Sound Mind/Sound Body 2012: Interviews

I may be on a plane, and technically on vacation, but that can't stop me from posting. Here's the second, and final, post on SMSB. I'll be back at the end of next week.

At Wednesday's Sound Mind/Sound Body camp in Southfield, I had the opportunity to catch up with 2013 commits Shane Morris, David Dawson, and Logan Tuley-Tillman. Subjects include their camp performances, the Michigan coaches, recruiting, and Terry Richardson's fitting reward for David Dawson after winning a rep in the one-on-ones.

SHANE MORRIS

ACE: You got a chance to get out there and throw a little bit. How'd you feel out there?

SHANE: It was good. Coming out here, doing some work with Coach Borges, having a good time, and I felt like I was doing pretty well, so I had a good day.

ACE: Coach Borges seemed to be watching you pretty closely. What's he telling you out there?

SHANE: Definitely. He's working on my footwork a little bit, making sure I get the ball out quicker, everything really. Everything that he's telling me I'll be taking home to work on, so I'm just having fun out there.

ACE: What are you trying to work on over the rest of the summer?

SHANE: I'm trying to work on being more consistent and also not throwing the ball hard all the time. I'm trying to work on polishing up everything because of the season, I've got to have a good season my senior season, we've got to make a run for the states, that's what we're trying to do.

ACE: I saw Jourdan Lewis out there taking some reps at wideout. I know the offensive coaches seem to like him out there. Do you like throwing to him?

SHANE: I love throwing to him. He's a receiver for our 7-on-7 team and he's my go-to guy if I need someone to throw it to. I saw the coaches are taking a look at him at receiver, so we'll see what happen with that. Coach Mattison, he's telling us to stay away from him...

ACE: Where do you want him?

SHANE: Wherever he helps the team.

ACE: Good answer. What's it like being out here and not only having the Michigan coaching staff here, but having guys from State, Ohio State... what's it like getting that level of instruction?

SHANE: Oh, I'm definitely taking a lot of instruction from the coaches, Michigan coaches, Michigan State coaches, Ohio coaches. It's an awesome experience for everyone out here and everyone's having a great time with it; it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get instruction from the best coaches in the nation. I'm just taking it in and having a good time with it, just soaking up the opportunity that I have.

ACE: With recruiting, who are you talking to these days, who are you trying to get to come to Michigan now?

SHANE: I'm been talking to Laquon [Treadwell], obviously, Derrick Green a little bit here and there,—I don't really know what's going on with him—Leon McQuay III, and that's about it right now.

ACE: Obviously you've got a bunch of commits here in the same place. How fun is it to continue forming your relationships with those guys?

SHANE: It's great. We're out here every weekend on this field practicing 7-on-7 with each other. We're having a great time building chemistry up. It's great being out here again and showing everyone a glimpse of the future.

DAVID DAWSON

ACE: Coming out here to the camp, how do you feel you did on the drills on the first day?

DAVID: I feel like I did great. I got a chance to work with Coach Funk. I lost, like, two reps against a speed-rusher and I got him back the next time I competed against him. I thought I did great.

ACE: The guy who beat you was woofing a little bit after that rep. Does that give you motivation when guys are talking like that after the play?

DAVID: Yeah, I hate guys that celebrate after the play like that. The guy was getting real loud; I hate that. If you make the play just go back to the huddle. When you celebrate it's just gonna make you lose the next rep.

ACE: Having the Michigan coaches here, having Coach Funk here watching you guys go through drills, what's he telling you about what to work on and what's it like having that level of instruction at a camp?

DAVID: I feels great to have all the coaches that are here, even the ones that aren't our position coaches. It just shows how much they want to see us work out and how much interest they have in us. Well, we committed, so I know they have a lot of interest but it's just a great feeling having them down there. Coach Funk, he said me and Logan did well. He did tell me, against a speed-rusher, not to kick so far out; that was the only bad criticism he had for me today, so I'm going to work on that and that's pretty much it.

ACE: You mentioned working next to Logan. What do you see in his game right now?

DAVID: He's a great player; big, strong, got good feet, aggressive. That sums him up right there.

ACE: What are you looking to improve in your game both for the rest of the camp and the rest of the summer?

DAVID: I don't think I'm doing the second part of the camp because I've got another big camp [the Rivals Five-Star Challenge] and I'm starting to get hurt, I messed up my quad already so I'm gonna leave that alone. For the rest of the summer I'm just gonna work on what my coaches are telling me to work on, and I do want to get a little better at run blocking, pass blocking, my whole game—picking up the blitz, reading linebackers, safeties. I just want to get better overall, that's pretty much it.

ACE: There's a lot of Cass Tech guys up here and a lot of Michigan commits up here. What's it like to get everybody up here? I know I saw Terry Richardson walking around earlier...

DAVID: Actually, it was Terry and Biggs [James Ross]. It feels great to have them up here. Cass Tech, I think we've got around 30, 40 guys up here, that feels great too. It just shows that we like to compete, come out and try to take over camps. I definitely like that Terry came out here because when I beat my man who was saying he was hungry, Terry actually gave me a rib for getting him, so I was happy he came out here.

LOGAN TULEY-TILLMAN

ACE: First of all, how do you feel you did in the drill portion?

LOGAN: Honestly, this is my first camp where I'm at 100%. I feel I showed pretty well. The defensive drill that we did, the one-on-ones with no pads on, I feel like we showed real good, me and my teammate out there [David Dawson].

ACE: You were working next to David a lot, obviously. How do you think he looks and what do you see in his game?

LOGAN: He's a hard-nosed road-grater that everybody needs; everybody in the country wants that [type of] guard. It's real nice to have him out here so we can line up against each other.

ACE: I know you were hurt earlier this summer and you've been working to cut weight recently. How are you feeling?

LOGAN: I'm actually down 13 pounds at about 312, so I feel great. I've been hooping, too, jumping a little bit higher, so that's always good.

ACE: And the shoulder is feeling good?

LOGAN: Yeah. I did a lot of good work with my trainer, a lot of stretches and stuff that really got me back.

ACE: You said you dropped almost 15 pounds. What do you think is your ideal playing weight right now?

LOGAN: I'm probably about 312, and I'll probably just stay at this or see whatever the summer does to me and end up at that. The reality is I'm going to grow about two more inches so I can probably add ten more pounds of pure muscle.

ACE: I saw you talking to Coach Funk a lot. What is he telling you about technique?

LOGAN: He was telling me how happy he was with the improvements I've been making and how it's really starting to come together for me. He said he's real proud and I'm going to be a great player for him, which is a real honor to hear from a coach of his stature.

ACE: Looking ahead to the rest of the camp and the rest of the summer, what are you trying to work on in your game?

LOGAN: The game this summer is just getting bigger, faster, and stronger, become a better O-lineman. I've got to pick [whether to do] The Opening or Team USA, I got invited to that, so I've got to decide.

ACE: Are you leaning one way or the other right now?

LOGAN: I honestly don't know.

ACE: Obviously there's a lot of other commits here and a couple of 2012 guys as well. What's it like getting everyone together in one place?

LOGAN: It's real fun to see everybody out here. There's a 2014 D-end here too from Loyola High School or something like that [Malik McDowell]. I was trying to start talking to him, but I'll get at him later and get in his ear.