tony dews

After Rich Rodriguez spoke to the assembled media on Sunday, I got a chance to talk to some of Michigan's assistants. I didn't talk to Calvin Magee or Greg Robinson because we've already heard from them in the past couple weeks, and I didn't get a chance to talk to Greg Frey or Adam Braithwaite.

Rod Smith

Each of the three quarterbacks brings something different to the table. Tate's experience of starting 12 games is a significant factor, but the coaches need to make sure he stays disciplined. Denard is the most explosive of the three quarterbacks. As for passing, "he's worked on it, I don't want to say refined." He deserves a lot of credit for putting in the effort, and "he's picked up the offense a lot more than what he had last year." Gardner is a superb athlete who is getting better every day.

The competition is helping the team, because each quarterback has to work hard every rep or risk being replaced.

Though Tate acknowledged slacking a bit this summer, "He didn't come in bad shape. He passed all his conditioning tests." He's been willing to put in the work in practice so far: "I've been pleased with him this camp."

Denard has a much better idea of the offensive scheme and what the coaches are trying to accomplish. "You don't cloud your mind and slow up your feet, and that's what he was doing last year." Over-thinking contributed to part of his problems last year.

Denard does a lot of work in technique drills, but he's not consistent yet. The coaches work on tightening his mechanics from weight transfer to follow-through, which is the sort of stuff a lot of high school kids don't learn. He came in as an athlete trying to play quarterback, and the coaches are trying to turn him into a quarterback who's athletic. He's been willing to put in the work.

Denard's ability to pass will open up defenses, allowing him to rush for more than the 5.1 yards/carry he got last year. "Not just the passing, but I've opened up the playbook a little more to him. We knew what we were gonna do with him. I think defenses knew what was coming." He has the potential to score 4 out of every 10 times he touches the ball due to how explosive he is.

Both quarterbacks at reading the defensive end on the option play. They're prepared to make the read against all sorts of different defenses, so they'll be familiar with everything they face.

"I don't know yet" if Denard will be the starter. The coaches are repping all three quarterbacks while the media focuses on Denard.

Tate came in a little more polished out of high school. Denard and Devin have needed more work on their throwing mechanics out of high school. Both must have worked hard individually this summer to be where they are today.

The different skill sets among the quarterbacks all fit in with what the offensive staff wants to do. They don't want a guy to just stand there. All three quarterbacks have the necessary mobility.

Fred Jackson

(Short but sweet)

On Stephen Hopkins: "Before he's done here, he'll be another Chris Perry. Feet, shallow cuts, power. I mean, I don't know if Chris ever weighed 230 or not."

4-5 backs will get serious playing time this year.

Tony Dews

"They're working extremely hard and doing well." Dews is a little more anxious to see how his guys can do compared to the past, because now there are people with three years in the system. They know the expectations of them.

Junior Hemingway and Darryl Stonum have been in the system since they were freshmen, and now they're able to help be leaders for the younger guys, because they've been there before.

As far as moving guys to the other side of the ball goes, Dews says "I don't worry about losing anybody if it's going to make our team better."  It happens every year in college football, and if it's good for the team, "whatever's going to help us win and compete for BCS bowl games, I'm all for it."

Kelvin Grady has matured quite a bit. He's catching the ball well this camp. He looks a little bigger than last year, and is playing with more confidence. He is not one of the slot receivers who have gotten time on the outside.

Darryl Stonum "did come back in great shape. He's been kind of a piston. He's been out there rolling." Getting contacts has helped him catch better. He really started coming on in the spring, when he realized the opportunity he would have to be a starter. Wearing a cast on one arm helped train him to always catch with his hands. He understands the offense, but needs to refine his technique, and he's willing to do that. He's gorwn up and learned from his past mistakes.

Junior Hemingway has had a pretty good camp. "Junior has shown flashes for a couple years now. Obviously his biggest issue has been being on the field. Obviously when he's healthy and he's playing, he certainly can help us."

Bruce Tall

On Ryan Van Bergen - Works hard, always around the ball, "he's a great student of the game." He's bigger and stronger than last season.

Pass Rush with the three-man front is tough to evaluate right now. The Michigan offense doesn't have much drop-back passing, so they're hard to evaluate against. "It won't always just be three men rushing."

Craig Roh might be one of the guys adding pressure (from linebackers). GERG will put together some different packages to mix up pressure.

The freshmen have just finished school, and will be able to focus on football now. They're all doing well so far. Tall noted that there are five freshmen in his position group - Jibreel Black, Terry Talbott (Tall used to confuse the Talbotts' first names on recruiting visits), Richard Ash, Kenny Wilkins, and preferred walkon Chris Eddins.

Kenny Wilkins is working at defensive end. "He's pretty good-sized. He's probably up somewhere around 6-4, 270... He's got good size for a young player."

Tall wishes he could have picked a different number for Jibreel Black, so he wouldn't be compared to Brandon Graham so much. "55 was a very special player, and you don't want to put that on anybody."

Tony Gibson

Troy Woolfolk "was in great shape, he was having a great camp, you hate it for him." If there's any good to come out of his injury, it's that he gets to come back next year. It makes you sick to see a kid that's worked so hard go down.

"You know we can't sit around feeling sorry for ourselves because nobody else is going to feel sorry for us."

All the freshmen are playing hard. At free safety, Carvin Johnson is "doing a great job and has great ball skills." Terrence Talbott has been a pleasant surprise, and Cullen Christian has been practicing at both corner positions. All of them need to keep growing, and work on their tackling.

James Rogers has been playing well, but the second starting corner position is still up for grabs. There are still two weeks to prepare the guys to play.

Rich Rodriguez (video available from MGoBlue here).

On preparation:

• The coaching staff has a pretty good idea where they are at this point in the preparation for the season. They aren't ready to play a game yet (who in the country really is), but the staff is confident that they'll be able to get ready for WMU in the next two weeks.
• More players have bought in to the system than had at this time last year. It's not that the players weren't trying to buy in last year, they just now know what is expected of them, and the coaches know more about what each player is capable of.
• The 2nd-year jump may be partially attributable to the fact that a lot of young players have gotten time in the first year of his coaching tenure. Last year's team was very inexperienced offensively, which led to some of the struggles. He feels good about the progress this year's team has made, but he also felt the same way last year.
• Last year must be used as a learning experience. They know what players they have, and how to get the program from where it is to where they want it to be. It's not happening as fast as he wants, but the path from point A to point B is now visible. Within the next two recruiting classes, the roster should be built up to where they want it to be. For now, early playing time is a big draw for recruits.
  

On Saturday's scrimmage (MGoBlue notes):

• There were both explosive offensive plays and also some defensive stops. Part of the inconsistency has to do with a lack of depth.
• All 3 QBs took reps with the first team, though Sheridan was the first guy out there (not necessarily the best, mind you). The guys have different skill sets, but all will learn the whole offense.
• The QB situation should be settled by the first game, but probably not long before it. Note: The "all 3 QBs will take snaps" AP article floating around is really disingenuous. The only time Rodriguez mentioned such a thing was a joke that all 3 would play at the same time. While it wouldn't surprise me if all three guys took some snaps against Western, this current talk is really much ado about nothing.
• It's hard to tell where your team is when you're playing only your offense against your defense. Rodriguez reiterated his desire to have a preseason scrimmage.

Players:

• Rodriguez likes to be able to play 20-22 guys on defense, but he's not sure if they have enough depth this year to be able to do that.
• The LBs at the top of the depth chart are good, there is just very little depth. Ezeh, Mouton, Demens, and Stevie Brown are pretty good, but the remaining depth is almost all freshmen.
• Jason Olesnavage and Brendan Gibbons are leading the pack at kicker. Bryan Wright and a freshman walk-on (apologies, as I didn't catch the name. I believe it was Kris Pauloski) are behind the first two.
• He's not worried about establishing one running back. The best guys will play, and the offense needs at least 3 guys.
• Odoms and Mathews are looking to be the primary punt returners, with Cissoko the main man on kickoff returns. Some freshmen are involved in the battles, and simply catching the ball would be an improvement from last year.
• Warren, Cissoko, Floyd, Teric Jones, and JT Turner are the main corners, with walkon Tony Anderson behind them. There isn't great depth there. Still no word on whether Witty will get in (note: this isn't a good sign, most likely).
• Koger and Webb are both much better than they were last year. They should see some increased passes coming their way.
• The Offensive line has stayed healthy, which is a huge improvement over last year. There's a bit of a battle at right tackle, and David Moosman can back up Molk at center. All three freshman OLs (Lewan, Schofield, Washington) will eventually be outstanding players for Michigan.

On GERG:

Greg Robinson has a good plan and lots of experience. He understands what certain players are and are not capable of. The team will play against a variety of different offenses, so being able to defend both power teams and spread teams is important. And what a better transition to...

Greg Robinson

• The decision to come to Michigan was an easy one - "It's Michigan." He and his wife have felt comfortable from the beginning.
• The 4-3 Under is similar to the USC system, but there are some different tactics used than Pete Carroll's squad does. Robinson's scheme has more of a 2-deep flavor, while USC typically has a single-safety or 3-deep scheme. While Carroll is developing more Cover-2 elements, it all depends on what the opponent will try to do.
• Stevie Brown will be able to match physical play just fine, despite being a former safety. He's also an advantage when the field is spread.
• Brandon Graham has a future playing in the NFL, and Mike Martin is a physically gifted player. When his fundamentals develop, he'll only get better. Depth on the DL, however, needs to develop - a process that started in the offseason.

Tony Dews

• JR Hemingway will probably be one of the best big-play guys this year, so not having him last year was a big blow.
• Je'Ron Stokes will start out as an outside receiver - not a slot.
• The wideout group practices their blocking technique as much as they do any other aspect of playing the position. They block as often as they catch or run routes.

Greg Frey

• Coach Frey doesn't like setting concrete expectations. They pigeonhole you into a ceiling, and give an excuse to stop pushing yourself once you hit the expectation.
• Players are more comfortable in the system this year than they were last year. There is more competition, which allows everyone to push themselves.
• Steve Schilling is a good player and person. He moved to guard to help the team, because they needed him more at that position.
• Players are more comfortable in the system this year than they were last year. There is more competition, which allows everyone to push themselves.
• Mark Huyge had a good camp last year, but got hurt and missed 5-6 weeks of the season. That helps explain his seemingly-sudden emergence as a factor at tackle.
• All the redshirt freshmen are athletic, and hard workers. The mental game might be the hardest part, as they have to learn that making mistakes is OK as long as you understand and correct the issue.

Information from the players will be coming up later this week.