Michigan Football Tidbits: Workouts begin

All players (excluding incoming freshmen) are expected to be at workouts.

Coach Rod has really pushed for players to attend both sessions of summer school. Coaches are convinced this is the reason why academic issues have been fewer than in years past. Almost every roster player is already attending first session of summer school.

Watch is on to see if everyone shows up for the start of workouts. As reported there are two who are in serious question (not Grady) and the fact that Coach Rod has gone public with this information states that it is serious. One case would be a blow to depth. But these are players who fall into the category of being questionable in terms of really “loving” football. One is especially seemingly going through the motions while the other it may be more of a case of “fitting”.

Reported in spring that it would not surprise us that two more players may not come back next year. This information sort of died down during the month of April, but Coach Rod himself commented that there were a couple players that coaches were not happy with especially their approach to work ethic.

Now maybe Coach Rod is just sending a message, but listening to him its not his style. When he makes a comment like that he almost has basically given up on the players.

It is possible that those players have decided to come back to Michigan this summer and “get with it” sure Coach Rod would be the first to change his mind, but those players are going to have to show some improvement.

On a related note:

There are a couple other players who will be on the team next year, but depending on how season goes may decide to take their chances elsewhere. This happens every year, but the difference this year is those players are already known.

That is why not overly concerned with the numbers in terms of scholarships available. Think we will take another big class next year (2010 class).

Warren is also not one in question. Warren has received some “bad assumptions” by some posters on the message boards. And besides B. Graham there may be no other player on Michigan’s roster who is under so much pressure to perform at a high level.

A quick review: Warren of course was very good his freshman year and was lousy a year ago. It is no secret that Warren was not overjoyed with Shafer and his schemes. Especially when during spring last year Shafer was telling cornerback’s they would be playing press coverage all the time. But there were two problems with that promise. Warren injured his ankle in fall camp and our lack of speed at safety limited Michigan’s ability to play press coverage with corners.

Warren tried to play became very frustrated, but fact is he simply could not cut and move like he wanted. They thought some rest in off-season would cure the injury and during workouts in winter he seemed fine, but when spring practice started he either re-aggravated injury or it simply never really healed. Warren seems fine now and is very eager to get back on the field and in a way maybe the lay-off and not being able to play helped his mental approach. Either way Warren is anxious for fall.

Mouton is another one who is very anxious to get going this summer. Mouton has had some transition problems at Michigan and at one time looked to have lost interest in football, but he has been a vocal leader (even during his injury) and has gone through rehab ahead of schedule. He is expected to participate in summer sessions and be completely healthy in fall. Coach Robinson believes Mouton will be our best linebacker.

A couple of kids who continue to impress in workouts. Jones and Hawthorne. Both are those tweener type of players and both came to Michigan not rated highly. And not sure exactly what role they play during tenure at Michigan, but they seem to be examples of kids who Barwis and Coach Rod talk about when they say you have to willing to do the extra stuff to succeed.

Barnum will also be back in summer. Barnum situation is going to interesting to watch. As of now it looks like Schilling has not only made the transition to offensive guard, but he actually now prefers to play inside. With Molk penciled in at offensive center and Mooseman being a senior where does Barnum play?

It possible Barnum takes some snaps at offensive tackle in fall camp, but as of now he looks to maybe be the first sub as an interior offensive linemen. But with Coach Frey’s insistence the best will play do not pencil in the starting offensive line just yet.

Shaw is running.

A couple players (not to be mentioned) played a joke with Barwis. The “Barwis Beach” is not the most popular area for the players. Before workout couple players put out a couple lounge chairs on “Barwis Beach” with a sign that said “this area reserved for tanning only”. Barwis thought is was funny. But when kids had to run extra sprints through “Barwis Beach” they asked Barwis “why the extra sets?’ Barwis told them “I thought you guys wanted to get a tan” One player said “some of us do not tan so well”

One thing is clear Coach Rod is not the most patient guy in the world. And his impatience may lead down the road to some disagreement with the AD. Coach Rod wants to look at the way Michigan schedules (including night games), but mainly looking at there out of conference schedule. He likes what teams like Alabama is doing where they are playing a top team yearly at a neutral site.

Schedule looks like existing team starts and they have been working out for the two weeks before Memorial day, but if “officially” starts yesterday. Incoming freshmen will start coming in while some high schools go longer into the summer including Detroit kids the quarterback and wide receivers will work on there own-and team drill stuff will start week of June 22.

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Written by MaizeMan and ErocWolverine