Gerberry predicts Michigan's key strengths will be running and stopping the run.
Dan Gerberry is now the backup Center to Dominic Raiola for the Detroit Lions. He played for Brady Hoke at Ball State for four years. In this article he gave a little insight as to what may happen in Michigan's upcoming practice.
Here is the link to the article: http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2011/01/dan_gerberry_on_wdfn_what_you.html
Speaking of running, I believe that Stephen Hopkins will see a big jump in his number of carries for this upcoming year. I'm sure Hoke wont shy away from a 230 pound RB.
January 13th, 2011 at 4:22 PM ^
Dingleberry?
January 13th, 2011 at 5:41 PM ^
Someone named "Dingleberry" would be awesome on any team.
January 13th, 2011 at 4:24 PM ^
Gerberry sounds like a flavor of Gerber's baby food
January 13th, 2011 at 4:24 PM ^
Genius insight. Except for those air-raid offenses, isn't it key to run and stop the run for everybody?
January 13th, 2011 at 4:29 PM ^
No kidding -- I've yet to meet a coach who would prefer to *not* RUN THE BALL DOWN YOUR THROAT or have defenders that HIT YOU IN THE MOUTH.
January 13th, 2011 at 4:24 PM ^
I think the key skills will be scoring and stopping other teams from scoring.
January 13th, 2011 at 4:41 PM ^
we got 7 wins this year without stopping other teams from scoring.
January 13th, 2011 at 4:47 PM ^
I think you're right.
January 13th, 2011 at 4:25 PM ^
I'd hope that Stephen Hopkins gets more carries next year regardless of the coach, but it would be good to have our DL get more practice stopping downhill runners. Maybe Mike Cox will have another chance; I'm sure that a lot of people want to see Cox out there on the field.
January 13th, 2011 at 4:27 PM ^
Yea, one thing I hated about RR was his inability to adapt the run game outside of Denard. It was obvious Vincent couldn't hit the outside the way he used to and was too small to run up the middle but never made any changes.
January 13th, 2011 at 4:58 PM ^
Mike Hart 2007 ran for 1361 yards,265 att for 5.14 avg.
Vincent Smith 2010 ran for 601 yards, 136 att for4.42 avg.
Smith would have Hart like numbers had he gotten the carries,maybe.
January 13th, 2011 at 5:05 PM ^
Without doing a thorough analysis, but based on actually watching the games, I would imagine that Hart was close to his average numbers against the Ohio States and Wisconsins of the world, while Smith padded his numbers against the Bowling Greens.
With some admitted exceptions, Smith didn't look like a true weapon against our toughest opponents last year (even when he had the advantage of not being the defense's focus). Hart chugged along for 4 ypg against the top teams, when they knew he was getting the ball.
January 13th, 2011 at 5:31 PM ^
Regardless of who was in the backfiled, it seemed as if Denard carried 75% of the offensive plays. And paid for it--recall the pre-bowl game stories about how he was healing, was banged up, was finally getting back to 100%, etc.
I can understand that none of our TBs really stood out, but still felt frustrated that when someone other than Denard carried, the OLine did not seem to open many holes.
I think we have to run the ball better not only to keep Denard healthy, but to keep the defense honest. If they don't know that every play will end up with Denard carrying, our offense becoms more dangerous.
January 13th, 2011 at 4:29 PM ^
I do. I really want to see some Cox.
January 13th, 2011 at 4:42 PM ^
I love Cox
January 13th, 2011 at 4:47 PM ^
So obvious and yet I can't stop laughing
January 13th, 2011 at 5:04 PM ^
Mike Cox apparently couldn't learn the playbook under RR. I would think that Borges' playbook wll be simpler, but I'm not going to hold my breath in expectation of Cox running with the ones.
January 13th, 2011 at 5:06 PM ^
Don't doubt Mike Cox abilities. They will amaze and frighten you.
January 13th, 2011 at 4:27 PM ^
Dingleberry?
January 13th, 2011 at 5:06 PM ^
However, I would prefer them running fast to the ball for a tackle instead of running away from who they are supposed to be covering or running past the ball carrier.
January 13th, 2011 at 5:35 PM ^
So this quote:
"I'll gonna tell you right now, that team's gonna be able to run the ball, and they'll be able to stop the run. That's how he is, and that's what he's gonna do."
caused a flashback to the 2007 Rose Bowl and another quote:
"That's now 12 consecutive passes completed by USC against this Michigan defense"
Ughhh....
January 13th, 2011 at 5:40 PM ^
Well, you can take it even further and say, "That's now 24 consecutive passes completed by Ben Chappell against this Michigan defense."
January 13th, 2011 at 6:16 PM ^
At least we won't hear anymore "This is the 33rd run play by Wisconsin in a row"
January 13th, 2011 at 5:43 PM ^
As long as we're not stopping our own run, I can live with running and stopping the run. Now, what if the other team goes four wide and tries to throw all day long?