Harbaugh on Freshman Excitement
Let's go! KG makes appearance in Michigan tour video i posted above as well. Great to see.
Didn't he say in that video he runs a 5.1
GO BLUE
OH MY GOD! KENNY KILLED THE WHOLE OFFENSIVE BACKFIELD!
Now I'm dreaming of whether the dulcet tones on Big Noon will scream "KEN! NETH! GRANT!" or "KENneth! GRANT!"
You mispelled ate.
"HIKE!.....OH SH-" *tape mysteriously cuts off here*
“And most recently of all, a "meeting in the backfield" was held from which we have received more than two dozen reports of Mr. Grant’s acts of perversion SO profound and disgusting that decorum prohibits listing them here.”
Is that the dad in the we’re not gonna take it video?
Apparently yes. And it turns out he went to Michigan, which I did not know until today.
Cousin Larry,
I hate how dated your reference is. Not as dated as your username but man…where did the years go?
Harbaugh mentioned that a freshman was "a gift from the gods". Anybody got a read on who exactly that is? I'm assuming it was one of those gifted WR's but maybe it was one of the DT's. If they're ready to play early, that would really alleviate some concern about DL
I believe the recruit he was referring to was preferred walk-on Pegasus Ambrosia. Truly, a gift from the gods!
Watching the spring game cleared my concerns with the DL. Mazi Smith and Jenkins will start and be very good. Benny, Rooks and Graham look like solid back-ups that should only get better and that doesn't even include Goode. At the ends, I think we're going to see Morris and Upshaw start against the Wisconsin/MSU style teams. Against the rest, we'll see Morris/Upshaw at SDE and Harrel backed by Guy/Bennett on the other side.
We'll be good to excellent against the run. We'll lack last years crazy good pass rush but get something from Morris/Smith/Jenkins and get the rest of our pressure from blitz/scheme and be fine.
Good stuff, personally I wasn’t really worried about the DLine. There’s a lot of talented players in the past few recruiting classes and I think it’s easy to overlook guys like Benny poised to have a big 2nd season jump. I’m very interested to see how Jenkins progress as he appeared ahead of schedule last season and have geared he’s pushing 285 now and in great shape.
the part about the edge configuration is interesting. I can see Upshaw and Morris playing ends in the 5-2 and 5-1 alignments which I doubt we will see against state with the way stretch zone gashed that alignment last year. If the move is to more of a 34 Harrell is an very interesting weapon in that front.
I agree I think rather than rushing from base and letting two all world ends chew up everyone north of Athens, in think a zone blitz scheme highlighting Junior Colson athleticism will produce pass rush.
Against Staee it would be nice to just see 11 players on the field and ready for the next play. Hopefully Minter understands tempo and how to counter it. Most of their damage on run plays came from us just not being ready.
This is exactly right.
I was at the game and was watching our bench pretty closely after the first few times we clearly had an issue getting our defense set.
It was an issue from start to finish.
One would think that this could've been cleaned up at halftime.
You'd also think that, at some point, the alignment or personnel would've been shifted to adjust to Walker literally running wild on us. It was like the inverse of the OSU game where we couldn't stop their receivers...and then kept running out the same defense against them.
But, alas...
All good observations, but we couldn't stop OSU's receivers due to alignment issues like MSU and Walker. Those guys just plain took it to us and made some absurd catches.
Jaylen Harrell is going to be a terror coming off the edge. Dude has serious acceleration, balance and instincts.
It's possible that he'll develop into a good pass rusher, but at this point he's mostly about run defense.
I think he is going to get some of Ojabo’s snaps. He has that speed to work in space in 3rd and long.
I was thinking Will Johnson.
I believe he was talking about Mason Graham.
I think you're right. I've never seen a true freshman DL come in and look like an upperclassman during the spring game. This kid has All-American potential. I said this about Hutch as a true freshman and am saying this again.
These freshman push the upperclassmen and then everybody gets better every day. Love it!
WOW! That is nearly Jordan Davis territory!!!
If he can play like anything close to Jordan Davis, we should all be ecstatic.
He's Jordan Davis but more stamina
Whoa easy there, Fred Jackson
Michigan: *get's rolled by Davis in the CFP*
Harbaugh: huh ... I gotta get me one of those.
Kenny Grant is the human equivalent to a side of beef in a trebuchet.
I miss my trebuchet. Had to dismantle it when I got married. I will build a bigger one if I win Mega Millions on Friday.,,
I saw a working Trebuchet at Warwick Castle (outside of London) and non-working one at Dover Castle. I love these devices and see them in action in movies.
I built a small one years ago when my oldest was in high school and had an assignment to build one. The team that came the closest to hitting the teacher with a water balloon got an A. (I got - I mean my kids team got an A!)
I'll have to look up trebuchet but I like the side of beef reference.
It’s French for “fancy catapult”
We used to fire dog shit back into the neighbor's yard (from their dog). We called it a scatapult
Scatapult implies the use of springs or deformation to give impulse to the payload. A Trepoopchet would use counterweights to fling the nasty missile.
Or, a new combo: many years ago we had water balloon accuracy contests based on using surgical tubing and a sand pail for the launching mechanism. Distance was easily 80-100 yards. There may have been some alcohol involved.
When I first started toying with mine, that's what it felt like. In truth, I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. It takes years of practice. But practice makes perfect. Rinse, repeat.
Didn't play Age of Empires huh?
Thanks for these good bits.
I've been following college football in general and Michigan specifically since the late 60's and two things ALWAYS occur with every team in the nation:
1. This year's incoming Freshman class is special. Unique, like no other the coach has seen and he's so excited to see them hit the field.
2. The new Strength & Conditioning coach, if they have one, has techniques and methods like no other. Surely employing this new guy's regime will lead to 4th quarter domination of our foes. The old guy didnt know shit about lifting and clearly didnt put the team in a position to succeed.
What you said is true, but this years recruiting class is going to be something special. The DB, WR and DTs are just plain loaded with talent and star potential.
And also, the S&C coach is doing things that have never been done before. Other than his last 5 years here. And his time before that with Bielema. But to be fair, Bielema is known for bringing the BEEF.
In addition, the new coordinator is always bringing a more aggressive approach.
Excepting, of course, Speed In Space.
Mike Gittelson introduces NATAULIS to Michigan.
And pizza. Never forget the pizza.
Are you talking about Ben Herbert? He's not exactly new (being on the staff for 5 years now). Or are you reffering to someone newer?