Saturday, April 11, 2009

Michigan Spring Game: Post Game Reactions


The offense seemed to move the ball at will against the second team defense. Tate Forcier looked like a "huge" improvement at Quarterback. I was most impressed by his scrambling ability. Even though he wore a red number, he was impressive against pressure and put a number of passes right on the number of the wide receivers. A couple of highlights were a heavy rush where he looked like he was going to get sacked, he got out of the pressure and ran for 10 yards and a first down. The other highlight was when he threw a very nice pass to Roy Roundtree for a touchdown in his second or third series.



  • Even though I wasn't there the crowd looked impressive for Spring Game/Practice. I have heard estimates of 50,000+.

  • The Alumni game was "surprisingly" fun to watch

  • There has to be some real concern around the defense. Defensive tackle Mike Martin and Donovan Warren were held out of the game but the first team D didn't look very crisp against the spread.

  • The results from the Spring Game look like the Offense is way ahead of where it was last year and that Tate is very well suited to run this offense. The defense which dominated the spring game last year has a way to go.

  • Cheers to the running game. Carlos "Santana" Brown showed some speed and running skill in breaking off a 90 yard + run for a touchdown. Minor and Grady both looked sharp as well.

  • Spring Game Commitment: Michigan got it's 8th verbal to it's 2010 class with the Spring Game commitment from Stephen Hopkins a running back from Texas. Stephen is 6"0, 220 pounds and ran for 1,689 yards on 273 carries last year as a junior.




3 comments:

KB said...

Wow Hopkins looks sick! Maybe a tad slower than I'd hope but this is a video and I'm not seeing it live. I am glad Forcier was good. I think having a qb that can not fall over his own 2 feet will be huge in this offense. I wouldn't worry about the defense (yet). The best 3 guys barely played (or didn't at all) and they are still just starting to learn the new system.

BHB said...

I read an interview with Hopkins in which he said he wanted to work on his speed during his senior year.

I'm not pushing the panic button on the defense yet, in fact JT Floyd and former Tight End now DE Steve Watson had good games. Also DE Ryan VanBergen looks to have suffered an injury during the game.

tater said...

Brown's run was a great example of the mismatches and big plays that can happen out of the spread. That had to be one of the reasons Hopkins committed. As the offense improves and the big plays happen more and more, it should have a greater effect on recruiting, at least on the offensive side of the ball.