Trust Me
Coli Prophet
Looks like a solid 4 star back to me .. I just wish he had more speed. But shyt, I'll take him. Especially if he's gonna help extend that Jersey pipeline that we seem to be building.
The OFFICIAL MICHIGAN TEAM 136 THREAD: THE CONQUERING HEROES
- Thread starter Ed MOTHERFUCKING G
- Start date
Looks like a solid 4 star back to me .. I just wish he had more speed. But shyt, I'll take him. Especially if he's gonna help extend that Jersey pipeline that we seem to be building.
HNIC973
R.I.P Bandana P
Jersey bout to be Ann arbor East
Looks like a solid 4 star back to me .. I just wish he had more speed. But shyt, I'll take him. Especially if he's gonna help extend that Jersey pipeline that we seem to be building.
FappleMeOff
All Star
Looks like a solid 4 star back to me .. I just wish he had more speed. But shyt, I'll take him. Especially if he's gonna help extend that Jersey pipeline that we seem to be building.
How much speed do you want?
Not many recruits looks particularly fast in their high school highlights. Higdon looks faster now than he did his senior year
Trust Me
Coli Prophet
How much speed do you want?
Not many recruits looks particularly fast in their high school highlights. Higdon looks faster now than he did his senior year
MOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I want ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL the speed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HNIC973
R.I.P Bandana P
Not looking good for Devin Bush Jr
I'm putting my crystal ball for now on Florida State for 2016 Flanagan HS (Hollywood, FL) linebacker Devin Bush Jr.
I spoke to a source this afternoon and the Seminoles feel really good about their chances here.
I was told his Mother wants him to go to Florida State and informed the FSU staff of this last week during his official visit to FSU. His older sister also attends college in Tallahassee.
Bush's Father as we know went to Florida State but he doesn't want to sway Bush Jr. to any school and wants him to make his own decision.
There was question as to whether or not Bush Jr. is a take for FSU because of a numbers crunch there but he is a take.
Bush Jr. is visiting Michigan on the 28th for the Ohio State game.
I'm putting my crystal ball for now on Florida State for 2016 Flanagan HS (Hollywood, FL) linebacker Devin Bush Jr.
I spoke to a source this afternoon and the Seminoles feel really good about their chances here.
I was told his Mother wants him to go to Florida State and informed the FSU staff of this last week during his official visit to FSU. His older sister also attends college in Tallahassee.
Bush's Father as we know went to Florida State but he doesn't want to sway Bush Jr. to any school and wants him to make his own decision.
There was question as to whether or not Bush Jr. is a take for FSU because of a numbers crunch there but he is a take.
Bush Jr. is visiting Michigan on the 28th for the Ohio State game.
HNIC973
R.I.P Bandana P
Sam Webb thinks 9-13 spots
Speaking of Drake .. tell me ONE person that Harbaugh has influenced more than him. Listen to this dude talk when asked about Wilton Speight's ability to throw the ball.
That sounded like the EXACT answer Harbaugh would give. ..
That is 100% Ann arbor breh, they got a kindred friendship and spirit...I can relate
Trust Me
Coli Prophet
I've had an uneasy feeling about Bush for a couple of weeks now. Clint wrote that article, and I like one of his responses. He has an eye for talent, and knows his shyt. He thinks Bush will be a solid contributor, but not elite. He thinks he's too small and I forgot what else. (I'm at work, can't really look it up) I wonder if Harbaugh honors the other 2 commitments from Flanagan High. I feel like he accepted their commitments 1) a little bit early and 2) to entice Bush to come to UM.
There's also rumblings about Devin Bush Sr. getting a recruiting position at UM
HNIC973
R.I.P Bandana P
he's small and doesn't move well at all(last part sounds familiar)can't see Bush Sr. here if his son isn't at Michigan.Who knows what happens to those lower ranked kids I have a feeling a lot of em won't end up at Michigan
FappleMeOff
All Star
HNIC973
R.I.P Bandana P
some guys won't be granted 5th years transfers ect..they'll make room
Ed MOTHEREFFING G
Chances make champions
Fred Jackson is now head coach in Ypsilanti 
YPSI high
way to aim high fred
Longtime U-M aide Jackson takes over Ypsilanti football
In 1979, Jackson began his journey in college coaching, first as an assistant at Toledo. He also served as an assistant at Wisconsin, Navy, South Carolina, Purdue and Vanderbilt before landing at U-M in 1992.
He remained at U-M after Carr retired and was retained by both Rich Rodriguez and Brady Hoke, but not by Jim Harbaugh.
Jackson, 65, has been at Ypsilanti since the fall, serving as the school's dean of students, making the transition back into coaching even easier.
"Having Fred as dean of students is like having a father around for all the kids,'' said principal Tanya Bowman. "It's just really been a blessing to have someone come into the school to act as a mentor, to act as a father figure, something that a lot of our kids don't have."
This is the first season in more than 40 years that Jackson hasn't coached, and he spent it watching his youngest son, Josh, quarterback Saline to an undefeated season and the No.1 ranking in the state.
"Watching my son play did something to me," Jackson said. "It's something that you don't get a chance to relive. It gave me an opportunity to get closer to him. I already knew I wanted to keep coaching, but watching him play fueled a fire in me."
His son committed to play at Virginia Tech and that is another reason Jackson wanted to coach at the high school level.
"I want to coach a program so I can watch my son play," he said. "I can't coach in college and do that. That's more important to me than anything. If I can coach a little ball on the side and watch him, that's great."
Jackson mentioned Carr and Ron
English, who was Carr's defensive coordinator in 2006-07 and Eastern Michigan's head coach in 2009-13, will serve as consultants to him.
"I have two of the greatest consultants to ever coach defense," he said. "Those guys are very, very special coaches. They know I don't know much about defense, so that's why they're here. Lloyd always told me you win championships with defense. That's the same thing Ron said. Every championship we won has been with defense."
Carr was an assistant coach at Eastern Michigan when he first met Jackson, an assistant at Flint Southwestern at the time, and a genuine friendship blossomed.
"Where I can hopefully help is that he'll have some young coaches that I can mentor," Carr said. "That's what I see happening. I'll tell you what, I've never been to a high school event like this to name a coach. So they've got some enthusiasm, and Fred has to bring them together as a team. He knows what it takes to build a team."
Jackson said he'd answer the question most people have asked him: Why?
"There's only two reasons," he said. "One, the love of the game. Two, the love of the young men that I'll get an opportunity to coach and mentor and mold their lives. That's why I coach. That's why I'm not done yet."
I hope he enjoys getting that WORK from Pioneer and Lincoln
YPSI high
way to aim high fred
Longtime U-M aide Jackson takes over Ypsilanti football
In 1979, Jackson began his journey in college coaching, first as an assistant at Toledo. He also served as an assistant at Wisconsin, Navy, South Carolina, Purdue and Vanderbilt before landing at U-M in 1992.
He remained at U-M after Carr retired and was retained by both Rich Rodriguez and Brady Hoke, but not by Jim Harbaugh.
Jackson, 65, has been at Ypsilanti since the fall, serving as the school's dean of students, making the transition back into coaching even easier.
"Having Fred as dean of students is like having a father around for all the kids,'' said principal Tanya Bowman. "It's just really been a blessing to have someone come into the school to act as a mentor, to act as a father figure, something that a lot of our kids don't have."
This is the first season in more than 40 years that Jackson hasn't coached, and he spent it watching his youngest son, Josh, quarterback Saline to an undefeated season and the No.1 ranking in the state.
"Watching my son play did something to me," Jackson said. "It's something that you don't get a chance to relive. It gave me an opportunity to get closer to him. I already knew I wanted to keep coaching, but watching him play fueled a fire in me."
His son committed to play at Virginia Tech and that is another reason Jackson wanted to coach at the high school level.
"I want to coach a program so I can watch my son play," he said. "I can't coach in college and do that. That's more important to me than anything. If I can coach a little ball on the side and watch him, that's great."
Jackson mentioned Carr and Ron
English, who was Carr's defensive coordinator in 2006-07 and Eastern Michigan's head coach in 2009-13, will serve as consultants to him."I have two of the greatest consultants to ever coach defense," he said. "Those guys are very, very special coaches. They know I don't know much about defense, so that's why they're here. Lloyd always told me you win championships with defense. That's the same thing Ron said. Every championship we won has been with defense."
Carr was an assistant coach at Eastern Michigan
when he first met Jackson, an assistant at Flint Southwestern at the time, and a genuine friendship blossomed."Where I can hopefully help is that he'll have some young coaches that I can mentor," Carr said. "That's what I see happening. I'll tell you what, I've never been to a high school event like this to name a coach. So they've got some enthusiasm, and Fred has to bring them together as a team. He knows what it takes to build a team."
Jackson said he'd answer the question most people have asked him: Why?
"There's only two reasons," he said. "One, the love of the game. Two, the love of the young men that I'll get an opportunity to coach and mentor and mold their lives. That's why I coach. That's why I'm not done yet."
I hope he enjoys getting that WORK from Pioneer and Lincoln
HNIC973
R.I.P Bandana P
Lamar Jackson is no longer in play
Last night I spoke to a direct source about a couple recruits out west for Michigan in the 2016 class.
First off, Michigan is no longer recruiting Elk Grove, CA (Franklin) four-star athlete Lamar Jackson. Michigan coach John Baxter went out to watch Jackson play on their bye week and saw some major concerns in his game and the staff is now looking elsewhere. I'm also told that there are a number of programs who have quietly backed off of Jackson, it's not just Michigan.
Secondly, the Michigan staff feels great about their chances to flip elite cornerback David Long from Stanford. Michigan has recruited Long relentlessly for quite some time and I'm told it's starting to pay off.
"David just needs to learn how to de-commit from Stanford. It's not an easy process but I think he will, especially if Michigan continues to win games."
Long officially visited Michigan back on October 17th. Michigan coach John Baxter has a great rapport with the coaching staff at Long's high school, as he's recruited Loyola high school for a very long time. That's one important advantage that Michigan has going for them in regards to Long and expect the Wolverines to be right in the mix for some of the underclassmen prospects from Loyola.
Gotta trust the staff on this one
Last night I spoke to a direct source about a couple recruits out west for Michigan in the 2016 class.
First off, Michigan is no longer recruiting Elk Grove, CA (Franklin) four-star athlete Lamar Jackson. Michigan coach John Baxter went out to watch Jackson play on their bye week and saw some major concerns in his game and the staff is now looking elsewhere. I'm also told that there are a number of programs who have quietly backed off of Jackson, it's not just Michigan.
Secondly, the Michigan staff feels great about their chances to flip elite cornerback David Long from Stanford. Michigan has recruited Long relentlessly for quite some time and I'm told it's starting to pay off.
"David just needs to learn how to de-commit from Stanford. It's not an easy process but I think he will, especially if Michigan continues to win games."
Long officially visited Michigan back on October 17th. Michigan coach John Baxter has a great rapport with the coaching staff at Long's high school, as he's recruited Loyola high school for a very long time. That's one important advantage that Michigan has going for them in regards to Long and expect the Wolverines to be right in the mix for some of the underclassmen prospects from Loyola.
Gotta trust the staff on this one
HNIC973
R.I.P Bandana P
Some more about Jackson
Michigan feels pretty good about where they're at with some other DBs and wide receivers and weren't impressed enough with Jackson in person to continue to devote resources to him.
If off the field stuff was a factor they would have dropped him after getting to know him for an entire weekend when he was on campus and they wouldn't have spent valuable time watching him live in a talent rich area like LA.
Michigan feels pretty good about where they're at with some other DBs and wide receivers and weren't impressed enough with Jackson in person to continue to devote resources to him.
If off the field stuff was a factor they would have dropped him after getting to know him for an entire weekend when he was on campus and they wouldn't have spent valuable time watching him live in a talent rich area like LA.
HNIC973
R.I.P Bandana P
Kornacki: Peppers Honors Fallen Brother Who Inspired Him
Nov. 6, 2015
Jabrill Peppers
By Steve Kornacki
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Michigan playmaker Jabrill Peppers inscribed "R.I.P" on the eye black patch before placing it underneath his left eye during Saturday night's (Oct. 31) win at Minnesota.
• Kornacki Archive
• @SKornacki Twitter
"That's for my brother, Don Anthony Curtis," Peppers said afterward. "I lost him in the eighth grade, and he was the one who told me to do this and play football. He wasn't doing things that he was supposed to be doing, but he always made sure I was on track, even when I tried to follow him in doing the things he was doing. He disciplined me and made sure I stayed on track."
And so, in the solemnness of a pre-game locker room each Saturday, Peppers writes "R.I.P." on something to remember his only sibling.
Peppers added, "So, I just do this to honor him, man. I wear it on my (wrist or ankle) tape sometimes. There is something on me for him always, during every game."
Don, may he "Rest in Peace," is the jet fuel in Peppers' tank when he finds a gear nobody else seems to have.
When you saw Peppers make a diving, shoe-string tackle to save a likely touchdown as he did Saturday when Gophers quarterback Mitch Leidner broke free, it was pure determination.
When you saw Peppers take the hand-off and take on three defenders to crash his way into the end zone, as he did on a six-yard run at Minnesota, it was pure determination.
And when you saw him catch a punt in full sprint and run 41 yards past several defenders, which he also did against the Gophers not long after taking a kickoff back 43 yards, it was pure determination.
For as fast, quick, powerful, smart and instinctive as Peppers is, determination might just be his greatest quality.
"I just want to be great," he said after a practice this week. "I want to be the best me that I can possibly be in anything I do, and not just football. In school, and anything else I do, I just want to be the best at it, and the hardest worker.
"The options to what we were doing were dead, jailed or paralyzed. I lost a lot of my friends to that stuff. I lost my brother."
-- Jabrill Peppers
"And Don definitely has a lot to do with that. That's one of the main things that inspired me and motivates me each and every day."
He was 14 when he lost Don. He still had his mother, Ivory Bryant, and his cousins to lean on in East Orange, New Jersey. However, Jabrill was facing a tough decision about which crowd to follow, and nobody else could make it for him.
He was at a crossroad, but chose the proper path.
"It was the experience of my brother passing," Peppers said in July, when he was working at the Michigan Youth Impact Program with the rest of the Wolverines' current sophomore class. "He was out there doing things that he wasn't supposed to be doing. That just opened my eyes to not make my mom want to go through that again and show her that I will make it through sports and education.
"The options to what we were doing were dead, jailed or paralyzed. I lost a lot of my friends to that stuff. I lost my brother. That made me take football seriously, and I didn't even know it could pay for college. I told my mom I was going to get a scholarship. I was an urban kid who wanted to be down and do what my brothers and older cousins were doing."
However, Don kept him from that self-destructive path. Peppers said on Tuesday (Nov. 3) that how and why his brother died are details he'd rather keep to himself, summing it up by saying, "He was doing things he shouldn't be doing and paid the consequences for it."
Peppers shared his story with the 100 "at-risk" boys ages 10 to 14 from Detroit who attended the Michigan YIP for two weeks. And in that way, his brother's message to him was passed along to others facing the same decisions Peppers had at the same age.
He's as determined to make a difference in the lives of others as he is to take a punt the distance.
"His determination is the separator of who he is," said Chris Partridge, his head coach at Paramus Catholic High and now Michigan's director of player personnel. "There are a lot of tremendous athletes out there, but the fact that he competes in everything he does is what makes him.
"Every day, he wakes up and wants to go to classes and make great grades. The best example I can give you is something his Spanish teacher told me in the spring of his senior year. He'd already signed at Michigan, had a 3.7 GPA and was pretty much done. And the Spanish teacher came up to me and said, 'I have to show you something.'"
The teacher informed Partridge that Peppers had lost his course book but found a way to complete an assignment from it.
"He borrowed another student's book and traced the entire page out to exactly what it was and wrote the answers in and handed in the work," said Partridge. "The teacher said, 'This is the most amazing thing I've ever seen.' If anyone could've coasted at that time, it was Jabrill. He already had an 'A' in the course. That was when I knew he'd be successful no matter what he did.
"He's ultra-smart, ultra-competitive and athletic. The sky's the limit with anything for him. Kids see the finished product Jabrill is, but they don't see the countless hours of film study he puts in. He goes home at night after practice and watches on his iPad, making sure he perfects his craft. That's why it's easy for the coach to put more and more on him. He understands what it takes to be great."
Jabrill Peppers (right) during Michigan's Youth Impact Program in July
Peppers (6-1, 205 pounds) has a definite future in the NFL, but said he won't leave Michigan without a degree.
"Mom instilled education in me at a very early age," he said. "And the way I look at is that if I'm going to come to a great university such as Michigan, why not get the degree? You'd be a fool not to get the degree. How quick I get the degree is still up in the air, but I'm definitely not leaving without it.
"I'm studying communications. What am I going to do after football? I guess that's the million dollar question. I don't even like to think about that. But whatever I do -- whether it's working with kids and helping them get out of certain situations or doing something like coaching or if I'm lucky enough to try to be a (radio or TV) analyst -- I have a lot of things that I'd like to do. I do take it one day at a time, but I do think about that a lot."
He hopes to be playing football for a long time -- just like Michigan's 1997 Heisman Trophy winner, Charles Woodson, who is still making an impact for the Oakland Raiders and has accumulated 65 interceptions (tied for fifth all-time) and 962 tackles. Peppers and Woodson have become friends.
Peppers said, "When you meet one of your idols and a guy who you try to model your game after, it's definitely breathtaking. He was a humble guy, and I was more shocked that he knew who I was. That definitely made me feel good.
"And now I can text him if I have a question. So, that's definitely cool. We're definitely building a good rapport, and he's a guy I look up to."
Some are comparing Peppers, who entered this season with four years of eligibility remaining after being granted an injury waiver for 2014, to Woodson. He led the Wolverines to a national championship in 1997 as a shutdown cornerback who also took snaps on offense and returned punts.
Woodson, like Peppers, was a dynamic tailback in high school at Fremont (Ohio) Ross. When Woodson committed to the Wolverines, I asked him why he wanted to play defense in college. His answer: "Because I love to hit."
"I'm the exact same way," said Peppers, who won two New Jersey state football championships at Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey and two more at Paramus Catholic. "I'd rather hit somebody than be hit. I couldn't say it any better."
Peppers chuckled and smiled.
"Offense was always the more natural thing for me," he said. "On defense, I had to really work on my technique. Offense is more instinctual. Defense is instinctual as well, but when you have the ball in your hand you have more freedom and leeway. Defense presents more of a challenge, and so it's definitely more fun. I like to hit people a lot."
Peppers has 26 tackles for No. 17 Michigan (6-2), which hosts Rutgers Saturday (Nov. 7), and he leads all Wolverine defensive backs with 4.5 tackles-for-losses and is second with seven pass break-ups.
However, Peppers also is third on the team in all-purpose yards with 459. He's run for 16 yards and caught passes for 35 yards in the two games since joining the offense. He's averaging 12.3 yards per punt return with a long of 41 yards, and is averaging 27.9 yards per kickoff return with 49 being the longest -- ranking among the Big Ten leaders in both categories.
"I expect to bust it every time I touch the ball," said Peppers, who credited special teams coordinator John Baxter.
Peppers added, "Bax prepares little drills that train us for 'the bomb,' which is what he calls it. The return is 'the bomb,' and we're still waiting for 'the bomb' to go off."
It always comes back to determination for Peppers, who participated in 92 of 148 plays and returns (62 percent) in the Minnesota game.
"His determination is special," said Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh. "His talent is special. He has a special level of instincts and intelligence. You talk about all the different roles he plays -- running back, receiver, quarterback. He lines up at nickel on defense. He lines up at corner and safety, punt return and kick return.
"He's carrying a lot of water right now."
Jabrill Peppers will do whatever it takes to honor his brother, please his coaches and teachers, and make an impact with his teammates. He's dedicated to making a difference.
From East Orange to Ann Arbor
Jersey Gawd
Nov. 6, 2015
Jabrill Peppers
By Steve Kornacki
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Michigan playmaker Jabrill Peppers inscribed "R.I.P" on the eye black patch before placing it underneath his left eye during Saturday night's (Oct. 31) win at Minnesota.
• Kornacki Archive
• @SKornacki Twitter
"That's for my brother, Don Anthony Curtis," Peppers said afterward. "I lost him in the eighth grade, and he was the one who told me to do this and play football. He wasn't doing things that he was supposed to be doing, but he always made sure I was on track, even when I tried to follow him in doing the things he was doing. He disciplined me and made sure I stayed on track."
And so, in the solemnness of a pre-game locker room each Saturday, Peppers writes "R.I.P." on something to remember his only sibling.
Peppers added, "So, I just do this to honor him, man. I wear it on my (wrist or ankle) tape sometimes. There is something on me for him always, during every game."
Don, may he "Rest in Peace," is the jet fuel in Peppers' tank when he finds a gear nobody else seems to have.
When you saw Peppers make a diving, shoe-string tackle to save a likely touchdown as he did Saturday when Gophers quarterback Mitch Leidner broke free, it was pure determination.
When you saw Peppers take the hand-off and take on three defenders to crash his way into the end zone, as he did on a six-yard run at Minnesota, it was pure determination.
And when you saw him catch a punt in full sprint and run 41 yards past several defenders, which he also did against the Gophers not long after taking a kickoff back 43 yards, it was pure determination.
For as fast, quick, powerful, smart and instinctive as Peppers is, determination might just be his greatest quality.
"I just want to be great," he said after a practice this week. "I want to be the best me that I can possibly be in anything I do, and not just football. In school, and anything else I do, I just want to be the best at it, and the hardest worker.
"The options to what we were doing were dead, jailed or paralyzed. I lost a lot of my friends to that stuff. I lost my brother."
-- Jabrill Peppers
"And Don definitely has a lot to do with that. That's one of the main things that inspired me and motivates me each and every day."
He was 14 when he lost Don. He still had his mother, Ivory Bryant, and his cousins to lean on in East Orange, New Jersey. However, Jabrill was facing a tough decision about which crowd to follow, and nobody else could make it for him.
He was at a crossroad, but chose the proper path.
"It was the experience of my brother passing," Peppers said in July, when he was working at the Michigan Youth Impact Program with the rest of the Wolverines' current sophomore class. "He was out there doing things that he wasn't supposed to be doing. That just opened my eyes to not make my mom want to go through that again and show her that I will make it through sports and education.
"The options to what we were doing were dead, jailed or paralyzed. I lost a lot of my friends to that stuff. I lost my brother. That made me take football seriously, and I didn't even know it could pay for college. I told my mom I was going to get a scholarship. I was an urban kid who wanted to be down and do what my brothers and older cousins were doing."
However, Don kept him from that self-destructive path. Peppers said on Tuesday (Nov. 3) that how and why his brother died are details he'd rather keep to himself, summing it up by saying, "He was doing things he shouldn't be doing and paid the consequences for it."
Peppers shared his story with the 100 "at-risk" boys ages 10 to 14 from Detroit who attended the Michigan YIP for two weeks. And in that way, his brother's message to him was passed along to others facing the same decisions Peppers had at the same age.
He's as determined to make a difference in the lives of others as he is to take a punt the distance.
"His determination is the separator of who he is," said Chris Partridge, his head coach at Paramus Catholic High and now Michigan's director of player personnel. "There are a lot of tremendous athletes out there, but the fact that he competes in everything he does is what makes him.
"Every day, he wakes up and wants to go to classes and make great grades. The best example I can give you is something his Spanish teacher told me in the spring of his senior year. He'd already signed at Michigan, had a 3.7 GPA and was pretty much done. And the Spanish teacher came up to me and said, 'I have to show you something.'"
The teacher informed Partridge that Peppers had lost his course book but found a way to complete an assignment from it.
"He borrowed another student's book and traced the entire page out to exactly what it was and wrote the answers in and handed in the work," said Partridge. "The teacher said, 'This is the most amazing thing I've ever seen.' If anyone could've coasted at that time, it was Jabrill. He already had an 'A' in the course. That was when I knew he'd be successful no matter what he did.
"He's ultra-smart, ultra-competitive and athletic. The sky's the limit with anything for him. Kids see the finished product Jabrill is, but they don't see the countless hours of film study he puts in. He goes home at night after practice and watches on his iPad, making sure he perfects his craft. That's why it's easy for the coach to put more and more on him. He understands what it takes to be great."
Jabrill Peppers (right) during Michigan's Youth Impact Program in July
Peppers (6-1, 205 pounds) has a definite future in the NFL, but said he won't leave Michigan without a degree.
"Mom instilled education in me at a very early age," he said. "And the way I look at is that if I'm going to come to a great university such as Michigan, why not get the degree? You'd be a fool not to get the degree. How quick I get the degree is still up in the air, but I'm definitely not leaving without it.
"I'm studying communications. What am I going to do after football? I guess that's the million dollar question. I don't even like to think about that. But whatever I do -- whether it's working with kids and helping them get out of certain situations or doing something like coaching or if I'm lucky enough to try to be a (radio or TV) analyst -- I have a lot of things that I'd like to do. I do take it one day at a time, but I do think about that a lot."
He hopes to be playing football for a long time -- just like Michigan's 1997 Heisman Trophy winner, Charles Woodson, who is still making an impact for the Oakland Raiders and has accumulated 65 interceptions (tied for fifth all-time) and 962 tackles. Peppers and Woodson have become friends.
Peppers said, "When you meet one of your idols and a guy who you try to model your game after, it's definitely breathtaking. He was a humble guy, and I was more shocked that he knew who I was. That definitely made me feel good.
"And now I can text him if I have a question. So, that's definitely cool. We're definitely building a good rapport, and he's a guy I look up to."
Some are comparing Peppers, who entered this season with four years of eligibility remaining after being granted an injury waiver for 2014, to Woodson. He led the Wolverines to a national championship in 1997 as a shutdown cornerback who also took snaps on offense and returned punts.
Woodson, like Peppers, was a dynamic tailback in high school at Fremont (Ohio) Ross. When Woodson committed to the Wolverines, I asked him why he wanted to play defense in college. His answer: "Because I love to hit."
"I'm the exact same way," said Peppers, who won two New Jersey state football championships at Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey and two more at Paramus Catholic. "I'd rather hit somebody than be hit. I couldn't say it any better."
Peppers chuckled and smiled.
"Offense was always the more natural thing for me," he said. "On defense, I had to really work on my technique. Offense is more instinctual. Defense is instinctual as well, but when you have the ball in your hand you have more freedom and leeway. Defense presents more of a challenge, and so it's definitely more fun. I like to hit people a lot."
Peppers has 26 tackles for No. 17 Michigan (6-2), which hosts Rutgers Saturday (Nov. 7), and he leads all Wolverine defensive backs with 4.5 tackles-for-losses and is second with seven pass break-ups.
However, Peppers also is third on the team in all-purpose yards with 459. He's run for 16 yards and caught passes for 35 yards in the two games since joining the offense. He's averaging 12.3 yards per punt return with a long of 41 yards, and is averaging 27.9 yards per kickoff return with 49 being the longest -- ranking among the Big Ten leaders in both categories.
"I expect to bust it every time I touch the ball," said Peppers, who credited special teams coordinator John Baxter.
Peppers added, "Bax prepares little drills that train us for 'the bomb,' which is what he calls it. The return is 'the bomb,' and we're still waiting for 'the bomb' to go off."
It always comes back to determination for Peppers, who participated in 92 of 148 plays and returns (62 percent) in the Minnesota game.
"His determination is special," said Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh. "His talent is special. He has a special level of instincts and intelligence. You talk about all the different roles he plays -- running back, receiver, quarterback. He lines up at nickel on defense. He lines up at corner and safety, punt return and kick return.
"He's carrying a lot of water right now."
Jabrill Peppers will do whatever it takes to honor his brother, please his coaches and teachers, and make an impact with his teammates. He's dedicated to making a difference.
From East Orange to Ann Arbor
Jersey Gawd