Spring Game Standouts: Peters, Black, Hudson, Another Glasgow
I guess I need to include a SPOILER ALERT for those who weren't able to watch the live stream. If for some reason you want the ending of the Spring Game to be a mystery, and yet you still are on this blog, stop reading now. The full game is airing right now on tape delay on BTN and will be replayed several times this week.
Brandon Peters was the best quarterback on the day. [Eric Upchurch]
For the second straight year, the Spring Game came down to the final play. Kyle Seychel's 31-yard field goal gave the Brandon Peters-led Maize team a 31-29 victory over the Speight/O-Korn-piloted Blue team.
Newsy bits first: Juwann Bushell-Beatty was among the players sitting out, so the starting O-line from left to right was Cole-Bredeson-Kugler-Onwenu-Runyan. The coaches shuffled that combination quite a bit throughout the day even before Runyan exited with an apparent leg injury—he walked off under his own power. The other injury on the day was to Eddie McDoom, who went down awkwardly on the sideline after a deep catch in the fourth quarter; he needed help from the trainers to get to the sideline, eventually was carted into the tunnel, and was spotted walking around without assistance.
Here are a few initial standouts from each side of the ball; we'll have much more this week after a re-watch.
OFFENSE
QB Brandon Peters. Peters had the best day of the quarterbacks, displaying good arm strength, touch on throws to all levels, and enough athleticism to repeatedly break the pocket and even scramble for a touchdown. While Peters had one ugly pick when he didn't see Brandon Watson waiting in the flat, Speight was worse in that regard. Caveats abound: it's one scrimmage and Peters got better protection from the line. That said, he looked like he could legitimately push Speight, especially if the incumbent starter doesn't clean up some of these sloppy mistakes.
RBs Karan Higdon and Ty Isaac. These two had the most complete days at running back, showing patience on impressive touchdown runs and breaking into the secondary multiple times. Chris Evans and Kareem Walker also looked good in less extended action; Evans looked bigger while still maintaining his ability to juke defenders in a phone booth, while Walker has an enticing combination of power and patience. There weren't always holes to hit, but when they were there, the backs made the most of them.
Tarik Black, not Donovan Peoples-Jones, had the best day of the freshman WRs. [Upchurch]
WRs Tarik Black and Nate Schoenle. Black dominated much of the second half, becoming John O'Korn's go-to guy on a touchdown drive in which he caught a fade over Benjamin St-Juste for a big gain, then beat St-Juste to the back corner to cap the drive. He managed to get over top of St-Juste on fly routes a couple times, and he provides a big target. Schoenle also had a couple long catches, including a ~50-yard throw from Peters that was perfectly executed on both ends. To stave off the inevitable questions, Donovan Peoples-Jones had a few short pickups on a relatively quiet day for him.
TEs Nick Eubanks and Zach Gentry. Gentry's inclusion here is based on one play, a long touchdown catch up the seam on a coverage bust; he's quite nimble for such a big dude. Eubanks had a more complete body of work, running a nice out route for a catch and nearly hauling in a deep throw from Peters on which he made a nice adjustment to the ball. Sean McKeon ended up with the most targets among the TE group but didn't get too much out of them.
OL Andrew Vastardis. I mostly have to punt on line play, as they shuffled around so much that it was tough to keep track of who was on the field from the press box. The right side of the starting line had a lot of trouble against the starting D-line—Chase Winovich and Rashan Gary dominated Runyan—but Vastardis stood out on the interior of the second unit, picking up a couple blitzes that were giving the other linemen trouble.
Devin Bush spent the afternoon in the backfield. [Bryan Fuller]
DEFENSE
The starting D-line. As expected, the Winovich-Hurst-Mone-Gary line gave the offensive line a lot of trouble. Gary was flat-out dominant, Hurst batted down a couple passes, Mone held strong on the interior, and Winovich got multiple pressures off the edge.
ILB Devin Bush. Bush looked unblockable on A-gap blitzes; it was pretty much an automatic sack when he rushed up the middle. He looked equally capable at both inside linebacker spots. "It's so nice when you have a young guy like that who can play two spots," said Don Brown. "You can ask some guys to do that and they'd look at you like 'are you kidding me?' But he handled it really with ease. He's a really good player."
VIPER Khaleke Hudson. The hype here isn't going to slow one bit after today. Hudson was everywhere on defense, looking like the heavy-hitting player we expected against the run and proving equally formidable in coverage, where he broke up a couple passes and nearly came up with an interception. As is his wont, he came inches away from a blocked punt, too.
CB Keith Washington. Washington held his own one-on-one against DPJ, limiting him to minimal YAC after a couple short completions. Noticeably bigger than last year, Washington also played well against the run, making at least one stop in the backfield after extending an outside run to the sideline.
S Jordan Glasgow. Surprise! A Glasgow might see the field. Josh Metellus was limited due to injury today, so Glasgow started at safety alongside Tyree Kinnel and looked very viable. He came up strong against the run, stringing out plays to the sideline and finishing them off, and he undercut a (terrible) pass from Speight for a 100-yard pick-six in the second half.
SPECIAL TEAMS
K Quinn Nordin. There shouldn't be a kicking controversy this year if today's admittedly limited sample was any indication. Nordin booted a 48-yard field goal that would've been good from 60+, an impressive kick even with the wind at his back, and he was also strong on kickoffs.
Agreed. I was unnaturally excited for him when he committed and have looked for him to step up and be part of the CB rotation. Of course with Lewis, Clark, and Stribling there was no need for him to play. But if Washington can be part of the conversation, that would be awesome.
April 15th, 2017 at 10:41 PM ^
But it's great for the coaches and players to get on the field and see how everyone looks even this early. A lot of promising and less than promising performances but can't make too much of it. Takeaway is that there's a lot of young talent on this team. Oh and Peters might be the real deal.
GO BLUE!!
April 15th, 2017 at 10:44 PM ^
April 15th, 2017 at 10:48 PM ^
Throws a nice catchable ball.
April 16th, 2017 at 12:21 AM ^
Kovacs + Glasgow = Jordan Glasglow?
April 16th, 2017 at 10:52 AM ^
Kovacs and Messener; two of my all time favorites. Getting ready to watch game again. Think are defense is going to be great but let's see who are Qb is going to be. We have the right guy to evaluate QB's and get the right guy ready. I think Peters has the highest ceiling.
In 2018 that'll happen. We'll have enough OL to get him over to DL when Hurst & other players leave
I love it when people with real knowledge of the program come around to my completely un-insider opinions. I've said Onwenu should be a NT since he was still a recruit (best ultimate fit for Michigan, and for a better shot to be a high draft pick).
Some on here are so enamored of the idea of having a massive OL that I generally get a few negs when I say this - but dudes that size can thrive at NT (Vince Wilfork, etc) without people constantly ragging them to lose weight. Guys with that type of power can be Top 10 draft picks (go back the past 6-7 drafts, count the OG taken 1st round, much less top 20). Few and far between...
Well, the other two drums I've been beating have gained a few supporters over the past several practices/game - Cole to LT, Peters to start at QB.
Let's you and I keep banging the Onwenu to NT drum together!
Glad to be in such illustrious company!
April 16th, 2017 at 10:28 PM ^
Screen behind LOS to Evans complete 1-1
Quick out to McKeon off his hands incomplete 1-2
Intentionally threw ball out of bounds 1-3
Under thrown to McKeon complete 2-4
Intentionally threw ball out of bounds 2-5
Threw behind McKeon on slant incomplete 2-6
Speight to Black complete 3-7
Speight sacked
Intentionally threw ball out of bounds 3-8
Speight sacked
Under thrown to Black incomplete 3-9
Intentionally grounds ball under pressure 3-10
Speight to DPJ dropped 3-11
Complete to McKeon short gain 4-12
Complete to DPJ short gain 5-13
Complete to DPJ short gain 6-14
Incomplete knocked down 6-15
Free play over thrown
Over thrown to an open DPJ 6-16
Short pass to Black complete 7-17
Speight interception into coverage 7-18
Speight to Hill short pass 8-19
Almost picked into coverage DB Hudson should have caught it 8-20
Short Curl to 29 complete 9-21
Speight incomplete should have been sacked in a real game 9-22
Pass to Black over thrown in end zone 9-23
Speight sacked
Halftime
Speight over thrown screen to Higdon 9-24
Incomplete to McDoom over the middle off hands 9-25
Speight under thrown to DPJ, pass interference
Speight interception to Glasgow 103 yard TD return 9-26
9-26, 78 yards, 2 Int 0 TD
April 16th, 2017 at 12:41 PM ^
With a lot of people about his throwing motion. I think it becomes more glaring the more and more snaps Speight gets. He just doesn't have any raw velocity on his throw. Yeah I get it, some QBs have made it work with an unnatural motion.
But it's not really rocket science. With any throwing motion, throwing with a push-sidearm motion is cutting down on the sheer velocity you are getting on the ball.
To this point, if you watched him closely during pre-game warm-ups last year, he really has to get his feet planted and get his whole body into it to make a deep throw downfield. You should always plant your feet and use your legs, but in real games sometimes you have to be able to flick it while on the run or off-balance.
O'korn and Peters both have far better arms, they also are both more mobile. Speight's accuracy is also spotty. What does that leave? He has very good pocket awareness and presumabaly did better at reading defenses. Those are both hugely important, but he is up against it, lacking the other skills. Brady had these two skills plus was highly accurate.
McDoom in a boot for the ankle. Runyan sore, but okay per the players and not the coaches. Nothing serious.
Thank you for your service.
April 16th, 2017 at 11:30 AM ^
loads of talented football player's. Once the offensive line is set and staying healthy the team will be in every game as the expectation will be from here on under coach Harbaugh.
April 16th, 2017 at 11:51 AM ^
I think you ever so slightly overstated Speight's abilities in an effort to be nice. As a QB he's fine, if "fine" is good enough for you, but damn good player?
I can't go there
Speight looked terrible. Really disappointed in his play yesterday. I hope he learns from this and is motivated to work hard this summer, otherwise I'd be happy to see Peters jump him on the depth chart.
We know what Speight is capable of, but it does appear that he struggles if he does not have that extra half-second of protection that Peters didn't seem to need to be effective.
Speight is a big guy, he has a bit of a long wind up that takes some time. The time he needs to take the snap, makes his read(s), wind up, and release the ball requires an O-Line that is hitting on all cylinders.
Not sure we are going to have that this year. We could see a lot of bad Speight.
I hate when people over-react and want to jump to the second string QB . . . but, um,.could we see some more of that second string QB?
I agree and share the concern that our O-Line will not be giving much time to Speight to drop back in the pocket, which usually means Speight making bad decisions when he has to improvise under pressure. At least with an athletic quarterback they can scramble and turn a broken play into a first down.
I'm trying not to over-react based off one bad day for Speight, but man, he's got some work to do before this fall.
We all know that the Glasgows finish their Michigan careers on scholarship, but has one ever started here on scholarship?
If not, it's time to cut to the inevitable chase for the next one.
And you know there will be a next one.
When Glasgow was returning that pick 6 yesterday, I had about 13 seconds to wonder how many more boys they have in that family, and hope it's about 5 more!!!
And in answer to your question, all 3 started as walk-ons. Amazing story, huh?!
You would think that by the third Glasgow brother the Michigan coaches would know how this is going to end and get to the point.
Also, the Glasgow parents are probably getting tired of paying all that tuition for three years.
With any attrition, Jordan is in line for the first scholarship.
April 16th, 2017 at 11:44 PM ^
Makes sense...he's in the 2 deep at 2 different positions.
I would think Robo would be next after him.
April 16th, 2017 at 11:11 PM ^
Yes, and we do and we will.
April 16th, 2017 at 11:48 PM ^
Harbaugh's philosophy about throwing motion is that it doesn't matter what it looks like as long as you can throw it well and as long as the elbow is above the shoulder. He favors good natural athletes for whom throwing a ball accurately is natural. Therefore he doesn't like to tinker too much with however a guy likes to throw it. Peters can spin it and it's in the expact right spot consistently. His arm talent is definitely better than Wilton's. He threw some ropes on Saturday that I think Wilton might not be capable of.
April 16th, 2017 at 11:49 PM ^
I think Wilton will end us as starter but if he does not have a good season than Peters will probably pass over Wilton as starter in 2018. Ideally I would want Wilton to improve and be an all B1G starter his last 2 seasons and then have Peters start for 2 years in 2019 and 2020.
April 16th, 2017 at 11:56 PM ^
GO BLUE!!
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