Practice Buzz from Demens

Submitted by jbibiza on

In a free article on Scout Kenny Demens has good things to say about Drake Johnson and Chris Bryant (among others)

http://michigan.scout.com/2/1272313.html

some teasers:

Johnson:  "gave us problems on scout team.  Drake ....... did his thing, got loose on us… "  

Bryant: " I don’t care if you were Mike Martin, Ryan Van Bergen.......when Chris Bryant pulled, you were nervous......... Chris Bryant brings the pain."

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Magnus

March 8th, 2013 at 8:38 AM ^

Who really knows?

Burzynski is 6'1" and not particularly athletic, but the coaches have thrown him in there at times.  He has played center before (beginning in spring 2011), so it's not far-fetched to imagine the coaches putting him at center this fall, too.

Miller is 6'4", presumably above 288 lbs. by now, and was recruited more heavily.  He has taken reps at both guard and center in practice.  He came in very light and was still lighter than Burzynski this past season (6'4", 288 is a much different body makeup than 6'1", 295), so it's tough to read too much into Miller's spot on the depth chart.

The argument is about two guys who have barely seen the field.  I get in my fair share of arguments, but this one seems kind of pointless.

Joined: 07/17/2008

MGoPoints: 165915

Fightthedv

March 8th, 2013 at 9:08 AM ^

Frankly I was just throwing out there that I don't see why people are basically giving the center posittion to Miller and completely discounting Burzynski, since the only real evidence in favor of Miller is his 3 stars. While they both appear to have entered the program at the same time (I can find no evidence that Burzynski was on the roster in 2010 even though he is listed as a redsirt sophomore in the roster). I wouldn't have said anything else if severall people hadn't jumped all over my post and at least in my opinion seemed to suggest my opinion was completely stupid. As you've noted, Burzynski has played center before and Funk has indicated he is getting another shot this spring. Personally I think the fact that the coaches have expressed some confidence in his ability by giving him meaningful snaps (albeit at guard rather than center) is in fact a relevant data point.

Joined: 03/03/2013

MGoPoints: 37

Fightthedv

March 8th, 2013 at 10:35 AM ^

So that means he has an extra spring practice and depending on when Miller got to camp, an extra 3 or 4 months of conditioning. That coupled with being 10 months older suggests why he might be ahead in year one and two, but if Miller is really better, he should win out. Guess we'll have to wait to find out.

Joined: 03/03/2013

MGoPoints: 37

mGrowOld

March 7th, 2013 at 10:42 AM ^

I cant find the comment so I cant credit the author but yesterday somebody eloquently said in essence "believe 50% of the good news and 100% of the bad news coming from Spring Ball"

He was absolutely right IMO.

Joined: 10/04/2010

MGoPoints: 212506

MGoStrength

March 7th, 2013 at 10:51 AM ^

I am not at all surprised to see Ross & Bolden getting praise, but it's great to hear about Bryant because we really need one guy to hold down that left tackle or guard spot with Schofield.  If he's healthy, big, and strong, that will be a huge help.  I have to say that I am still leery on Drake.  I heard the same stuff about Rawls last year and although he's a big strong runner, he's not someone that's gonna be an all conference type player.  He is not a UM starting tailback material IMO.  I guess his lack of pedigree in the recruiting rankings makes me take a stance of prove me wrong then I'll believe the hype, which is why I'm still more excited about Hayes & Green.

Joined: 07/29/2010

MGoPoints: 20002

GoBlueInNYC

March 7th, 2013 at 10:55 AM ^

The problem with Rawls so far has been that he actually hasn't been a particularly "strong" runner. He tends to get stopped upon contact without gaining extra yardage. (Just glanced at the Iowa UFR, and he gained 0 YAC.)

Joined: 03/23/2010

MGoPoints: 8779

Perkis-Size Me

March 7th, 2013 at 10:53 AM ^

Praying the O-Line stays healthy this year. It's going to be extremely talented, but very young and, in most cases, inexperienced. Lewan and Schofield are going to have to step up big time as leaders for that group.

Hopefully Miller can hold down the fort at center for the time being. I know Kugler is supposed to be uber-talented and has great technique, but I dread the idea of a true freshman, and especially one who didn't even go through spring practice, being on the line. Stay on the bench, learn the play book, live in the weight room. Please.

Joined: 11/30/2011

MGoPoints: 105367

Sinsemillaplease

March 7th, 2013 at 10:57 AM ^

from former players, but I don't anymore. In the Hoke era, all practice buzz, that I can remember, has proven to be nothing more than rhetoric. Not to say that I think all of our guys are overhyped... just that I'll patiently wait to see who I should be excited about.

Joined: 01/01/2011

MGoPoints: 965

GrowBlue

March 7th, 2013 at 11:03 AM ^

But the positive stuff was already touched on. That being said, anyone else surprised about his comments regarding a clean diet? I assumed this aspect of their lives was quasi-regulated. Certainly when they eat at South Quad it is - perhaps the upperclassmen are given a lot more leeway.

Joined: 09/15/2011

MGoPoints: 299

Fightthedv

March 7th, 2013 at 11:31 AM ^

Even if you're getting a good meal at training table, balancing football and claases probably means these guys are eating breakfast, lunch and snacks on the run a great deal. Unless you are incredibly disciplined making sure some bad stuff doesn't slip into your diet. I imagine in the atmosphere Demens is now in that is all taken care of for him. He probably doen't have to shop for or prepare his own healthy food and there are probably alot less opportunities to find unhealthy stuff

Joined: 03/03/2013

MGoPoints: 37

LSAClassOf2000

March 7th, 2013 at 11:10 AM ^

What Demens said about Ross reminded me of how great that was to see him step in for about a game and a half last year (part of Northwestern and all of Iowa, I think) and be instantly productive to the tune of 18 tackles (13 of which were solo tackles). Bolden had six tackles of his own, I believe, in the Iowa game, so as he Kenny said, it's nice to have players at this position who are quick studies and can just jump right in like that when called on.

Joined: 01/07/2011

MGoPoints: 130560

there_in_2005

March 7th, 2013 at 11:11 AM ^

not sure if this is serious, but saying that someone is "nice" means that they are good at what they do. it doesn't mean "nice" in the sense that you are thinking. for example, demens might watch trey burke play a game and then say "man, burke is nice".

Joined: 06/18/2012

MGoPoints: 257

His Dudeness

March 7th, 2013 at 11:18 AM ^

If Bryant can just stay healthy he is going ot be a good one. That kid has been praised in the spring every year since arriving on campus. He came in with some bad weight (as almost all high school OL do), but seemingly always creates spring buzz then gets injured and is a non-factor in the fall.

Joined: 11/24/2008

MGoPoints: -973290

Jmilan

March 7th, 2013 at 11:59 AM ^

May get negged for this, but oh well. Last year all the talk in spring practices was that touissant looked unstoppable and Rawls was a wrecking ball that push for the number 1 spot. I understand that touissant got hurt, but before that he was having a really bad season. Rawls got the starting role for a few games and did not impress as well. Demens looked huge in the spring game, but when the start of the season came around he was getting benched the first few games. I know he turned it around and obviously we aren't gong to be playing Alabama to start the year. Basically what I am trying to get at is I'm not a firm believer of going off what is said in spring camp or really even the spring game. I know it's all we have to go off for now and that's fine, but I'm going to reserve my judgement for guys for the first few games. I know that some guys in camp can say player a is an animal right now and I hope he's right I guess I'm just going to have to keep myself from getting my hopes up. Maybe I'm the only one that had this problem last year and maybe I was the only one that looked into to it too much so shame on me for right now I suppose.

/end rant

Joined: 10/13/2011

MGoPoints: 751

michigan24

March 7th, 2013 at 12:25 PM ^

I think our problems at running back were caused by our poor o-line run blocking. I Agree not to take too much weight into spring practices but at the same time it is meaningful for a teammate/former teammate to give a player recognition, because he's the one who practices and plays with him everyday.

Joined: 06/29/2011

MGoPoints: 217

missoulawolverine

March 7th, 2013 at 12:23 PM ^

Its going to be a different line blocking style compared to a zone read running quarter back style of the past couple years?..pass and drive blocking will benefit running backs so lets see in a progressively new evolving system how every back does..i believe we should improve andwith a descent pass attack will help keep teams secondary from cheating up all day.really do wanna see drake run along with rawls behind the new line..hayes and fleet should get moved to slot positions..whats up with marvin robinson..been waiting for this guy to break out..come on man..nobody every talk about richardson or matt godin either..everyone gets excited about new classes coming in but forget guys recruited the year before or two years before...poole....ringer...why are they by the wayside

 

Joined: 08/12/2012

MGoPoints: 224

AtkinsDiet

March 7th, 2013 at 1:04 PM ^

Can't remember a scholarship player I was ever more skeptical about than Drake Johnson and that will be true until I see him on the field. And yes, that has a lot to do with him being in Fred Jackson's position group and his family being close with Jackson's.

Joined: 01/28/2013

MGoPoints: 211

WolvinLA2

March 7th, 2013 at 1:35 PM ^

As Elmer said (replying to the wrong post) Drake Johnson may not have had a lot of recruiting hype or big time offer list, but he has insane production in high school playing against some of the biggest schools in the state, but he was a 3-time state champ in the 110 hurdles in Class A so we know he can fly.  His fake 40 is not fake.  And he's not Norfleet sized either - he won those state championships at 200lbs.  

Do any of those things mean he'll be a star RB in college?  No.  But he has most of the tools that good RBs have, so there's no great reason to be skeptical.  I'm not saying we should assume he'll be great, but I wouldn't close the book on him yet either.

Joined: 11/13/2009

MGoPoints: 58191

maize-blue

March 7th, 2013 at 1:22 PM ^

What's the estimation of the number of carries per game Green gets this year? With a high profile recruit like that, he has to play some, right? Is it a good thing if he does get carries this year? I guess it would mean he is what is expected or it could mean the other RBs aren't stepping up.

Joined: 01/10/2013

MGoPoints: 44662

DeepBlue83

March 7th, 2013 at 9:58 PM ^

to go beyond practice buzz. Unless he's injured, or stuck behind a boatload of NFL talent on the depth chart, a running back who redshirts generally isn't destined for much. Pretty much every RB we've had over the last 15-20 years who's been even halfway decent has seen the field as a true freshman

Joined: 09/15/2009

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