A few observations from the Spring Game
The guy that I've heard little about that really has flown under the radar to me is Jerald Robinson. I know he only caught a couple passes during the game, but just watching him in warmups reminds me of a combination of a couple guys that had great careers at Michigan. The first guy that I see glimpses of in him is Super Mario. I watched all the receivers throughout the pregame warmups and the most fluid guy in both getting upfield and cutting on a dime was Jerald. These are two things that made Mario special. The second comparison I have for him is Jason Avant. The reason he comes to mind is his solid stature for the receiver position and the fact that at this point he looks like he's developing into a guy that could be a stud as a possession guy. Hopefully he can put it all together on Saturdays this fall and the next three seasons after.
On the defensive line, I was disappointed in what I saw from Ken Wilkins. He's a guy that I've really had high hopes for from the day he committed. My bias towards the Wolverines gave me the thought of him becoming a dominant big man coming off the edge, sort of in the mold of a LaMarr Woodley. That hope will not be happening. At this point, he is being pushed back because he is a Rich Rod type of player. He's a "tweener". Some parts to his game point to being on the end and others point to him being in the middle. Personally, I simply don't see the burst or athleticism for him to ever become a starting defensive end for us. He looks to almost, for lack of a better word, lumber forward in his initial strides from that position. As far as him being a D tackle, there is potential for growth there. We can basically count on not seeing much of him at all this season because the position he is better suited for is tackle and he just is not big enough yet. Eventually he could become solid though, so I'm still holding out hope that he can be a factor for this defense down the line.
On a positive note for the defensive line, we could have something special in the next few years. If Big Will, Richard Ash, and Q Wash can really understand and adjust their games to the great defensive coaching we now have on the staff then the line will put fear into every single opponent that walks onto the field knowing they are playing Michigan. In my opinion, we could easily see Will and Ash as the starting tackles. Those two could absolutely blow up a teams' running game. Add Washington to the mix coming off the bench and there will be many long days for teams trying to run on the Maize and Blue. We should all be very excited for the future of these guys.
Last position that I played close attention to are the safeties. The first thing that stuck out was the play of the safeties. Man o Man!! they looked light years ahead of what we've seen the last few years. We have ourselves two absolute sledge hammers developing in Carvin and Marvin. They can LAY YOUR SHIT OUT when they get a full head of steam. Right now, Carvin is further ahead because of his down field ability to read the quarterback and make a play on the ball (I think we saw that with his two picks). However, M Rob is a better run defender, and although it wasn't a smart decision, I can see why the previous staff moved him to linebacker. He's a beast when he's brought down in the box. Robinson is also more physically gifted and could possibly have a higher ceiling. If he can develop his skills in the passing game, this duo could be great. I didn't see too much of Kovacs yesterday and although he may begin the season as a starter, I think it's just a matter of time before the younger guys flip the switch and display their potential. (one more thing, Furman could be Shazor part II. That is all)
Few more quick opinions from the game:
- Jake Ryan is fast. Real fast. He coupled that with some great moves off the edge from his linebacker spot. He sets up the tackles real well before getting by them.
- I know Demens wasn't playing, but it really opens your eyes to the lack of development the previous staff had with the linebackers. Marell Evans comes back and immediately is the top dog. That is not supposed to be happening but I'm happy for him and excited to see him this fall.
- Both Denard and Devin have a lot of work to do this off season but they'll be alright.
- Toussaint is very quick but at this point I don't think he will see the field much this year. Cox is the most physically gifted but has issues with his vision that he still struggles with. I still think Shaw has the best ability to be THE GUY at RB this season. Hopkins is good but gets stuffed at the point of attack too often. I'm still very excited to watch him bulldoze over defenders a la Anthony Thomas.
- Right now, it's obvious that the O lineman were recruited for a spread attack. They will get bigger though, and develop the punch you in your mouth mentality over time.
Those are just a few observations I developed from the spring game. Can't wait for the season to begin. Start the march to Indy. Go Blue!!
What I found interesting is that Hoke stated in the post-game presser, and he or one of the other coaches said before, was that they need to get players stronger. I know that young players all need to get stronger and that we were all enamoured with Barwis, but I kind of wonder if that was a subtle dig at player development from the previous staff.
Perhaps it's a different kind of strength? Using generalities, the previous staff's O and D were more finesse oriented while the current staff's O and D are not. I doubt it's a dig, maybe just that he wants bulkier bigger guys.
I'm sure he will say the same thing next year and the year after that and so on. Every coach everywhere wants his team to continue to get stronger. Martin, RVB, Lewan, Molk, etc. obviously aren't a bunch of skinny candy asses.
and watched it again last. Things I got out of the limited amount of plays / time on the field was:
1) Both Fitz and Hopkins need to learn to read the blocks of there pulling linemen and fullback better. They had several plays were they ran past their blockers or right into the defender instead of hesitating or putting their hand on the blocker and following him downfield.
2) Offensive didn't have a chance on several plays for losses. D was lining up 7 - 8 guys on the line of scrimmage and I don't think the O is far enough along to recognize and check off to a play to react to this blitz formation yet.
3) M Rob and Furman need to work on their pursuit angles on runs that break through the line of scrimmage. On the long TD run, they ran into each other....not good...
4) Denard needs to keep the ball on a zone read, when he has a one on one with the DE. D Rob vs any DE in the country.....D rob wins......Last year, I think he ran the ball so much, he wanted to give the ball to the RB's so they got some touches. This year, he will need to make sure he maximizes his opportunities for runs during the couple of times that we actually try to run a zone read this fall.....
5) I cannot believe they only scrimmaged for 1 hour 15 minutes. That was pretty disappointing. I am glad I didn't drive 2 hours to see that.....
Regarding #4, The point of a zone read is to give the ball if the end is focused on the QB.
and the way alot of the "better" teams were playing the zone read against us late last year was that the DE stays at the line of scrimmage, squares shoulders to the line and hangs out 1/2 way between the RB dive and the QB keep. I think the best way for us to make the DE commit one way or another is to run D Rob at him one on one until he shards himself into staying home for the QB keeper..... Just one man's humble observations / opinion....
FWIW, I was there and 1:15 of scrimmaging was plenty for me. That's not a knock on the players or anything; I just felt that I saw a satisfactory amount of football.
Seeing a defense that looked semi-competent was disorienting.
Oline definitely needs to get stronger, but they did look better then I thought considering they and the qb are the most affected adapting to the new scheme.
QB, Denard and Devin didn't look as comfortable but the best part of that was the defense was bringing lots of pressures and looks to confuse them....ie something they actually will see in the fall. No more of the bland defensive looks so they can go down field at will as in the past. That isn't a knock on Rich, it's the truth, last yr the defense was so bland it was difficult to tell what was what.............other then they were out manned at the point of attack.
Defense, dline is far better, far more ahead and that was missing vanbergen. Lbers aren't fighting off lineman every single snap thus the lber play was far better imo....still a way to go but consider where it was last yr......and that's without demens...... Safety play is all around better as well....
Best players on defense, Carvin, Rvb, MM and Demens........... does someone else step up into that list?
Best on offense, obviously Denard, Stonum, Lewan and Molk.... who steps in here, hemmingway, wich rb steps up and grabs the reins or is it by commitee?
Defense will look even better with Woolfold, Floyd, RVB and Demens in the lineup this fall. I also noticed that our defense swarmed to the ball, made tackles and didn't leave receivers wide open (for the most part). Finally, given the talent from Woolfolk and Floyd we might actually see press coverage from our corners for the first time in 3 years!!
TWolf, RVB and Demens in the line up.... Floyd....meh.....No CB's playing 15 yards off the line of scrimmage this year.....
the stadium was back to being awfully quite. I realize it was a small crowd, but that may have been the quietest spring game I've been to. Then again there was very little to cheer for. The pick six, a huge hit by Marvin, Denard's first run, and Cox's long run. 4 plays in an hour and fifteen minutes.
Get to work boys or it's going to be a long season instead of the promising one I was expecting. I know the D looked better, but our QBs had no idea how to audible. I suspect the D won't benefit from this once the season starts. Pass D looked better, but QBs also missed fairly easy throws. I'm really torn between how much did the D really improve or was it just a matter of our O sucking so bad it made them look better than they really were.
the dude is still a freshman and our staff has three former d-line coaches... no need to worry yet
IIRC, there were some that were calling Brandon Graham a bust after year 2. No need to freak out on anyone yet. Kids have different learning curves, and not every kid is going to be a superstar...this is what makes the Mike Harts of the world so special.
Can we stop dismissing guys as busts who just freaking arrived on campus. Ken Wilkins is a true freshman going through his first spring practice. Acting like you can look at him now and determine he has zero chance going forward (at a time in his career when he and just about everyone else who plays his position is supposed to look like crap) is completely ridiculous. He has another two years to develop before we should even be thinking about him seeing the field on a regular basis.
Same goes for the idea that Will Campbell is a bust and/or was coached by blind retarded monkeys the last few years (the same guys who somehow managed to coach Martin, Graham, and RVB into quality players). Our expectations for a very raw defensive tackle (albeit one with great physical talents) should have been absolutely zero for his first two years on campus. He should just be starting to develop into a potentially competent starter (assuming he's a prospect that pans out, which also doesn't always happen) and it looks like he's on the road to doing that.
Hopefully now that we aren't operating at a scholarship deficit and guys will get time to sit and wait their turn, these crazy demands/expectations being placed on freshman/sophomore players will disappear.
I hit refresh after reading the post b/c I didn't believe no one had called this out.
<br>Wilkins is a RS frosh, but the point holds. And he actually made several plays yesterday, and had a good game.
While your thoughts on Will Campbell are rational, I do not entirely agree. Frankly, to say that our expectations for a 5-star top 30 national player should have been absolutely zero in his first two years is not true. Yes, he was raw, I think it is safe to say that if Rivals could re-do his ranking, they would put him much lower now.
He still has a chance to be good, and he seems to be making excellent progress, but generally speaking, a 5 star player is expected to be an above average starter by his junior year, so hopefully that is what we get out of him this year. Also, a redshirt year would have done wonders for him. Again, I'm not baggin on big Will or your opinion, I just don't think it is correct to say we should expect nothing in the first two years of a highly regarded, 5 star player at a position of need. Obviously, top 50 players don't always reach their potential, but I feel like we've been on the wrong end of that luck for the past few years.
Even the highest rated guys at that position rarely if ever see the field, much less make an impact in their first two years on campus (and like you point out he missed out on the redshirt year). Somebody on here did a diary on it and the odds were extremely low that anybody made any kind of on-field impact right out of the gate. Campbell was also a guy we knew wasn't very polished coming in out of high school and who had some pretty serious weight issues to deal with.
While it would be great if he had come in and smashed people right out of the gate, acting like any player is a bust (aside from guys who quit the team or don't put in the effort) before he reaches his third year on campus makes no sense, regardless of ranking. Just look at a guy like Gabe Watson (with a similar recruiting pedigree). He made 15 tackles and had just one TFL his first two years at Michigan. Then he was all Big Ten the next two years. It takes time.
Agreed on Wilkins 99%. Only issue is that he is a RS freshman. Been on campus for a full term now.
My point was that this is still his first full year on campus. The guy hasn't finished a single academic year and this is the first anyone has had a chance to see him in action (outside of maybe some highlight clips from practice). The OP acting like it is clear he'll never amount to anything at this point and based on this evidence (especially when others think he played well) is completely insane.
Take the time to actually read through what I said. He got moved to d tackle by the new staff. I believe he's a tackle not an end and that's exactly what i said in the OP. I also said i have hope that he can turn into a solid defensive tackle for this team and that he wont see the field this year because he needs time to grow into a defensive tackles body.
I think I stopped at "That won't happen" and went into internet rage mode, missing the position switch nuance. Sorry about that.
The term isn't over, so technically he's still a true freshman.
I tried to see his stats from him at hampton last year but could find virtually nothing. Was he injured?
If he wasn't... I'm not sure what to feel about the fact that he can go from not playing at hampton to being a projected starter here.
I'm not sure what everyone wants from him. It seems some people want hiim to be a guy like Suh....
The biggest thing he can contribute to this D is to hold the point of attack and stalemate to allow Martin and other guys single blocking. If your asking Campbell to get off blocks and make plays then you are asking for way to much.
He is going to be a guy who hopefully eats up 2 blockers on most plays and holds the point of attack to allow our LB's to flow to the ball as well as letting our other Dlineman get off of 1 on 1 blocking. If he can do that you can expect Martin to be an absolute monster all year long taking on single blocking.
And in terms of that expectation, he had a decent game. His first play was probably his worst (no coincidence he was doubled that play), but he was disruptive often. He moved Barnum into the backfield on more than one occasion, and that's a win for the D. On pass plays he'll be looking to bat the ball down.
<br>Best play? On the Smith dump off, he chased him from the 50 to the 20 yard line. He's in better shape. And he looks more engaged now that he's entrenched on the starting D. Those are first steps for him to becoming a difference maker, which given his size, he still has a chance to be.
Genuine question: Isn't Campbell playing the 3-Tech DT, which is the guy who is NOT supposed to command double teams and be a disruptive force in the backfield? I thought the NT/NG (being played by Martin) was the position which was expected to receive double teams and just "hold the line".
This was the first check to see how far along the team was and it was ugly. I missed the first 40 mins of the game and I am looking forward to seeing the replay, but some of the things I noticed:.
I expected to see timing mistakes like RBs hitting a hole to early, or incompletions on 1 and 2 step drops, those things take multiple reps in practice to get down.
The penalties seemed high for focusing on the fundamentals all spring.
Both QBs were making poor decisions, I was more disappointed in gardner though, expected him to be farther along.
I was really confused as to why they were calling up blitzes at all. The spring game is to showcase the team, everyone knows the offense is going to struggle after only 15 practices and you put 8 guys in the box to show off what exactly? You make the offense look worse than expected and everyone labels the defense as "decent". I don't see the value in that trade-off.
Its never as bad or as good as it looks though, I think ugly was a good word for it.
Regarding the defensive play calling, it could simply be that the D needs just as much, if not more, experience running everything as the O. I didn't get to see the game, but it sounds like the O focused on the things they don't do well. There was basically nothing the D did well last season, so maybe they're just trying to work on all of it.
Everyone seemed like they knew where to go. On one play when Denard was rolling out, Hawthorne (I believe) sprinted like a madman to keep him from getting the edge. They understand contain.
<br>That said, the D was aggressive - we left a bunch of defenders alone while stacking the line. Either our DBs have improved, or GMAT believes pressure has priority over safe coverage (which I don't think his statements or track record support), or as you say, they were just practicing.
when DG tried to run the Waggle, Lloyd's favorite "trick" play. You can only go to the well so many times with that play, especially against the sons of Lloyd.
Isn't it possible (I would argue, even likely) that Hoke and Co., knowing that the UM fanbase was tired of seeing the "wet paper bag" defenses of the last three years, used this exhibition game as a P.R. move to highlight the defense and make them look vastly improved, thereby reassuring the fans that the defense might actually be capable of stopping...well...anybody in 2011?
It certainly seemed as though the defense was allowed to be FAR more aggressive in this Spring game than what you usually see in these type of games while the offense was playing it "close to the vest". I think the defense blitzed more in that hour and a half scrimmage than they did in the entire 2010 season.
April 18th, 2011 at 12:46 AM ^
Even if that was a PR stunt, which wouldn't be that surprising from that cynical sack of dog poo Dave Brandon, you would have to be an idiot of epic proportions to have watched this and believe that this defense is capable of stopping anyone.
that is a new one. The only vision I think he has is for the goal line.
Last year he didn't know the playbook evidently. Everytime the guy plays, and I know it hasn't been against tough competition, he looks outstanding. He has great balance, strength, size and speed.
Does he not block very well?
He deserves a shot to play against the big boys on a regular basis in my opinion.
April 17th, 2011 at 11:05 PM ^
Between the last two spring games and the last two seasons, Cox has...
29 carries, 289 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 4 runs of 20+ yards.
Josh "I ran a 4.37" Furman wasn't even gaining any ground on him on that 68-yarder.