacle. On Sunday, he'll make getting treatment on his ankle a top priority, and he hopes to be as active in practice in preparation for the Wolverines' trip to Wisconsin on Saturday.
But as Michigan deals with a fifth consecutive conference loss, Minor feels as if he shoulders some of the responsibility. Despite an effort that coach Rich Rodriguez said gave the Wolverines a different physical presence and ability to run downhill, Minor wonders if he could have done more.
"I mean, me personally, I feel like every loss is my fault," he said. "Coach says 'don't point fingers,' but I felt like I could have done something - at least something to change the game."
"If anyone wants to point the finger, I'd rather have them point it at me than anybody else. I just want to take pressure off other players, because I can take pressure."
Minor said he'll speak up as a leader for the rest of the season, hoping the Wolverines can salvage their season.
"We're a team that needs to take advantage of every opportunity we get," Minor said. "It's tough to deal with because when you know you laid it out on the line and you still get beat, I'd rather have a team beat me at my best rather than us beating ourselves.
"We've been beating ourselves up."
Jeff Arnold covers sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at jeffarnold@annarbor.com or 734-623-2554.
Comments
tomhagan
Sun, Nov 8, 2009 : 2:48 p.m.
Brandon showed a lot of heart yesterday and this year. Its going to be really ugly next year when he and the last of the old recruits leave the program and all that are left will be poorly coached low level recruits, crumbs and misfits.
stevieboy
Sun, Nov 8, 2009 : 4:25 a.m.
Inexperience is killing these guys. Misreads and poor execution is this teams problems. If you can't bring what you practice into the game, you might as well sit on the sideline. You are waisting valuable time. The football player has to bring it! He has perform just like he rehearsed. You can only go so far with a player in telling and teaching him what he suppose to do. It's up to that player to develop and perform. He has to bring it. I have to give it up to Roy Roundtree, He practiced hard all week and stayed focused and brought it put on the game field. That is what you have to do. So you can blame the coaches all you want, but these players are not performing to the best of there ability like they do in practice. They are not bringing it at game time. Someone has to want it bad it enough not to lose. It's hard watching this team play like this. They have to stop beating themselves by making bad decisions, misreads and mis-tackles. It's got to stop and they need to figure out how bad they want it and when they are going to bring it in the game.
UofMbeWorser
Sat, Nov 7, 2009 : 10:45 p.m.
".....he figured he didn't do a good enough job selling his availability....." Your available when your standing next to the coach jumping up and down yelling 'Put me in Put me in Put me in' Kubrick, i doubt Brandon gets drafted, RB's who have foot and leg problems are a tough sell. Heart and Wells both had over a thousand yards and a slew of quality wins to go with their injuries. Brandon barely has 300 yards and 5 games where has less than 5 carries.
Kubrick66
Sat, Nov 7, 2009 : 8:57 p.m.
Brandon Minor is a quality football player... When healthy. Problem is he can't stay that way. He has been consistently injured his entire career. I'll be relieved with he and C. Brown finally graduate. I hope they get drafted, makes lots of money, and have a wonderful career and life. But I've seen enough of them at Michigan... we need backs who we can rely on carry after carry, game after game, season after season. Neither Minor or Brown have been that back.
azwolverine
Sat, Nov 7, 2009 : 8:35 p.m.
Brandon Minor is a stud. I still love the players who chose to come to Michigan and give it their all despite the poor quality of leadership.
Fresh121
Sat, Nov 7, 2009 : 7:23 p.m.
The D beats everyone brandon its ok, maybe he should play LB and we would be better.. Laugh