Michigan Friday: 2014 Is Already Looking Up!

We all know what a terrible 2013 it was for Michigan Football and even though the Basketball Team had a great run in the tournament to the NC game, they lost to a good Louisville team and didn't win a Big Ten Championship 

2013 started with the Vincent Smith/Clowney hit and ended that with the debacle in the desert.  2014 opened with two positive events for Michigan Basketball in a tough road win over Minnesota and the first time many of us got to see Peppers and Speight play football. 

Let's first jump to the basketball game.   Michigan showed guts, defense and some shooting by a true freshman to beat the Golden Gophers in the Barn last night.   GR3 went down with an ankle injury early in the second half and Nik really didn't have his shot.   With McGary in a suit, that doesn't leave you much on the floor.   Zak Irvin hit 5 three pointers and maybe the best game I have ever seen Jon Horford have.  Jon had 14 points, 9 boards, 2 steals and one block.  He missed two shots all night and played big against a Minnesota team with a number of low post guys.  

Caris had one of his mystery games where he is just making bad decision after bad decision and wasn't a factor.  Nik really stood up as a leader and started running the offense when his jumper wasn't working, he finished with a very nice 7 assists. 

It was bit of a struggle to get the game closed out but the Wolverines did it and started a nice 1-0 in Big Ten play.  Lets just hope GR3's ankle is ok.


Now to the UA game, it wasn't the Michigan Football showcase as we had hoped it would be with Harris, Wangler and Ferns being held out due to injuries but what we saw was some nice play from Jabrill Peppers, Wilton Speight, JBB and Brain Mone. 

Speight started the game and had a nice deep throw early, he looked good throwing out of the pocket but did make a bad read on a interception in the end zone when his WR fell down.   He seems like a smart kid, that has a good QB frame.  Needs some coaching but has a high upside.  (Michigan hire a QB coach!!!)

Peppers is that athlete as advertised.  He played corner most of the game, blocked a field goal, and returned a couple kickoffs.  His long run in the return game was over 40 yards.  Seeing him in a live game, I really like him as a corner not as a safety.  Peppers even took a couple of snaps as wildcat QB and even threw the ball once.   The Michigan coaches will need to use him everywhere if he can handle the load.    There is no doubt he will see the field as a freshman.

Didn't see much of JBB and Mone, since line play is hard to watch on TV.   Mone looked like a good run stopper on the defensive line and JBB is huge but did get beat by a DE on a highlighted sack of the QB. 

• The Army game is Saturday with only Mason Cole from Michigan playing.   McDowell is not announcing as he has a couple more visits to complete.

• 2014 Safety from Glenville Erick Smith wants to take an official visit to Ann Arbor and East Lansing.  He has been considered an OSU lock but the Buckeyes might be full or close to it.  Erick is playing in the Army game.  

• Michigan DB coach Curt Mallory is interviewing for the Eastern Illinois head coaching job.  Good luck to him!

• It looks like the Michigan coaches are trying to finish the 2014 class with a bang!  They just offered Minnesota RB Jeff Jones who just played in the UA game last night per Allen Trieu.  Allen believes there could be some interest from Jeff in the Wolverines.