General Observations from sUTL thread
DTs rotated a lot. DL looks to be a real strength. Finally.
Peppers with a lot of PT. At NB and CB. Was lost a couple times but has amazing recovery skills.
OL got better later on. Still not good.
Mone schooled some twos. Including Bosch
Mo Ways might not get a redshirt
Funchess fade looks like it is finally in the playbook
Poggi lots if PT and good hustle.
I'll post more when I get home.
August 16th, 2014 at 10:58 PM ^
I sat right in front of the d line while they were doing their warmup drills. My untrained observation is that size and strength are their primary attributes more so than quickness and speed.
Also Henry Poggi looks like a badass viking.
August 16th, 2014 at 10:59 PM ^
Peppers will start at CB by the game at sparty.
Hurst could get PT this year.
Mo Ways did great. Redshirt or?
Jack Miller and Mason Cole both got beat twice a piece leading to pretty ugly results in the play. Eiiiweah.
I'm kind of scared Funchess is gonna go pro after this season.
Will Shallman start at U-back?
We could see a Lewis and Clark secondary tandem this season.
August 16th, 2014 at 11:17 PM ^
It sounds like we have many options at corner. I think I will be merry whether Lewis and Clark start or don't.
August 16th, 2014 at 11:36 PM ^
Bravo! Well played, well played indeed
August 17th, 2014 at 4:08 PM ^
will the defense lead the conference in Sacagaweas?
August 16th, 2014 at 11:20 PM ^
When they're in nickel, he'll slide over and Taylor will come in.
August 17th, 2014 at 1:41 AM ^
Wow, that's interesting. Do we know how Lewis and Countess fit in? Did both Taylor and Countess get leapfrogged?
August 17th, 2014 at 7:42 AM ^
but Lewis is clearly the other starter. Countess may not be 100% yet.
August 16th, 2014 at 11:46 PM ^
As long as they take us to great heights where no (few) other Michigan secondary has gone before...
August 16th, 2014 at 11:46 PM ^
Seriously, just a year out of school and you missed that?
August 16th, 2014 at 11:58 PM ^
be playing the part of Pocahontas, guiding Lewis and Clark thru new and hostile territory ?
August 17th, 2014 at 4:50 AM ^
Pocahontas? Maybe Sacagewea. Not sure I spelled that correctly, however.
August 17th, 2014 at 9:25 AM ^
No, you're a Sack uh gewea!
(Sorry, that goes through my head everytime I get one of those coins from the change machine. You spelled it right.)
August 17th, 2014 at 12:01 AM ^
Personally I have planned on Funchess leaving after this year if he just replicates or improves upon the season he had last year. Still not a fun thought though
August 17th, 2014 at 3:51 AM ^
Any kind if year like last year and he's gone. Too much money to pass up given the NFL loves those hybrid guys now. He'll be labeled a TE for cash purposes but line up everywhere. I'd be stunned if he came back.
August 17th, 2014 at 8:15 PM ^
He could have a biletnikoff kind of season. ..
August 16th, 2014 at 10:59 PM ^
Frank Clark was a monster. He's so quick off the line.
Countess ran with the 2s for the most part, interesting.
Moe Ways made at least 4 great catches, he looks legit.
Mone may have the biggest thighs I've ever seen.
August 16th, 2014 at 11:00 PM ^
BWC's thighs were bigger than my torso at the 2009 spring game when he was an early enrollee.
August 17th, 2014 at 1:00 AM ^
Unlike the worrying uncertainty at OL, I have some confidence that Countess running with the 2s isn't so much an issue of him underperforming as it is an issue of real talent emerging at the position. I'm kind of excited about our secondary this year, even apart from whatever Peppers is becoming.
August 17th, 2014 at 3:32 AM ^
Same.
Lewis has been getting hype in spring and now. Peppers - well I thought they'd merge him in slowly but without early entree status he showed enough at nickel that they are willing to already have him absorb corner. Compare that to Dymonte who is struggling to get any 1 position down - and it says good things about Peppers.
I did not think both Taylor and Countess would get displaced as that is 4 years of starting thrown out the door but if Lewis and Peppers are better, so be it. It speaks to depth here. A great luxury to throw in 2 year starters as your subs.
August 17th, 2014 at 8:14 AM ^
The HUGE difference here is that Peppers played DB in HS and is use to coverage. Dymonte was a LB who didn't have to cover so he has to learn a whole new skill set. It is much harder to move back in a D scheme than it is to move up.
August 17th, 2014 at 5:05 AM ^
I remember when not to long ago I practically got negged to Bolivia for suggesting that Countess would not start at CB.
August 17th, 2014 at 11:21 AM ^
Happened to me a few years back when I suggested Michigan should offer Drake Johnson (when he held only an EMU offer).
August 17th, 2014 at 9:11 PM ^
It wasn't the content of your message, it was the delivery.
August 16th, 2014 at 11:01 PM ^
So... Are we ready for basketball season then with the horrendous play of the o-line?
/s
/ducks
/does whatever because I'm not sure how to classify my comment
/s
August 17th, 2014 at 5:27 AM ^
how this can be sarcasm.
August 16th, 2014 at 11:05 PM ^
This team will/would be so good with a decent O line. Also, is there any chance of getting some video from this event?
August 16th, 2014 at 11:06 PM ^
I remember saying/hearing this about the 2010 team but with a decent defense. eerie.
The video you'll get from MGoBlueTV will be highly edited and condensed.
August 16th, 2014 at 11:12 PM ^
Yeah, except that unlike the 2010 offense, this year's defense should actually be good.
August 17th, 2014 at 9:49 AM ^
against bad offenses?
August 16th, 2014 at 11:28 PM ^
A terrible O line.
August 17th, 2014 at 7:24 AM ^
There was some guy a few rows in front of us that must have been recording every play with his camera phone. Maybe he was from MGoBlog. (Or one of our rivals)
August 17th, 2014 at 11:08 AM ^
Gets his hair to stand up.........Pizza grease!
August 16th, 2014 at 11:04 PM ^
Green getting a lot of time with ones
Smith looks like your short yardage back
Morris looked better than bowl game
Gardner didn't play nearly as much as Morris
Khalid Hill ran a lot of routes that I think you'll see Butt run when he gets back.
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
August 16th, 2014 at 11:06 PM ^
no bad TOs.
OL will improve, eh, gel.
August 16th, 2014 at 11:13 PM ^
Devin did throw a few balls into the stands to avoid sacks.
August 16th, 2014 at 11:08 PM ^
Our defense is Mattified and our offensive line is Funkified.
August 16th, 2014 at 11:09 PM ^
Special K had a much worse showing than the OL. Billy Joel, Journey, 7NA.
August 16th, 2014 at 11:27 PM ^
7NA for the deathknell...
August 17th, 2014 at 11:43 AM ^
Whoa - do we not like Billy Joel? I can't get on board with that. What song was it? Please say River of Dreams.
August 16th, 2014 at 11:10 PM ^
I was one of the students on the sideline for the game, and we had a ton of fun. I managed to get high-fives and talk with Hoke, Nuss (I even touched his playsheet!), Devin, Jabrill, Clark, JMFR, Green, Smith, and more. I should preface my observations by saying that I did sort of tune the practice out after about halfway through.
The first team o-line, from memory, was Cole-Magnusson-Miller-Glasgow-Braden. They didn't look great, but they didn't look awful either. They were pretty unnoticeable.
Mo Ways has some great hands; I wouldn't be surprised to see him get some PT later in the year.
Jabrill Peppers is a man-child.
August 16th, 2014 at 11:10 PM ^
Lots of screen passes. Most likely due to Nuss playbook and lack of protection.
August 16th, 2014 at 11:18 PM ^
I'll say this. The fact that Nuss is attempting to develop an effective screen game means he's at least willing to deal with reality. Sometimes you have to give in and deal with your weaknesses rather than continuing to shove your preferred gameplan down everyone's throats.
August 16th, 2014 at 11:25 PM ^
Borges was a pretty fantastic coach at developing the screen play. He might have taken over for one of the most-determined-to-run-the-screen coaches of all time.The achilles heel of that plan is that it doesn't work so well when the opponent gets to sit on it because you don't threaten with anything else.
August 16th, 2014 at 11:32 PM ^
Admittedly I didn't see the scrimmage and it depends on what screens you're running. I assumed these were pro-type screens out of a pass formation vs bubble screens and other extended running plays but I didn't see any of it.
August 16th, 2014 at 11:34 PM ^
You can line up where ever you want. How far did we get against Kanasas State with screen passes?
August 16th, 2014 at 11:42 PM ^
It does matter where you're lining up. Different type screen passes have different purposes and attempt to take advantage of different offensive shortcomings and defensive tendencies.
The point is, are you stubbornly adhering to your philosophy or adapting to the situation at hand?
August 16th, 2014 at 11:51 PM ^
Sorry, I just don't buy the signifigance of allignment that has become so popular on boards over the last 3 years. I haven't seen anything convinving that the difference between winning and losing has ever been whether your 6th man on the line is 10 yards from your nearest tackle or 1 yard.
I'm not so concerned as to whether Nussmeier can change philosophies from what he's run before, I'm more worried about whether this offense can beat defenses that we'll face throughout the year. And I don't think a mental resolve on Nussmeier's part to go to the screen play is an idicator of that at this point.
August 17th, 2014 at 12:03 AM ^
That's a fair enough response and I respect that. Personally I've watched this for much longer than I'd prefer to admit but but do believe there can be a a difference.
Here's my final 2 cents. Even the worst of seasons (last year's PSU overtime exhibit 1) can come down to just a very few mis-timed or mis-called plays.
At that time Michigan was ranked #18. It's a very fine line and the specifics matter