News Bullets:

• Kevin Koger forgot to remove the tags from his pants.

David Molk

David Molk (mini-Hoke?), from yesterday

What are your thoughts on being a captain? "It's a great honor. It's something that I didn't really understand when I got here, but once I became a Wolverine I knew it was something I wanted."

What makes this special? "When you walk in, you go through the building, and you see that big wall of all the old captains. Those guys are always well-respected. They've done great things in and out of football. It's a good group to be a part of, and it's something I knew I wanted to be a part of."

What are your specific responsibilities? "I guess you have more responsibility than being a normal player, but then again I'm not a coach. I don't make decisions. It's just being there for your team when you're on the run on the fly on the field in the game." (on the tail of the frog on the bump on the branch on the log in the hole in the bottom of the sea.)

What's the excitement like this week? "It's great. It's been a long time since I've played a game, and I love every single first game. It's an experience that's unmatched by anything else, and I can't wait to play again."

What will fans see for Brady Hoke's first game? "A new team? A new season? It's going to be a lot of fun."

Taylor Lewan said last week that you're a quiet leader. Do you ever become outspoken, and when would that be? (looks offended) "He says that I'm a quiet leader?" Yeah...? "Really? I think that might have been sarcasm. I'm usually a pretty outspoken leader. Whenever there's a point in time where someone needs to speak to the team as a whole, I'm always that guy."

How would you describe Brady Hoke as a coach? "He's just a great guy. Sometimes coaches are standoffish or kind of hard to approach, but Coach Hoke's not like that at all. He's just a great guy that you put your arm around and say, 'Hey, how ya doin?' "

Is Denard still dangerous in this offense? "A player that's that good can be dangerous in any offense. He still has the ability to kind of get out, run around ... he's going to do his thing this season."

Do you guys get as excited for Western as you would for, say, Ohio State? "It could be anyone. It could be some D-III school and I'd still love it. It's just playing someone else. EVeryday you go into practice, I block Mike, and I go up to a linebacker I've seen a hundred times -- a thousand times -- it's just good to see someone else."

Talk a bit about Shaw and Toussaint. "They each have their attributes of who they are as a runner, and they run (with) different sytles. Shaw is more of a bounce-around-you kind of guy. Fitz will hit you a little bit. Both are great players."

Is it hard to alternate shotgun and under-center snaps so much? "It really doesn't make a difference. I could see a younger guy getting flustered, but it's nothing new."

Western has no idea what you're going to do. Is that an advantage? "I guess so. Me and some of the other guys were talking about it, thinking, 'Who are they going to look at for film?' You can't look at last year, because we're totally different. We're a different offense, we're a different defense. I guess it does give us an advantage, but at the same time what matters in the game is what you do on the field. That's what counts."

What's it like with Barnum starting on the O-line? "It's good. I've played with Ricky before. There was a couple times that Schill wasn't in there, and Ricky just kind of fit in. He listens if I turn and correct him on something. He'll just listen and go up ... and that's what makes him a great player."

Did you watch any film on the 2009 UM vs Western game? (looks incredulous) "The 2009 game from Western? No, we haven't watched that. It was a long time ago." [Ed-M: I do.]

Mike Martin

Mike Martin, from yesterday.

Thoughts on being captain? "It's a huge honor. Our whole senior class does a great job with leading. Defensively Ryan Van Bergen does a great job ... Kovacs, a lot of guys ... Troy Woolfolk. But it's an honor to be selected by my peers to represent those guys and the guys that have come before me."

Do you feel any extra responsibility as the only captain on defense? "No, because we have tons of leaderhsip on defense. We do a great job collecitvely getting the defense ready to play. I have a lot of support from the rest of the seniors."

Remember when you were all over the place during the Spring Game? You still doing that these days? "Coach has me playing nose and some other positions on the defensive line, but he has me focusing on that. We've had guys that have stepped up at the other positions that coach has a lot of confidence in."

What differences will fans see from a Brady Hoke team? "Coach has us ready to play. Coach has us focused on what we need to be focused on, which is what we can control, and to get better every single day. This week is game week, it's huge for us. We're looking forward to September 3rd, and that's all we have on our minds, and we're ready to go."

Talk about Kevin Koger. "Kevin does a great job. He's great with reaching out to guys, and he's a really good speaker, and he's a guy that everyone looks up to. He comes to work every day. He's accountable, and guys can count on him to get the job done. That's what you need in a captain, and a guy that's going to lead the team."

What is game week like for you? "It's special. Tomorrow's practice is going to be critical for our team to get better. Coach has game week posted up everywhere in Schembechler [Hall], so when you're in that building, everywhere you go, you're thinking about game week, whether it's when you go home and you're getting your playbook, going over your plays, taking mental reps and when you're at Schembechler getting better on the field. You have to think about gameday every day and what you can do to make sur ethis team's successful."

What does Kovacs keep doing to surprise people? "The guy pays attention to details. He takes care of his job on the field, and he's a guy that you can always count on to be there. He's very smart, and he's always in the film room. He's a great leader just for the guys back there, and he's a vocal leader, as well."

What did Heininger and Brink do to get that SDE position? "Those guys, they did a great job of competing through all of camp. They knew that everyday everyone's getting evaluated across the board. Will Heininger and Brink, they worked their butts off the whole camp. I'm proud of those guys.

"Coach is going to put the best 11 guys on the field to win games. Whatever decision he makes is going to be the right one."

You have one last chance as a senior to fix what's gone wrong defensively. "Coach talks about accountability and the details -- all the things it takes to be successful. That's what we've been focused on this whole camp. Coach Mattison and the whole staff have done a great job of working for us, and we've come to work every single day to be better ...

"It's something that you can't hide. We still have a lot more improvement to go. Tomorrow's going to be critical with getting our scouts, getting our looks for Western coming up this Saturday."

How tough is it for Van Bergen to play DT? "Coach puts the guys in positions to make sure the team is successful. There's total seflessness, and Ryan is very intelligent and very versatile. You can put him anywhere on the defensive line across the board, and he'll do well. Technique-wise, he's done a great job at 5-technique, 3-technique, and wherever coach puts him. We're very confident he's going to do well."

Is there a leader in your time here that you model yourself after? "Brandon Graham -- I've talked about him before -- he's a guy that leads by example, and came to work every single day, and a guy that everyone woudl look up to. He produced on the field, and he was a grea tleader off the field, and that's something I've always looked up to."

Fluff about his webisodes: Youtube videos, wanted to document his senior year. Does it all on his macbook using film he gets from his iphone. "Put some music to it, add some flashy lights, and it looks pretty cool." More webisodes coming up soon. The Pop Evil band that does the Michigan hype song is from Whitehall, MI, where Ryan Van Bergn is from.

Kevin Koger

Koger charmed me into forgetting to take a picture.

Thoughts on being a captain? "We were actually in the team meeting room, and everybody voted, everybody got a ballot. You voted for one offensive and one defensive captain. I put my vote in, and I thought we were going to come back today and find out, but they actually went out of the room, came back in, and told us. So it was kind of surprising. I didn't expect to be captain."

Who did you vote for? (lunga pausa) "Not myself. Not myself, I can't tell you that."

How excited are you today for game one, and how excited will you be on Saturday? "I try to calm myself down because I tend to get too excited before the game. I don't want to play the game before the game actually happens so I'm not mentally drained when I get there. It's my last home opener in Michigan stadium, so I'm kind of excited for that, but I have to prepare for the game so I can make the best (of it)."

What's your advice for the freshmen who haven't experienced this before? "I just tell them to calm down. There's going to be 113,000 people, so you gotta be loud. But it's not going to be as loud for the offense as it will be for the defense, so communication will be a little bit harder for the defense."

What differences will fans see when you take the field? "You'll see the offense will be on the field a lot more. We want to control the ball. We want to take that burner off the defense a little bit so they're a lot more rested when they come out on the field."

How will Denard look different? "I think Denard will be the same Denard. He'll go out there, he'll make plays, (and) he'll be a great decision-maker on the field. You might see him not go for the big play as much. You might see him check down a little bit, which is perfectly fine. There's nothing wrong with a four- or five-yard gain as opposed to a 30-, 40-yard gain every try."

How will Kevin Koger look different? "Kevin Koger will be very excited. Kevin Koger will be very enthusiastic on the field. You can expect to see me more outspoken on the sidelines, so watch out for that."

How active will the tight ends be? "I think we'll play a big part." Been getting ready, Coach Ferrigno has done a good job coaching them. "I'll be excited to see what really happens on Saturday."

How's Steve Watson? "He's very selfless. Whatever coaches want him to play, he'll play. During camp, we had him switch to fullback, and he's done a great job there. You can see him play tight end, you can see him play fullback, so it really doesn't matter where he plays. He's going to do a great job where he's at."

Mike Martin videos? Had no idea Mike was making online webisodes until five minutes ago. "It shows the fans we really do have personalities. We're not just guys in helmets and shoulder pads. We actually can have a little bit of fun. I think I should get a little royalty from it. If he makes any money off of it, I'll let you know." (NO KEVIN DON'T YOU DARE TELL ANYONE)