Denard Robinson

Thoughts on your career as a Michigan quarterback?

“It means a lot. It means -- it’s hard to put into words what this means to me. Just being a leader on this team and being one of the guys that was picked by the team to be a captain and a leader. It’s kind of hard to swallow right now because it’s coming to an end.”

What have the past three weeks been like? When did you find out that you would be able to play today?

“I’ve been getting treatment a lot. They’ve been telling me a lot of this stuff, and I’ve just been getting treatment, and I’ve been day by day and been getting better. Once I got a chance to get the go-ahead, I went out and started practicing and started playing a lot.”

How desperately did you want to play in this last game? Did you have to lobby to get in the game?

“Oh no. I think everybody knew -- if they know me, they’d know I’d do whatever it takes for the team. I’m the kind of the person that if I go, I’m going to go. I’m not going to hold back because I do whatever my team [needs]. That’s my family.”

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Opening remarks:

“It was a good game. A good football win. The seniors got to go up the tunnel singing The Victors for the last time in the stadium. We put a lot of emphasis on that because of the struggles and what they go through when you look at a guy who’s been here four or five years. So it was great for them and great for our team that the younger guys, younger classmen went out there and competed for them. That’s an expectation. The guys who are seniors who were playing in their last game at Michigan Stadium, I thought they did a nice job of going out there and playing 60 minutes of football.”

How bittersweet is it to see your seniors play at home for the last time?

“It’s always difficult because I’m a very emotional person, good or bad. So pick your poison. But we get very tight and close with the players because we are there to help them grow. From a personal life standpoint to an academic, to social, to everything else, they’re one of your sons, and that’s how we look at it.”

When did you make the decision for Denard to play, and when did you decide on his role?

“I didn’t make the decision for him to play. Once he got cleared, he felt good healthwise. We had talked about doing this for 18 months. You know, Al, when he got home last week after the Northwestern game, that night he had nine plays ready. And then we put six more in. I think Al does a tremendous job of taking your personnel and the playmakers that you have on your team and having the ability to get them the ball and let their god-given ability take over.”

How much do you know about Fitz’s situation?

“He’s in the hospital now and he’s had surgery. I think we’ll leave it at that for now and make sure -- his mother wasn’t here, he had two brothers here -- but we’ll leave it for that.”

How important was it to try out the Devin-Denard offense before the Ohio State game?

“You know, next week really never had anything to do with it. We had to beat Iowa. We’re still in a championship race. We wanted to win this game for our seniors and also because we’re still in a race for the championship.”

Was there any thought of using Denard as a passer or did you just decide to give him a limited role?

“Well, I think it would be unjust for us not to use him in the best way that we thought would let him be the most successful. He’s throwing the ball a little bit, not throwing it a lot, so we thought this was the best. This kid has put up with a lot of criticism at times and also he’s been praised at times --”

[Someone’s phone goes off, ring tone is “The Victors”]

“That’s a good song. He’s a competitive guy who loves the game and loves his teammates, and he showed great maturity the last three weeks and great leadership.”

Along those lines, did you have to do any convincing with Denard to tell him that he wouldn’t play quarterback?

“No … He wanted to play. Where could he help us best playing?”

Can he throw the ball?

“Yeah. But not as well as he’d like to.”

Can you talk about Denard and how hard it might be for a senior quarterback to not call plays in the huddle?

“Well, I think it tells you what kind of kid he is. What kind of a young man, I should say. And his development, his growth, his character, and the integrity -- this kid had some unbelievable moments here at Michigan and Michigan Stadium and have had some moments that weren’t so good, but he’s grown within this team, and this is his team. Him and Kovacs, all the seniors have a big piece of it, and I know that Devin said it the other day: he has been the face of Michigan football.”

Devin had six touchdowns…

“Say that again? I’m sorry.”

Devin had six touchdowns. They looked pretty easy for him. Can you tell us about his development?

“Um. He had six touchdowns?”

He had six touchdowns.

“Did he really. See, I don’t remember that stuff.”

He was pretty good.

“I -- well, I think you answered the question. He was pretty good.”

Did you hear the crowd chanting “Beat Ohio”?

“Yeah, and I said to someone next to me, ‘We need to beat Iowa.’ ”

You haven’t lost at home in two years. Is there something to that?

“I think there’s always, and you see it all kinds of sports, playing at home is something that’s treated us well. Familiarity with everything. I wish I could tell you. I just think there’s a comfort, I guess.”

Have your teams always been so much better at home?

“I have no clue. Again, it’s something that I don’t think about.”

Is this your offense moving forward, or could Denard move back to quarterback full time?

“Um … I don’t know. I guess he could. I don’t know. It’s an option.”

When was Denard cleared, and what did he have to do to get cleared? Can he grip the ball?

“Yeah. Yeah.”

When was he cleared?

“What’s today? Saturday? Probably six days ago.”

Is he cleared for good now, or do you have to go through another process? Is he day to day?

“He might be day to day.”

You talked about being an emotional person. You’ve just beaten Iowa, but what does the Ohio State game mean to you?

“It’s fun.”

It’s fun?

“It’s fun. Because it’s a great rivalry and there’s a lot of respect on both sides for those programs. For both programs. It’s fun. You asked? It’s fun. It’s going to be fun.”

You had a lot of success in vertical passing. How come?

“I think some play action set it up. And then I think Gallon made a terrific catch with concentration. The ball was where it needed to be, and it was defended pretty decently. I think one of the best throws and catches was an out on the sideline to Roy. I thought Roy did a nice job with his hands. That’s one thing I said this last week, but I thought Roy is catching the ball more with his hands and not with his body as he had earlier.”

When did you see that change for him?

“Eh, shoot. I don’t know. Some time. Probably in practice.”

It looked like you threw out things for Ohio State to think about. Is that something you planned to do?

“If I was that smart to do that, I would have done that. But no, we were trying to beat Iowa. We were trying to put our players -- because it would be selfish of us as coaches for us not to give these kids the best chance to win a football game. And whatever we do offensively or defensively or prepare, if we don’t do that then we’re short-selling this program and these seniors and these kids, and we’re not going to do that.”

You said you’ve been planning this offense since 18 months ago. What prevented you from using it earlier?

“How would I answer this …”

Honestly.

“Um. I would say, in doing it, it would have been done kind of like we did last year a little bit more when we had both of them on the field. And we just added to it. And we just added to it. And there’s a maturity level for everybody to be able to handle those things.”

So do you mean Denard at quarterback and Devin at receiver?

“Maybe. Sort of.”

Synergy between Gardner and the receivers?

“Yeah, and I think there’s a lot of truth to all of that. But I think our front’s blocking better. Part of it is the play-action game. Part of it is the play-action out of the I-back. I think that’s helped.”

How tough is it for the defense to prepare for your new formations?

Well, you have to spend some time on it. So sometimes that’s the biggest thing. You’re spending time maybe on a formation that was run maybe three times and thinking, okay, what can you do out of it, what can they do out of it? So as a coach, you’re spending your time, and then you’re taking practice time. So it’s time. And there’s one thing none of us have, is a lot of time.”

How confident are you that your team can quickly move on to Ohio State?

“Well they’re going to have to. I’m pretty confident in how our seniors have led and how we’ve gone to work every Sunday, win and lose.”

Defense?

“Yeah. You know … we missed some sacks. We don’t tackle. They’re knocking us off the line of scrimmage earlier. It was awful.”

Desmond Morgan?

“We thought he’d be ready, but he’s not.”

Details?

“No.”

Gary Moeller was honored today --

“Yeah, it was cool.”

What did that mean to you?

“Means a lot. Coach Mo as a person, as a coach, as a man. Means a lot. Means a lot to Michigan.”

Bullet:

• Hey hey what can I say, day to day day to day to day day.

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Opening remarks:

“[We had a] good work day yesterday, [good] preparation. [Iowa is] one of the good football teams, especially a team that, capacity-wise, they’re playing well when you look at taking care of the football, turnovers, and the running game from an offensive line standpoint. They’re typical Iowa where they’re going to get on you and they’re going to do a great job in the zone schemes. Defensively they’re going to play very tight up front and let the linebackers flow. You see that. In the kicking game, they’ve got some real weapons in their kickoff return and their kick coverage and in the kickoff that they’ve done a nice job with. For us we had a good practice. Like I said, it was a good work day. Need another good work day today.”

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“Hi guys. What’s up. Heiko, what’s going on?”

MGo: Not much. Just hangin' out.

“It’s really good to see you.”

MGo: It’s good to see you, too.

“I’m not just saying that.”

MGoBeaming: Really? Aw.

“Yeah, I kind of am.”

What’s the word of the day?

“What’s the word of the day? I had one. If you wouldn’t have asked me, I would have come up with it.”

Denard?

“No. That was coming up somewhere, but … let me think. I’ll get back to you on that, okay?”

Can you define Denard?

“Can I define Denard? Fast. That’s the first word that comes into my mind. Like those word associations that you do ... Denard Robinson, fast!”

Devin Gardner?

“Devin Gardner? Funny. Pretty funny guy.”

In all seriousness, Denard’s legacy? Can you discuss?

“Well, I can honestly say he is the most electric player that I have ever coached. That would be the first thing that comes to mind. And a joy to coach, I might add. Comes with energy every day. Wants to learn. Tough. Competitive. All those things. His demeanor might lead you to believe that’s not true, but he’s highly competitive.”

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Opening remarks:

“Well are we on game 18 or what? It seems like, hoo boy. Every week. This next one is as big as any of them or bigger because one, you’re in the title hunt. You’re still playing for a championship. And two, these seniors deserve to play a great game, deserve to have things be like they should be when you’re a senior at Michigan and you play your last game there.”

What do you take from surviving Northwestern?

“Well the thing that we saw in that game -- people wouldn’t have seen it -- that defense played unbelievably hard. There’s a play in the fourth quarter when there are 11 helmets truly hitting the ball on our sideline, and ironically the next play Craig Roh got a sack and it held them to a field goal rather than a touchdown. And you never know when that’s going to happen. I’m not a stat guy. Never have been. The only stat that matters to me is whether we win or lose. I don’t like it when teams run the football, but the thing that you also saw on that tape, one, that quarterback is a tremendous football player and a tremendous athlete. I think there were four or five legitimate sacks that we had them -- any other quarterback you probably would have had a sack -- that he changed from being a third or a second and long to a first down.

"And that’s where the perception is that you’ve got to get off the field. We’re not talented enough, and there aren’t many [teams] that are good enough, to be able to say, ‘We could have gotten off here, but we’re going to let you play three more plays.’ That happened too many times where you had just what you wanted and he made a play. And I won’t say that our guys didn’t, even though they could have, that young man Colter is -- he’s got my respect, I’ll tell you that. That guy is a football player. And their running back was a very good football player also. The greatest thing is that there are some mistakes again that we have to have corrected on some blitzes and things like that, but they played hard and they stuck together and gave us an opportunity, and our offense did a great job at the very end there and we came out with the win, and that’s all that matters.”

Bullets:

• If Denard were a rapper his stage name would be Day2Day.
• Hoke says decision on Denard's status for Saturday will be made based on health, not sentiment.
• Mario Ojemudia is "coming along," which probably means he won't be ready for Saturday.
• Will Campbell "probably played his best football game" against Northwestern.
• Hoke did think about going for a touchdown instead of a field goal at the end of regulation but decided not to.
• Whether Denard could play situationally even if he were unable to throw the ball is something Hoke may consider. (What does that even mean. Aye aye aye.) Take two: Hoke will talk to Denard about playing situationally or as a runner if he remains unable to throw the ball on Saturday. Maybe.

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Presser

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How are you doing?

“Better than the alternative.”

Opening remarks:

“Really proud of our football team. I’m proud of how they stuck together. I think I mentioned, I may not have -- they really stuck together the whole game. They believed in each other, believed in what we were trying to get accomplished. I thought there were some really smart decisions made by players and by some of the guys on the staff when the two returners at the end of the game on the punt, because of the way they tried to punt the ball, Gallon was able to get some real positive yardage and set up being able to get the ball to whatever yard line it was to try for the field goal to tie it. If you have one returner back and that ball bounces, you lose field position and those things. Kids executed it well.

“This week’s a special week. Number one, our seniors. Last time they get to play in the greatest stadium in this country. Get to wear that blue jersey here at home and so it’s really special for us as coaches and for those underclassmen who go out and play well. Iowa, as you know, they’re a very good football team. They’ve lost the last two games I think by a total of six points. Run the football well. I think they’ve had some nicked up people when you look at it earlier in the year, but I think they’re really coming together. James Vandenberg, I think, is a very good quarterback. We’ve got our work cut out for us, and we have a lot to do.”