Will Campbell emerges as a leader
Great article on the leadership of Jordan Kovacs, and the surprising leadership of Will Campbell, who routinely leads defensive line meetings and sets up extra film sessions.
Leadership is an great quality, and hopefully this leads to a means he will be a leader on the field, by his play and his words.
Link: http://annarbor.com/sports/um-football/jordan-kovacs-will-campbell-amon…
I've been waiting for him to start kicking ass. Knew it would happen.
Uh, I'm hoping for it just as much, but you might wanna wait for the season to decide that he's kicking ass. Hell, I'll be satisfied with him as a solid starter.
"I'll believe it when I believe it." -Yogi Berra
One of the more insightful observations made during the recent JeTebow saga onESPN was concerning football leadership and the influence certain players have on the team. I believe it was Mike Ditka was said (and i'm paraphrasing becasue I cant find the exact quote) that players follow players who play well on the field and nothing else really matters. He said that regardless of personalities, film-room study, practice effort or anything else - if you weren't considered a integral part of the team on the field nothing else much mattered off the field. And the coaching staff had almost zero influence on who the players thought were leaders.
If Ditka is right then Kovacs was most definitely EARNED the title of "team leader". I'm certainly rooting hard for BWC to have success on the field this year but until he shows consistency on the field I'm not sure he can be called a "leader" just quite yet.
March 25th, 2012 at 11:10 PM ^
but guys like woolfolk can be team leaders too. i think college is different than the pros. seniors get respect. period.
I like how many articles that can be made out of the last Spring Presser. Mgoblog prints the whole transcript. The newspapers and ESPN take one quote and make an entire article out of it. ESPN just took the few quotes and made an article about Barnum moving to center. Nothing fresh or new just same shit with some filler in the middle.
I had high hopes for Wolverine nation but that place has fallen flat lately with any real info. TomVH came out blazing but honestly seems like he has lost that spark the last few months. They do play college football on PS3 over there and you can get regular updates on that. Also follow Tom on twitter to see what cupcake he may or may not eat.
plus the 86 clicks it takes to just get to a damn article, ESPN's website just terrible all 'round.
For the first time in his life, Will Campbell has the opportunity to be coached for an entire pre-season by an elite set of coaches-- Montgomery, Mattison and Hoke. Everybody from the coaches, the fans, his fellow players and even potential replacements (i.e., Ash, Pipkins) want Will to have a break-out season this year. In the past he's had some issues with his conditioning. It's now all up to him as to whether he becomes the superior NT he was supposed to be as a 5 star recruit.
big will had problems with his conditioning, and the former condition and strength staff is certainly not the ones to blame. Martin, Molk and Junior choosing Barwis to prepare for their NFL draft speaks volume.
You're absolutely right. I attribute Campbell's problems from 2009-2010 entirely to crap DL coaching and a shortsided decision to switch him midseason to a position where he became a third-stringer.
Will Campbell is due for a huge season. I can feel it. I still wish he had gotten his shit together a few years ago though.
Agreed. It's too bad that his red shirt was wasted, another year could make a huge difference for him.
I appreciate that WIll Campbell is becoming a leader in the huddle and off the field but its time for him to prove it on the field
We haven't heard anything this good about him ever. I hope it translates to the field. It's not too late for him.
This is the 1st time in his and BWC's career that they're in the same system for 2 years in a row, this can't hurt, along with the great Defenseive coaching we got going on.
I know we lost 3 guys on the D-Line, but there's no reason not to think we can't improve close to if not just as much as 2011 as compared to 2010.
Sure there is. We improved from 107th in scoring defense to 6th. It is not mathematically possible to make that same type of improvement =P. Jokes aside, I would be happy if our defense can match what it did last year minus the defensive collapse at the end of the season. We lost a lot on the D-line, but some experience in the secondary and another year under Mattison should off set that. I also fully expect 1-2 freshman to make a strong immediate impact on defense.
I guess what I meant was how the D will look, a certain confidence in stopping people and not just hopeful like last year and it took a long time for people to start believing in last year's Defense. It may not show in the numbers but sometimes you have to go beyond the numbers.
The defense had a tough game against Ohio, but I wouldn't say it "collapsed" at the end of the season. It played a great game against Nebraska and a pretty solid one against Va Tech.
Speaking of team leaders, who does everyone think the captains for Team 133 should be?
I think you've got to go with Denard and Kovacs, but who else?
This is BWC's last chance to "fulfill his potential" at Michigan. It sounds like he is working his ass off. He might not be the player he was originally thought to be, but if he represents himself and his school well this year, and works as hard as he can, we really can't ask for anything else.
Here's hoping for a "grand finale" for BWC.
We can haz "OMG GET IN THE CAR IT'S WILL CAMPBELL!!!"?
BWC has shown flashes of him being an absolute terror this year. His leveling of the QBs from Minnesota and Northwestern showed he can manhandle people. Plus his pursuit and hit on Martinez against Nebraska show he can move if he needs to. Personally I hope the switch flips for BWC this year and he turns into the second coming of Mike Martin. If it doesn't let's hope the Big House turns into PeeWee's Playhouse of Pain.
March 25th, 2012 at 10:46 PM ^
Before his senior season, Nick Fairley hadn't done much either. He had a breakout year and ended up being a top 15 draft pick. Here's to BWC doing the same!