Michigan Football Tidbits: General Observations from Spring Scrimmage

1) It was very classy for Coach Rod and staff to give the third teams that many repetitions. And not only repetitions, but he coached them up, same as the first teams. This does not happen everywhere, and these kids deserve the chance, and our respect, especially since they go through the same off-season workouts as the rest, and usually do not get the reward of seeing the field. They work their asses off and usually get them kicked on a regular basis. They deserve major props!

2) Great public relations job by the Michigan staff for getting all those Michigan alumni involved and introduced to the crowd. It was very smart, and will only help in the future to embrace them so they will continue to come back to Michigan.

3) The old rule that defense is ahead of offense at this point is obviously not so this year. Injuries, new system, and other things lead to this. Just going to have to deal with it this year.

4) This team is having fun and it is great to see. You want to talk about helping recruiting, well kids having fun is tough to beat, except of course by winning. Completely different atmosphere this year compared to last year at this time for the spring practices. You can also see it in the coaches as well; they are having more fun.

5) Coach Rod told us at the clinic last year, and this year, that depth charts are a work in progress, and would change practice to practice. Well he is a man of his word, from Savoy starting in slot, to M. Williams at safety, to Sagesse. Best players are playing and there is no substitute for competition.

Defense:

The Good

1) B. Graham is One hell of a football player.

2) Boo Boo is going to be one hell of a football player in the not too distant future.

3) Defense hustled and ran to the football, especially the first team, and the importance of that cannot be overstated. Not as much with the second group, though.

4) M. Williams is a huge help against the running game. Will have wait and see how he holds up in passing game. Completions to some deep routes has us worried.

5) Michigan defense is definitely quicker and more athletic, but a lot smaller.

6) First team in particular tackled better; not great, but better.

Not so Good:

1) Almost no pass rush without blitzing. If we were blitzing in regular season games, opponents attacking Michigan would put their tight end to B. Graham’s side all day and max protect with back to his side.

2) Contain was horrible and even Cone broke it against the first team defense multiple times. A true runner would have had a field day.

3) Michigan had very few turnovers. That’s good for the offense, but terrible for the defense.

4) Terrible at maintaining proper rushing lanes and when they did, Forcier got flustered. Even Cone was able to find passing lanes.

5) Broken record time here regarding the linebacker play: Counted fifteen tackles by linebackers during the entire scrimmage (about 110 plays); might have missed a few but still not good. Come on guys you are the leaders on defense! The linebacker angle is part of disguising zone blitz. We watched both Coach Hopson and Coach Robinson teach this last week. Many times when this happens, outside people are on the line of scrimmage making offensive line adjust to that and then cross them up with different blitzes.

Fitzgerald moved well. One weakness is his habit of hesitating for just an instant and being caught in between, but that is very fixable with more work.

6) Saw some defenders jogging and actually stop on a couple of the offense’s long runs. This is one of my biggest pet peeves. Hustle every freaking second. You never know when the running back will cut back or put the ball on the ground right in front of you.

Offense:

1) Offensive line played very well again, but I have one small caveat that I will talk about below. Although it was against a less than stellar second group defense, they were moving the line of scrimmage and really sustaining blocks; the sustaining part was really impressive to us.

2) C. Brown is first true home run hitter in some time at Michigan and he ran harder and got his pads down. Please stay healthy!

3) Split ends actually caught the ball today with only a few drops. This is a huge improvement from last week.

4) Michigan’s depth at running back / tailback is best in years and this is without M. Shaw, out this spring with an injury.

5) Fullback / max position is actually a true threat: Catching, running, and blocking. Really like lining Koger up in the backfield and using him as a blocker; bet there is a great pass play coming off that look.

6) With the exception of the quarterback position, there is excellent depth on offense. Michigan used five or six split ends with the first team, four running backs, three max back / fullbacks, and four slots.

Not so Good:

1) Slots need to handle ball cleaner; they had too many bobbles. For the most part, they held on, but yards after the catch is huge and bobbling destroys that, along with the fact that playing better defenses will mean safeties right there to make a big hit after the first touch of the ball. One touchdown catch was a bobble and with top-flight defensive back, it might not happen, and could have caused a tipped ball for a turnover.

2) We were disappointed that tight end did not see the ball more.

3) Depth at quarterback is scary right now. We know that Sheridan is hurt and D. Robinson is not in yet, but for today it is scary. Can’t imagine if something happened to Tate this spring. It is a very good thing he came in early this spring.

4. Blitz packages gave offense some trouble, especially off the edge. Michigan used zone blitz packages on a few occasions. It was a combination of Michigan trying to learn a new scheme and it being a controlled / situational scrimmage.

Special category:

1) Forcier: About what I expected and what we have preached about this spring. He was very good at times and not so good at other times. The two positives are that he is fearless and confident. The number one problem is he needs to learn when and how to throw the ball away. One one occassion, he threw a terrible pass that Herron dropped with no receiver around, and took a safety when he had chance to throw the ball away.

2) Michigan used man, cover two with hard corner, and two man for sure.

3) Split ends were kind of feast or famine on blocking. Did nice job one play and whiffed the next. Overall, it was better than last year, but seriously, it had to go up because last year was terrible. Split end blocking in space is one of the toughest things to do in football

4) Tough grade here, but Forcier made a couple of bad reads in the running game. Handed off when he had clear sailing. He went the wrong way a couple of times. Threw into coverage when he had guys open underneath.

5) Left side of offensive line in general played very well. Schilling jumped once in red zone and got chewed pretty good. Ortmann played as well as we have ever seen him play; he was dominating at times.

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