No bad blood between Desmond Howard and his dreadlocked doppelganger, Denard Robinson

Howard, who was in southeastern Michigan this weekend for a Gridiron Greats of Michigan event in Novi, sent a number of pictures out on his Twitter feed.

The last was this photo of Howard and his dreadlocked doppelganger with the following description: "Last pic of the weekend. Some of you thought you could come btwn me & Shoelace. Wolverines for life! Run tell that."

So, we're telling it.

(Note: Howard has another photo with Robinson taken in January -- with their signature broad smiles -- and refers to him as "Twin.")

The controversy started when Howard used Robinson in a counter-example to his former college coach Bo Schembechler's philosophy that no player is bigger than the team.

His quote, as reported in the St. Petersburg Times:

"I'll give you a perfect example: Michigan fires coach Rich Rodriguez. All the noise in Ann Arbor is, 'Is Denard Robinson going to stay or leave?' I'm like, 'Hey, if the kid wants to go, don't let the door hit you on the way out.' You looked fantastic for five games against nobody. That's what you did. I'm not going to deny his talents, but you ain't won nothing in Ann Arbor, son! Not so much we need to worry about if you're going to be here next year or not."

After the speech hit the news cycle, Howard said via Twitter that his comments were about media and fan interest in Robinson's status and not about Robinson himself.

Howard declined to comment on the story. Percy Bates, Michigan’s faculty athletics representative, attended Howard's speech. He told AnnArbor.com that the quote wasn't as critical as it sounds when heard within the entire context of the speech about players and their sense of entitlement.

“When he mentioned Denard, I didn’t feel that he was speaking directly in reference to Denard even though he used his name,” said Bates, who was attending the Black Coaches and Administrators convention. “My impression was that he was trying to make a point, that he was hammering on pretty hard, that his relationship with Bo Schembechler said ‘Son, nobody is bigger than the program.’"