spring game
Usually this time of year you get some kind of spring game recap. Michigan had a spring game, but this is all you get.
— Michigan Football (@UMichFootball) April 12, 2021
Saturday was a great day to compete!#GoBlue pic.twitter.com/XeYvWF9kfs
What sticks out, other than the uniformz, is the pathetically small amount they’re willing to share with the public. The fanbase’s reaction to this has fallen into three camps:
- I would have liked to have seen a spring game.
- Call me when they win something.
- I don’t want to think about football.
All three are valid. The second and third camps are the BPONE, and were bound to continue regardless of football’s existence. For personal and professional reasons, I fall in the first. If you haven’t skipped to the comments to post something like 2 or 3, you’re probably there with me, and wondering if there’s an explanation.
Lately if you want anything from the football team you have to listen to the Jansen podcast, where Jansen said this regarding why fans and media were not allowed to attend:
The State of Michigan is utilizing the Big House as a vaccine site. So they didn’t want the parking lot to be full of cars. They didn’t want there to be a confusion about where to go for people scheduled to get their vaccine on that Saturday.
…and this on why they didn’t broadcast it:
As I understand it the Big Ten Network had set a certain time that all of the programs needed to say ‘Hey, this is when we’re going to have our last practice.’ And with the uncertainty of the pandemic, with the changing schedules, Michigan just wasn’t able to meet that deadline because they had to move some things around, and it just didn’t work out.
If they wanted to keep it small for the vaccine site—or you know, because last weekend was the peak of the pandemic—that’s fine. That’s not the reason media were expressly prohibited, including those with invites through other means. It’s still more responsible than Michigan State’s decision to invite 6,000 people to Spartan Stadium tomorrow, and one I can support.
[Hit THE JUMP]
Harbaugh / Eric Upchurch
Who put a wall here? / Eric Upchurch
Shane Morris / Bryan Fuller
Norfleet / Bryan Fuller
Full Galleries
Eric Upchurch
Bryan Fuller
He tries to sic these guys on you if you ask a dumb question [Eric Upchurch]
News bullets and other items:
- Shane Morris is ahead of the other quarterbacks, though Harbaugh said the competition will “rage on”
- Harbaugh liked the way the defense performed, singling out the secondary and inside pass rush. He also thought Shane Morris and Amara Darboh did a nice job.
- He said there’s room for improvement in receivers learning to catch contested balls, the running game as a whole, and outside pass rushing.
- Gary Moeller and Lloyd Carr had a large part in designing the trick plays; Harbaugh said he was hands-off in that process
- Harbaugh said the legal system has as much hanging over Graham Glasgow’s head as is possible, noting that it’s more than what the football program could do; it sounds like he won’t be suspended if there are no further incidents.
- Players with long-term injuries noted were Joe Hewlett (unspecified), Mike McCray (surgery, not sure for what), and Michael Wroblewski (ACL).
- Dennis Norfleet may play on offense, defense, and special teams in the fall
Your general takeaways from today? What did you like, what maybe obviously needs work still?
“Liked a lot of things. Mainly [the] thing I liked the most is we played a 40-minute game and there was no injuries that I could tell, none at least that aren’t the you-don’t-come-back-from-soon type, so I’m most pleased with that.
“There’s, uh, there’s- obviously the defense played extremely well. There’s been a lot of improvement in our secondary; that showed up again today. And pass rush, uh, pass rush is improving. Got some rush and push from our inside guys and we’ll continue to try and get the outside pass rush. That’s an area that we want to improve, especially when it’s a four-man rush, to be able to get pressure on the quarterback just with the four.
“I thought Shane Morris did a nice job. Amara Darboh made some nice catches and that’s an area that we need to keep working on, receivers that can make the catch when it’s contested, make the tough catch.
“Running game at times was okay. You know it’s not going to be real good in a spring game especially with the format that we had which was a draft, so offensive linemen are playing in different combinations than they’re used to. But overall we had the one fumble, we had the two turnovers, and with the interceptions but quarterback play I thought was good. Multiple errors [but] I thought it was good.
“To sum it all up I’m most pleased there weren’t any serious injuries today. Come out healthy, and that’ll propel us into April and May.”
I know it was just a spring game but for you to be back inside the Big House, what was it like for you personally?
“It was good. It was a great turnout, I thought. I mean, that’s a hundred-thousand-and-ten people seat stadium and to see that many seats filled was great. It really means a lot. Much appreciated. I know our players appreciate that, the turnout for the 2015 spring game. Added to it, you know. Really added to the atmosphere. Made it like a game. [I] don’t think of it just as a spring game, think of it as a game, and I know that our players had those feelings, those emotions of it being a game before the game and until they took their first hits so that’s something that’ll bode well for us.”
You had several players that were missing from the game: Taco Charlton, Mario Ojemudia, [Ondre] Pipkins. Are any of those long-term concerns or were they just players that were banged up?
“Yeah, we had multiple players that are working through something right now.”
Are any of them long-term, though?
“I’m not a doctor.”
/smirks
“I did not get my medical degree at the University of Michigan.”
[After THE JUMP: Talkin’ about the ol’ depth chart]
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