Brady Hoke B1G Presser Notes Comment Count

Tim

A recap of Brady Hoke's time in front of the cameras (and also off-camera media questions) at Big Ten Media Days today.

It's humbling to represent Michigan in the greatest conference in the country. It's the Wolverines' 132nd year of football. "I don't think we're rebuilding. Period." The players understand what Michigan means, and the team doesn't put stock into a rebuilding year.

The players are doing what they've been asked, but the team is still a long way from where we need to be. How you go through camp (attitude, toughness, discipline, accountability) will lead to how the team performs.

The expectation is always that seniors will lead the team. Fall camp is "funnest time of the year." Hoke thinks the guys will show up on August 8th in shape to play.

Fortunate at Michigan to have several great rivalries. "The rivalry with Ohio is as big a rivalry as there is in the sport." If you don't get excited for that game "you may not be human." Hoke says the team understands the importance of that game, and they talk about it all year. OSU is not a wounded team right now. They're a tremendous program with great tradition. Michigan has 42 B10 championships. "When you have schools that have those legacies, I don't see anybody as wounded." It doesn't diminish the rivalry that both teams have taken reputation hits recently.

Hoke is excited for Denard's potential in the offense. He's done a tremendous job so far, and ran the same offense in high school that he'll be running now. The mechanics of taking snap, play action, etc. is not new to him. Borges has done a tremendous job with him.

"We're smart enough to have elements that he does well from what he did in the past in the spread in our offense." They'll adjust the proportion of spread and pro-style elements in the offense depending on how the team executes in fall camp. They still need to worry about finding a tailback, which should happen within the first 2-3 weeks of the fall.

Why would you worry about changing schemes, when they were so successful last season? "Two sides of the ball in the game of football." As a defensive coach, when you play against a pro-style offense in practice, you build a toughness. This is a physical league, and you need to stop physical offenses.

The excitement of adding Nebraska's tradition, adding a championship game, brings even more fanaticism for the Big Ten conference. Even if it means playing OSU twice? "That game always needs to be played the last week in November. That's tradition. I think there are certain traditions you don't mess with." If you happen to play them twice in a row, so be it. It happens in other sports all the time.

Mattison doesn't just bring X and O benefits. Knowledge, teaching. "That's first and foremost: you've gotta be a tremendous teacher." There's a scheme knowledge that is good, but it's the relationships with 18-23yo kids, and motivation skills all tremendous. If the staff or head coach aren't thinking of the best interest of the kids, they aren't doing a good job.

Hasn't made decision on Stonum. There's no timeframe for making a decision, and he's not worried about team chemistry in waiting to see if Darryl does all the right things to earn his place back on the team. Redshirting this season is possible, but there's too much that can happen in between to be thinking about that.

As for other wideouts, Junior [Hemingway] and Jerald [Robinson] have done a nice job. Odoms "brings a lot of life to us." Presents problems in the slot.

Mike Martin, Ryan Van Bergen, and Will Campbell have worked hard this summer, along with Craig Roh. The seniors are "doing the things that seniors should do."

JT Floyd should be healthy enough to practice right away.

Recruiting: "This might sounds arrogant, but if it is, it is: We're Michigan." Great history, tremendous staff. lifeblood of a program is the guys who come in. Wants toughness, team players, etc. The coaches out on the road do a great job, but Michigan sells itself.

Recruiting is going well, but Signing Day is still a long way away. "We've got 5 or 6 left that we need to be a little picky about." They'll probably sign more than 25 prospects. Recruiting is strong in Ohio, but it's always been like that. Possibly started with Bo Schembechler's roots in Ohio.

Big House night game. "We're looking toward September 3rd first and foremost." First night game with a rival, but the place is going to be jumping with excitement, looking forward to it.

On Kellen Jones: "He's just not enrolled in school." There are no other players that he knows of who won't be on the roster this fall.

Hoke got a bit of time off, but he wasn't able to "turn off" coach mode. He has 115 sons to worry about every day.

Closes with "Thank you, and Go Blue."

Comments

bubblelevel

July 28th, 2011 at 2:41 PM ^

Loves where he's at and it shows.  Have a feeling he will enjoy/relish that first game more than anyone in the stadium that day.  If he had a tail it would be wagging.

 

 

turtleboy

July 28th, 2011 at 2:37 PM ^

in Jerald Robinson. Next year we can count on Roundtree, Robinson, Dileo, and our TEs to carry the load. We could use another deep threat in the 2012 class to round out the group, but our receiving depth could be servicable next year. 

redhousewolverine

July 28th, 2011 at 4:12 PM ^

I concur it is good to hear about J Robinson. I have been concerned about the WR situation looking to the 2012 and 2013 season (ya still far away). Knowing that J Robinson has been taking the steps to improve and establish himself as a good receiver will go a long way to shoring up the WR spot after Roundtree and Stokes graduate. 

WojoRisin

July 28th, 2011 at 2:59 PM ^

I'd feel a lot better about some of these comments (On not rebuilding and recruiting "We're Michigan.") if he were coming off a successful season. While it's great Hoke is confident in his team and proud of Michigan as a whole, not a single game has been won or lost. Ultimately you prove you're "Michigan" on the field, not in rah-rah pressers.

734mgoblue

July 28th, 2011 at 9:20 PM ^

With this being my first post, I have to add that I started reading the blog 3 weeks ago and cant get enough of it!

I loved his comment about Michigan not being in a rebuilding year. Michigan players, coaches, fanbase, and recruits expect the best...

No slam to RR, but it does take a coaching staff that brings more than the "X and O benefits"... which is why I think we are seeing a strong recruiting class and happier fan base in a short amount of time!

Call me crazy, I dont see anyone breaking his determination, I think he will have a successful year!

 

WojoRisin

July 28th, 2011 at 3:45 PM ^

I read it before it was posted on here just as I read the live updates from Angelique on twitter. I'm happy that Coach Hoke points that out. I just wish some fans would keep that in mind as well. Again, what I posted is my opinion about what I would be most comfortable with. While I realize it's not popular opinion here, I felt it could add to the discussion. 

M-Wolverine

July 28th, 2011 at 3:38 PM ^

"I was left with a mess, we'll be lucky to win as many games as we did last year, Michigan isn't what it used to be, and please some recruit come to our craptacular program, pretty please??"
<br>
<br>Yeah, that attitude will make us much better.

WojoRisin

July 28th, 2011 at 3:58 PM ^

Woah, when did I say that? Please point out where in my post it says he should have been downright negative.



I would have preferred something like this, "No, I don't think we're rebuilding. When you're at Michigan you've always got to have high expectations. I think we have a lot of talent on this team in all three phases of the game. Anytime you change systems though, there are going to be bumps in the road. From what I've seen so far, our kids are doing a great job and will continue doing a great job."



On recruiting, "Michigan definitely gives you certain advantages in recruiting. With our tradition, our facilities, our great academics, and our tremendous fan base we've got a lot to offer. We've got some tremendous student atheltes committed to play for us, and will continue working to bring in kids that will make Michigan proud."

M-Wolverine

July 28th, 2011 at 4:14 PM ^

But believing your Michigan and a winner is part of becoming one. Advertising "well, maybe, we'll be good, eventually" isn't what you draw upon when you need it. We've folded too often recently. We need to know when times are tough, they can be overcome.
<br>
<br>"Tradition is something you can't bottle.You can't buy it at the corner store. But it is there to sustain you when you need it most.I've called upon it time and time again. And so have countless other Michigan athletes and coaches. There is nothing like it. I hope it never dies."
<br>-Fritz Crisler
<br>

WojoRisin

July 28th, 2011 at 4:28 PM ^

Great quote. I'm still not sure where you're getting "well, maybe, we'll be good, eventually" from what I said. I said nothing of folding. In my preferred quotes I called out tradition. I'll agree to disagree and keep supporting Michigan the same way I always have.

cigol

July 28th, 2011 at 7:43 PM ^

Enter RR:  We had just beaten Florida sandwiched between 2 national championships.  Prior to that, we went to two rose bowls. 

Enter Hoke: We just lost by 35 points to a middle of the road SEC team and got absolutely steam rolled by the big 10 elite.  In addition, Purdue, Indiana, and Illinois are our Big 10 peers.

You can have your opinion, but don't say that you dont think it's even debatable.

wolverine1987

July 29th, 2011 at 9:11 AM ^

about the talent available to a new coach taking over our program. I do think the talent we have this year is far superior to the talent on the team in '08. certainly on offense, it's far superior to what we had then.

michgoblue

July 28th, 2011 at 8:25 PM ^

Are you kidding? When RR get here we had just beaten Florida in a bowl game, had a future NFL first round pick as qb. Has brown and minor as RB. Had a bunch of good wideOuts. And, generally had a roster filled with 4 star talent. We are still a big name.
<br>
<br>Now we are coming off of 3 embarrassing years, with violations, a blowout to MSU (bowl), owned by MSU and OSU, and generally not in a good place.
<br>
<br>

wolverine1987

July 29th, 2011 at 6:44 PM ^

You are incorrect in all areas. We had average wideouts, walk on QB's, and only one talented RB who was always injured. And a TERRIBLE offensive line that started a guard who has switched over from defense two weeks earlier. The offensive talent was by our standards, awful. 

wenttoosubutbl…

July 28th, 2011 at 5:49 PM ^

Not knowing Michigan's tradition and not having the kahunas to say" Michigan sells itself" because of the tradition and tough man-ball is what RR did. In fact he did just the opposite- he mumbled about "....need time to adjust to the system" and "...the Michigan name no longer sells the top tier recruits...". Remember how that worked out for us??????

If you've forgotten just ask Toledo how fearful of Michigan they were or any other team during RR's tenure for that matter.

Thank God we have a coach now that knows Michigan football, that we are the winningest team in 1-A history, what got us the wins (tough hard-nosed football but not fearing to take risks offensively). And thank God that that new coach of ours inspires the team and is restoring the confidence and tradition.

Charlie Chunk

July 28th, 2011 at 7:57 PM ^

He's not a pretender, he's the real deal and don't be afraid of that.  You want a confident leader at the helm.  Do you want a guy that stands there and waits for his team to deliver?  No...you want a leader to inspire confidence to carry your program forward.

Sheepish is not a good trait for a coach.  Hoke is the man!  He knows what he's doing!!!  Go Blue!!!

The FannMan

July 28th, 2011 at 3:01 PM ^

This man has gone to the Carr School of Media Management.  Always keep talking, never actually answer a question and use the word "tremendous" a lot.  

This is NOT a criticism.  This is how the media, especailly the Detroit media, has to be handled.  In fact, I think Coach Hoke did a tremendous job.

MichiganMan24

July 28th, 2011 at 3:03 PM ^

in his comment that we would "probably sign more than 25 prospects". I was under the impression that the biggest class we could sign was 26. Is that still the case?

J. Lichty

July 28th, 2011 at 4:40 PM ^

so long as there is room for them in the 85 limit and three of them are early enrollees so that only 25 new scholarship players enroll for the 2012 fall term.

Right now we only have room for 22 total.  That means some combination of 4 tranfers, 5th year seniors not being asked back or medical scholarships need to occur before next season to permit 26 signees to be eligible to play in fall 2012 (and one of those must enroll early)

 

blueguard5

July 28th, 2011 at 3:29 PM ^

Wish I could've watched it.... I love the "This might sound arrogant, but if it is, it is: We're Michigan"

Not only did Denard run a similar offense in high school, he works his tail off as others have mentioned. I'm really pumped to see the offense in action.

 

Still skeptical about the defense... I mean, they can't really go anywhere but up, but it's hard to say how much they will improve...too many variables....

ND Sux

July 29th, 2011 at 8:12 AM ^

first off, welcome! 

Nobody can blame you for being skeptical after what we saw last year on D, BUT never underestimate the power of strong leadership, especially when applied to young, impressionable men.  I think the D is going to jump 40-50 spots nationally. 

dahblue

July 28th, 2011 at 4:15 PM ^

I don't think this deserves its own thread, so I'll toss it here:

 

 angelique 
 

Can Delany get a show cause?  Michigan's NCAA issue was embarrassing and we paid a price.  Tressel might be paying a price (albeit a lower one than before OSU decided to reverse his financial penalty).  But...OSU isn't really paying any price other than losing their coach if the NCAA accepts their self-wrist-slap.  Now, I don't think that'll happen, but WTF Delany?  You lobbied the NCAA to postpone the ban on OSU players so they could win a BCS game, and the coach who lied to assist in that farce made "a mistake"?

I'm no RR lover (as folks here know), but what he did wasn't a purposeful, ongoing flaunting of the rules.  RR's violations were, in my opinion, minor and a result of sloppiness.  Tressel's violations were purposeful and for the B1G Commish to say the price has been paid; that's terrible.  OSU was not embarrassing?  Shit...Delany is embarrassing.

msoccer10

July 28th, 2011 at 5:02 PM ^

was complicit and he doesn't want to see OSU get hammered because he thinks it will hurt the Big Ten conference. That being said, he is wrong to assist or enable OSU's discretions. Programs can be rebuilt but integrity and a reputation are harder to recover once you've proven you are willing to cheat. And I don't want the Big Ten to act like the SEC.

Hopefully he just means Tressel paid the price and OSU will face their own additional penalties, but I doubt it.

On the other hand, our NCAA violations were embarrasing

Mengin06

July 28th, 2011 at 5:16 PM ^

"This might sounds arrogant, but if it is, it is: We're Michigan."

I'm liking this guy more every day. I hope he's successful in instilling that swagger attitude into all of the players

ND Sux

July 29th, 2011 at 8:18 AM ^

you're new, but Hoke's pointing habit is legendary in these parts.  Stick around and you'll see it referenced a bazillion times every week.  Hoke points and shit melts down without a fight...it simply has no other option.