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Michigan Panthers showcase stability in kicking off 2025 training camp

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12 months ago

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Michigan Panthers showcase stability in kicking off 2025 training camp


In a league that’s heavy on turnover, the Michigan Panthers have found some stability entering the 2025 season.

More than 60% of the projected roster is made up of returning players, and the entire coaching staff is back, including third-year head coach Mike Nolan. That made things a bit easier Monday as the Panthers hit the field for the first practice of training camp, ahead of the March 30 United Football League season opener at Memphis.

The return of the entire coaching staff, including offensive coordinator Collin Bauer and defensive coordinator Marcel Bellefeuille, is a big benefit, if an overlooked one, especially since training camp is about a week shorter than last season, when the United States Football League and XFL merged operations.

“It’s better than putting in a new system on a short training camp,” Nolan said after practice Monday. “I would say it’s good. Our players obviously that are returning will know the language, so you don’t have an entire football team learning a new language. That’s a little bit of, I will use the word, advantage. That’s the biggest thing.

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“The players are the ones that benefit, the fact the coaches are all back. It’s easier for the returning players to kind of pick it up and just start playing football. Because of that, that also helps the new guys learn that much quicker.

“I really enjoy our coaching staff. They like doing this and so do it. It’s a good deal.”

The Panthers had near-full participation during a shortened practice Monday, including from the team’s three quarterbacks, returners Danny Etling and Bryce Perkins and newcomer Rocky Lombardi (Michigan State), a sign that contract talks between the UFL ownership and players is going well. The league’s 24 quarterbacks signed a letter holding out of a mini-camp last week amid contract negotiations over salaries and health care.

The Panthers, like with all eight UFL teams, are practicing in the Arlington, Texas, area, and will continue to travel each week to all 10 regular-season games, including five home games at Ford Field in Detroit.

The Panthers made the playoffs each of the last two seasons, in the USFL in 2023 and the UFL in 2024. Michigan was 7-3 last season, a year most-known for the emergence of future Detroit Lions kicker Jake Bates. Several other Michigan Panthers from 2024 got looks from NFL teams, a big reason, Nolan believes, why the roster stability is so strong.

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“They know they have a shot to get back in the NFL,” said Nolan, a former head coach of the San Francisco 49ers.

Nolan said he expects two areas to see significant competition this spring: the secondary and offensive line. He also is intrigued by the receivers in camp. Running back Jaden Shirden, of Monmouth, made a strong impression Monday.

The Panthers have 61 players in training camp, including eight with local ties: Lombardi, offensive lineman Brian Dooley (Eastern Michigan), offensive lineman J.D. Duplain (Michigan State), defensive back Gemon Green (Michigan), defensive back Keni-H Lovely (Western Michigan), running back Nate McCrary (Muskegon; Saginaw Valley State), tight end Gunnar Oakes (Eastern Michigan) and defensive end Kenny Willekes (Rockford; Michigan State).

The rosters will be cut down to 50, with 43 active (including a third, emergency quarterback) on game days. The Panthers open the season on the road, before playing three straight home games, starting Friday night, April 4, against Birmingham at Ford Field.

“We’re always trying to get better,” Nolan, 65, said following the introductory practice Monday. “The energy was really good, the guys are obviously eager to get out there and run around. I thought there was a little more athleticism out of some of the guys, the new guys.

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“It’s a good group.”

Michigan Panthers schedule

▶ March 30: at Memphis, noon (ESPN)

▶ April 4: vs. Birmingham, 8 (Fox)

▶ April 13: vs. San Antonio, noon (ABC)

▶ April 18: vs. Memphis, 8 (Fox)

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▶ April 26: at St. Louis 7 (ESPN)

▶ May 4: vs. DC, noon (ESPN2)

▶ May 10: at Arlington, 1 (Fox)

▶ May 17: at Houston, 1 (Fox)

▶ May 24: at Birmingham, 3 (ABC)

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▶ May 31: vs. Houston, 3 (ESPN)

tpaul@detroitnews.com

@tonypaul1984



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Woman accused of driving at the bottom of an Oakland County ski hill near guests

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6 hours ago

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March 1, 2026

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Woman accused of driving at the bottom of an Oakland County ski hill near guests



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Nick Lentz

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/ CBS Detroit

A 58-year-old woman is accused of driving a vehicle at the bottom of a ski hill near skiers and snowboarders in White Lake Township, Michigan, the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office said Saturday.

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Prosecutors allege the Bingham Farms, Michigan, woman drove near guests of Alpine Valley Ski Area, including children, on Tuesday. 

According to the prosecutor’s office, witnesses said they saw the woman smoking what appeared to be marijuana before the incident and wearing ski boots while driving. Officers attempting to perform sobriety tests reported that she “exhibited poor balance, slurred speech, and open hostility.”

Online court records show the woman is charged with operating while impaired for the third time. If convicted, she faces up to five years in prison, a maximum fine of $5,000 and “mandatory vehicle immobilization” for one to three years, the prosecutor’s office said.

“This defendant endangered children with her irresponsible actions,” Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said in a written statement. “There is no excuse to drive impaired, even once. If you’ve had too much to drink or are under the influence of marijuana or other drugs, call a friend, call an Uber, just don’t drive.”

The woman is scheduled to appear at a probable cause conference on March 12.

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First Film to Depict a Robot Discovered in Michigan

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19 hours ago

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February 28, 2026

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First Film to Depict a Robot Discovered in Michigan


A long-lost silent film that’s believed to be the first depiction of a robot in motion pictures was rediscovered in Michigan. And it’s a great reminder for film history fans that you shouldn’t give up hope just because a film has been deemed lost.

The film, titled “Gugusse and the Automaton,” is just 45 seconds long and was created in 1897 by French film pioneer Georges Méliès. It shows a magician named Gugusse turning a large crank to control Pierrot Automate, a child-sized robot. The robot grows bigger and bigger until it’s an adult.

Once full size, the robot does a little dance before hitting Gugusse over the head with a stick. Gugusse brings the robot down from his pedestal and then shows him what’s what.

Gugusse hits the robot over the head with a gigantic mallet, each swing making the mechanical man a little smaller until he’s back to his child-like size. Another swing makes the robot a small doll and then it’s just one more mallet slap before the robot disappears completely.

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With that, the film is over.

It’s a short film with a goofy, slapstick premise. But it’s also an artifact that can be interpreted similarly to so much robot-focused media that would come later in the 20th century. The robot harms a human, the human needs to destroy the robot.

We see anti-robot stories pop up especially during difficult economic times, like the 1930s and 1970s, something I’ve written about before at length. And if you’re wondering whether there were hard economic times in France during the 1890s, there certainly were—in the form of a double dip recession, no less.

But putting aside the potential message of the film (and the risk of taking it too seriously as a sign of broader social frustrations), the story of how this film was rediscovered is fascinating.

Bill McFarland of Grand Rapids, Michigan, drove a box of films that belonged to his great-grandfather to the Library of Congress’s National Audio-Visual Conservation Center in Culpeper, Virginia so that experts could take a look at what he had.

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McFarland’s great-grandfather was a man named William Delisle Frisbee who had worked jobs as a school teacher and a potato farmer in Pennsylvania, according to a blog post from the Library of Congress. But he also worked nights as a “traveling showman,” according to the Library.

“He drove his horse and buggy from town to town to dazzle the locals with a projector and some of the world’s first moving pictures,” the Library explains. “He set up shop in a local schoolroom, church, lodge or civic auditorium and showed magic lantern slides and short films with music from a newfangled phonograph. It was shocking.”

Frisbee died in 1937 and two trunks of his possessions were passed on through generations until they made their way to McFarland, who was unable to screen the movies from himself because of their condition.

The Library posted a video to Instagram talking about their acquisition of the film and how remarkable it is that such an old film was found. It’s estimated that as much as 90% of films made before 1930 are lost to history.

Other films in the trunks included another Méliès film from 1900 titled “The Fat and Lean Wrestling Match,” fragments of a Thomas Edison movie called “The Burning Stable.” Library technicians scanned the films in 4K to preserve them for future generations.

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The word “robot” wasn’t coined until 1920 for the Czech play R.U.R. by Karel Capek. But visions of artificial men date back centuries. And it’s incredible to see a robot from the 1890s depicted on film for the first time. Even if it’s just 45 seconds long.

Don’t give up hope if you’re longing to watch some movie that’s believed to be completely lost. You never know what someone may have in a dusty old trunk in Michigan.





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Michigan rolls past Illinois to win Big Ten title outright, boosting No. 1 seed hopes

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1 day ago

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February 28, 2026

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Michigan rolls past Illinois to win Big Ten title outright, boosting No. 1 seed hopes


Kylan Boswell (4) scored 15 points for the Illini but Yaxel Lendeborg (23) scored 16 in Michigan’s win. Geoff Stellfox / Getty Images

Michigan has left no doubt about Big Ten superiority — the No. 3 Wolverines’ 84-70 romp Friday at No. 10 Illinois gives them an outright conference championship with two regular-season games remaining.

The win gives Michigan its first outright title since 2021, and it’s another top-shelf win that gives Michigan (27-2, 17-1 Big Ten) a boost in its pursuit of the NCAA Tournament’s No. 1 seed. This matters for the Wolverines because they would be lined up for a potential Final Four matchup with the No. 4 seed rather than either of the two teams that are also in contention for No. 1 — Duke, which beat Michigan last week to gain the inside track, and Arizona.

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Friday’s lone meeting of the regular season between two purported national contenders left Michigan looking much the part, and Illinois looking a tier lower. This was domination, a comfortable second half for a Michigan team that led by as many as 21.

Michigan sophomore big man Morez Johnson Jr., who transferred from Illinois in the offseason, heard a lot of jeers from fans at State Farm Center and responded with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Big man Aday Mara also scored 19. Yaxel Lendeborg, the star of Michigan’s jumbo frontcourt, had 16 points and seven rebounds.

That interior helped the Wolverines to a 42-32 edge in points in the paint and 22 second-chance points. Keaton Wagler had 23 points to lead Illinois (22-7, 13-5), which projected as a No. 2 seed in Tuesday’s Bracket Watch but has lost two straight games and four of six. The Illini are trending in the wrong direction and potentially heading to the three-line.

The No. 1 seed also gets to choose its tournament path, and Michigan has requested Philadelphia as its first-weekend site. Otherwise, the Wolverines will likely be placed in Buffalo, which is closer to Ann Arbor.

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