GBMWolverine: Michigan Football — Tidbits from Practice

Posted at 4:00pm — 3/19/2010

GBMWolverine: Michigan Football — Tidbits from Practice

We are hearing that the second practice of the spring could rightfully be termed very good. Remember the team is still in shorts and helmets, so as any football veteran would conclude the players should look good. Pads do not go on until Saturday’s practice. Of note is the offense looks very quick and athletic.

Michael Shaw seems to have really regained his weapon of his speed, and although early could be the speed-back that makes a difference in 2010. If he can stay healthy and not dinged up like in past, the offense can make progress and other elements will click. Last spring GBMWolverine wished for the same with Carlos Brown and Brandon Minor, but they were constantly dinged up during the season. And so who will ascend to the heights of premium running back probably remains the biggest offensive question mark this spring. Who can remain healthy might be the equation element that solves the puzzle.

The quarterbacks, from what we were told, were “okay,” nothing great or nothing really bad. We saw a report that a certain quarterback was “impressive.” Well, we can say concerning the reports we heard is that someone, looked like a freshman quarterback with fumbled snaps, two interceptions returned for touchdowns for the defense, and several overthrown balls. But as we said this is early and one grudgingly and realistically expects that from a player just coming into his first spring practice.

As far as Denard goes, he had his moments as well, with some very good throws and of course good results from running the ball, but he had a lot of balls sailing on him from what we were told. Tate looked decent, but again the spring session is early on and players will have some rough spots. Tate does look to have his velocity back and all will continue to monitor his progress. Some of the problems related to quarterback play could be related to the snaps being all over the place and very inconsistent. Molk was spotted taking snaps with a red jersey on in some drills (non-contact) of course.

Other sources have stated some different things than what we were told about the offensive line. We believe the starting line during the second practice was Huyge (LT), Schilling (LG), Khoury (OC), Omameh (RG), and Dorrestein (RT). We are not trying to make a point here, but just trying to be accurate. Of course throughout the spring practices different combinations will be tried along with different units formed. As practices move forward more obvious trends that go beyond random or planned experimentation will lend more substance and accuracy to practice reports.

We were informed that once the 7 on 7 and “light” scrimmage took place, the tight ends were not used very much. A couple of the tight ends dropped some passes during drills, so that might have been part of the problem. The formations seemed to include a hearty helping of two slot receivers and two split ends, the slots combinations composed mostly of Odoms, Gallon and T-Rob with Grady getting some time as well. Stonum, from what we were told, looked very good along with Jackson being impressive (solid) for the young pups, and on this day Roundtree being the best of the group. Gallon is freaking scary quick and athletic, and he did drop a couple of passes. The formations featured two-back sets as well, with mostly Cox and Shaw. Remember we told people to watch out for these two running backs if they can stay healthy.

On defense sources stated that UM used a 3-3-5 stack almost exclusively, but did stem and such to turn into a four-man front, but the focus was definitely a three front. Roh looked a good 10-15 pounds bigger and we suspect and others agreed that he could easily add that much more weight. On defense the following assignments were highlighted: Vlad (safety), Williams (bandit), Kovacs (spur), Floyd and Woolfolk (Corner-backs), Mouton – Obi – Roh (linebackers), and Banks – Campbell – RVB (defensive line).

Remember that Coach Rod likes to change things up and doesn’t place in stone a so-called first team, second team, but rather first group/second group so there will be various combinations. That is a time-tested benefit of spring football sessions. Size is still a concern on defense, especially with the hard working Martin out, along with last year’s concerns about the defensive line depth issue/talent. Banks stood out and made several good plays we were told by fighting pressure and maintaining proper leverage. Floyd looked very good in one on one drills, seemingly with more confidence.

Again, we caution, these observations are early and not sustained over a length of time. But we at GBMWolverine close with this: it is fun to again start talking football. We hoped you enjoyed what could be put together.

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Written by GBMWolverine Staff

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