August 21st, 2010 at 9:06 PM ^
more from thewolverineblog:
http://www.thewolverineblog.com/2010/08/21/impressions-from-saturdays-scrimmage/
August 21st, 2010 at 9:20 PM ^
Like just a few lines seemed to be changed.
August 21st, 2010 at 9:26 PM ^
I do NOT have a female alter ego named Title IX. As far as you all know.
August 21st, 2010 at 9:31 PM ^
Well, they did watch the same scrimmage...
August 21st, 2010 at 9:41 PM ^
Guess that that means that the information is reliable. I just thought that they were extremely similar is all.
Was just an observation.
August 21st, 2010 at 9:58 PM ^
I know, just playin.
August 21st, 2010 at 9:24 PM ^
At The Woverine Blog:
Tate Forcier started with the threes but saw snaps with the ones and twos as well — he looked solid throwing the ball, but made a couple poor reads on zone running plays.
Poor reads, and not interceptions, were the biggest issue for Tate last year. If he's still not performing that function properly, how has he improved?
August 21st, 2010 at 10:02 PM ^
on the football for one!
August 21st, 2010 at 9:26 PM ^
Ya it looks like the position battles are starting to sort themselves out. No matter how much you prepare for the secondary to be bad it still stings reading that their struggling even in scrimmages... but on the bright side there are still 2 weeks to get better. If you ain't gettin better your gettin worse
August 21st, 2010 at 9:30 PM ^
Stephen Hopkins is quickly becoming the player I'm most excited to see on the field this year. He's going to provide a wrinkle to the offense that other teams will need to address. So do you put your speed team in to stop Denard or the quick slot receivers, or do you put in bigger players that can stop the Hopkins train from rumbling for decent yardage every play? Good luck finding a guy that can run down Robinson (ok, that guy may not exist...) or our other speedsters that's big enough to take a hit from Hopkins without seeing stars.
August 21st, 2010 at 9:34 PM ^
It's tough to overstate just how good Hopkins looked today -- the weight he dropped since the spring appears to have done wonders for his speed and juking ability. Dude is still a load to take down, but I was shocked by how quick he looked today. If I had gone into today with no preconceived notions about who Michigan's best tailback was, I would say Hopkins looked like the guy who should start the UConn game.
Of course, it's just one scrimmage, but I'm really excited to see what he can do when paired with Denard this year.
August 21st, 2010 at 9:54 PM ^
*drool*
Yessssssss.
August 21st, 2010 at 10:52 PM ^
He seemed to be a little banged up with injuries throughout his senior year too. Nothing that kept him out of games, but people covering his games seemed to think he was a step slower than usual and his numbers weren't quite as productive as earlier in his high school career.
I'm guessing the time off between spring ball and fall camp has allowed him to get back to 100% in addition to dropping weight. The kid is going to be an absolute beast if he stays healthy.
August 21st, 2010 at 11:06 PM ^
I really liked Minor last year and Biakabatuka was one of my fave Michigan players of all time. It's not that I am more of a fan of "big" backs, but physical and tough yardage backs (Hart).
Not sure if Hopkins will be more like Tim or BJ Askew, but here's to hoping he can he can make a name for himself--insert himself to the Michigan RB legacy
From all of this insight from today, and what I've seen last year and in the spring game, I tend to think Cox, Hop, and Smith could be a three-headed monster; all 3 are pretty unique from eachother in body type, style and physical attributes.
... closing in on 13 DAYS!!!!!
August 21st, 2010 at 11:06 PM ^
having hopkins and denard on the field simultaneously would be interesting to watch. you obviously have to keep eyes on denard, but its gonna take multiple bodies to bring down hopkins.
iv always felt like power-backs had an advantage in college, where the tackling fundamentals aren't always perfect. arm tackling a 230lb ball carrier with momentum is just not gonna work.
i cannot wait to see hopkins do this to someone:
August 22nd, 2010 at 2:23 AM ^
Hell of a link, I've never seen that play. If Hopkins can do that to a guy we will be in good shape, but if he can do that aganist a MAN like Urlacher we will be looking at the spread version of Ron dayne!
August 22nd, 2010 at 3:20 AM ^
I'd say LeGarrette Blount out of Oregon is probably a better comparison for Hopkins than Jacobs. Jacobs is a freak at 6'4" 260+ running in the 4.4 range. Blount is till huge, but not freakishly so, and he's not as fast either. Plus he was in a spread, so you can really see what a big back like that is capable of.
August 22nd, 2010 at 12:15 AM ^
I propose a seamless transition to...
Hopkins RAGE
August 22nd, 2010 at 1:06 AM ^
Just sayin' (again).
August 22nd, 2010 at 10:45 AM ^
that some here are building a true freshmen RB who, to be honest, was not heavily recruited by elite programs (despite being in one of the most visible programs and areas of the country) and that many of us haven't even seen in person, into a major threat this year, combined with a QB who hasn't yet played in a game at a high level, into a two headed monster of death and destruction for all our opponents to fear. Now I hope and pray this is true. But while it wouldn't be unprecedented, it would be unusual, for a true freshmen power back to be a legitimate major running threat in his first year. Just sayin'. Again, fingers crossed on my part, but...
August 22nd, 2010 at 10:58 AM ^
- Jamie Morris
- Tyrone Wheatley
- Anthony Thomas
- Mike Hart
All played significant roles as Frosh RB's and contributed greatly to their teams' successes. I'm not saying he's equal to any of the back above, but there are freshman RB's across the country that step in and contribute right away.
I have my fingers crossed that Hopkins can be a major weapon on this team.
August 22nd, 2010 at 11:13 AM ^
The last I checked folks are talking about how Hopkins might be a major threat due to his performance in both spring and fall camp, competing against guys who were recruited by major programs. Its not like folks are just making shit up about Hopkins. Get all that Rivals and Scout star BS out of your head - these kids have a clean slate, they are all equalized, once in college - especially in RR's program. We should not depend on what Scout or Rivals said about Hopkins as to whether we build him up or not (e.g., JT Turner). Folks are talking about how he has competed against other D1 players in practice - which is about all we really know about all our RBs. People are talking about what might be, and that is all they can do at this point.
August 21st, 2010 at 9:41 PM ^
"The kicking game could be an adventure this season."
GAAH. I'm going to pretend I didn't read that.
Also:
TWB:
Tate Forcier started with the threes but saw snaps with the ones and twos as well — he looked solid throwing the ball,
SOMZ:
[Tate can throw to] Tacopants on a dime though....ie, over threw a bunch.
Doesn't seem like it could be both.... SOMZ had nothing good to say about Tate, however.
August 22nd, 2010 at 12:00 AM ^
I really want to know what OSU and Iowa do to coach up their kickers, because it seems like they've never got issues at PK. Meanwhile, our kicking game seems to be an adventure every couple of years.
August 22nd, 2010 at 12:38 AM ^
Don't they know you have to wait until the kick-meter is full in order to get it into the endzone? Geeze, kids these days.
August 21st, 2010 at 9:57 PM ^