Michigan Football Spring Game: Immediate Reactions

We got our annual tease of Michigan football with the spring game, so now begins the process of trying to figure out what the Wolverines have this season.

Usually these spring games aren’t the most exciting spectacles—especially if you’re watching from home—but this year’s version for Michigan football was actually fun to watch.

It ended with the Maize team beating the Blue team on a last-second 30-yard field goal for a 31-29 final.

QBs are close

The most significant takeaway from this game is that Wilton Speight did not look like the best quarterback on the team. That title belonged to redshirt freshman Brandon Peters.

In the Maize team’s final drive, he threw a beautiful 50-yard pass on the right sideline. He looked noticeably more comfortable throwing to that right side and had more than a couple really nice passes.

More from GBMWolverine

John O’Korn also had a pretty good game. Compared to what he looked like in last year’s spring game, he was much more patient this time around, not so eager to scramble before anything had a chance to develop.

It was Speight who probably had the worst day, throwing two interceptions (one a 101-yard pick-six to Jordan Glasgow) and not finishing with a very high percentage clip. It’s obviously worth noting that the offensive line in front of Speight was not great—it was flat-out awful in the beginning—but it improved with time and can’t take all of the blame for his poor play.

Tarik Black looked impressive

True freshman wide receiver Tarik Black became a favorite target of John O’Korn later in the game and displayed some incredible hands. Michigan has clearly been working with in fade situations in the end zone.

As the Wolverines move on without their top three targets from last season, having someone like Black potentially step up so early in his career would go a long way in easing that transition.

Pass coverage was good all around

This is a defense that only returns one starter from last season (linebacker Mike McCray), so virtually every position group is going to experience some growing pains. The secondary, though, looked good in the spring game.

There was one broken coverage that comes to mind, and it resulted in a touchdown for tight end Zach Gentry. That was early. There were a few instances of not getting the head turned and drawing a pass interference penalty, but it looked clean for the most part.

Jabrill Peppers’ hands will be missed

There was an indication from co-special teams coordinator Jay Harbaugh earlier that there’s no one running away with the punt returner duties. The spring game made that clear, as Nick Johnson muffed a punt. There was also a muffed kickoff.

Next: Top 10 running backs in Michigan history

We didn’t learn everything we wanted to, but this was an unusually decent look at Michigan for a spring game.

Home/Michigan Football