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Brian

The Big Ten Network stopped by a Michigan practice and did their usual suite of impressions that may or may not mean anything. They totally could mean something and it's the preseason so you'll jump on the barest morsel of information, so here they are.

This year the quantity and quality of the observations are significantly reduced, FWIW. Last year there was a fourth guy (Griffith, I think) tweeting stuff and it seemed like they got more information out of it. UPDATE: Okay, Griffith was there. He updated later than everyone else; I've added them in.

Non-Informational

Along with a shot of the new "The Team The Team The Team" entrance, Brent Yarina provides this shot of another portion of the hallway:

michigan-natlchamps

The crew also hit up Maize and Blue Deli but did not spawn a war on the message board by expressing a preference for it over Zingerman's.

Players Of Note

Dave Revsine Robinson is the one guy who can beat you. D Gardner is also really impressive. D Morgan, Q Washington stood out among young defenders.

4 hours ago Favorite Retweet

Hurrah positive Quinton Washington mention. Also, leave Desmond Morgan alone: he is not a fullback yet.

Gerry DiNardo UM Prac - Good day today Smith,Gallon,Cox,Countess,Grady,Shaw,Wilkins,Ash,Black,Schofield , Washington,Lewan,Watson,Koger,Eddins

Okay, that's like half the team, including Steve Watson—who is never going to play—doghouse member Kenny Wilkins, and walk-on (and not even the hyped walk-on) Chris Eddins. At least you see Washington there too.

Howard Griffith@BTN_Michigan Other freshman that will see playing time CB Blake Countess, CB Raymon Taylor, LB Desmond Morgan, DE Brennen Beyer

5 hours ago Favorite Retweet Reply

There Is No Running Back

Dave Revsine Borges said he hasn't had a clear stand-out at RB. Wants to try to find one - but he hasn't emerged. Lots of options there, though.

Gerry DiNardo UM Practice - No veteran running back has really separated himself from the pack. Rawls has had a great camp and may be in the mix.

Howard Griffith@BTN_Michigan RB's haven't separated them self from the pack Smith, Shaw,Cox, Toussaint, but an keep & eye on Rawls. #GoBlue

Fluffy Bits

Dave Revsine Mattison talked about decision to leave Ravens - said he loves developing kids - taking them from freshman yr to making the NFL.

Dave Revsine Just leaving Michigan practice. The staff is really impressive - a lot of teaching and a lot of feedback in the practice.

Pro Style Transition Promises And Fear

Dave Revsine Borges made it clear he is going to try to utilize all of D Robinson's skills - even if it means running stuff that he doesn't typically run

Gerry DiNardo UM Prac -Integrating two different off may be much more difficult than I first thought. It's will be a challenge and interesting to watch

That's ominous. Grab-baggin' it?

Gerry DiNardo UM Prac - Regardless of what the Michigan O will look like Denard looks like a vet and has great body language. He was a lot of fun on set

Gerry DiNardo Doesn't Actually Watch Football Games

Gerry DiNardo UM Prac-Teams in the B1G that run the ball the best do a certain blocking drill. UM did it today - entire team playing with better leverage

This isn't entirely clear but his previous tweet is about how practice is very different so the implication is that Michigan did not do this blocking drill a year ago. Michigan led the league in YPC one year ago even though they played with turrible leverage and ran like 70% of the time.

UPDATE: there's a story that makes this clear, with Griffith talking about this same mysterious drill:

"One of the things I hadn’t seen in a (Michigan) practice recently is when you see one of the best running teams in the league and the drills they do; I saw those drills at Michigan. That’s an indication they’re going in the right direction.”

This quote will be fun when Michigan's YPC drops by a yard this year. I mean, no one thinks Rodriguez didn't need to go but the least you can give the guy is he knows how to put together a rushing offense.

Gerry DiNardo Puts Together Lists Of Words

Gerry DiNardo UM Prac - Defense will improve significantly - because of offense scheme, coaching emphasis, simplicity, different packages, and pressure.

So, that's everything. Including "offensive scheme." Also including both "simplicity" and "different packages." I wouldn't be surprised if DiNardo believes that few possessions == good defense. He is very old and a terrible football coach. It seems like DiNardo hated Rodriguez; before he even got to practice he was talking about how you have to run the I-form to play defense.

Por ejemplo:

Gerry DiNardo UM Prac- No surprise prac was much different than recent past.More emphasis on Kick Game (Brady coached it),emphasis on D (Brady coached it)

Our defensive head coach coached the defense. Last year our offensive head coach coached the offense. This year Brady Hoke, who knows jack about kicking, is looking at the people kicking the ball.

WTF, Gerry DiNardo?

Gerry DiNardo UM Prac-defending I form w/o a dynamic TB & no designed QB run plays is a problem.OSU has done it the last 3 yrs. & struggled vs the best D.

Either DiNardo meant "O" at the end or he meant "running" at the beginning. It seems like the former from the context, which means he thinks Michigan running the I-Form is dumb, except it makes the defense better… except it makes the offense worse… this is how you have a losing record at LSU.

Comments

jmblue

August 19th, 2011 at 3:44 PM ^

This quote will be fun when Michigan's YPC drops by a yard this year.

Come on Brian, pull it together. No one knows what's going to happen.

OysterMonkey

August 19th, 2011 at 4:11 PM ^

"Our defensive head coach coached the defense. Last year our offensive head coach coached the offense. This year Brady Hoke, who knows jack about kicking, is looking at the people kicking the ball."

I usually try to stay out of the RR v. Hoke pissing matches, but what makes you say this emboldened part? Hoke's teams were decent to good at kicking at both SDSU and Ball St. By my math they had a FG% of 73% (79% under 40 yards) over the last seven years. Maybe he had nothing to do with it, but just because he's a defensive coach doesn't mean he has no interest in (or knowledge about) the other facets of the game.

Blue in Yarmouth

August 22nd, 2011 at 8:37 AM ^

and say that most coaches who have coached their entire career on the defensive side of the ball no jack about kicking and the mechanics thereof.Are we just trying to pick fights now?? Give it a rest already. We are on the verge of a very exciting time for UM football, let's concentrate on that instead of slinging mud at eachother all the time. 

Also, just for your benefit, I have seen qoutes from Hoke on numerous occasions where he freely admits to knowing nothing about kicking the football, so there's that as well.

Franz Schubert

August 19th, 2011 at 6:44 PM ^

Dinardo also tweeted that the Michigan defense was improved, played with better leverage  and would be top half of the Big Ten defensively! Ill take that all day!!

NoMoPincherBug

August 19th, 2011 at 7:37 PM ^

Caught that one too... and I dont get it... as if Fkin Tony Gibson knew a lot about kicking....?

I love this blog, especially the right side where people post links of interest... but damed if the owner of the blog doesnt constantly use it as his pulpit to diss Coach Hoke in some way or another... it is getting pretty old.

One thing that I would bet everything I own on:  Coach Hoke's tenure at Michigan will end up being FAR better than Rich Rod's....and this will have nothing to do with phantom conspiracies such as "more support" or "cupboard was bare in 08" blah blah blah...  one coach understands how to utilize the awesome resources that Michigan provides him...the other did not.

and who gives a crap about YPC when the team was 6-18 BT the past 3 years?  well one guy does... cough