Michigan Football: Fitzgerald Toussaint (RB) — Spring Evaluations
Posted at 6:00am — 4/25/2011
Michigan Football: Fitzgerald Toussaint (RB) — Spring Evaluations
GBMWolverine Football Spring Evaluations: Position by Position — Player Profile.
GBMWolverine readers:Here is a brief overview of Fitzgerald Toussaint and GBMWolverine’s analysis concerning his progress this spring with the new system.
Note: We will not evaluate every player on the team and with this position group (running backs) we will not evaluate #14 Teric Jones (injury), #18 Jihad Rasheed, and #32 O’Neil Swanson. If you would like to chat about these players bring them up on the message board, in chat on Monday nights or send us an e-mail request.
Coming in: Thomas Rawls (Flint Northern) and Justice Hayes (Grand Blanc) at the running back position this fall.
Losing: Michael Shaw, and John McColgan.
Fitzgerald Toussaint
Height: 5’10
Weight: 200
Number: 28
Position: Running Back
Year: Red-shirt Sophomore
City/State: Youngstown, Ohio
High School: Liberty
Overview:
Fitzgerald really seemed to improve as the spring practice progressed. It seemed as if Fitz became better as he continued to learn and adjust to the new system. His improvement may also have been tied to the coaches seeing what Fitz could do and determining plays that might work best for him.
Fitz improved overall with strength and conditioning and said improvement will make him a serious threat for playing time. The new offense seems to favor Fitz over others on the roster with a more powerful, run–based type of system.
Fitz seems to be really having fun battling for the running back position. The fun part fits most players on the team.
He could be the featured running back Michigan has been missing for awhile.
Strengths:
Fitz T. may have the most upside of the running back group with a nice combination of size and speed.
He runs well between the tackles and is also a threat to the outside.
What impressed us the most was Fitz’s physical improvement. He was in the best shape of his career and it showed in his performance.
We expect Fitzgerald to be in the middle of the running back competition for playing time.
Needs Work:
Like every running back on the roster, Fitz must be more consistent.
Contributing This Year?
We believe Fitzgerald fits this new offensive scheme very well. He is battling for the #1 running back right now with no clear-cut favorite coming out of spring football practices.
We see Fitz getting many reps/carries this year with the starters and believe the coaches are going to be looking for the “hot hand” and go with whoever that might be for a certain game.
Final Thoughts:
Fitzgerald has really showed great improvement this spring.
As we stated under the quarterback final thoughts, here is another new (and quite different) offense to learn and another new coaching staff from whom to absorb the necessary knowledge and technique. This is tough on players, especially with limited access prior to spring practices and only having fifteen practices in the spring to get acclimated to the new scheme.
We will see the biggest improvement, not only with Fitzgerald, but the entire team, during the summer workouts and fall camp.
Competition in a coach’s eyes is a beautiful thing with Coach Borges (OC), Coach Jackson (RB) and Coach Hoke (HC).
Fitzgerald Toussaint, Stephen Hopkins, Michael Cox, Michael Shaw, and Vincent Smith pushing each other during the spring practices and beyond will only make them better, especially with the opportunities of summer workouts, film studies, and fall camp.
All of the running backs above have demonstrated a history of putting in the time to get better. This spring all running backs have shown improvement. Still, no one has separated from the mix, and consistency will be the formula to do so.
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Written by GBMWolverine Staff
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