[Ed. via Steve “Dr. Sap” Sapardanis, an excellent extension of the Uniform Timeline.] Guest post by Dr. Sap From as early as 1968, Michigan has been a hodge-podge of shoe manufacturers until Nike changed all that staring in 1983. A recap: 1968 Players are primarily wearing Riddell (black shoes with white & black trim around ankles) and Spalding cleats, but some are adopting the “new” shoe – adidas. 1969 Barry Pierson (#29) sporting the Riddell multi-studded Buckeye-killer cleat. 1970 A good shot of all three shoes worn by Michigan in ‘70. 1971 In ‘71, a new shoe manufacturer was introduced – Puma… …so now Michigan players were wearing four shoes: Riddell, Spalding, adidas and Puma.

ANN ARBOR -- Denard Robinson is the all-time yardage leader in Michigan history. Chad Henne is second. And now, the quarterbacks who combined for 20,145 yards with the Wolverines could share the same NFL backfield. The Jacksonville Jaguars signed Henne to a two-year deal before last season, and selected Robinson in the fifth round of this year's draft. Although, he hasn't been treated like such. Jaguars.com's T.J. Shadrick said in a video Tuesday that Robinson has been a "rock star" at the team's OTAs, and coach Gus Bradley has said the team already plans to get him 10 to 15 touches per game. Those could come at tailback, receiver -- or even quarterback, where Robinson recently was seen taking snaps. "He's a special guy," Henne, Michigan's all-time passing leader, said last week on WTKA-AM (1050). "We've only been with him for about a week now, going through OTAs and stuff, but he's definitely everything we expected. "We're going to use him in as many spots as we can on offense, special teams -- heck, he might play some defense for us. I don't know. He's just a great kid, always smiles, always brings determination to his game and ...

Michigan's encore to its first national championship game appearance in 20 years won't be an easy one. The Wolverines will have to find success without the national player of the year, Trey Burke, and one of the program's most consistent scorer's of the past decade, Tim Hardaway Jr. But Michigan isn't exactly hurting for talent. Glenn Robinson III and Mitch McGary are potential All-American candidates, Nik Stauskas started all 33 of 39 games last season and both Derrick Walton and Zak Irvin will enter the program as prep All-Americans. According to Burke, that's a pretty good base. Good enough to replicate last season? Possibly. "With the guys they have coming back next year, and the incoming freshmen, I think they can be just as good," Burke said Wednesday during an interview with "The Huge Show." "(John Beilein) is a coach that allows his players to play through mistakes, he gives his players confidence and I didn't expect the type of freedom we had within the offense. "That was one of the things all the players appreciate about the coaching staff, how they let you play." Many believes Michigan played most of last season with at least one NBA-ready player ...

ANN ARBOR -- Marlin Jackson was a consensus All-American defensive back at Michigan in 2004. He was a first-round draft pick of the Indianapolis Colts in 2005 and played for six seasons in the NFL. He won two AFC titles and a Super Bowl. The guy knows talent -- and he says senior Michigan safety Thomas Gordon belongs. "Thomas Gordon could be a really good player," Jackson said during a recent interview. "If you look at him physically, he's everything you could want in an NFL safety." But? "But I would just like to see him become more aggressive, when he's coming to make plays on the football and closing on open-field tackles," Jackson said. "Little things, but big things." Gordon has played plenty of football at Michigan, starting 26 games in the past two years. He was a turnover machine in 2011, and has had a hand in 10 overall in his career. He's transformed this offseason into a leader of the defense, now that captain and team MVP Jordan Kovacs has moved on. Gordon is the most experienced player on Michigan's defense. And he might be the most talented, while linebacker Jake Ryan sits with a torn ACL. Gordon ...

Every day, Drew Henson wakes up, drives to the ballpark and puts on a Yankees uniform. When he was 17 years old in Brighton, a dominating two-sport athlete and the Gatorade national player of the year, that�s how he imagined his life at 33. Yet even though the script didn�t follow the Bo Jackson path many envisioned for him, the former Michigan quarterback is finally settled and looking forward to a long career in the game, even if it�s not wearing a Yankees uniform as a player. Henson is in the middle of his first season as a rookie league hitting instructor for one of the Tampa Yankees� teams and spends his days helping other players improve their swing. It�s a long way from the winding road that took him to U-M football for three years with summers playing in the Yankees� farm system, a brief major league stint with New York, and after his 2004 baseball retirement, finally a few NFL chances. None of that panned out the way he hoped, so he had to find another outlet. After being released by the Lions in 2009, Henson spent the next nearly four years dabbling in many areas, including broadcasting and working in financial planning. ...