Sports Blog: Half of Michigan team was "stoned" during App State loss

BOONE, NC (WBTV) - It's been nearly five years since Appalachian State beat the # 5 ranked Michigan Wolverines, but now a sports blogger claims to have an exclusive interview with a former player - saying half of Michigan's team was "stoned" during the game.

According to Ace Williams, a sports blogger with ChatSports.com, an unnamed player has come forward saying "half of Michigan's defensive starters and several key offensive starters partied deep into the night the night before the 2007 Michigan vs. Appalachian State game."

The game was played on September 1, 2007, in Michigan.

App State won the game when Corey Lynch blocked a potential game winning field goal and ran the kick back to the Michigan side of the field as time ran out.

In addition to the heavy partying the night before, the unnamed player said many members of the team "then smoked marijuana hours before kickoff in an effort to 'see how bad we can beat 'em up if we are stoned'," the article claims.

According to Williams, the Michigan secondary and linebackers were the main participants of this group, but the ring leader was an explosive offensive play maker, who was later suspended for failing a drug test.

"Everyone went out Thursday night prior to the game. Like, everyone," the player is quoted in the article saying.

"I remember some girl asking a few of the players if they were worried about the game Saturday and maybe they shouldn't be getting so messed up, all the players around her just started laughing hysterically. It was like all my teammates thought we were playing a junior high school team on Saturday."

The player, who the writer says will be revealed in November, continued talking about the day of the game.

"The night before the game, everyone was smoking pot and having fun at the team hotel, no coaches were bothering us," he reportedly said.

"The next day, (game day), one offensive player in particular was the ring leader and was messing around trying to convince all the other guys that we could beat these guys stoned and how crazy it would be to be all messed up and still 'drop 50 on these fools'. For some reason, there was a ton of people who joined in. From what I saw and was told afterwards, 6 defensive starters and 3 offensive starters smoked up that morning. One guy in particular who I know did is the one who made the biggest error of the game and cost us a chance to win. I wonder why?"

The then-Junior football player is quoted in the article saying the Michigan coaches did little to prepare for the game.

"We didn't prepare any differently nor see any tape of their offense during game week. We were working on normal prep and facing our offense. Armani Edwards was having a field day on us because we didn't even know he was a fast dual-threat guy. The whole week is an embarrassment. Starting that day, I never enjoyed playing football at Michigan again. That was the day that Michigan football died."

The two teams are slated to meet again in the 2014 season. App State will be Michigan's home opener that season.