Spring Game Standouts: Peters, Black, Hudson, Another Glasgow Comment Count

Ace

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.

Comments

Lou MacAdoo

April 16th, 2017 at 3:09 PM ^

I remember reading a couple years ago that Brian Kelly hadn't had the same starting qb to start the season two years in a row since he started coaching D1. He's always had great offenses, well except for last year, and he truly has a meritocracy at that position. I like it, but historically it's not really the way things have been at Michigan. I trust Harbaugh will make the right decision though. It should be an interesting fall camp this year.

Mr. Yost

April 15th, 2017 at 5:39 PM ^

How were the teams broken up?

What was the point of a draft if it seems like it was a lot of 1's v 1's. Did they only draft certain positions?

(Yes, I've been under a rock, I just can't get into the Spring Game previews too much)

turtleboy

April 15th, 2017 at 9:19 PM ^

Ruiz is our center of the future, so they'll want him to play, but I wouldn't be surprised if kugler starts this year as the "safer" option. He'll be better at reading defenses, he knows the offense better, and has even more experience snapping. Ruiz will play, but IMHO it should be at guard as a tyre freshman, or as backup center in limited snaps, or both.

MichiganMan14

April 15th, 2017 at 9:44 PM ^

Had the priveledge of meeting a bunch of them and their a truly impressive bunch. This group is as athletic as any in the country. Michigan will play at a different speed than they have in many years. Cannot wait for it.

Tyrone Biggums

April 15th, 2017 at 5:44 PM ^

Yes, the team looks super athletic! The size/speed of the team is pretty impressive. Once this team gels and gets some experience they could be tremendously explosive on both sides of the ball.

stephenrjking

April 15th, 2017 at 5:50 PM ^

I was a Peters skeptic, but I think there's no way there isn't some kind of QB controversy now. At least, not until we see the guys take the field against Florida. Even if this is just Speight getting the yips (wasn't there some chatter that he was looking rough in practice this week?) it's worrying that he's getting the yips at all. I was expecting to be excited by DPJ, but he didn't get to produce much. Tarik Black, though, hello. That back shoulder fade O'Korn threw to him that he jumped and caught? He was a little rough-looking and it was still a great play, and he's just starting. Imagine where he can go from here. Youthful promise all over the roster. Good thing, because most of them need to play.

alum96

April 15th, 2017 at 7:57 PM ^

Black went to 1 of the same all star HS games that DPJ went to and that's where he seemed to really catch fire and some word he impressed more than DPJ at said game's practices.  He just might be a gamer.  That said until the actual game DPJ seemed to be get glowing reports albeit sounded like he got dinged up in the past week.

I was sad to see Harris again unable to play.  I think UMBig said a week ago he was poised to do some things but the guy can't seem to put together 2 weeks of practice in a healthy state.

victors2000

April 15th, 2017 at 11:38 PM ^

or perhaps the Blue O-line wasn't picked so well because often times Wilton did not have a lot of time to throw; had this been full contact his jersey would have been quite dirty and he might have had another shoulder injury. He does have some things to clean up but it was a tough start for him. Peters did play well though, when the time comes he's going to be very good.

enlightenedbum

April 15th, 2017 at 6:03 PM ^

One guy who Ace didn't mention who I thought was noticeable in a good way was Carlo Kemp.  Showed some flashes and looked like a viable backup, which is something we were hoping for.  Caveat that our OTs didn't look very good, which remains the major concern.

M-Dog

April 16th, 2017 at 3:02 PM ^

If what people said earlier in this thread is true - that both QB's had essentially the same OL against the same DL - then Peters looked better under live fire.

There is more to the story than a simulated game, but clearly Peters has shown something.

Harbaugh is not an entitlement guy.  If Speight and Peters perform in fall practice like they did today, Peters will win the job.

None of us thought that Speight would win the job last year, but Harbaugh did exactly what he said he was going to do . . . roll the footballs out there and see who wins the job.

 

Indiana Blue

April 17th, 2017 at 10:07 AM ^

but he had the poise, WS panicked.  Peters found receivers and threw strikes, WS was 30% for the game and zero tough throws (the one scramble throw was so bad that a wide open receiver had to dive just to make the catch - should have been a 60 yard TD).  Peters also saw a huge opening and left the pocket for a 20 yard TD run, that WS wouldnt have tried.

Speight is NOT the same QB as he was mid season last year.  If he was injured last year - it is still nagging him.  He looked awful - just no debate on his peformance on Saturday.  As of now Peters is solidly our best QB on the field.  I think some people forget the WS had a horrendous finish to the season last year.  Time to move on. 

Go Blue!

RainbowSprings

April 15th, 2017 at 6:17 PM ^

But last year at this time, most thought O'Korn was the clear-cut starter, and everyone else was contending for second place. That clearly never happened for JOK.

The only unofficial stats I heard were Speight was something like 7 of 24 for 70-ish yards. Would have expected much better from an experienced returning starter. Let's hope this was an anomaly for Wilton.

Franz Schubert

April 15th, 2017 at 6:18 PM ^

Peters is more talented. Better arm, more touch, and faster. Play the more talented player and you raise the ceiling of your program. Speight was bad last year against the better teams on the schedule. The difference in winning and losing is many times the QB making plays, like the throw Peters made on the final drive today.

reshp1

April 15th, 2017 at 6:47 PM ^

Knowing the play book, including all the contingencies, reading defenses where they are trying to disguise coverages and blitzs doesn't really show up in spring game because both sides are so vanilla. Those are the traits Speight should have over Peters. That said, it's entirely possible Peters makes up that ground by fall.

stephenrjking

April 15th, 2017 at 9:36 PM ^

There are quite a few quarterbacks in the NFL with "more talent" than Tom Brady, after all. But guys like Jay Cutler can't even find a job, because there's a lot more to the game than talent.

The hope is that the solid QB coaching we assume is taking place will equip Peters mentally and instinctively as well as physically.

Certainly looks like there's good progress there.

Huzilla

April 15th, 2017 at 7:53 PM ^

I probably wouldn't be in the Peters bandwagon after one outing but it seems more substantive of a battle coming from umbig11. One thing for sure, is that the standard for Michigan QB has certainly been raised. Don't forget that just two spring games ago the QB battle was Morris vs Malzone, waiting Rudock. Morris is now gone to Central and Malzone was missing this game. So, a lot can change. Even if Speight starts against Florida, he's not guaranteed the job for the duration of his time at Michigan. That's for sure...

enlightenedbum

April 15th, 2017 at 6:07 PM ^

I said after last year's spring game that Peters was clearly the most talented of the four and I stand by that.  The late throw to set up the winning field goal was impressive.

But the INT he threw was an atrocious decision.  I'd like to see him get some mop up duty and then be a three year starter.  He's going to be real good his last two years here.