2011 ended with the Wolverines in a BCS bowl game, something it hadn’t done in years and it was accomplished in new Head Coach Brady Hoke’s very first season at the helm of the Maize ‘N Blue. So naturally the expectations are raised to a level that hasn’t been seen in many a year in Ann Arbor. But, what does the Spring hold for the Wolverines as they prepare to deal with a season where they will be a target as a top contender in the Big Ten Conference?
Well, one thing is for sure and that’s that the team is focused one goal. Safety Jordan Kovacs said it best in a teleconference earlier this week. “The Big Ten Championship is all that matters to us.”
Year two of the Hoke era at Michigan will be dramatically different than year one because of the players lost on each side of ball, which makes spring football that much more key to their ability to live up to expectations.
We all know about the rivalry with “that team” (Ohio State) and this year will be huge as both teams have a high profile, higher than it has been in quite some time on both sides, so with that what does Michigan look like and what should we be watching for this Spring?
2011 Record: 11-2 (6-2) – 2nd in Legends Division
Postseason: Sugar Bowl – W 23-30(OT) vs. #17/11 Virginia Tech
Head Coach: Brady Hoke – 11-2 (1 year at Michigan) 58-52, 9 years overall
Returning Players: 16 players (6 offense, 7 defense, 3 special team) *2 punters return that split time
Spring Game Info: April 14th, 11am Central (BTN for coverage)
Spring Outlook: Going into last season the question was could Denard Robinson mesh with the new more pro-style offense under OC Al Borges and as it turned out it was more a case of Borges being able to fit and adjust his offense to fit the talents of Robinson.
Perhaps the most electrifying player in the Big Ten is back for one more go around at Michigan
after a year where he completed 55% of his passes for 2,173 yards and 20TD’s to 15INT’s. He clearly struggled with the passing game at times and in fact became famous for his inopportune “arm punts” as the season went on. His accuracy and throwing game have been a huge focus of the spring practices so far and getting him above the 60% accuracy rate was also mentioned.
It will be equally important for him to get some reps with what is essentially a brand new crop of wide receivers as two of his top targets, Junior Hemingway and Kevin Koger, are both gone, along with Martavious Odoms. He’ll have to rely on Jeremy Gallon to increase his production a bit from the 31 catches he had (2nd on the team) last year. Also look for Roy Roundtree to be a bigger piece of the offense and seeing the relationship those three players develop together will be huge.
Robinson returns and that means the leading rusher also is back as he went for 1,176 yards rushing and added 16 touchdowns for a total of 36 combined TD’s on offense. He averaged a healthy 5.3 yards a carry and was much more durable last year. The question is will he be able to continue that rushing streak or will he become more of a passing threat in year two of this offense?
Behind him are two very good running backs in Fitzgerald Toussaint (1,041 yards, 9TD’s) and Vincent Smith (298 yards, 6.0avg, 2TD’s). The knock on Smith was that he may be too small to be a featured back, so seeing him add a bit of weight and what he can do with that should make him someone to really keep an eye on in the Spring game on Saturday.
The biggest issue facing the Wolverines heading into 2012 are on the offensive and defensive lines and to this point in Spring it’s clear things aren’t going as planned. “We’re a long way from where we want to be in August,” said Head Coach Brady Hoke on Tuesday’s teleconference. “Either side isn’t very good right now.”
He did say it wasn’t for a lack of effort as they are working hard and also said that the defensive line is not near where they need to be compared to the offensive line.
That should be expected as they face the prospects of replacing three starters (Will Heininger, Mike Martin, and Ryan Van Bergen) that really were the catalysts for the turnaround this program experienced last season. Watching the defensive line position group should be the number one thing you look for in the Spring game because if they can’t get it figured out before the season starts that could be a major issue with the offenses this team will face in MSU, Nebraska, Ohio State, and Northwestern.
In the back of the defense things are bit more settled as all the starting linebackers return and three of the four members of the secondary are back, lead by big time safety Jordan Kovacs who’s clearly a leader on this team.
One thing that will really help the guys this Spring is that this will be the first time in about 5 years they’ll have the same defense from one year to the next and it’s something that Kovacs mentioned on Tuesday as a big help in getting the players to perform in year two.
Overall look for this to be an entertaining Spring game and a very competitive one as there are enough spots up for grabs to make players go all out the whole way.
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