Saturday, April 13, 2013
Spring Game Preview: Michigan vs. Michigan
 |
| Devin Gardner |
1. That Devin Gardner's ACL stays intact. Michigan has already lost two players to ACL tears this spring (linebacker Jake Ryan and backup quarterback Russell Bellomy). An injury to Gardner would be catastrophic, since redshirt freshman walk-on Brian Cleary is the current backup and Shane Morris won't arrive until June.
2. The interior offensive line. Michigan's defensive line should be playing at a pretty high level because of the guys who return on that side, so will the three "starters" at left guard, center, and right guard get the job done? Those three positions seem to be held by Ben Braden, Jack Miller, and Joe Burzynski currently, but there are a few players hot on their heels.
3. Who's next at wide receiver? We know Jeremy Gallon can be an explosive player, and we know what Michigan has in Drew Dileo and Jeremy Jackson. Redshirt freshman Jehu Chesson has made some nice plays in practice, and sophomore Amara Darboh has done the same. At least one of those two guys needs to step up by the fall if Michigan wants to have a high-powered offense.
4. Adequate Michigan running backs. The chance that we see a stellar performance from any of the currently available running backs looks slim. With fifth year senior Fitzgerald Toussaint out with a broken leg, the job comes down to junior Thomas Rawls, redshirt sophomore Justice Hayes, sophomore Dennis Norfleet, and redshirt freshman Drake Johnson. Rawls and Hayes have been unimpressive in their live game action so far - although Rawls did have a long touchdown in garbage time last year - and Norfleet was mostly limited to kickoff returns last season. Drake Johnson has earned praise from the coaches at times, but he has looked so-so in a few spring practice clips. It would be nice to see a developing, viable option this spring, but we might have to wait until Toussaint comes back or until Derrick Green arrives on campus.
5. What does the offense look like these days? Denard Robinson is gone, and we all loved him, but now Michigan should have an actual, bona fide quarterback. The kind of quarterback that can sit in the pocket and throw the ball without tricking the defense into thinking it might be a run. I don't expect Al Borges to give much away in a spring game, but we should get an inkling of the direction he wants to take the offense. If the Pistol isn't installed by now, I would expect to see it in the fall; I also expect a little more threat of the downfield pass this year.
Top five things to watch for when Michigan is on defense . . .
1. How does Cam Gordon look filling in for the team's best defender? Cam Gordon had a pretty darn good season when he was a redshirt freshman playing free safety and linebacker, although the free safety thing was a bit of a stretch. Since that 2010 season, he has mostly been an afterthought. Jake Ryan was a terror of a pass rusher and made his fair share of plays against the run, too, and Michigan will have to manufacture a replacement for him.
2. Safety reps. Thomas Gordon is capable of playing both safety positions, and he's guaranteed to start at one of them. Sophomore Jarrod Wilson can play free safety; senior Marvin Robinson can play strong. Which player will get the most reps?
3. First world inside linebacker problems. Michigan probably has three starter-quality inside linebackers, along with some other guys who have potential. As I have been predicting for a while, it appears junior Desmond Morgan will be your new middle linebacker (moving over from WILL) and sophomore James Ross will step in at weakside linebacker. Meanwhile, sophomore Joe Bolden could conceivably be a starter at inside linebacker, although he might be a little large and stiff for WILL.
4. Cornerback depth. Redshirt sophomore Blake Countess might not do much in the spring game, since he's recovering from an ACL injury. His replacement last year, junior Raymon Taylor, continues to fight for his job, and senior Courtney Avery appears to have abandoned the nickel corner position to compete at field corner. Two of the three will presumably start in the fall, but the starting combo we'll likely see in the spring game will probably be Taylor and Avery. It will also be interesting to see if young guys Delonte Hollowell and Terry Richardson have developed.
5. Freshman early enrollees. Defensive end Taco Charlton (6'6", 265 lbs.), cornerback Ross Douglas (5'10", 176 lbs.), and safety Dymonte Thomas (6'2", 187 lbs.) enrolled in January, and each one has a chance to contribute somewhere in the fall. Charlton apparently looks the part, but his technique was rough coming out of high school; Douglas came in bigger than expected; and Thomas has been practicing some at corner and some at the nickel position, both of which are departures from what he played in high school.
Friday, April 12, 2013
ESPN: Taylor Lewan pays the price to be a Michigan Man
 |
| Taylor Lewan |
Attractive Michigan Girl of the Week
If you have any other pictures of girls wearing Michigan gear, drop me an e-mail. Go Blue!
Q&A with Jabrill Peppers
I got the chance to speak with 2014 Rivals #2
overall player Jabrill Peppers, following his unofficial visit to Michigan this
past weekend. The junior dominated for Paramus (NJ) Catholic, rushing for over
1,500 yards and 18 touchdowns, catching 5 more, while adding 77 tackles and 3
picks on defense. Despite the success,
the Charles Woodson comparisons, and the jam-packed off-season, Jabrill
remains humble and focused on an even stronger senior season. He kindly took
the time out of his busy schedule to talk with me about his training, goals,
and thoughts on his visit to Ann Arbor. Make sure to take a look at the
attached video links of Jabrill taking his training to a different level.
Coming
off an amazing junior year, how are you preparing for your senior season?
“To be even better, to be bigger, smarter, faster, and
make it real tough for everyone in the country.”
Any
part of your game that you feel you need to fine tune or improve on?
“Yes, definitely, my cornerbacking skills. From down
to my stance, pedal, footwork, my breaks on the ball, hand eye coordination.
Things I really need, the fundamentals. In college there is not going to be
that much of a difference between talent and speed, so it’s really going to be
the fundamentals that set you apart.”
What
are some of the things you are doing to improve on those fundamentals?
“Ladders, fitness ball work, repetition in my backpedal, really a lot of repetition in my breaks. Making sure that the defense
we run is engraved in my head because when you know what you’re doing, you play
faster and you have a better feel of the game.”
Tell
me a little bit about your off-season training at Total Nunziato Training (TNT)
and how it’s helping you elevate your game?
“TNT is really helping me. There is a great group of
trainers that really hone in on what you need to do to be better. They focus on
where you need to be at and the process they can help you with to get there.
They really push you to your maximum limit and get the full potential out of
you and take you to places that you can’t take yourself.”
What
stood out the most from your Michigan trip this past weekend?
“I loved it, it definitely was not what I expected.
I expected it to be good but not as great as it was. I really loved all of the
coaches and everything about that place. Down from the players and even the
students, it was a really friendly place. Academics, they’re the number
seventeen university in the nation academically, so that’s really huge for me.”
I
caught the picture of you and Denard Robinson from the weekend in Ann Arbor. Can you elaborate on any of the other guys you met out there or coaches that
you met with?
“I got a chance to meet [John] Beilein, the head basketball
coach. I pretty much met the whole basketball team, from Trey Burke to Hardaway
Jr, Mitch Mcgary, so that was pretty cool before the national championship
game.”
Did
you get to check some of spring ball practice out?
“Yeah, I got to see them practice. Very intense,
reminds me of our practice, a lot of hitting, a lot of fundamentals. Everything
is run to a “T”, they are never off schedule, and they really get after their
guys in practice making them the best they can be.”
We
hear a lot about cornerback, and you mentioned working on your cornerback
skills before. Have the Michigan coaches talked to you about a position if you
were to attend the school? And what position would you prefer to play?
“I am definitely going to go to college to be a
defensive back, and there were some talks about getting me a package on
offense. Getting to play a little offense and returning some punts and kicks,
whatever I can do. My goal is to win the Heisman as a true freshman, and to be
the first player to ever do that, and I will do whatever it takes to accomplish
that.”
Coming
off a state championship season at Paramus Catholic, what are some of your
goals as a team and personally?
“Well the number one goal is not losing any games,
and to win a national championship. We have enough national powers on our
schedule for us to obtain that goal. Every game is going to be a war so we
really need to fine tune our bodies this off-season to prepare for that. It is
really the most important thing. There are no cupcake games this year. We
really want to repeat in the state as well. 12-0 is the goal. For me, I just
want to be better than last year. I want to be a better leader and be able to
take over the game more than I could do last year. Everyone says even from my
sophomore year that I wouldn’t get better, so I topped my sophomore year. Now
we are just going to do the same thing, just my drive, the people and coaches I
surround myself with that push me. We are all just really hungry, we know we
have the opportunity to do something great that has never happened before. We
are definitely excited and ready to go.”
In
terms of commitment, I know some players like to get everything squared away
before their senior season, while others prefer the highly anticipated hat
ceremony at the last minute. Do you have an idea of when you will be
comfortable making your announcement?
“I’m definitely going to wait until after the
season. My team and our goals are the most important thing right now. We should
have about 8-12 guys on our team that can go Division I, so I’m going to have a
commitment party. I want to get everyone together and have the media there, so
we all can make our announcements then.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)