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Michigan Wolverine Football: Spring Football — Springboard To The Future

By Eroc Wolverine

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GBMWolverine Michigan Football TidbitsPosted at 6:00am — 3/10/2015

Michigan Wolverine Football: Spring Football — Springboard To The Future

The Closet, the Shelf, The Door, And The Parts

No, the title is not as dramatic as the famous and inventive C. S. Lewis fables. There will be little fiction in Ann Arbor, but perhaps plenty of roaring.

The Closet and the Shelf:

The coaching staff wants to see what is left of the current roster, parts from both a closed and infrequently visited closet where the parts have been ignored or forgotten. The staff wants to view the other players, those everyone is more familiar with, that have been temporarily placed on a visible shelf but remained until recent days in a temporary state of frozen destiny.

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The staff in this brief spring period has two massive tasks: (1) evaluation of personnel as pertaining to use within the new systems, and (2) improving current levels of skill, performance, technique, and above all execution of scheme.

No quarterback has been around long enough to be in the forgotten closet, but all except the newcomers have shelf dust. It is a new start for this group, unwrapped and retooled; the best part will advance. The machine will flounder again without a well fitting quarterback part.

The receiver group has residents in the closet and on the shelf. The coaches hope to expand the use of those on the shelf and discover some help from the forgotten closet. There is some potential for one or two to escape the shadows of the closet and secure playing time.

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The running backs, now that Drake Johnson escaped the dark and dreary closet, are in the spotlight, as much as the shiny knights known as quarterbacks. There is talent and only a little variety in style, Ty Issac being the major difference. There will be major retooling of style and use with this group. Jim Harbaugh needs the parts and Coach Tim Drevno’s comments of adapting to the parts indicate he may be a classic contextualist; he will try and find what will work with this group and adjust some to provide the parts a demanding Harbaugh can include within the Michigan machine..

The defensive backs have plenty of dust and some have anonymity. With few in this group having shown moderate success, the parts need to be retooled. With only one ranked defensive back prospect in the 2015 class, plenty of part acquisition in 2016 is a must. This will be a tough group to retool physically, but more important might be creating parts that can function without weekly wreckage.

The linebackers have little dust and no darkness of the forgotten closet kingdom. Each has seen the field in one manner or another. Which parts will please the staff six months from now?

The defensive line is well known and clean of dust, but the defensive ends in particular must fit the molding of new defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin who will require mounting a pass rush to further the team’s overall hopes of improvement.

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    • The Door:

    Some have speculated that many of the parts will leave or be placed into a dark closet until the parts decide enough is enough and leave. This may eventually be the course of action, but so far the coaching staff has put forth a positive front about work ethic, attitude, and practice focus. Perhaps, those who leave may more self-select and the staff may only be a secondary factor. There is reason to demonstrate excitement, there is reason to give maximum effort, and there is reason to remain in the program, even if not starting on a regular basis.

    The Parts:
    This will remain Jim Harbaugh’s most prized program component. He demands parts that fit and work, regardless of situation. He has the impediment of uncertainty at several key positions, namely quarterback, defensive backs, and offensive line. These parts will need to adapt and fit the machine, the quicker the better For now, what is of use is the shelf and releasing those in the closet for a second chance.

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    Written by GBMWolverine Staff — Doc4Blu

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