Michigan Football: Tidbits from MaizeMan — Odds and Ends from Spring Practices
Posted at 8:00am — 6/1/2013
Michigan Football: Tidbits from MaizeMan — Odds and Ends from Spring Practices
Some stuff I wrote down but forgot to post, Spring practice stuff.
1) Offensive Guards:
By end of spring Kalis and Braden were starting OG’s. As documented, Kalis split duties early in spring, in fact, played mostly with the second group behind Bry. By end of spring, Kalis was firmly planted in at RG and Braden who struggled at times getting enough push in run blocking faced some renewed competition. Braden, who I think is better suited at OT still seems to be the leader going into spring, but needs to keep progressing.
2) As we noted, Bosch was very impressive in spring despite the fact he was going against some pretty good DL’s and was basically still a SR in HS, but wont see any action this fall. The two OL’s (opinion alert) who made up the most ground this spring was Bryant (late in spring) and Glagow (keep an eye on Glasgow. He played both OC and OG and was really pushing late.
January 1, 2013; Tampa, FL, USA; Michigan Wolverines defensive coordinator Greg Mattison prior of the 2013 Outback Bowl at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports3) At first, the emergence of Hollowell was both because of his ability to defend man coverage, but may also have been sending a message to others, but his performance (especially his ability to defend the run) has put him in the mix. As we have discussed, Mattison like bigger CB’s (as shown in our recruiting), but if you are not big you better be physical and play big and Hollowell was our most physical CB this spring despite his size. With Countess scheduled to return and Taylor the favorite to start I still (at this point) see Hollowell firmly in the 2-deep.
4) There is two things to watch early in the fall, it may tell us how good our running game is going to be. Our coaches do not look at yards gained at a way to judge a successful running game, but rather look at how the team runs the ball in the 4th quarter and probably more important how well we run the ball in the redzone. Running in the redzone has been a problem at UM for a long time at least the past 5 years and this is the area (at least in spring) that Drake Johnson showed the most promise.
5) My favorite player on the defense is Mario, but have to admit I thought he had an average spring. However, it must be noted he seemed to have some sort of nagging leg injury all spring just did not seem to have his usual quickness and speed. Now he has some time to heal and with a good off-season I am expecting to see Mario break out this fall.
6) One quick tidbit one coach says that Dymonte Thomas is one of the most coachable kids on this team that he really wants to learn and he expects some huge progress by fall so much so he expects him to be in the line-up or at least in the rotation.
7) Will Furman now be in the rotation at safety? As of now, it looks that way, unless one of the rookies or they decide to move someone like Thomas to safety. But good news at least right now Furman seems to have changed his ways going from being a real off-field problem to doing everything expected from staff.
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Written by GBMWolverine Staff — MaizeMan
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