file

News bullets and other important items:

• Blake Countess (groin) and Mario Ojemudia (ankle) were held out of practice but should return by Monday
• Drake Harris injured his other hamstring and has been limited to doing rehab reps
• The offensive line could change from morning practice to afternoon practice until they find a combination they like. Don’t shoot the messenger.
• The open scrimmage on the 16th was Hoke’s idea and will feature…football. They’re going to play football.

Opening remarks:

“Thanks for coming. Number one, it’s always good to get in the pads for the first day. You know, even though you've been in short pads and helmets it was good to get out in full pads. It was good that the energy that we've had all week has been really positive, how the guys have reacted to some adversity that we put them under. Today we did a little crowd noise and certain situational football setting and you could see we've got a lot of work to do. So we'll continue to put a bunch of pressure on our team. You know, Blake [Countess], he's got a little bit of a groin so we held him out today. Mario's [Ojemudia] got a little bit of an ankle, he's in a boot, but talking to him he said that he feels better every day and I think he'll be okay. Blake and Mario, they should be by Monday ready to go so we're excited about that. We've had good practices but we've got a long way to go when you look at where we need to be.”

What would you say, in just the five days of practice, you've seen the most improvement of and where would you say 'we've got to get this better pretty quick?'

“Well, I guess the biggest thing is how they came into camp. From conditioning and all, the kind of shape we're in, to football IQ and where that's at, and that's why we’ve got to continue to put a lot of stress on them. You know, that way things become a little more reactive and automatic when you're looking at it. That's probably in how they're competing with each other, you know, we get a couple scuffles now and then, and most of that is guys just going. And they're going hard.”

Could you talk about the enthusiasm? They were jacked up at the beginning today.

“Well, they were jacked up at the beginning. It was great they were jacked up at the beginning and it was great they were jacked up at the end. I mean, you need both. You can always start fast but you've got to finish. I thought they've come out every day that way, so they've been excited about football. Obviously tomorrow we'll go two practices and that will be a little bit more challenging in some ways. I think we've got a really good plan when you look at the health and wellness and getting them off their feet and trying to get them as much sleep as we can. That's a little different than years past and I think that's a testament a little bit to how they've gone about their team business.”

About the freshman; are all of them participating?

“All of them are participating. Some of them have to leave a little early depending on what they have on the academic schedule.”

They're all qualified?

“Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yes. I didn't know you were talking about that. They're all qualified, they're all here.”

With being unsure whether Ty [Issac] is going to be given the opportunity to play or not, how do you decide how many reps to get him in case he can play or in case he doesn’t and you don’ want to take away from somebody else

“Right, right. And I think the one thing we’ve done is we are getting a ton of reps. How we practice—so there’s enough reps there. I think as we get closer, a week from now, when you start really game planning—because he really needs to take some reps to learn what the offense is.I think luckily he’s played at a Division I university and there’s a lot of similarities always but I think this has been beneficial for him and I think everyone’s kind of gotten what we need.

Would you be surprised if Devin [Gardner] wasn’t the guy in week 1?

“I would think he’s had a really good fall camp so far. You know, it’s five days. He’s right now the guy taking most of the reps with the ones but we’re splitting them up a little bit at times and if he’s not playing well, you know, Shane [Morris]—Doug’s not hesitant in practice to make that change and so they both are taking reps with the ones. Devin’s  getting the majority of them.

You talked a little bit about multiple running backs. Could you see early in the season, let’s say Devin’s the starter, trying to get Shane in there earlier than later and getting him some playing time?

“You know, we haven’t really talked about what kind of contingency plan or plan to try and get him, if he isn’t the starter, reps yet in that first game, second game, third game, fourth game, whatever it might be.”

You talked before about staying away from ‘I like this team,’ but do you have a sense of this team’s identity yet?

“No, not yet but we talk about it every day, their identity and what they want to make it. It’s things that you do repeatedly and they can be good or bad.”

And what’s the response you get?

“Well, I think from a physical standpoint it’s been real positive. I think from a competitive standpoint it’s been real positive.”

In terms of freshmen getting in the mix, Freddy [Canteen] especially…

“I think Freddy. I think Mason Cole. Mason Cole’s a good football player. I think I said that in the spring. He’s a little different than most freshmen offensive linemen in some ways. I think [Bryan] Mone, Mone’s a little different. Him being here was a big plus. Wilton Speight’s taken some good reps. Drake Harris is the other guy. He’s got a little bit of a ham, hammy, hamstring and so he’s a guy that hasn’t—he’s taken some limited reps but not like we’d like to get with him.

Was that something that he re-hurt this week?

“Yeah. He re-hurt it early in the week. Different hamstring.”

Did you guys think about shutting him down for a while?

“He has been shut down.”

You said he’s been doing limited reps…

“Limited, yeah. And most of those are rehab reps.”

You were in pads for the first time today. Do you know when you’ll have your first scrimmage?

“Yeah I do but I don’t know if I remember right now. Sometime next week, but I couldn’t tell you when it is. I kind of go by it daily.”

Blake’s injury is, you said, a groin. Is that related to the core [injury that caused him to have offseason surgery]?

“No. No, no, no. He’ll be fine.”

Is this just a brief thing with Drake here?

“You know, I’m not a doctor so it’s hard for me to really analyze that. I think it’s something that we’re very weary about. I think Coach Wellman, Strength and Conditioning—I think the rehab that we’ve done, I think Paul Schmidt and the trainers have all handled it very well. You know, is it a nagging thing? Maybe. Some people have those things so we have to think what can we do to help besides this rest and they know much better than I know.”

Who do you see mixing in besides Funchess among the wide receivers at the top spot?

“Jehu [Chesson]. Amara’s [Darboh] done well. Dennis [Norfleet] and Freddy [Canteen] right now have done a nice job. Bo Dever. Jack Wangler’s made some good plays but if I would look at that group I think Funch, Amarah, Jehu, Fleet and Canteen.”

Norfleet and Canteen are at slot?

“They’re at slot, yes.”

What kind of progress has Amara made after sitting out last year with injury?

“He really has come along real well. I think in the spring, probably the last two weeks, we could have put him in live stuff but we just decided not to. He’s done well.”

Where have you seen this week the impact of Coach Nussmeier’s new system on the offensive line?

“Well, I think there’s some things that we like more vertical. I think that the combination schemes that we want to be a little more heavy on the line of scrimmage. When you look at hands, you know, four hands on one man to initiate some movement on the line of scrimmage. I think the backs themselves, Drake Johnson, Derrick [Green] and De’Veon [Smith], they’re downhill guys so it’s punctured the line of scrimmage a little bit.

When it comes to the line right now, how do you balance moving guys around trying different things versus wanting to have one unit building cohesion playing alongside each other?

“How do you balance it? I think it can be tricky but I think it can be massaged very well. I think Darrell [Funk] has done a nice job with it and Nuss and who we’ve put in that first group and maybe that changes daily. I’m sure it will change from a morning practice to the afternoon at times until we really feel this is it with these guys. I think the competition there has been really good for us and I think they’ve come out every day very physical.”

So who was the first group today?

“Today it was Mason Cole at the left tackle position, Jack [Miller] was at the center position, Magnuson was at the left guard position for a little bit, Ben Braden was at right tackle, and the right guard was Graham [Glasgow] and David Dawson.”

Can I ask a question about the open scrimmage [on August 16th]?

“I’d love for you to.”

You talked about in the spring how you didn’t show your cards. Is this going to be the same kind of thing?

“That’s why you have to come.”

You could have opposing coaches come in, right?

“If they’re coming in during two-a-day…”

They could.

“Well, they could. Do you think they will?

Yeah, they could have a graduate assistant or somebody…

“Are you going to trust a graduate assistant right now?”

I think you were one once, right?

“Kinda.”

I don’t know your bio by heart.

“That’s okay. Yeah but what are you showing? We’re going to play football though.”

So you will keep your cards close to the vest.

“No, you said that. I didn’t say that. We’re going to play football.”

Whose idea was it?

“Mine.”

You’ve got to put this thing together pretty quickly.

“I think it’s good. You know, the more you look at pro football and for a team that’s got some youth but experience I think it’s good for them to be in front of people. Just like crowd noise today, I want as many distractions as we can get. I also think it’s great for Michigan fans because we love them.”

Do you want to invite us more to distract the players?

“No, probably not. You don’t distract them. You may distract me.”

Playing at home hasn’t been a problem. Have you considered doing a scrimmage at an away stadium?

“You know, we’ve done that. We did that when we were going to Alabama, to Texas. I thought that was really good for us. I thought it would’ve been maybe better if we could’ve opened it up and had people in Ford Field. I think that would’ve been pretty cool but that’s pretty hard to negotiate when they have their security, their event staff, all those things.”