Michigan's Spring Game Deep Thoughts

photo by John T. Greilick / The Detroit News

The format of the scrimmage was pretty much what I expected. The coverage and technical problems by the Big Ten Network was far worse then I expected.


The wind was whipping with the cold weather made the play pretty sloppy at times. Neither QB did very well and completions seemed to be far and few in between. The only bad snap was when the center didn't get the ball back on the right count.  I didn't see any injuries which is really good news and Michigan picked up a huge instate commitment from Royce Jenkins-Stone, so Saturday was a successful day.

 

The Michigan defense I thought played well. They gave up a couple of big plays but pretty much played tough most of the game. I enjoyed watching Big Will with the first team and causing problems for the offensive line.

 

Denard started the game with a big run but seemed to struggle after. Devin showed flashes but was pretty inconsistent as well.  Thier play might concern some fans but  I could care less about how they played.  These guys have all summer to work with the WR's on timing and of course Michigan didn't want to show any future opponents anything. I thought Devin's best throw was the touchdown to Stokes.  (loved the way Stokes seemed to pick the ball out of the air)

 

All the running backs played well. Mike Cox found the end zone on a long run (we saw that way too often from the Michigan D last year), Fitz Toussaint ran hard, Smith had a nice run on a short pass and Mike Shaw did well with one hand. I hope one or two of them will really stand out next Fall.

 

I really enjoyed watching the improvements on defense. I thought the D-line held it's own and the Michigan DB's seemed to play pretty well. I think Courtney Avery is going to be a player. I liked the blitz packages and the pressure the Michigan D was putting on both Devin and Denard. I hope they can continue that type of pressure when the season starts.  Michigan didn't have 4 starters on defense available with JT Floyd, Kenny Demens, RVB, and Woolfolk all out with injuries. 

 

Michigan's only hope in field goal kicking is incoming freshman Matt Wile. It seems the two current kickers on the roster are not any better and went 0-2 on Saturday.

 

So we learned a little but not too much.  I saw promise from our defense which seems to be the work of Greg Mattison.  Greg could be the most important hire of Brady Hoke's entire head coaching career.  I also liked how Coach Hoke gathered the entire team at the end and said a few words.   Is it me or does it feel like Brady and staff have been in charge at Michigan for a couple of years?  He just seems like a natural fit for the job. 

 

Now to the news you have been waiting for, who are my MVP's of the game:

 

Offense: Where was #21 or #12? They had a pretty quiet day. The offense had a couple good plays but the drives as a whole mostly fizzled out. So my MVP goes to a guy who has been waiting for his chance to play and busted a 60 yard+ run for a touchdown early in the scrimmage. Congratulations Mike Cox, I hope you can work some similar magic during the year.

 

Defense: I thought there were a number of players I could have picked. The defense seemed to be flying around the field and always near the ball. Carvin Johnson had two interceptions (one was called back) and Big Will was stuffing up the middle. Did anyone happen to see Big Will and Mike Martin drop in coverage a couple of times? Good stuff! My defensive MVP is very clear cut winner in Jake Ryan at LB. He had 1 1/2 sacks a couple QB pressures and a pick 6. It was a no brainer and maybe RR did find a diamond in the rough with Jake. I hope that was just a sneak peak of whats to come.

 

I would like to thank everyone for entering, we had hundreds of entries and I loved reading your kind words and picks. Some picks included Zack Novak and Ray Vinopal. Those made me laugh!

 

Many of you seem very high on Cam Gordon and Big Will. They will be an important part of the defense next year. A couple of you picked Carvin Johnson and he was a very good choice as well. Lots of Fitz, Hopkins and Cox.

 

Nobody hit the daily double of Mike Cox and Jake Ryan. So I had to pick the first entries with Mike and the two guys that picked Jake.

 

Thanks again for reading and I hope you enjoyed the contest.

 

*Winners of the Tressel T Shirts:

1. Evan B. (Cox & Avery)
2. Scott P (Cox & Big Will)
3. Cody D (Cox & Gordon)
4. Kai M (Cox & Black)
5. Drew Y (Fitz & Ryan)
6. J Wilson (Fitz & Ryan)

 

*If you are on this list email me your address and your shirt size again and I will send you the shirt. I will do my best on the sizes. I only have L-XXL (2 each).

Novak = Heart

I have been a big fan of Zack Novak since he stepped on campus.  He wasn't highly recruited out of Indiana with his only other scholarship offer coming from Valparaiso.  He was a diamond in the rough that John Beilein found and added late to the 2008 class, which happened to be Beilein's first ever recruiting class in Ann Arbor.  The Rivals site didn't even have a photo of him up. (The photo to the right was from mgoblue.com when Zack was new on campus as a freshman) Zack was a 3 star player with only one offer and Beilein gave him an opportunity to play at a Big Ten school.  IU and Purdue had looked at Zack and both took a pass.

Since day 1 Zack has left everything on the floor in every game.  How many games have you watched where an announcer says, "I'm betting Indiana and Purdue wishes they kept Zack home" or "this kid is nails!".   Zack is why Michigan Basketball is starting to be special again.  This team with no seniors and who most expected to be lucky to make the NIT is now on ESPN's last 4 in bubble list.  

Zack hasn't been very "offensive" lately missing his last 14 shots in two games (before Minn. game) while still playing well on defense.  Agent 0 as we like to call him around here was 0-14 but missing open 3's he would normally hit and even bricking a few layups didn't seem to bother him much.   On Saturday he hit an early three and a late three to help Michigan get a much needed victory in the Barn against a team playing for their tournament life as well. 

I wasn't sure how the Wolverines would come out in this game after the devastating loss against Wisconsin on Wednesday.   I hinted in other posts that they couldn't let one shot beat them twice, they didn't and showed early they had come to play.  TH2 was "hot" early hitting five 3 pointers in the first half and then in the second "the Butterfly" took over by beating his man and driving to the bucket.  Both of those guys are exciting to watch and if they stay together could be one of the best tandems in the country in a few years.  But my game ball would have gone to Zack yesterday.  Hitting a long 3 when Michigan had 1 second on the shot clock and guarding the 7 foot Ralph Sampson, Jr. most of the game.   I don't know too many coaches in college basketball that would send their 6'4 shooting guard/small forward down low to guard a 7 foot son of a legend.  Zack did and did it pretty well, even getting a late steal and outlet pass to Morris to seal the victory. 

Zack played 33 minutes and scored 6 points on his 2 made three pointers.  If you just saw the box score, you probably wouldn't be too impressed.  If you watched the entire game, you would have.

Michigan hasn't accomplished anything yet and still needs wins against rival MSU on Saturday and a couple Big Ten Tournament wins, but there is one thing for sure.  The excitement is back in Crisler Arena which is worth smiling about, no matter what happens the next two weeks.