Michigan Football Spring Game Open Thread

Submitted by reshp1 on

Since I can't stream the game live because I have Comcast (*shakes fist*) I figured I'd live vicariously through you guys that can watch live or that are at the Big House.

Posts thoughts and observations here.

buddhafrog

April 13th, 2013 at 2:04 PM ^

VLC player and BTN Mobile streams (http://66.172.33.99/#used to have a work-around that let folks stream basketball games this year.  It was great.  It's not working for me now.  Maybe they've changed there streams to avoid this?

Does this work for anyone else?

Mr. Yost

April 13th, 2013 at 2:08 PM ^

Always in position (even if it was against a backup TE)

 

...of course I say that and he doesn't quite contain and Norfleet squirts outside for a nice run.

 

Norfleet HAS to get the ball.

Mr. Yost

April 13th, 2013 at 2:33 PM ^

QB: Devin Gardner is clearly a better QB...I said earlier that he's hitting his target, but not necessarily hitting a bullseye. That's the next step. Then again, a few of his passes he purposely threw away from pressure.

RB: I saw good things from all 4 backs. I think they're all solid. No superstars, but they're all somewhere on that Brandon Minor, Carlos Brown, Vincent Smith level, IMO. Just depends on who gets the opporunity. Rawls looks quicker than he did last year. Hayes looks bigger. Norfleet is Norfleet. Johnson looks like a good and everything, great at nothing type back.

FB: Kerridge and Houma both played well and will be fine.

WR: Gallon looks exactly the same (the good and the "meh"), Dileo was silent, I'm not sure if this offense really is suitable for him...his catches seem to go to the TE now. Darboh looked good, he was starting outside with Gallon. Chesson ran with the 2's and you can see the talent, but he just needs to put it all together. I feel like he has the higher ceiling, but Darboh at least today is currently the better player. Reynolds is solid, love his toughness. JJ is JJ.

TE: Worried about Funchess, hopefully it's nothing serious. He was clearly one of the 5 most talented players on the field. Butt is an all-around TE who's going to be VERY good, I'm super "high" on his in this offense. Williams caught a ball or two, he looks much improved, I think in hindsight he should've redshirtted last year.

OL: The O-Line is set IMO, Lewan-Braden-Miller-Kalis-Schofield. That's it, write it down, go with it. These guys gave up a safety on the 2nd play, but other than that, there may have been 4-5 snaps where they didn't get good push. They're SO much more physical than last year, they actually move people. Magnuson-Bosch/Glasgow-Burzynski-Bars-Gunderson seem to be your 2nd team. Bosch got more 2nd team snaps, but Glasgow got reps with the 1st team when Braden went out for like 2-3 plays.

Mr. Yost

April 13th, 2013 at 2:42 PM ^

In all honesty, I was watching 75% offense, 25% defense. This is because we were playing with clear "teams" on offense and the defense was just subbing guys in and out. It's harder to pay attention because of who guys are playing with. For example, if you're Des Morgan and you've got the first team DL in there to keep you "clean"...you look better than if they're out.

That said...

DL: Clark is a manchild as advertised, Q is starting at NG with Black next to him. I never got a good read on who got the most snaps at SDE. The coaches rotated Q and Pipkins quite a bit. I think this is why they have no interest in starting both...they like having 2 NG's they consider starters since neither plays a ton of consecutive plays. Charlton looked very good, but it was against 3rd team OTs.

LB: Ross-Mogran-Gordon. Gordon looked GREAT, IMO. He's not going to be Ryan, but if we were going to lose one of our better players, it helps having a great backup. In fact, he was probably our best backup outside of the punter position that has Wile as a backup to Hagerup and RB that really doesn't have seperation in players. I thought Gordon was active, he was in position. He only had one play in which he allowed Norfleet to get the edge, but it's Norfleet, he can cut that makes people on TV hold their ACLs.

CB: Guys were in position for the most part, but didn't see much that we haven't seen before. Avery and Taylor are solid B1G level players. Richardson disappointed me last year and still does. Hollowell could be a solid backup to Avery at the nickel spot, he's better inside than he is out.

S: It's Thomas Gordon and no seperation between M-Rob and Wilson. It could be that Robinson plays vs. the run and running teams and Wilson plays against the pass and passing teams. Jeremy Clark also looked solid back there. Furman, I wish they'd move him to LB already (especially with Gant and Dymonte Thomas on the team).

Mr. Yost

April 13th, 2013 at 2:45 PM ^

...a nice little fix.

It'll be nice to watch it tonight where I can pause the TV and really look at each position and breakdown every play.

We should have a much better idea of everything tonight. Hopefully by that time we'll know that Funchess is 100%.

Wolverine Devotee

April 13th, 2013 at 3:27 PM ^

At Pizza House. Still thawing out. By my counting, Maize won 13-8. Very vanilla. This is probably the worst spring game weather since that 08 one at saline.

icegoalie1

April 13th, 2013 at 4:02 PM ^

that Hoke expects Jake Ryan to be playing by mid-October...please tell me this is not a joke!?  I was under the assumption he would be out the entire season...this pleases me greatly!

WolvinLA2

April 13th, 2013 at 4:59 PM ^

You shouldn't have assumed that to begin with.  ACLs don't take that long to recover from.  

Mid-October would be 7 months from the injury, which is a little ambition but not a whole lot.  Remember when Vincent Smith tore his ACL against OSU a few years ago?  He was just fine to start the next season, which was a just about 9 months later, and IIRC he wasn't limited in fall camp either. 

Wormley tore his ACL in August of last year, which is less than 8 months ago and he's been full go all spring.  

HarBoSchem

April 13th, 2013 at 4:31 PM ^

that annoying fan, that knows everything about everything and was loud about it. I really dislike the people who talk out of their asses and think they sound smart doing it. My suggestion to those fans, sit, shut up and watch. My 3 year old and I just wanted to sit and watch the spring game (practice) and hear the band.

Blazefire

April 13th, 2013 at 4:48 PM ^

For the folks saying "Swieca looks good, but why have I never heard of him?"

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/high-school/freshman-alex-swieca-walk-on-football-player-university-michigan-played-game-high-school-article-1.981492

You never heard of him because the dude didn't play HS football. He was in Isreal playing in what constitutes their pro league. Where he was a star. Not a bad guy to have 3rd or 4th on the depth chart.

UofM626

April 14th, 2013 at 10:53 AM ^

To HOUMA and lets see if the kid can pound the ball until we find out what's up w Fitz and get Green on campus. I've seen enough of Rawls etc. to know it is what it is w those others. Houma could be a pounder!!!!!