GBMWolverine was out looking at Greg Brown from Fremont Ross and Chris Wormley from Toledo Whitmer tonight.

We have a few details about the game, how they played on our GBMWolverine Message Board so come check it out and if your haven’t signed up yet this might be a good time especially while football season is underway and GBMWolverine out looking at future Michigan Wolverine prospects.

We will have pictures, a pretty good video and more detailed article later on.

This was the second time GBMWolverine saw Chris Wormley this year and the first time this year to see Greg Brown. We saw Greg about three games last season and Chris twice.

Written by GBMWolverine Staff

Go Blue — Wear Maize!

Posted at 8:00am — 9/3/2010

GBMWolverine Game Predictions and Commentary:

ErocWolverine:

Well the season is finally here and glad to see the countdown clock is getting close to kickoff.

Michigan has a lot to prove this year and the first two games are going to tell Michigan fans a lot about this team and how they will play the rest of the season in these first couple of games.

UConn is a very good team, but they are missing a few good players (starters) on defense so can Michigan take advantage of the situation like many belive other teams will try and do to the Michigan secondary?

This game is going to have a lot of emotion in it not just for the players and coaches, but all of the Michigan fans in attendance with the re-dedication of Michigan Stadium. A lot of activities are going to take place before the game, but what matters most is what happens on the field.

The players and coaches know there is pressure on them to do well this year, but lets hope they don’t put to much pressure on them and it plays against them.

That said I think Michigan can score on this UConn defense, but of course the big key will be can the Michigan defense stop UConn.

Also with so many new key players on special teams will that be a shining star or something that will be a work in progress this whole year with a new punter, new field goal kicker, new kick off guy, new snappers, and new holders. Not to mention the possible new return guys besides Stonum who has the most experience.

All that said I think or hope Michigan can pull it off and believe the emotion of this game will be enough to get them the victory. I think the offense is going to have to score a lot of points this season and not make mistakes with turnovers. If they have turnovers watch out.

UConn 35 — Michigan 42.

CoachBt:

My heart says Michigan 35-31, my head says UConn 38-35. Going with my heart.

UConn 31 — Michigan 35.

Doc4Blu:

This is an opener, predictability goes down, a new puzzle is on the board.

Coach’s brain probably is right, I have been coming up with UConn a seven point winner, but there is no way I am going to pick UConn in this opener. Coach has a heart, mine is stone cold, and as a result of stubbornness I am picking the Wolverines in the grand and glorious dedication game.

A wounded dog with its back to the wall will take on the Husky. Michigan will need more than emotion, it will need the coaching staff to plan and execute a high level game plan and make successful adjustments. The players must avoid killing turnovers. You may now return my brain to its normal abnormal state.

UConn 24 — Michigan 27

MaizeMan:

Michigan wins because they win the turnover battle. Have at least one big play on special teams.

Defensively the bend, but don’t break defense with a huge emphasis on stopping the run.

UConn will be somewhat effective passing to tight end and using middle of the field, but Michigan makes necessary adjustments at half.

Surprise star of game — Cox at running back — and we have some use of the tight end.

Just a prediction.

UConn 17 — Michigan 35.

WerlsWolverine:

Michigan’s defense steps up as they are responsible for two touchdown’s, other ten points special teams.

I might be basing the rest of the year’s predictions on this game.

UConn 24 — Michigan 35

Yostmeister:

This one is going to be hard to predict.

Our secondary is young, inexperienced and will be tested. I am hoping the defense in general will be better than the scouting reports I have seen, but then again attrition took a toll.

Our offense should score, but I don’t like this cat and mouse game Coach Rod is playing with the quarterback position.

UConn may be good enough to win their conference this season and their offense is pretty balanced.

That said … I am going to be optimistic they prove me wrong.

UConn 30 — Meechigan 31.

————————————-

Last year we started using different Michigan blogs as our special guest on our predictions. This year we decided since we have a message board now we would invite posters from our site.

So not knowing the best way of doing it we decided to invite five posters a week to join in on the discussion.

How did we come up with who to pick from the 300 plus members of our site? Well we decided once again to just go by the most active posters.

These first posters were the top five posters posting on our site. Not saying we are always going to do it this way, but to be part of the game day predictions might want to start posting more to get your numbers up and join in on the discussions on the message board.

Special Guest this week:

NCMichigan5:

Michigan should win this game on emotion alone, and you can bet that they will come out with a chip on their shoulder. Denard will move the ball early and Michigan will take the early lead, but UConn will establish the run with their two powerful backs and keep Michigan guessing.

I look for Stonum to have a big game in the return game giving Michigan good field position. The Wolverines will take the early 17-14 lead to the locker room.

In the second half Michigan will stack the box to stop the run and UConn will go over the top at least once taking advantage of the young secondary. UConn will run right at Michigan hoping to control the clock. This will force Michigan to be on skates the rest of the night.

A late rally will fall short as the Wolverines fall in the opener. Hope I am wrong!

UConn 28 — Michigan 24

Seanagers:

UConn 24 — Michigan 34

WOLVERINENWV:

UConn 27 — Michigan 33

HailVictors42:

A lot of hype will surround this game with the “Re-Dedication” of The Big House, and I believe Coach Rod will have this team prepared to play.

Offense will move the ball better than what we have seen so far, and scoring should not be an issue.

The defense will give up some points, but will play well enough to secure the victory. With A LOT to play for, Michigan will be ready.

UConn 24 — Michigan 38

ElijahBlue:

Two things will be the difference in this one. First, the much improved Michigan Offensive line will help keep both the clock and the chains moving. This will limit the number of snaps for the Michigan Defense.

The second and bigger factor in my opinion will be the intangibles in this game. The environment in the Big House will be electric for this one. The fans have been bottling up two years of frustrations and they will let it out on Saturday. The players come into this one with a big chip on their shoulders and extremely fired up to restore the program to its rightful place.

Couple the energy with the new renovations and the Big House “will be a rockin” for four quarters.

UConn 26 — Michigan 37

Written by GBMWolverine Staff

Go Blue — Wear Maize!

Mailbag question: Lack of a vertical passing game

Posted at 2:00pm — 9/2/2010

Mailbag question: Lack of a vertical passing game

Hi GBMW,

I have a question for you.

The lack of a vertical passing game troubles me. It seems like the only passes that were completed in Big Ten play last year were bubble screens or quick passes to the outside. Any other completions were the result of the quarterback scrambling and finding someone open down field. There did not seem to be much timing in the passing game (outside of bubble screens), in addition to the lack of vertical passing game. What can this be attributed to? The quarterbacks and their size, arm strength, lack of understanding of the offense, or play calling? I feel that some of the problem must be play calling. It bothers me that our offense has not really evolved in the past 3 years. We heard about the Trojan package being put into the offense, but it doesn’t seem like we have seen much of it.

I wanted to get your thoughts.

Thanks as always and keep up the good work,

James B.

————————-

Thanks for the question.

A number of factors are involved with Michigan’s perceived lack of a downfield passing game, which frankly may go past mere perception to reality.

First, the offense is more about stretching the field sideline to sideline rather than vertically, forcing the defense to defend from sideline to sideline, that is, the entire field.

Other factors include a lack of true speed split ends to stretch the field, the offensive tackles having problems blocking the edge, and a passing game designed to clear the short routes for the slot receivers, or sometimes the running backs coming out of the backfield. This can become an exercise in futility for wideouts who are expecting the ball deep numerous times per game.

Any time the quarterback drops five or seven steps it becomes very difficult to max protect and give the quarterback time to let deep routes develop. While the line play has improved, there is still plenty of room for improvement in max pass pro. Teams who are very good at this emphasize pass protection for the long game in practice and as a result may not be as adept at running the ball. This is why so many teams still strive for a 50-50 mix from a standard two backs, two wideouts attack.

To compensate for the above shortcoming, the passing game targets superior athletes that can be matched up against overhangs/strong safeties or outside linebackers.

In this philosophy the objective is to turn short or intermediate passes into big gains. The problem is if a team cannot throw deep or break big plays in the short game, the safeties are invited to camp out near the line of scrimmage, hurting both the running game and the short passing game.

Written by GBMWolverine Staff

Go Blue — Wear Maize!