Gerry DiNardo on Michigan's Spring Football Practice
Football news, you say? Gerry DiNardo visited Michigan's practice today and tweeted his observations. Here they are (if you'd rather read his tweets directly on Twitter, click here):
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BTN Spring Tour Stop 6 #Wolverines This Michigan team looks better than the last 5 at this point. Not only better but drastically different.
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BTN Spring Tour Stop 6 #Wolverines Outstanding tailback play could make the difference in the season. It's one weapon that needs to emerge
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BTN Spring Tour Stop 6 #Wolverines Michigan could have the two best offensive tackles in B1G. Schofield and Lewan.
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BTN Spring Tour Stop 6 #Wolverines Best competition between offensive & defensive lines we've seen this spring They were smashing each other
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BTN Spring Tour Stop 6 #Wolverines Watched one of the best and toughest defensive line pass rush drills ever.
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BTN Spring Tour Stop 6 #Wolverines Freshman R Douglas, T Charlton most impressive.
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BTN Spring Tour Stop 6 #Wolverines 6 HS mid year guys enrolled.More than I remember Mich having in past @ least 4 have chance to help in 13
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BTN Spring Tour Stop 6 #Wolverines I remember watching Kali's on HS tape & he was impressive as he was today. Recruiting rankings do matter
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BTN Spring Tour Stop 6 #Wolverines We see a lot of good young GA coaches in the B1G today was no different.
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BTN Spring Tour Stop 6 #Wolverines We've seen a lot of good practices this spring tour but today's was the most physical.
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BTN Spring Tour Stop 6 #Wolverines Dinner break then more practice stuff
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BTN Spring Tour Stop 6 #Wolverines By the way Coach Short Sleeves practiced inside today. Love that guy.
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BTN Spring Tour Stop 6 #Wolverines A few years ago UM made a turn from RR to BH. They are making an even bigger turn this year. Impressive
Should be a good year.
March 26th, 2013 at 11:56 PM ^
is leaving ND. He was a 4/5 star.
March 27th, 2013 at 12:03 AM ^
If they can clone Matt Scott, Neal could have a decent career there...
March 27th, 2013 at 10:48 AM ^
And WR Justin Ferguson, too. Plus, apparently Kelly says this isn't the end.
March 27th, 2013 at 12:01 AM ^
March 27th, 2013 at 12:05 AM ^
It's just the app because the formatting on the web page through a browser is actually quite impressive compared to some other attempts. Trying opening mgoblog through a browser and you should be all good.
March 27th, 2013 at 12:52 PM ^
Michigan football winning is NEVER a surprise.
March 27th, 2013 at 12:02 AM ^
He said so many things that have me pumped for next season. My only question-- is this hyperbole, or is this legit? I ask that, because I haven't looked back at Gerry Dinardo's old tweets from previous tour stops to see if he gets excited and talks up every school he's visited, or just Michigan. Either way, I'm pumped for next year!
March 27th, 2013 at 12:07 AM ^
March 27th, 2013 at 12:32 AM ^
I'm reading back through his other tweets now about the other teams to see what he's saying. I'll report back, but I needed to point this out. This is his whole coverage of the Indiana spring practice visit:
2013 Spring Practice Tour Stop 5 this morning #Hoosiers 18 Degrees Thank You John Melencamp for the indoor facility which IU is using today
Alright, I went through his other tweets, and there's nobody he was even as close to as nice to as he was to UM. He said some good things about Nebraska and a couple good things about Northwestern, but for the post part his level of impression seems to relate to how many good tweets he put out (IE: if he didn't have anything nice to say, he didn't say anything at all). Seems to have legit questions about UW, obviously doesn't have anything to say about IU, nothing to say about NW defense, etc.
I'm not saying he's a great barometer, but he's not just going around hyping everyone up.
from what he had seen in practice. His exact words were something like "that's not the #8 team in the country..."
March 27th, 2013 at 11:29 AM ^
a former coach knows when he is seeing lines mauling each other. That is typically not hyperbole since he should know big dudes getting after it. More interesting is the RB situation with him even calling it out. Mr Green needs to step in and step up this fall.
As much as he annoys me, he is normally pretty spot on with his analysis. He did miss on MSU last year (he said numerous times he thought OSU and MSU were clearly the two best teams in the conference), but their problems were more due to the fact that they did not have a QB. As long as I have followed BTN his predictions have worked out pretty well for the most part.
March 27th, 2013 at 12:34 PM ^
that the rest of the football world hasn't? I understand people getting annoyed with all the SEC love out there, but it is reality--they are the best conference, and there is no doubt whasoever about that. Now can that change? Sure, but until then yelling about it doesn't help
March 27th, 2013 at 12:28 AM ^
All he said about Indiana's practice was that it was cold, so... legit?
March 27th, 2013 at 12:50 AM ^
I don't know about that. IU football is definitely looking up, and I know it's probably impossible to believe, but I don't think they'll be the lauging stock anymore after this season. Not necessarily saying this season will be great, but the seasons after. They're really starting to come together and Wilson knows what he's doing. He's also brought in some very good recruits on defense, but they haven't all arrived yet.
It sounds like DiNardo genuinely was impressed with our practices, and wasn't all canned hyperbole used on everybody else.
I love that he was impressed with how physical our practices were, how much the team has improved over the last 5 years, Kalis being legit, etc.
I love the mentality that Hoke and company have brought back to Michigan. Hoke could be building something special...
March 27th, 2013 at 11:24 AM ^
But...is he selling jerseys? And where might he be selling them?
Ok wait, didn't he mean the last 5 stops, not Last 5 YEARS? Considering michigan was the 6th stop on the tour?
March 27th, 2013 at 12:03 AM ^
Honestly I feel like this season has so much potential and I am more excited about getting this season underway than I am about any team since Lloyd was here. I know that Denard was and forever will be dilithium, but the team as a whole wasn't always as electrifying to put it mildly. Yes the Jake Tyan injury hurts, but the depth we have been building and the recent incoming classes keep compounding on each other making this year the culmination of the years prior. Next year might be even better than this year, but, for now, this year is going to tremendous.
its weird,at the end of the season i was glad it was over and to be honest wasnt too pumped about the up coming season. now after the off season and more i hear i'm really starting to like this team and their chances.
March 27th, 2013 at 12:05 AM ^
MANBALL!
March 27th, 2013 at 12:10 AM ^
The fact that he mentions both the O-line and D-line being physical makes me smile.
March 27th, 2013 at 12:23 AM ^
That really jumped out to me, too. I love hearing pundits talk about how our team is making those helmets crack louder and more often than other teams. That's the kind of thing that tends to translate to game results.
March 27th, 2013 at 12:17 AM ^
March 27th, 2013 at 12:23 AM ^
Looking forward to seeing opposing wideouts being terrified to cut across the middle of the field.
March 27th, 2013 at 10:35 AM ^
Hoke doesn't instill physicality; he instills "physicalness". Huge difference.
March 27th, 2013 at 12:27 AM ^
March 27th, 2013 at 12:30 AM ^
I think he's saying in general that if Michigan wants to win, they're going to need one of their RBs to step up and do work.
March 27th, 2013 at 12:31 AM ^
Yeah, that's a little vague. At first I thought he meant the RBs looked good, but after a second read I think he meant that if we get a RB to break out that could be what puts us over the top, or a break out RB is the only thing we really need.
Considering Fitz is still hurt and Green isn't there yet, I'm OK if that's the only group he thinks is a weakness.
March 27th, 2013 at 12:39 AM ^
March 27th, 2013 at 12:32 AM ^
March 27th, 2013 at 12:36 AM ^
The first sentence is terribly worded for sure. "Outstanding tailback play could be the difference..." could mean that we have it and it could be the difference, or if we could have it, it would be the difference.
However, the second sentence pretty well clears it up I think.
March 27th, 2013 at 12:29 AM ^
I wonder which 4 of the 6 EEs he meant could contribute. Clearly Douglas and Charlton since he mentioned them by name. I imagine LTT is one who can't which is fine. I would guess the other two are Butt (for sure) and probably Dymonte Thomas. If the "other" two are the two OL then that makes sense.
He was probably referring to Bosch and Tuley-Tillman since we almost always redshirt offensive linemen, even when they're highly rated. That could change with Bosch, though. He's college ready from a size standpoint, which is pretty uncommon.
March 27th, 2013 at 11:03 AM ^
I think we'll see Taco, Butt, and Douglas this year with Taco making the most impact. The guy looks like an absolute monster in the practice video and he's still a senior in high school! Butt seems to need a year of S&C before he does much IMO.
March 27th, 2013 at 10:04 AM ^
The question with Charlton is: At whose expense does he play? The defensive line doesn't go much more than two-deep unless there are injuries. Clark and Ojemudia are certainly going to play, so that leaves Charlton as a mop-up duty guy unless something drastic happens.
/boom Sparty-ed
And yes, I know it will make it on the board eventually but I find myself impatient re: SAM Lbs after the past week.
i havent seen anything anywhere else.i dont trust 247 that much but thats just me.btw where did u see that on 247?
A day or two ago, there was a post over at Eleven Warriors (Ohio site) about Berger. He had just been to Ohio, where he spent time with his family, Urban Meyer, and several prominent recruits. In spite of just being at Ohio, in spite of liking Urban, in spite of having a great weekend, he still stated that things were 50/50 between Michigan and Ohio for his services.
That in itself is very good. If getting pressure from other Ohio recruits, along with Urban, only brings him to "50/50," Michigan's chances are excellent.
Mattison is the key contact for Berger, and someone who Berger is very impressed by and who Berger relates well too. New assistant coach Manning, the one working with linebackers and thus the prime position coach for Berger, has also made quite an impression.
Berger appears legitimately torn between the two schools. It helps that he is very close to Jake Ryan. His High School, St. Ignatius in Cleveland, is a huge football factory. Not only Jake Ryan came from Ignatius. Many recognize current New England Patriot and former Buckeye Tony Gonzalez, and Patriot and former Spartan QB Brian Hoyer. Several other former Wolverines went to Ignatius. While not a "pipeline," their coach is not tied to Ohio at the hip.
I like our chances with Berger. We will know, one way or the other, before June.
it will be very telling if Berger choose to go to a spring game,and which spring game it is.