Michigan Football Tidbits: Coach Frey key to this year?
Running backs: Early bets are Minor being the primary running back in 2009 with a battle going on for the second spot. Spring practice in our opinion changed this. Now we think with the new resurgence of C. Brown it can be argued that either he or Minor can be slotted as the number one running back.
Keep in mind the starter is sometimes not actually the number one player. Summer workouts have seen C. Brown continue his new enthusiasm for football and of course Minor working as hard as expected.
Despite missing all of spring and continued questions about his health Shaw, if he is healthy will have to be the favorite for the third running back. Big reason, his speed which coaches completely expect to see in 2009.
In 2008, Shaw was basically hurt all year and that break-away speed was never on display. Coaches love V. Smith, but believe that Shaw gives them that game-breaking ability. If history repeats itself you have to assume either Minor or C. Brown will have injury issues and they want Shaw to be ready.
Boo-boo continues to draw praise from his teammates. Boo-boo is a tough minded kid and is always asking how he can improve himself. Another one who is well thought of by coaches (in terms of “loving the game”) is Floyd.
The big question is can Floyd become a starting cornerback at Michigan? Time will tell, from observations at practices he looks like a very nice back-up type of cornerback to us, but with our lack of depth and Warren’s ankle (which he thinks is completely healed) Floyd will become a key player in 2009.
Still on the fence on where Turner starts out at Michigan. We go back and forth between safety and cornerback. When B. Smith was moved to linebacker it seemed a slam dunk that Turner would become a safety.
However, with lack of depth at cornerback we are not sure where he goes. The key to Turner and where he plays may be Vlad’s knee. If it determined that Vlad is 100% it may help the decision.
At times in spring, Vlad looked like a true safety and something this roster lacks. He claims he was running at about 80% and will be 100% by fall. If that is true, then it is going to hard to keep Vlad off the field.
Whitty is on campus (came from source have not seen him ourselves).
Defense … defense … defense: (coaches are saying fans need to be very patient and some of the players are now going through the third change in three years so to give the defense time to implement schemes and upgrade recruiting (still need a huge upgrade in athleticism).
Coach Rod and staff are going to pound away at running game, running game, running game. This makes Coach Frey a very key coach for the next few years. Coach Frey is making a name for himself in coaching circles and he will be someone other programs will inquire about his interest to leave Michigan. But, Coach Frey and Coach Rod are pretty much attached to the hip (similar to Coach Barwis) mainly because Coach Frey teaches his zone schemes a little different that other coaches.
Keep in mind, Coach Rod considers the short passing game an extension of the running game, but do not expect to see that goofy swing pass as much as a year ago. They did use it in the spring, but nothing close to a year ago.
When Coach Magee was asked why the swing pass to the slot receivers so often his answer was “that’s one of the few plays we could execute.”
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Written by MaizeMan and ErocWolverine
