Mike Williams injury/Kovaks in
Did anyone else notice that the Angry Michigan Safety Hating God struck Mike Williams with about 4 minutes left in the 3rd quarter? It looked like he grabbed his hamstring and then sat out the rest of the game.
I was surprised Kovaks was the replacement. I don't remember him from the two deep. I thought Van Slyke or Vlad would be the first off the bench. Also, Kovaks had his number changed from 22 to 32.
He didn't screw up at all so I guess that's good. I hope Williams is OK.
September 13th, 2009 at 2:10 PM ^
Tony Gibson said in a pre-season interview that they like Kovacs and that he'll play significant minutes this year. Kovacs played pretty well yesterday, so I'm not going to call for Emilien. Personally, I'm excited that these walk-ons are good enough to make contributions.
September 13th, 2009 at 4:31 PM ^
Thank you for the insight. Was wondering about this.
September 13th, 2009 at 4:57 PM ^
Where did he play his h.s. ball? What year is he?
Seriously, as long as he's solid, I like seeing the walk-ons out there although it raises some concern when they keep Vlad on the bench.
September 13th, 2009 at 5:21 PM ^
He's a redshirt frosh from Curtice, OH, a (very) small community that is next to my hometown. He played HS ball at Oregon Clay HS, which plays in the Toledo City League. I think he was 1st-team all-City League as a junior and senior. His dad Louis Kovacs was a DB for us in the early 80s. A buddy of mine is a friend of Jordan's; i think they played travel baseball together for a few years or something. I'll see if i can dig up anything else.
September 13th, 2009 at 2:24 PM ^
I saw his jersey, with him in it, on the field, and I found myself hoping in the back of my mind that he was just out there distributing water...I don't remember any bad plays by him, I guess he accounted himself well, eh?
September 13th, 2009 at 2:26 PM ^
was carted off to the lockerroom. Really hope it's not an ACL situation.
September 13th, 2009 at 2:32 PM ^
Considering how terrified we were of our secondary depth, I'm surprised this hasn't been the subject of more conversation.
September 13th, 2009 at 2:36 PM ^
While I'm happy that Kovaks ended up performing well, I have high hopes for Vlad. I would've liked to see him out there getting playing time and experience. I only heard GREAT things about him from camp, and considering the heated position battle between him and Mike Williams, this doesn't make any sense to me at all. If Kovaks was so good then why wasn't the position battle between HIM and Williams? This just doesn't add up and I'm wondering what's going on that Vlad wasn't out there.
September 13th, 2009 at 2:42 PM ^
I believe that Vlad is Woolfolk's backup.
September 13th, 2009 at 2:49 PM ^
Woolfolk is playing strong safety. His backup is Jared Van Slyke.
Williams is the free safety. His backups are Emilien and Kovacs. Unless Emilien was injured or being disciplined, I guess the coaches just thought Kovacs was better.
September 13th, 2009 at 3:24 PM ^
There's absolutely no way that the coaches just thought that Kovaks was better than Vlad. I understand where you're coming from, but Vlad and Williams battled ALL spring AND fall for the starting spot. They were almost the same. The only reason Williams got the start is b/c he's been with the team two years longer than Vlad. Then all of a sudden Kovaks comes out of nowhere and takes the second spot? In one week? Not likely.
September 13th, 2009 at 3:52 PM ^
Absolutely no way?
Really?
September 13th, 2009 at 4:11 PM ^
Yea there is no possible way that Kovaks impressed coaches more than Vlad. Theres also no way that while Vlad may be more physically capable, Kovaks has an advantage in knowledge of where he should be. Theres also no way Tate throws for a last second TD to beat ND. These things are UNTHINKABLE!!!!!
September 13th, 2009 at 4:53 PM ^
Then please enlighten us all as to the reason why Kovacs was in there instead of Emilien.
Emilien didn't play. Kovacs did. Like I said, unless Emilien was injured or facing discipline, the coaches CHOSE Kovacs over Emilien.
Oh, by the way, did you know that a walk-on played in front of Steve Threet last year? Did you know that Bryant Nowicki was a walk-on and played instead of Patrick Omameh and Dann O'Neill last year? Did you know that Kevin Leach played WILL instead of J.B. Fitzgerald and Kenny Demens last year? Did you know that Mark Moundros was a walk-on but played in front of Vince Helmuth at fullback?
But yeah, there's no way that a walk-on would play in front of Emilien. No chance in hell. You win.
September 13th, 2009 at 6:38 PM ^
But, from the looks of it, Woolfolk has been playing Free Safety and Mike Williams has been playing Strong Safety.
September 13th, 2009 at 6:55 PM ^
Not only according to the two-deep, but Tony Gibson said in a video on MGoBlue.com that Woolfolk was playing SS. I doubt they would have a guy practice all camp at one position and then switch him on the eve of the season, but it's possible.
September 13th, 2009 at 8:26 PM ^
I found it confusing. All I'm basing it on is what i see on the field, which is typically Woolfolk deep, often deep center in Cover 1, and Williams often plays in the box, and, even when not, is, more often than not, not as deep as Woolfolk. But, that's just my observation from watching on TV (no film or anything).
September 13th, 2009 at 2:39 PM ^
Hopefully he and Stonum can play next week.
September 13th, 2009 at 2:42 PM ^
and hemingway and minor...
September 13th, 2009 at 2:45 PM ^
Yeah, but I don't see why they wouldn't. I'm pretty sure I saw that Hemingway would definitely play next week.
September 13th, 2009 at 3:22 PM ^
I noticed Dorrestein was playing on the last series.
September 13th, 2009 at 3:26 PM ^
They may have had to shift some positions on the line because Moosman got dinged up...
September 13th, 2009 at 4:54 PM ^
Ortmann was at LT, Schilling was at LG, Molk was at C, Huyge moved to RG, and Dorrestein came in at RT.
September 13th, 2009 at 3:25 PM ^
RR said that Kovacs dad played at Michigan in the 80s, which is pretty cool. I tried to watch Kovacs on the tape and he seemed to stay deep but came up to make some nice tackles. On the one play late where Warren broke up the pass to Tate, he came over in deep help kind of late though, but he had a lot of field to cover.
Safety is a very unique position (my old position when I played)...you need to have very good instincts for the game, and be able to tackle and cover... it takes more than just a good athlete, you need to be pretty smart... maybe thats why Kovacs is in and other players arent ready yet...
we will see what happens, but so far the safeties are holding up better than last year... it sucks that Williams got hurt though
September 13th, 2009 at 3:37 PM ^
he grabs his right hammy im thinking its either a pulled or strained hammy. Im not worried if williams cant play the next two weeks but we need his sure tackling @ msu and@ iowa.
September 13th, 2009 at 3:55 PM ^
Our injury situation is a little disturbing, but hopefully we can get healthy in the next two weeks against these weaker opponents. I'm not saying we should just sit everyone who is a little banged up, because even after our great start the fear of a letdown game is always on my mind. But if we can come out hard against Eastern and Indiana and go up big like we did against Western, we can certainly reduce the amount beating that our starters take.
The great thing about the receiver situation is that Tate really distributes the ball to everyone. Looking at the stat line for the first two games I am just loving the way he gets everyone involved.
As far the secondary goes, I at least take some solace in the fact that we just played probably the most potent passing team on our schedule. Sure, our secondary will be challenged at other points this season. But I don't see another team on our schedule that will force our second corner to cover a probable NFL talent. I think we will be ok here as long as Donovan stays healthy.
September 13th, 2009 at 3:56 PM ^
that we will have to wait until Thursday when the injury report comes out to see what his situation is. I would bet with an easier (no jinx) game this week, RR holds him out.
Agreed that I hated to see his and any of the other injuries. Give them to Barwis and he will use his magic to get em' back on the field.
September 13th, 2009 at 5:17 PM ^
laid the lumber on one play. I was impressed.