Tidbits From Spring Practice
****EDIT- I have removed the name at the orignal posters request. His son is a highly rated recruit and requested his name not be associated with this. ANYONE that has the orignal OP name in his post please edit and remove his name. He is fine with the post being up just doesn't want to turn off any other schools that are looking at his son.****
Quick summary of my thoughts on practice:
Team looks completely different. It's a confident swag about them. Like ... They know they are working really hard and they KNOW they will be successful. The other school that gives you that feeling / vibe is Bama. This practice had the same structure and discipline but it was more "engaging" (if that makes sense).
1. Tempo of practice and the philosophy. Very different from last year. 2 sets of scrimmages per field. A play is being ran an avg of 25 to 35 secs. If they went two groups, they would alternate but each group ran a play every 25secs. So ... Coaches saw 2 plays every 30 secs. Ton of reps. Very different from last year. Coaches are coaching very quick between plays. Emphasis on getting the reps in during practice and correcting mistakes in film. Practice was very similar to how Saban runs his practices.
2. There really is competition at EVERYTHING. I saw several of these "competitions." A couple examples ... QBs did a "fastest release/ball speed" comp. On command, they had to throw a bullet pass 20yds. Malzone looked good. Several races took place today as well but most know about those.
3. Malzone really looks good. Some on the staff appear to rally around him. Smith probably looked the best running. Green had some great runs but also hit a couple snags. Bunting will get down this year. Ways looked good too. Defense really gave the offense fits all day tho.
4. Defense looked very good. Secondary is kinda sick to be honest. Countess and Lewis? Whew. And Peppers is a bundle of Joy to watch. He's 110% all the time. Up front ... I like Taco a lot. At the Buck LB spot, Ojemedia and Marshall looked good. This is Marshalls first time standing. I think he will be a player. The scheme from the new front will wreak havoc.
5. Harbaugh is a cool dude. I mean ... Super intense but very fun.
6. Durkin is a stud. He coaches at a high tempo and relies on players intelligence and football IQ to grasp his concepts. Example: some coaches stop to explain a drill to the point where they don't get reps. Durkin calls you to a drill, says it once and then you go. Lol. Learn it on the fly! He got in 20% more reps in his drill than one of the other coaches because the other guy spent time talking about what they were going to do.
7. New recruiting department is Grade "A+". Period. Coach Partridge combining with Singletary is a nasty combo.
8) new strength coach is a Dawg. Heck ... He had the team doing a few new things that are great. His philosophy are right on point with some of the top guys in the game. And I saw 1 kid that is a walk-on from St Joe. All I could say was WOW.
Overall ... I was pleased with what I saw. This team will surprise.
****This was created on my facebook under "Michigan football recruiting HQ." Its a group I belong too. Sounds like his son is a recruit and he was able to watch practice with him FWIW. Enjoy....****
MOD EDIT - Changed the title back to something like it was as the initial controversy seems to be resolved. Also, deleted the requested references - LSA
February 28th, 2015 at 10:54 AM ^
February 28th, 2015 at 11:16 AM ^
while we're being honest, surely Harbaugh's history of success adds a significant element of credibility this time.
February 28th, 2015 at 12:54 PM ^
February 28th, 2015 at 2:00 PM ^
Harbaugh's entire run at Stanford is remarkable. He walked into a program with one win the year before he arrived. Adjusting for the degree of difficulty, I'd call each year at Stanford impressive.
Similar story at San Fran, taking a mess of a team deep into the playoffs in year one. While it's common type of comments, there's plenty of evidence supporting these comments.
February 28th, 2015 at 3:44 PM ^
February 28th, 2015 at 3:54 PM ^
So we can't feel confident unless the coach has spent a decade at a single stop? How many "qualified" candidates is that measure going to leave. Good coaches move from less desireable stops to more desireable. I would say between San Diego and Stanford we can safely say he has succeeded on the college level. Clearly there are no guarantees, but it feels as good as we can reasonably expect.
Edited: original sounded douchier than I meant to.
Well, except Hoke didn't really have much success at SDSU and Ball St.
February 28th, 2015 at 11:19 AM ^
4 years ago the hype came from hoke during his pressors. The kind of info in this post is backdoor. Also you have a proven head coach not just at the college level but the pros. Harbaugh was/is considered one of the top 5 coaches in the pros. You are right about one thing though we have to temper our expectations, we need to be patient and wait for results on the field. It's not likely they are going to win every game next season but it's very likely they will look like Michigan again.
February 28th, 2015 at 12:35 PM ^
Naw man...I'm just a fan and I'm not tempering anything nor waiting for results...I'm going to keep being overly excited by positive news coming out of AA until I see tangible reason not to.
I know its irrational...but I wouldn't be here if I was concerned about being rational :)
February 28th, 2015 at 1:44 PM ^
word.
February 28th, 2015 at 10:58 AM ^
This team is going to be ready to rip someone's head off September 3. The energy and excitement around the program is reaching even higher levels!
Thanks for the information!
February 28th, 2015 at 2:44 PM ^
You know, I've been worried about opening on the road at Utah. Now? I'm more worried for Utah.
February 28th, 2015 at 10:59 AM ^
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February 28th, 2015 at 11:49 AM ^
You really find it hard to believe that this team might be working harder - and smarter - under Jim Harbaugh than under Brady Hoke?
Yeah, there's always some hype this time of year. But in this case I see no reason to doubt it. Jim's track record speaks for itself.
February 28th, 2015 at 12:45 PM ^
The Hoke years should have us completely numb to practice hype. The Hoke era was just overflowing with practice hype and it amounted to essentially nothing.
There needs to be a "practice hype coefficient" of some kind
Positive review -> everything is bad
Raving reviews -> we are average
Losing your mind over practice -> we are good
February 28th, 2015 at 1:41 PM ^
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February 28th, 2015 at 11:03 AM ^
Yeah, fool me once, shame on you.
Fool me twice, shame on you again,
but fool me a 3rd time, and then I'll take like 10% of the blame.
Yeah, that's the ticket.
All the hype last year got us no where. Talk to me in 6 months if you just go out a WIN.
February 28th, 2015 at 11:22 AM ^
February 28th, 2015 at 3:01 PM ^
should answer your question. LINK
Also posted here earlier: See "Bolden speaks of Harbaughing..." Says he loves Hoke, so trying not to make value judgments, talking specifically (and enthusiastically) about the differences in practice.
February 28th, 2015 at 11:31 AM ^
February 28th, 2015 at 1:02 PM ^
Maybe Nuss brought tempo for the players participating in a given drill, but others were left standing around? Or maybe it was just in comparison to previous years, where things might have been really slow? I never played football, so I'm not sure how practices are supposed to be structured, but I certainly can believe there is the potential for a lot of standing around if the coaches are not organized.
February 28th, 2015 at 11:34 AM ^
February 28th, 2015 at 12:15 PM ^
excited, but then I read the part about the defense taking it to the offense. I am not saying its the same old bs, but it could be.
February 28th, 2015 at 1:13 PM ^
is a given. Particuarly given the dynamics involved. It is all good news.
February 28th, 2015 at 1:26 PM ^
Shouldn't be a surprise the defense is ahead of the offense after 2 practices.
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February 28th, 2015 at 1:31 PM ^
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February 28th, 2015 at 1:56 PM ^
but then I read the part about the defense taking it to the offense.
Why would that be surprising? The defense was pretty good last year while the offense was horrible, and now the offense has to find a new QB. I would expect the D to dominate right now.
February 28th, 2015 at 12:22 PM ^
Good to hear this from somebody other than Hoke. Now if we can just execute on gameday. "Well, we had a great week of practice..." Hope when we hear that again it means something.
February 28th, 2015 at 12:37 PM ^
I had completely forgotten about that "Well, we had a good week in practice" explanation. And for good reason.
February 28th, 2015 at 4:51 PM ^
The new coaching regime has opted for something called physicality. Different strokes for different folks.
February 28th, 2015 at 12:57 PM ^
February 28th, 2015 at 2:10 PM ^
February 28th, 2015 at 2:54 PM ^
February 28th, 2015 at 3:20 PM ^
which is why there was the controversy above. Besides the basic question of privacy and offending coaches of other schools, it makes sense that having his name (and his son's) in this public forum might have resulted in coaches being less willing to allow him into practice in the future.
February 28th, 2015 at 4:57 PM ^
February 28th, 2015 at 1:05 PM ^
1. Take all practice reports with a grain of salt
2. Believe I can't have nice things
3. expect 4th qtr meltdowns and be occasionally surprised
4. Profit????? (If i gambled)
February 28th, 2015 at 1:05 PM ^
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February 28th, 2015 at 1:29 PM ^
This assessment is falling in line with the report I saw on the facebook group Michigan Football HQ. This is not Brady Hoke's "we had a good week of practice" bull so let's drop that. This is Harbaugh's practices.... totally different animal.
February 28th, 2015 at 1:58 PM ^
Might as well be excited about these reports.
Still almost 6 months to wait and see it for real.
Can't wait!
February 28th, 2015 at 2:04 PM ^
I'm excited as hell for the Harbaugh era, but people were raving in 2008 about the tempo of RR's practices and how they were a welcome departure from the slower Lloyd days. Then they were raving about how much teaching took place in Hoke's practices in 2011 and how they were a welcome departure from the hurried RR days. Now they're raving about the tempo of Harbaugh's practices and how they're a welcome departure from the slower Hoke days. Pretty funny.
February 28th, 2015 at 2:12 PM ^
February 28th, 2015 at 3:50 PM ^
goes around!
I'm just more excited we got Harbaugh as our coach period! I'm sure his practices are great because he is a great coach. I'm willing to give Harbaugh a full 5 or 6 years to rebuild our program if necessary. I think people are going to be very surprised at how well he does in his first season. We may be talking B1G championship and playoffs come December. It would not surprise me, though going 8-4 with an upset win against MSU or OSU at home would be great!
February 28th, 2015 at 2:08 PM ^
February 28th, 2015 at 3:01 PM ^
February 28th, 2015 at 4:23 PM ^
February 28th, 2015 at 8:27 PM ^
until the morning of the Utah game. I think we have a long way to go but my guess is it will be a good battle between Morris, Speight and Malzone. Remember Bo made a surprise by picking Rick Leach over Junior Mark Elzinga who was the backup to Franklin the year before. If Malzone out performs Morris and Speight this spring and through the summer camp, Harbaugh will probably start him as a Freshman.