Michigan Football: Couple of Quick Thoughts

Posted at 8:00am — 1/20/2014

Michigan Football: Couple of Quick Thoughts

Went back once again and watched some of the tape (2013 season) and some thoughts.

1) Gardner:
It is going to be interesting to see how Nuss approaches Gardner in off-season and spring practices. To me, Gardner is just not comfortable in the pocket and one of the reasons for Gardner’s success against OSU is that he was not asked to pass from the pocket as much. Borges moved him around more in the OSU game than he did the rest of the year.

Nov 30, 2013; Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Michigan Wolverines quarterback Devin Gardner (98) throws a pass during the third quarter against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Michigan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY SportsSo, will Nuss go back to basics and really work with Gardner in the pocket or will he decide to design more offensive plays in which they move him around and use his athletic ability more in the passing game.

2) Our LB play in 2013 was just horrible again. We were very inconsistent defending the run and once again we has major issues getting proper drops from our LB’s in passing game. Especially our OLB play Ross who was our best defender last spring showed little or not progress and at times was benched.

When coaches look at our roster I wonder if they would consider moving Jeremy Clark to OLB. First he has the speed needed and he is a very physical player defending the run. And as a bonus he gives us some length at that position something Mattison likes in defenders. Clark was one of the better performers in bowl practices and some believe he has a shot at SS next year.

Nov 30, 2013; Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes running back Carlos Hyde (34) is tackled by Michigan Wolverines linebacker Jake Ryan (47) in the first quarter at Michigan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY SportsMy thoughts is Clark has a ton of room to put on additional weight he is one of our more physical players and probably best of all he is a very tough competitive type of kid. Not sure he has enough speed to play SS, but he has more than enough and would be our fastest LB if moved.

3) Something has to be going on for UM to push so much for RB’s in this class. Rumor is Rawls is looking and to be honest do not really blame him, he is not going to play at UM and he has somewhat of a beef the way he was treated. I thought he had a very good spring and fall camp last year and for some unknown reason Hoke and company decided to stay with Toussaint way too long. Rawls never got his chance, he should go.

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Written by GBMWolverine Staff — MaizeMan

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