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A Week In The Life of Al Borges (part 2)

Heiko — Wed, 22 May 2013 20:04:57 +0000

[In part 1, Michigan offensive coordinator Al Borges describes a typical game week and talks about the process of game preparation. In part 2, Borges talks about game day, calling plays, the infamous Ohio State game, and bubble screens. There is no part 3. =( ]

Okay it’s game day. I’m guessing the first thing you do is meet with all the coaches.

“Yeah. What we do is we’ll -- we don’t actually meet. We’ve already got that pretty much out of our system, although I’ve been at places where we did. I’ve been at places where the head coach wanted to meet on game day and talk about everything. But we’ve already hashed all that out. There’s no reason to bother with that at that point.

“But you know, we get up and have a little walk-through usually down at the church -- by the church across the street from the Campus Inn.”

I think I’ve seen you guys.

“Yeah. We’ll have a little walk-through, which is great. It gets the guys thinking about football. We started doing that about the middle of our first year. And then there’s a pre-game [meeting], depending on when the game is.

“Something that’s worthy of mention is that we go through a call-sheet rehearsal with all the interns and everybody that puts that together. You have to understand that I’m a bit of a technological moron. I don’t do --

[Borges gestures to his computer]

“-- All this stuff. I’m too old. I’m not real computer savvy and all that. I mean I can open a computer and find stuff for the most part if you want anything … I let the GAs kind of do that. But what we do is we go through sometimes as many as two or three games with those guys, and one with the quarterbacks where we’ll put a game on, and I’ll call the game practicing off -- say we’re playing Notre Dame and Notre Dame played USC. I’ll put the USC game on, put my call sheet in front of me, and whatever SC did, if they gained three yards [to get to] a second and seven, I will practice the call in that area that I would call in that situation. And maybe Notre Dame played Purdue, SC, and whoever. With those three games I’ll go through a whole call sheet of three games just practicing calling the plays. And we’ll do that on Friday so that, just like the players, I’ve rehearsed what I’m going to call and what I’m going to do. That Friday the quarterbacks will come in and I’ll do it with the quarterbacks.”

So they know what you’re thinking.

“See, what you’re trying to do with a game plan is you’re trying to present as few surprises as possible to them. The more surprises you get, the more likely you’ll have an error.”

I see. So you do the walk-through, pre-game stuff, and you’re super prepared. A couple hours before the game, you make it down to the Stadium and go up to the box. Then what?

“I watch the band.”

Sorry?

“I watch the band!”

Oh okay …

“I’m done! There’s nothing else to do. There’s no build-up to a crescendo. I just watch the band. Put the call sheet in front of me. Get everything in order. Have a little note sheet. My intern up there, he will pass me errors as the game progresses -- Stephen Weins. He’ll write things down, and every series he’ll give them to me, and then I’ll get Devin or whoever the quarterback is on the phone and go over the errors so that everything’s being addressed as it’s screwed up.”

Ah. I’m kind of interested in how communication works between the box and the field.

“That’s it.”

You’re on the phone with --

“I’m on the phone with Steno (?), who sends the play and everybody can hear the play. The group guy can hear the play so he can send the correct personnel in the game. And we document as we go.”

So you send the call down to the field and the offense lines up. But then the defense comes out in their formation. What if they show you something you weren’t expecting?

“Well, you have built-in … Certain plays you run and you don’t really care. You run and you don’t worry about what the defense is doing because they can handle pretty much anything. Other plays are what we call ‘must-audible’ situations, where the play is not conducive to what you’re seeing and your likelihood for success is not good. So the quarterback should get you out of the play. And then we have what we call ‘advantage’ audibles where the defense maybe lined up giving you something you didn’t anticipate and the quarterback will get you into an advantage situation. And then you have ‘check’ plays where you’ll have two plays called in the huddle: one versus a certain look, another versus another look.

"You know, you’ve got so many ways [to call] a play -- the game’s become very sophisticated that way where you can use a lot of on-the-line-of-scrimmage plays. We’re not a team that peeks to the sideline to get a lot of plays and stuff. The pro quarterback is programmed to do -- if he sees this, do that, and if he sees this, do that, and so on.”

How is Devin doing in that respect?

“Oh he’s good. Yeah. But he’s been in the system for a few years. Plus he played wide receiver, which didn’t hurt any. He’s seen it from both perspectives, which you don’t really have with most quarterbacks. They don’t really understand. So he does pretty good. The more the quarterback plays, the more he’s afforded the lattitude of changing the plays and doing whatever. The newer the quarterback, the less you get into a chess game on the line of scrimmage.”

Gotcha. I want to ask you about something you’ve said in the past, about how the success of your offense later in the game is often dependent on your success earlier in the game --

“Right -- turns."

What?

"Your issues with play-calling are what I call ‘turns.’ How many turns do you get? How many chances do you get? How many first downs do you get so that you can call more plays? And this is where you become a victim of execution to a degree.

“There’s a lot of criticism, I know, from the Ohio State game, which the plan was very similar [to the Iowa game] and there was a lot of the lauding or praises for the Iowa game. A lot of the [Ohio State] plan was in the Iowa game. There was a lot of the same stuff. There was a little more nuance that we actually ended up running in the bowl game -- I’m telling you something I haven’t told anyone before -- but the second half of the Ohio State game we didn’t get to a lot of those calls because we failed on third-down-and-short situations several times. We failed, we turned the ball over a couple times. A lot of those calls don’t get out of your mouth. You see what I mean?

“I told you guys this in the press conference, and I remember saying this: everybody’s going to complain about the play-calling and who’s touching the ball, you know? Getting carries? If you’re not getting first downs, you’re not getting calls out. You don’t get that turn. You lost that turn, because something went wrong and you didn’t move the chains. You turn the ball over. And now everybody’s going to think you screwed it up, which, at the end of the day, maybe you did. It’s not all the players; it’s the coaches, too, now. We don’t always make the perfect call. But the bottom line is at the end of the day, if you don’t get a lot of chances to call plays, you’ll always be short. You won’t rush the ball very well. Nobody will rush for 100 yards. You won’t have a receiver catching over 100 yards. Your quarterback won’t have good numbers. You have to keep the chains moving so the play-caller can get more calls off. You’re in a constant situation where you’re trying to set plays up, but if you don’t get to those plays, you never get to the counterpunch.”

I see. So for your offense to be successful, you need the opportunity to run plays so you can set up other plays.

“Mmhmm.”

There were plays that you ran in the bowl game that you didn’t run against Ohio State because you weren’t able to set them up?

“Exactly.”

What would happen if -- let’s say there’s a run play that has pass component as the counter punch. If the run wasn’t successful, could you still call the pass?

“Doesn’t work that way. Because you have to understand the residual effect of football plays. This is very difficult for fans to understand. And I’m not being condescending, because it would be for me if I were [a fan].

"People sometimes don’t understand the value of a failed play. Sometimes the defense overdefends a play and gives you another play by doing so. So you may run a run in there and it doesn’t gain anything, and obviously people say, ‘Quit running the ball up the middle!’ How many times do you hear that? ‘Don’t run the ball up the middle!’ Well sometimes running up the ball up the middle will afford you the opportunity to pull the ball out and throw the ball down the field, because people are so aggressive with playing that play up the middle. I call it the residual effect of football plays. What’s the leftover effect of what we just did?

"If both plays don’t work, then you probably have a problem. Either the plan wasn’t good or your execution’s off. There’s only two ways plays fail. The plan isn’t good or your execution is lousy. Overdefended, underexecuted. That’s why plays fail. But you have to understand that a play, just because it fails, doesn’t mean it’s a bad play. It may give you something down the line. For example, if you ran the ball into the line of scrimmage and gained a half a yard. But the play-action pass off that play gained 35 yards. What’s the average of the two plays?”

… 17.75?

“Would you take that?”

I’d take that.

“Not a man in the world wouldn’t. And that’s why you have to understand, that’s how it works sometimes. It costs something at times to get to that 35-yard gain.”

How does having a head coach like Brady Hoke who goes for fourth downs and hates settling for field goals change the way you call plays?

“You just have to be prepared for those situations, you know? When he says, ‘I’m going for it on fourth-and-one,’ just make sure you have a play ready. Sometimes he’ll ask, ‘How do you feel about it?’ and he’ll get on the headset.

“Now the one thing that people don’t understand -- they think that because he doesn’t wear a headset he’s not communicative. That’s insane. You have to be on my end of it. Any time something’s crucial, he does have a headset on and he is communicative. Two-minute drills, fourth-and-one. He makes sure that all that stuff’s in. I’ve never been up there not knowing what to do based on his decision right away.”

Do you like his aggressiveness?

“Oh yeah. Hell yes. Sends a great message to everybody. The offense, the defense, to the whole team. We’re not playing this thing to tie to game. We’re playing this thing to win the game, which means … sometimes Babe Ruth struck out, right? A lot. More than anybody I think, for a while. You’re going to swing and miss at times, but if you don’t swing hard, you ain’t gonna hit a home run. You have to go out there and you have to play.”

And it probably helps knowing that on third down, you have two chances to convert.

“Yeah, and he’ll keep you informed when he’s going to do that generally. He’ll say, ‘You have two to do that.’ Again, he does a great job of communicating. He’ll say, ‘Al, you have two plays to make this first down.’ Unless something blows up, he’ll stick to that. Like if you get sacked for a seven-yard loss, he’ll say, ‘All bets are off. We’re kicking a field goal now.’

“He’s awesome because coach Hoke never loses his composure. While other coaches are screaming in skulls or yelling at the officials or yelling at their own team or they’re doing whatever, he’s always composed. He’s doing whatever gives you a chance -- we’ve come back in a lot of games since I’ve been here. Several games we’ve been behind. And [the fact that we win] is generally the head coach. The head coach sends that message more than anybody. He doesn’t lose it, so nobody loses it.”

What do you do at halftime?

“Just go down and look at what they’ve done defensively, you know? Take all the data that I’ve been given from in the box and from the guys downstairs and then put together a new script of plays. Maybe it’s not 15-17 plays. Maybe eight or nine plays. But put together a new script of plays that we think were overdefended or underdefended and start the second half and put some plays in that maybe we didn’t run in the first half, maybe we didn’t get a chance to call it.”

Okay. Time is almost up, so let’s talk some philosophy. What do you think is the most efficient way to move the ball?

“Oh. Through balance. It’s the ability to run and pass with balance. Because that’s what the defense doesn’t want to see. Most of the time, why we fail offensively is our inability to do one or the other. Run or a pass. When you’re the most effective in playcalling … I can go like this, Heiko.”

[Borges pulls out the Ohio State call sheet. Without looking, he points to a random play.]

“Read 64 --”

(I am not sure what this means.)

“-- And it works. You want to know why? Because we threw a pass out of read 64 and now they have to defend [the pass] and pray you [pass]. It doesn’t make any difference. When they’re forced to defend both dimensions, the safeties have to play softer, which allows you to run. You understand?”

Yup.

“If they’re playing too aggressively on the run, the outside becomes more vulnerable. It’s hard to defend everything unless you’re imposing.”

So you call the formation and the play, but the quarterback ultimately decides run or pass?

“Right, but not with every play. It just depends on the play. Certain times, yes, exactly. And the decision within the passing game, too. Once you’ve called a pass play, the decision-making’s huge. It’s not forcing the ball into coverage knowing that certain times they take certain throws away. And you have to have a contingency plan for every single play. I learned this from Bill Walsh. This is the first thing I learned in pass offense. When everything’s not perfect, what’s your contingency plan? Who’s the next guy? And then who’s the next guy after that? And then if nobody’s open, what’s the quarterback do? You have to have a plan after that that’s not helter-skelter. You can’t go out there willy-nilly and say ‘This didn’t work, let’s turn this into backyard football.’ There has to be structure within your improv.”

Speaking of Bill Walsh, what’s the endpoint in the evolution of the Michigan offense?

“What do you mean?”

Well, you and Brady have talked about changing the look of the offense for the last three years. Obviously you’re not there yet, but is there an endpoint to the evolution, and what does that offense look like?

“Oh, it won’t stop evolving. We can’t stop evolving. If you look at the way college football changes over the years -- I mean, what it looks like now doesn’t look the like it did in 1986. Players are getting faster and stronger … What defenses are doing with their coverages and zone blitzing is a lot more sophisticated. If you look at what Michigan was doing back in 1940 with [Tom] Harmon carrying the ball, even the uniforms weren’t the same. You can’t stop evolving. That’s why we do so much time studying what other people are doing. Now, we may not use all of it, but we have to keep up.”

Do you see Michigan as having a niche in college football as far as offense goes?

“Hmm. I don’t know about that … What I can tell you is that we are always going to be balanced. We are going to run and pass with balance, and we’re going to do it in a way that helps our defense, even if that’s not the direction a lot of teams are going.”

What do you mean exactly?

“Well, I’m not going to get into that discussion too much, but so many guys want to run 80 plays a game these days and then they wonder, ‘Gee, why isn’t the defense playing well?’ If I thought we would be more successful going 100 miles an hour all the time, I’d do it.”

Could you do it if you wanted to?

“Oh definitely. We have what we call Nascar, and we could run it all day if I thought it would give us the best chance of winning. But it doesn’t. Over the last three years I’ve done a lot of research, and it shows that you play better as a team when you play to all three phases of the game. Offense, defense, and special teams. It’s a team sport. I’d be more than happy if the offense doesn’t put up a ton of points as long as at the end of the day, we win, because I hate -- I HATE being in that meeting room after a loss. It’s the worst feeling.”

All right. Well thanks so much for your time. Do you mind if I take a photo of you?

“No, go right ahead.”

How about next to your white board. Okay, act like I just asked you about bubble screens.

“Heh. You had to turn this into a [farfergnugen] circus, didn’t you.”

Sorry ... What is your deal with bubble screens anyway?

“I don’t have a problem with them! I just don’t like calling them as much as -- what most people don’t understand is that the bubble screen is an [alternative] to a run play. Here, let me show you.”

[Borges begins scribbling madly on his white board. He has the offense in I-formation and the defense with the defensive back over the slot rolled up in the box as a run defender.]

“The bubble screen is a play designed to take advantage of the fact that this guy --”

[Borges points to the defensive back.]

“Has moved up and inside to defend the run. When you see this, most guys want to throw a weak-[butt] bubble screen and run around it. I would rather --”

[Borges draws an emphatic arrow from the running back to the defensive back.]

“Run right into it and knock the [poop] out of this guy.”

I see.

“So it’s not that I’m against calling a bubble screen. I just wouldn’t want to do it and sacrifice five running plays a game. Once or twice? maybe.”

For the record, I don’t actually count the number of bubble screens you call.

“You can do whatever the [heck] you want.”

Unverified Voracity Misses Exit Wound Opportunity

Brian — Wed, 22 May 2013 16:42:46 +0000

Not in Ohio. Via Bo Dever's twitter account, Michigan's footballs have taken to redundancy:

I kid, I kid. Ohio is our most special state.

No words. I take that back Plaxico Burress is our most special state.

Where are the exit wounds? Are you telling me Burress is going to be a sock magnate and does not have a sock with exit wounds on it? Life! What a waste!

Batten the hatches. So those hockey games against BC and BU that were rumored but unconfirmed? Yeah, they're at Yost. Michigan has dropped the full hockey schedule and it's a doozy. In addition to the home-and-away against all the Big Ten teams, Michigan's signed up for this nonconference schedule:

HOME: BC, BU, Lowell, Michigan Tech (2x), Niagara, Ferris State
AWAY: RIT, UNH(2x), UNO(2x)
NEUTRAL: WMU, Tech or State

If you stopped paying attention to college hockey out of self defense last year, Lowell was a one-seed, BC and UNH twos, Niagara a three. BU was third behind Lowell and BU in HE last year and got squeezed out of the field. UNO was a middling WCHA team, Tech not so good. There are no Bentley-level patsies at all, as both RIT and Niagara have reached the NCAA tourney in recent years.

Combine that with Minnesota/Wisconsin/MSU/OSU/PSU and that is the opposite of football's 2014 schedule. Michigan chose to thin out its fall schedule with the extra two weeks the Big Ten's hockey-spiting playoff system provided, taking a bye the week of the Nebraska game and playing only once the week of the Iowa game.

I'll take it. ESPN's reporting that the Pizza bowl is dead and will be replaced by another event at Ford Field matching a Big Ten team against an ACC team, which everyone is going to hate except M and MSU fans. But I'm one of them so woo.

George Perles isn't phased. I mean, what's better than Detroit in December? Detroit outside in December.

Keep up with the Joneses, plz. One of pleasant surprises from a couple of trips to the SEC has been the presence of both bands at the game even for non-rivalry matchups like (mediocre) Auburn versus LSU. The second time I asked around to see if I had gotten a fluke, and southerners looked at me with horror and pity once they realized Big Ten football usually has one band involved.

Ohio State's going to change that, mostly:

Gordon Gee, Gene Smith and the powers that be at Ohio State got together and determined that the College of Arts and Sciences and athletic department would continue financing the band. But one key change would be the addition of the Development Office of the President. Instead of a miniscule $220,000 operating budget – ninth in the Big Ten – the Buckeyes will have $1 million, which vaults them to first. With it comes more travel.

The band will attend road games at California, Purdue, Illinois and Michigan.

Meanwhile Michigan scrounges for pennies to send the MMB to a game against friggin' Alabama and the Uber Alles subset of the fanbase praises that decision as sly money-grubbing genius instead of a slap in the face to the band and fans. If only this was true:

When Michigan’s band traveled to the Cowboys Classic in Dallas last season for the Wolverines’ game with Alabama, it cost the university an estimated $400,000. The decision to send the band came after heavy criticism when it was announced they would not make the trip. Less than a year later, it appears two of the nation’s premier marching bands have earned a spot near the top of their university’s hierarchy.

The MMB is the same as it ever was. They will travel probably once this year, the free trip to East Lansing. State College, Evanston, Iowa City not so much, let alone UConn.

Pay attention to Mike Hart, plz. Hart on his quick ascension to the top of the depth chart and what Derrick Green can do to replicate that feat:

"The biggest thing I tell my guys is I didn't get all the reps (when I was a freshman), but I made sure I watched every rep," Hart said. "There's freshmen on my team over there talking, and they don't know the playcall or what's going on.

"You can process these things without getting a physical rep. I think that's kind of what helped me transition, is I was only getting a couple reps, but I was really getting 15 reps per period. A new playcall, I was thinking about what I had to do and how I had to do it."

Draft order set, now we can wince at what will happen. SI has Trey Burke going to New Orleans at #6 while the Pistons get the flashing red light that is Shabazz Muhammad. Hardaway does not appear. Glen Rice Jr. does, though, and a year after he got booted from GT's team.

Hated Chad Ford($) has Burke #2 to Orlando, has the Pistons taking walking red flag Anthony Bennett—LOSE GAMES AT THE END OF THE SEASON FOR PANTS SAKE—and puts Hardaway at the tail end of his first round, going to Denver after "one of the best performances of anyone at the combine." He brought "an intensity with him that few players could match"?!?!?

Do we think Mitch McGary and Hardaway pulled a Derrick Rose-SAT-swap here maybe? I do. I think Hardaway convinced Mitch McGary to pretend he was Hardaway at the NBA combine. This is a thing that happened.

UMHoops breaks things down in more detail.

Etc.: Michigan has two Parade All Americans, equalling the rest of the conference combined. MSU has two quarterbacks. Uh oh? Softball ace Sara Driesenga profiled. The News on Patrick Biondi's stellar senior season. Denard Robinson is not exactly a trekkie. Michigan State fans looking for love.

Picture Pages: Datbull

BiSB — Tue, 21 May 2013 20:30:52 +0000

By now everyone has heard the saga of Jay Harris. The former Michigan State wide receiver commit out of Pennsylvania has parted ways with the Spartans to pursue his rap career. There are varying accounts of exactly what happened; Harris claimed it was a mutual decision, and MSU sources are indicating they dropped him like... well, like a Michigan State wide receiver would drop something. But with all the drama of how this went down, one thing got lost in the shuffle: the music.

[Caution: lyrics are very much NSFW]

Harris put together a this epic music video, so it's only fitting that we analyze said video to try to unlock the genius within.

0:00 -

We open on the most hardcore of all yard equipment storage structures, the shed. This particular shed is especially thug, because it is tagged. On the inside. So whoever was inside the shed would know whose shed it was. A lone young man sits, and while we presume him to be our protagonist, but he has not yet told us his name.

-------------------------------------------------------

0:04 -

Oh damn, there goes that scholarship. Oh well. Now we can move on to our hero's true talents like...

-------------------------------------------------------

0:07 -

...being a fire-breathing dragon.

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0:10 -

"Datbull fo life. Fo fo life. I'm Datbull fo life. Fo life..."

Finally, a flicker of insight into his identity. Yes, our hero has a name. And like most males, he will go by that name for the rest of his life. But apparently he has had trouble in the past convincing people of either his identity or the vehemence with which he will stand by that identity, so he repeats himself several times to drive home his point. He is Datbull, and he shall remain as such for life.

-------------------------------------------------------

0:14 -

He seems to have lost focus, though in fairness it seems to be through little fault of his own.

-------------------------------------------------------

0:17 -

Mr. Bull has surrounded himself with a group of likeminded compatriots, but one (who may or may not be pre-weight loss Jonah Hill) has been ostracized from the group. He is made to stand behind a gate. This seems unfair, but perhaps there is a good reason. Only time will tell.

-------------------------------------------------------

0:27 -

"I'm Datbull fo life. I take yo wife. Take his b*tch and his b*tch..."

Our scene shifts to the pavilion at a local park. Pavilions, of course, are among the thuggest of the open-air structures. What, were you gonna say that pagodas are harder? You think a weak-ass gazebo could survive in the rap game? Hell no. But I hope they reserved that pavilion, because if that Boy Scout Troop shows up, they'll kick you out again. They plan ahead.

-------------------------------------------------------

0:40 -

"She dancin' [in close proximity to my genitals] like she practicing that ballet"

That's... sir, that's not a nice thing to say about his wife.

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1:19 -

"And there's mollys in the building so you know I'm popping three..."

We return to the safety of the shed, and we are led to notice the amount of seating available. How many gatherings are you hosting in this shed?

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1:29 -

[I have no idea what he's saying]

This is a tactical error by the director. This large pile of money is barely noticeable. That should be fanned out and/or made to rain. This is standard protocol.

-------------------------------------------------------

1:34 -

[Something about being Van Gogh if Van Gogh smoked weed]

Another embarrassing mistake with the vehicle shot. We clearly see our cameraman's hand on the 'oh shit' handle.

-------------------------------------------------------

1:38 -

Dude, you just got your own words wrong. We need to get out of this car. Go back to the shed. Or the the street. Things were going pretty well in the street.

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1:45 -

"I'm like Jordan to the game but you can call me DB..."

Thank God, we're back on the street. And it appears that Datbull has carried on the recent tradition of Michigan State wide receiver commits, in that he (a) enjoys basketball, and (b) won't end up playing wide receiver at Michigan State.

-------------------------------------------------------

2:02 - Ja

They've finally let Jonah Hill out from behind the gate, which DAMNIT JONAH GET YOUR HAND OFF OF YOUR JUNK. We're filming a goddamn music video here. I mean...you know what? No. Get back behind your gate.

-------------------------------------------------------

2:08 -

"...you can call me Datbull. Fo life. Fo fo life. Fo life. You know. You know."

The lyrics conclude. But there is still a full 1:18 left in the video. I'm not sure how we're gonna fill that time, but whatever. Once you’ve made your point, there’s really no point in continuing. And I think we’re all pretty clear about the message. Datbull. Fo Life.

-------------------------------------------------------

2:15 -

Drugs are bad, mmmkay?

-------------------------------------------------------

2:22 -

The group gathers once more under the pavilion. Jonah has been forced to stand to the side. This is for everyone's safety (see: 2:02).

-------------------------------------------------------

2:29 -

We fade to black. There are still 57 seconds left in the video. It's clear now how we are going to fill the remaining time: by not.

-------------------------------------------------------

2:46 -

And now we're completely dark. Do... do we leave now? I mean, there's still some sound, but it's like they forgot we were still here. Oh well, let's wait to see if there are some special features at the end, like Datbull and his friends eating shawarma.

-------------------------------------------------------

3:00 -

Not looking promising.

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3:26 -

Nope. Just a bold and unconventional artistic choice by the artist, as if to say, 'I don't need graphics or lyrics or sounds of any kind. I'm Datbull. Fo life. You know? You know."

2013 Recruiting: Ross Douglas

Brian — Tue, 21 May 2013 16:08:18 +0000

Previously: CB Reon Dawson, CB Channing Stribling, S Delano Hill, S Dymonte Thomas


Avon, OH – 5'10", 180

		Scout	3*, #55 CB
		Rivals	4*, #241 overall #22 CB, #14 OH
		ESPN	4*, #33 CB, #22 OH
		24/7	4*, #23 CB, #16 OH
		Other Suitors	PSU, Nebraska, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Northwestern
		YMRMFSPA	Courtney Avery
Previously On MGoBlog	Hello post from yrs truly
Notes	PSU decommit. Early enrollee. Semper Fidelis game.
Film
Senior highlights:

Hey, look, it's a corner-sized corner. Ross Douglas is about the same size as Blake Countess and Raymon Taylor, ie not huge, but not tiny. Along with Jourdan Lewis, Douglas comprises the (relatively) low upside, low downside section of the corner class. Unlike Reon Dawson and Channing Stribling, who could be anything from awesome to perpetual special teamers, Douglas is likely to be a contributor but not an out-and-out star.

That's not to sell the kid short. He has physical skills. Douglas first popped up on radars when he showed out as a 5'8" rising freshman(!)—ie, basically an eighth grader—and put up a 4.54 40 at a Rivals camp geared towards underclass kids. A few months later he replicated the 40($) en route to being named "combine king" at a similar event. A year later he'd picked up that Tennessee offer($) and was running 40s a tenth faster. He picked Penn State($) almost a year before signing day, decommitting when the NCAA broke out the flamethrower. 24 hours later he'd picked Michigan.

Michigan has acquired a slightly bigger and more advanced version of Courtney Avery. (Both were mostly offensive players. Douglas got two years as a defensive back while Avery barely played defense in high school.) Almost everyone describes him as a quick, hip-flipping fiend, with a couple guys making explicit comparisons to Avery. Scout's Bill Greene does as part of an extensive scouting report($):

WHAT TO LIKE: …pure speed athlete … He can run and jump with the best of Ohio's top defensive backs… skill set is more than adequate, and all he lacks is game experience at the position

WHAT ARE THE CONCERNS: At 5-foot-10, or 5-foot-11, Douglas is what he is. He is not a long-armed, tall cornerback. …

WHAT ARE THE INTANGIBLES? … I feel safe in saying there are zero character concerns with Ross Douglas. He comes from a great family, with his father being a retired air traffic controller, while his mother is an associate dean of students at Case Western. An older brother is currently enrolled in medical school. … I don't know what the ceiling is for Ross Douglas a player, but I suspect it is pretty high. I do feel comfortable saying he is going to do everything he can to reach that ceiling, and he should be a player Michigan fans can be very proud of.

He showed out at a lot of camps, drawing praise for his "ability to cover in the slot", and "effortless" hip-flip. At something called "HSPD" he was a "pass breakup machine"; at a Nike camp Mark Givler said it is "fun to watch" Douglas do drills because "his backpedal is outstanding and he flips his hips as well as any DB in the state."

At that Nike camp he drew strong praise($) from Josh Helmholdt:

8. CB ROSS DOUGLAS, AVON, OHIO

Douglas is so consistently clean in coverage that you almost forget he is out there. … The 5-10, 175-pound prospect is not a flashy player. He stays in great position in relation to the wide receiver throughout routes and makes throwing the ball in his direction very unappealing. Douglas has all the speed he needs to stay with receivers and his technique is near flawless.

With that take it's no surprise Rivals is the most bullish on him. 247 was also impressed that day:

On this day, Penn State commit Ross Douglas was our pick for the top player of the talented group. He doesn’t have the height and length that is ideal in a corner prospect but he was the most fluid and natural defender in coverage at the event.

Douglas has great feet, flips his hips with ease and he also has some make-up speed to recover in tight spaces. The only thing he seems to be missing is that prototype height.

ESPN is a dissenter here:

He plays and pursues fast, but lacks ideal top-end speed and does not project to be a lockdown cover corner in college you want to leave on an island. He shows a good nose for the ball and is at his best playing the pass in front of him. He displays good footwork and balance as well as a good closing burst. He lacks a tight, fluid waist and doesn't always look smooth in transition when locked down in man, but he can recover with burst and proper inside positioning to make a play on the ball. He does a good job using his hands and leverage in tight coverage. He's aggressive and effective in press. He will reroute and take away the inside release. He competes for the jump ball when challenged deep in one-on-one coverage but can struggle versus taller receivers. We didn't see great leaping or ball skills.

Scout is kind of in the same boat. There's a lot of "good" in their profile:

STRENGTHS

Backpedal Quickness

Change of Direction

Hip Flexibility

AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT

Size

Good athlete with good feet and quickness. Good speed and ability to run downfield with receivers. At his size, bigger receivers may give him trouble. He will have to get stronger in college. Played more offense than defense in high school, so he will have a learning curve for corner, but is a smart, coachable kid with the athletic tools you need in coverage. - Allen Trieu

Ah, the always-funny "size" area for improvement. No one should ever give me access to Scout's database, because I'll immediately add things like "number of arms" to everyone's "areas for improvement."

It was more of the same at the Semper Fi game. Semper Fi is Yet Another High School All Star game. While no one's really sure if the Army game or UA game is #1, Semper Fi is definitively #3. It does represent a higher level of competition for everyone who shows up, though, and is the most recent scouting we've got for Douglas. That scouting is MOTS, for the most part:

Scout: "…made it hard for any ball thrown his way to make it to the receiver. He never lost sight of the ball or his man. … physical at the line of scrimmage and also [able to] flip his hips and run in coverage. …showed speed to make up ground late on a deep ball.
247: "Douglas does not have outstanding size, but he’s got good hips and feet, can change direction well and has excellent recovery speed."
Rivals: "…downright giddy over the chance to compete with top-level competition. When he was forced to rotate out of drills, he immediately begged to get back to the action. He was fundamentally sound and had his moments of greatest [sic, no idea], but his spirit and competitiveness helped him stand out.

The idea. You have it.

But wait, there's more: in addition to Douglas's physical skills, you have that "is an awesome dude" statement from Greene above. His coach strongly backs that POV:

"… I promised [Hoke] one thing that Ross Douglas will never do: he'll never embarrass Michigan's football program, ever. He's a top-notch athlete and he's got great character and he comes from a tremendous family. … In addition to that, he's worked extremely hard on his technique. He works on his craft harder than anybody probably I've ever coached."

Helmholdt chimes in($) by calling him "very smart" and "very instinctual," so the above the neck stuff all seems to be there. The Rodriguez-mentioning moratorium is temporarily lifted so we can compare the 2010 class—down to ten guys of 27—to these Hoke classes in which everyone shows up and stays around unless they get injured.

Etc.: Like dang near every other DB in the class, he's been told that nickelback is where he'll get his first swing($)—in this case where he got his first swing since Douglas enrolled early. He has apparently lost that battle to the six-foot-plus thumper Dymonte Thomas.

Upon his commitment:

Coach Hoke told me all the defensive staff raves about me," Douglas said. "They are bringing in four corners this class and they brought in four [defensive backs] last class, so they just want me to compete. They said there is a lot of opportunity at Michigan."

Why Courtney Avery? Smallish cover-oriented nickelback from Ohio who mostly played offense in high school.

Douglas has several things on Avery, though: an inch or two, two years of experience, three quarters of a star (Avery was a consensus three-star), and a number of good-but-not-elite offers. While Avery has struggled whenever he's been asked to move outside, Douglas has enough upside to project him as a potential field corner.

You could go Blake Countess here if you're being optimistic, but the scouting reports on Countess were rapture. Douglas's are a couple notches down from that. Maybe split the difference between Countess and Avery?

Guru Reliability: Exacting. Camps, healthy, played the position for a couple years, All Star appearance, basic agreement save ESPN's fire-and-forget take.

Variance: Low-plus. A slight amount of uncertainty about his experience at corner, but two years as a starter there is barely less than a full-timer would have at this point. Has whatever the opposite of character issues is.

Ceiling: Moderate-plus. Is never going to be tall or Charles Woodson. Has enough skill to be a solid contributor.

General Excitement Level: Moderate. Should be a contributor and will at least be solid depth. Could be a fine starting option; seems unlikely to be a war daddy.

Projection: Despite the early enrollment a redshirt could beckon. Douglas seemed behind not only the starters but a couple vets in spring at both field corner (boundary seems out of the question for him as a freshman) and nickel. More likely, Douglas gets special teams time and the occasional snap on defense this year.

Next year it's probably more of the same. Michigan loses only Courtney Avery. Competition for playing time will be fierce. The best bet for PT in year two is for Douglas to become a preferred option to Dymonte Thomas on third and long. Tough road, that. It is totally great that a guy like Douglas is the option off the bench in case someone goes down. That's a luxury right there.

Given the emergence of Thomas and Countess having the field corner spot on lockdown for the next year or two, that redshirt looks pretty tempting.

Hokepoints: What's a Nickelback?

Seth — Tue, 21 May 2013 14:51:54 +0000

Before we get to this, if you haven't yet go down to Heiko's Exclusive Interview with Borges. It is penetrating, and excellent, and kind of a coup that we got it.

I know what you were thinking. When spring practices meant there was actual FOOTBALL to pay attention to for a moment, you immediately sought the defensive back depth chart because:

You are aware that the original X-hating god resides in our backfield
You are aware that Jordan Kovacs isn't back there being your banky anymore
You remember how you felt about things before Kovacs became your banky
You remember we recruited a 5-star (to at least one service) this year and that he's enrolling early.
You can't really name all the various Cass Tech dudes so you kinda have to check in every once in awhile to figure out which you actually have to learn.

This is likely when you discovered the aforementioned 5-star was at nickelback and you did a double-take because you read Dymonte's scouting report, and "is a cornerback" wasn't in it. I am supposing further that you think "nickelback" equals "cornerback" because by golly you've played that game with Woodson or Desmond or Denard or a handful of less important schmucks on the cover, and know that nickelback is the guy you put third on the cornerback depth chart who comes in on passing downs. Right Inigo?

Back when your grandpa was playing NCAA '06 or whatever, base defenses were 4-3 or 3-4, backfields had four dudes, and teams would cordially run on 1st and 2nd down and if it was still long on 3rd down they'd put another receiver on the field, you'd put another cornerback on the field, and because this was a 5th defensive back you called him the "nickel" and everything was nice and sense-y-make-y.

Then everything changed.

[Jump to understand]

Nickelvolution. What changed first was offenses, and Michigan had a front-row seat. In 2000 Michigan gave up 32 points to Purdue, and 54 to Northwestern, but those two games made very different points.

Purdue had Drew Brees running an early Tiller passing spread (they still did a lot of under-center too). In both of those games we went with Brandon Williams instead of Victor Hobson, a straight-up, traditional SAM linebacker for an extra cornerback trade. And against Purdue that mostly worked except the linebacker that wasn't Larry Foote kept doing Mouton things; Michigan only lost that game when Lloyd tried to sit on the lead by shelving Henson, stalling the offense in the 2nd half and letting Purdue slip back into the game. Anyway it made sense: if they're gonna create a receiver out of a fullback (or tight end in RR's West Virginia offense—it's the same difference), you turn a linebacker into a cornerback.

Carr went with the same gameplan for Northwestern. At linebacker was Larry Foote (WLB) and plugger-type Eric Brackins (MLB). They ran all over us, until Brackins started peeking into the backfield, and then they passed all over us. Here's one of Northwestern's many touchdowns from that day, where you can see Larry Stevens lose contain and cause walk-on free safety Dan Williams to shoot a hole that had nobody in it.

apologies for the quality; T3Media aka Thought Equity Motion killed the good one.

Michigan did actually string together some stops that day when going to 3-4, until Hermann weirdly reverted back to the passing nickel and Northwestern resumed the barbecue. This is instructive.

Odd fronts to the rescue

From Marc Cisco, head coach of Byron Center (Mich.) High School. Link takes you to his discussion on X&O Labs on how he uses his odd front to defeat up-tempo spread offenses

The key difference between that defense and the one Michigan is going to deploy in 2013 is where pass coverage responsibility lies. 2000 Michigan responded to the spread-to-run by putting a real-life cornerback in there instead of the SAM linebacker, and gave that guy pass responsibilities in the flat so the cornerback and safety could cover over the top. The middle linebacker was in there to take on blocks and stop runs. I can't say Brackins was good at that either, but that was the idea. Keeping the safeties high when Northwestern was running the ball all the time was a terrible idea.

That's because what Michigan was facing that day wasn't a passing offense but a running one that used passing personnel and passing formations to get the defense defending runs with their passing people and sets.

If the quarterback is going to be an extra guy whom the defense has to account for in the running game, the best way to even those numbers is have your inside defensive linemen demand double-teams. It's not as crazy as it may sound: the offense moving to a shotgun formation means it's going to take them a good half-second to a second longer to get the running back to the hole, so a good DT has more time to diagnose while using his size and strength to maintain the status quo (what's great about the I-form is it can attack the middle too quickly for the d-line to react).

Eric Wilson and Grant Bowman were used that way. Shawn Lazarus and Dan Rumishek were what Mattison would call the 3-tech and 5-tech. Larry Stevens was at that point a freshman edge rusher or 3-4 outside linebacker—pretty much what our WDE is today—and Michigan was a multiple front team built to stop heavy running attacks. Going away from assignment football let Jim Hermann attack from a lot of different places. This was Carr's answer to the running quarterbacks who'd shredded us a few years earlier.

So the front was right (until it wasn't again). The back wasn't. What Carr needed was not an extra corner to help the free safety cover low; he needed Victor Hobson to neutralize the running back in space. With Eric Wilson actually winning his battles inside and therefore limiting Kustok's keeper option, this was pretty effective, even though Hobson against a wide receiver was an exploitable passing mismatch. What we really needed there was some sort of mix between Victor Hobson and a cornerback—a guy who could be a plus asset in coverage yet mostly run defend. He wouldn't need a doctorate in play diagnosis since the plays were the same and coming right at him. Just a guy who's not too small to stand up to blocks and a guy not too bulky to be Eric Brackins in coverage (sorry Eric—you knows that I hates Brackinses.)

You'll note odd and offset fronts are still used against spread-to-run teams, and are far more popular today among the great defenses than the old even fronts. Michigan and Ohio State run 4-3 under. Michigan State and Nebraska are 4-3 over. Notre Dame and Alabama are 3-4. It's the same odd shit.

Course There's Still a Problem

If you didn't get to watch the gif, the moral of the story is the spread 'n shred takes advantage of the fact that the nickel is a cornerback-sized cornerback who's in there to do cornerback things, except he ends up doing very linebacker things like take on a block from the tight end, and serves as the pivot man for the rest of the defense. He also has to defend screens to that side and stuff. But against a running spread, the nickel back is going to have the running back coming straight to him, and if he can consistently stand up to blocks and make the tackle or force the play back inside, that dude has just stopped the best running play in the game.

The attributes here are not the typical cornerback ones. He doesn't have to be particularly tall (it doesn't hurt of course) since he's got two other defensive backs over top of him and he's going against shorter guys—the MLB has been given some of the pass coverage and will generally be the guy in the vicinity of the tight end. He doesn't have to be big enough to take on offensive linemen because he's starting out in the flat where it's pretty hard for OL to get to except on screens. He doesn't have to know the defense inside and out because he's got help over the top. He has to be aggressive. He has to be able to dominate blocks from whatever the offense can line up in the backfield, and he has to be able to tackle. You want him to be an excellent blitzer. In this way he's a lot like the strong safeties of the 46/Bear defense days, when teams ran inside so much you were happy to trade some of the defensive back attributes out of your secondary for some extra linebacker genes. He's also a lot like the many uber-talented young strong safeties Michigan's had over the last decade or so that we wanted to get on the field except putting them at safety meant yards after Mundy.

Michigan kind of prototyped this against Notre Dame and Purdue in 2003 to excellent results, using an extra cornerback as a free safety and Ernest Shazor as the nickel back (against Purdue they ran a lot of okie out of this nickel package – see 4:26 of the Michigan Replay that week). Shazor is the kind of guy you'd love at this spot—having Marlin beside him is the reason we got to see so much of that. In 2006 and 2007 they deployed Brandon Harrison as a nickel starter. You will remember although he was nominally a cornerback he was very safety-like (and played safety in 2005 and 2008), a little bugger who liked to tackle and take on blocks but didn't have the hips for coverage.

Ohio State made this into a starting position called the "Star." Last year it was Orhian Johnson playing it along with Christian Bryant; the first is a linebacker-ish safety guy, the second is a linebacker's brain transplanted into a corner's body (which leads to hilarious results when he tries to throw his weight around and calls it a tackle).

Michigan actually had something nearly identical to this kind of anti-spread nickelback in 2009-'10, and while you probably think I'm nuts for suggesting anything from those backfields was remotely competent, the "Spur" was. The spur in the 3-3-5 is the same thing as the SAM in a 3-4, except you're counting him as a defensive back instead of a linebacker. What the 3-3-5 did was spread out the linebackeryness (new word!) to either side of the offense. They took what was the weakside safety and strongside linebacker, and make that safety 1/3 linebacker, and made that linebacker about 1/2 safety. So instead of taking away an entire linebacker from your base defense and replacing it with a total defensive back, the net change is really just a sixth of a linebacker for a sixth of a safety.

If you recall the competence we got from Stevie Brown in 2009 and freshman versions of the Gordons and Carvin Johnson from Spur, you get a better sense of what Dymonte Thomas's role will be on the 2013 defense, and why they're putting him in that spot instead of entering him into the new-Kovacs sweepstakes. You'll also recall Woolfolk and Thomas Gordon playing nickel in 2011. According to UFR data, Michigan used nickel personnel in 38% of 1st and 2nd down situations last year, getting up to 88% of those downs against spread teams. Mostly Michigan matched personnel—when opponents went with 3 receivers or more Michigan countered with a nickelback. However that counter was mostly built for pass with Avery at the spot and Jake Ryan moving over to WDE. And you could tell because Michigan left their 4-3 defense in against a lot of 3-receiver personnel.

This year with Dymonte I expect to Michigan going to this kind of safety-nickel thing. Avery will still figure as the traditional "we need another cornerback" on 3rd and long.

A Week In The Life Of Al Borges (part 1)

Heiko — Mon, 20 May 2013 21:41:06 +0000

[Finally: A one-on-one chat with Michigan offensive coordinator Al Borges that has been eight months in the making. In part 1, Borges describes a typical game week, talks about game planning, and shows me what his call sheet looks like.]

“Heiko, what’s up?”

Not much, how are you?

“Just wonderful. How are you?”

Good. It’s good to see you.

“… Yeah.”

How’s the offseason?

“What offseason? I’m not seeing it.”

Oh yeah, you have recruiting stuff.

“It’s always the onseason.”

Anyway, thanks so much for agreeing to this interview.

“Yeah, it took us a while, but we finally found a time.”

I’m really interested to hear you describe a typical game week during the season, from Saturday to Saturday. A lot of our readers don’t know what happens behind the scenes, so it would be great if you could take us behind the scenes a little bit.

“Well the best way to start is not on Saturday. The best way to start is on Sunday. What we generally do is we come in and watch the previous game and grade it so that we can something to submit to the players and then after that -- we grade it on our own and then watch it ourselves together just to make sure that we’ve corrected all the errors we need to crrect. After that we have practice, which is brief. It’s not very long. It’s just to stretch our legs a little bit and see who’s injured and such.”

Do you work on fixing the mistakes?

“Generally we will go back over errors. Sometimes we’ll work on the pieces of the game plan for the next week, but most of the time it’s error correction. Following that, we come back in and have dinner, and then we have independent film study Sunday night, where all of us go on our own. Every coach on the staff has a designated responsibility with regard to the game plan. A certain coach has third down. A certain coach has red zone. A certain coach has goal line, short yardage, run game -- all the assistant coaches are assigned certain scenarios so that when we meet on Monday morning, everybody is prepared to present their presentation. They’re asked to be experts on what the opponent does in those situations.”

And you use cut-ups from opponents’ previous games, right?

“Right. But we don’t do them. The film people put together a certain amount of designated cut-ups with all those situations that we’re talking about.”

When does that happen?

“That happens prior to Sunday. They’ve already done it all. The’ve already done all the breakdowns. All of the GAs and the interns start the breakdown the week before, sometimes a couple weeks before. We do our film study on Sunday night. All of that’s cut up for us so that we go straight to it. I might look at a cut-up of screen passes to see what successful screens have been thrown against a certain team, if any. Sometimes a team’s hard to screen. So we cut it up in screen passes, nakeds, certain things that we may have in our offense to see if they work. And then we’ll look at those scenarios I’m talking about. Fred Jackson will be looking at third down. Jeck Hecklinski will be looking at red zone all by himself. I’ll be looking at general first and ten offense and all the formations that we may use during the course of the game.

“When we leave here Sunday night, we have a basic idea of what we’re dealing with on Monday morning. We come back in and all of us meet. We start the meeting, I don’t know, about eight o’clock. We will offensively meet from eight in the morning until probably 12 together and then just talk about first and ten offense and all this stuff we’ve studied off the tape and come up with a plan for early downs … run … play-action pass …”

Are any of the players involved in these meetings?

“No. No. They’re all off on Monday. We don’t even see the players on Monday.”

So most of the game planning happens on Monday.

“On Monday, right. That day is a clean slate for us, because we’re focused from morning, noon, to night on putting a plan together so that when we practice on Tuesday, we’re good to go.”

After breaking down the opponent’s defense, how do you come up with the game plan? Do you draw up new plays? Do you just take what you’ve already installed and just focus on a subset of plays?

“The nucleus of the offense is always intact. You never want to have to recreate the wheel, but there’s always nuance, you know. There’s certain things within your offense that you’ll tap more in one game than you might in another. You’ll have certain elements of surprise, whether it be with new plays or new formations or new shifts or something.”

How often do you add new plays or formations?

“Every week. Every single week there will be something new we will do.”

Do you do that more with certain opponents?

“No. I mean … No. After film study, sometimes there are teams that might be more vulnerable to certain stuff. But no. We go on with our game plan. We’re going to have a certain amount of plays regardless of what they do, and we’re going to have a certain amount of plays we’re going to run only if they do a certain thing. And then we’re going to run a certain amount of plays based on camouflage when they’re dressing for the play so they can’t tell what play’s coming, or a completely new play. So all those things. It’s not one thing. It’s a bunch of things.”

Who generally gives you input during that process?

“Everyone does.”

What about coach Hoke?

“Coach Hoke has the plan presented to him once we’re done. Coach Hoke is more involved on the defensive side of the ball. What we do is we put together the plan and we present the plan and the approach to him. And if there’s anything he doesn’t like about the plan or the approach, he’ll tell us and we’ll tweak it to accommodate what he doesn’t want. He sits in there, for example, when we go back over the tape on Sundays. He will watch the tape with us and see how well the plan was implemented and offer us suggestions. Maybe personnel suggestions, maybe schematic suggestions or whatever just to make sure we’re all on the same page.”

Does the defense plan independently as well?

“Oh yeah. They have a plan for what they’re going to see and we have a plan for what we’re going to see.”

Is there any mutual self-scouting between offense and defense?

“No, not once the season starts. Not really at all, truth be told. We play against each other in two-a-days and we play against each other in spring football, but once we break into game planning, we scheme to beat the opponent. We still have crossover periods where we’ll go against each other --”

During the season?

“Yeah. Oh yeah. So we get fast looks against each other. We’ll do things so that we’re not always facing the scout team.”

I see. That’s really interesting (which is why I’m totally going to forget to follow up on it later). So Monday you decide on the game plan and you send it out to the players --

“No. Next day. We have no contact with the players on Monday. Anything they do they have to do it by themselves independently. It’s almost better that way because then we can have a little time together to put it together before we present it. So that’s what we do on Monday. When they come Tuesday, we have a plan ready for them that we’re going to implement and work on over the next three days.”

So you practice Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. What does each day look like?

“It’s different depending on the day. Tuesday day it would be addressing basically first-and-10 offense, second-and-medium offense -- your normal down-and-distance offense. Wednesday we would work more on red-zone offense, short-yardage offense, those types of things which are more directly related to scenarios … third-down offense … ”

And this is when you get the scout team to mimic everything the other defense would do.

“Exactly. Exactly. They just demo basically what the defense does and what you’re doing is constantly putting your offense in different scenarios. Blitz scenarios, coverage scenarios, red area, third down … You’re trying to test them on what they’re going to see knowing that they’re never going to see it probably at the same tempo that they will from the scouts. But you do the best you can to get as close as you can.”

What happens during position group meetings?

“Well, we have position meetings and some unit meetings where we’ll bring the offense together. We’ll present the philosophy behind the plan or just maybe some motivational things. We’ll meet several different ways. We’ll meet invidually more than anything, where you’ll be with your position coach so he can hone in on exactly what he wants you to do. When we meet as a unit, we call it a unit meeting where the coordinator will meet with the offense and cover some overall game plan pieces. And then you have full team meetings with the head coach and we can talk about what our goal for the week is. And then you’ll have a special teams meeting and you’ll lose some players when they meet with coach Ferrigno. We have a lot of different ways to meet.”

You work with the quarterbacks personally.

“Yes.”

Is that uncommon for an offensive coordinator to do without a quarterbacks coach?

“No. That’s very common. Most coordinators work with quarterbacks. Not all do, because there are some that don’t, but most coordinators -- I saw something on that just the other day on how many guys [do it]. There was a survey. I saw most coordinators work with quarterbacks than anything else.”

What kinds of things do you work on with them? Footwork? Mechanics? Scheme?

“Oh, everything. Everything. You have to understand a coordinator has to wear a lot of hats. He is a multifaceted guy. He has to coach the quarterback -- he’s a position coach -- yet he has to have a hand in everything that goes on on the offensive side of the ball. He has to make sure that every correction is made correctly and is coordinated. Is he the line coach? No. The line coach knows more about the line than the coordinator does, but the coordinator has to make sure the line isn’t working independently from the running backs or quarterbacks. He has to coordinate the entire effort. If the pieces don’t fit together properly, then that’s a reflection of the coordinator and no one else. The depth of the route has to correlate with how deep the quarterback’s dropping, for example. If the depth of the route is being taught 16 yards deep, and the quarterback is not taking a corresponding drop, you have a lack of coordination.

“So all those pieces on every play -- you’re talking about literally hundreds of plays -- have to fit together and have to be coordinated. Blocking schemes, protection, route depths, landmarks for running backs, timing in the passing game, depth of patterns -- every piece has to be coordinated by the coordinator.”

And the quarterback has to understand all of those elements as well.

“Yeah, pretty much. But that’s not just ours. That’s pretty much any offense.”

With a guy like Devin who’s been in the system for three years now, what sorts of things do you focus on? I mean, do you still go through fundamentals during the season?

“Every day there’s some fundamental work. Some days longer than others depending on how much individual time you have during the course of the practice, but every day we go through a fundamental training of your footwork and how you -- all the little pieces of timings and throws. And sometimes there are individual periods where you’re working just with the quarterbacks, and sometimes there are periods where you’re working with another group. Maybe you’re working with the wide receivers, and maybe you’re working with some exchanges in the run game.”

Do you feel like there’s still a lot left to explain?

“Well there’s always something to explain, but it’s like you in school. If you’ve heard the same thing 50 times, you’ve probably have a lot better shot at knowing it than if you’ve heard it just once. We’re no longer a blank slate, now. As Shane Morris comes in, he’s a blank slate. But Devin’s not a blank slate, so you’re not starting from the beginning. But as a coach the one thing I’ve learned is you never assume anything. You go right back to the beginning when you coach each play. If it’s redundant then that’s fine, because coaching is about repetition and constantly repeating yourself even if in fact it bores a kid to tears because sometimes it’ll sink in after a while. But so much more is understood at this point, to answer your question.”

I see (and I would like to know more but we are straying off topic). So you work on something different each day of practice.

“Yeah. They’re all different. Wednesday’s more of a situational day, as is Thursday, when you’re working on two-minute, third-down periods, you recap your short-yardage, goal-line -- there’s some review involved in there, too. You have pieces of each day where you review the day before. You can’t spend a whole lot of time on that because you have to get to the next day, but certain things that were screwed up on day one that would need to be polished, you would go back to do it again on day two.”

Do you still script plays, by the way?

“Yeah. 15-17 plays. Yeah. We do that. That’s not new, though. That used to be an interesting thing. Used to get asked so many questions about that, but everyone does it.”

Do you rehearse the scripted plays in practice?

“Yeah. You rehearse them during the week and then you re-rehearse them on Thursday just to go back over it, because by Thursday you have an idea of what order you’re going to run them in. But you’re running them all through the week, so you constantly rehearse them.”

“Let me show you something, and this will probably help you a little bit.”

[Borges pulls out a big laminated sheet that has many color-coded panels. Kind of looks like Windows 8.]

“This was our Notre Dame game plan.”

[@_@]

“This --

[Borges points to first column.]

“-- would be the opening plays. And then these would be your ‘2nd down and 8+’ plays. And then you have a bunch of mini offenses in here, like when you’re coming out and backed up in your own goal line, you have a certain amount of runs and passes. This is so you can spit the play out fast. …”

[Borges continue pointing to panels that have lines of text that say something like “PA WIZ X Fly Z Out.” That’s probably not what any of them actually said (my photographic memory requires a lot of photoshop), but I think that particular line means play-action weak inside zone with the X receiver running a fly and the Z running an out.]

“… Third and short, third and medium, third and eight yards or more … goal line … you’re down inside the three-yard line … and then red-area plays … red zone … Everything’s based on film study. And once you’re through the openers, you have a certain amount of runs that you may want to run that didn’t make the cut in the openers. And you have a certain amount of passes that didn’t make the cut that you still want to run.”

How many plays are on this thing?

“Well, a lot of those are repeated in there. They’re not all individual, but some of them are. Two-minute situation, four-minute situation trying to run the clock out … and then you have general offense, like these are the plays by formation if you ever want to refer to plays by formation. And then if you just want to pick a play, for example, if I want to run a naked pass I have that’s available as either a stick or a screen, or a certain kind of special gadget play … You have a fast offense, which is Nascar.

“It’s all just a reference sheet is all it is. You have to understand when you’re calling the plays, you can’t balk, otherwise you have a delay of game. You have to have something ready and you have to be thinking ahead before you call that play. And all this preparation’s about that. It’s about having a play that has a chance to succeed, still knowing that regardless of what you call, you’re a victim of execution. You call some good plays, you call some bad ones. At the end of the day I’ve called some really good plays that weren’t executed very well. I’ve called some bad calls where the athleticism of the player bailed me out, so it’s worked both ways.”

Friday is mostly rest day, but you do a walk-through.

“Yeah. Exactly. That’s what it is. Special teams … basically a walk-through.”

Do you make any changes to the game plan on Friday?

“No. I don’t make any new decisions after Monday. Some coordinators, some head coaches will draw up a play on Friday night. [Shoot] I’ve seen guys do it on Saturday. Heh. I’m just not secure with that. If I don’t feel like we’ve practiced it into all the scenarios or at least some scenarios, I’m not confident the play will work when I call it. So I don’t do it, whereas a lot of guys will come up with plays on the bus.”

Have you ever felt unprepared at the end of the week?

“Never. Never once. I’ve never felt unprepared in 27 years of coordinating the offense. Now, we’ve LOOKED unprepared at times … But I’ve never gone to sleep the night before going, ‘Oh my God, we’re not ready.’ We overkill it, Heiko. That’s what you have to understand. We OVERkill it. I used to get really nervous before football games back in 1986 when I first started doing this. I was nervous. I couldn’t talk. I wouldn’t talk to anybody Friday night. I wouldn’t talk to anybody Saturday. But that stopped about 15, 20 years ago.”

UCLA.

“Yeah, probably around UCLA. That’s about right. I stopped getting nervous. I’d still get a little nervous, but nothing like I did -- NOTHING like I did. That’s all about preparation. I’ve felt that we’re ready to go. We’ve done everything we can to prepare this football team, and I’ve done everything I can -- and again, we overkill it. That’s why we’re here so late at night and that’s why we work on all that stuff. We overkill the prep, and sometimes it shows up, and sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes you’ll swear we didn’t meet 10 minutes when you watch some of the plays.

“At the end of the day you’re a victim to execution or matchups. Sometimes you don’t match up very well -- that doesn’t happen a lot here -- but it’s just part of the deal. It’s still kids running the plays. Those aren’t X’s and O’s. They’re people.”

Monday Recruitin' Doesn't Film In Shed

Ace — Mon, 20 May 2013 18:26:58 +0000

BREAKING 6'6", 230-Pound Quarterback Has Strong Arm After All

Michigan quarterback commit Wilton Speight flew across the country to compete in the Elite 11 San Francisco regional camp last weekend. Despite a field featuring several of the top prospects in the country,—including #1 pro-style QB Keller Chryst and Oregon commit Morgan Mahalak—nobody at the camp earned an invite to the Elite 11 finals; Speight showed off a strong arm and high ceiling but struggled a bit with his mechanics, as you can see in the above video (he's the one with the Michigan shorts, natch). The Elite 11's resident coach, former NFL QB Trent Dilfer, gave his thoughts on Speight to 247's Barton Simmons:

One of the longest commutes to compete at the event came from Richmond, Va. native Wilton Speight. The Michigan commit was also one of the biggest prospects in attendance with regard to his physical stature and Dilfer noted that his size is both his strength and his weakness at this point.

Dilfer on Speight: “He had a nice day. He’s obviously a very physical kid, tall, strong. I think he’s got to get more organized. Everything’s just got to get more organized for him to be consistent. That’s typical for a lot of linear guys. There’s a lot of moving parts.”

Scout's crew of experts all had Speight outside the top five performers, but national analyst Greg Biggins—as well as Speight himself—still had a largely positive review of his play ($) [emphasis mine]:

The biggest quarterback in the camp was easily Richmond (Va.) Collegiate School’s Wilton Speight. The Michigan commit looks all of 6-6, 230 pounds and he had a solid camp. He was able to make all the throws showing off a strong arm and actually looked better than expected when he had to throw on the run.

Speight is a pure drop back quarterback who throws a tight ball and can get the ball down the field. He threw some of the best deep balls in the camp and makes it look easy and effortless.

“I was happy with my performance, I wasn’t overly thrilled with all my throws but overall, I thought I had a good day,” Speight said. “There’s always a couple of throws you want back but the beauty of this is there’s still 13 spots left for the final Elite 11. No one got the invite today so you just have to stay patient and let the process play itself out.”

As Speight said above, he'll still have a chance to earn his way into the finals later this spring; he won't be the only one from the SF regional with something to prove, as five-star Chryst reportedly (and by his own admission) struggled mightily.

[Hit THE JUMP for the latest visit plans of five-star DT Andrew Brown, Michigan commits in the updated Rivals100 and Top247, and more.]

Come On Down, Andrew Brown

Da'Shawn Hand isn't the only elite Virginian defensive lineman hotly pursued by Michigan in the 2014 class; five-star DT Andrew Brown has mentioned the Wolverines as a program he wants to look into, and according to Rivals' Brad Franklin he'll do just that this summer ($):

After saying last month at the Rivals Camp Series stop in Richmond that he was started to grow somewhat tired by the process, Brown explained that rather than make a decision within the next month or so, he'll instead take two trips north and three south. After that point, he says he feels he'll have all the information he needs to settle on his five official visit sites.

So which five schools will be hosting the nation's top defensive tackle?

"This is what I want to do right here," Brown explained. "Over the summer, I'm going to go up north and then I'm going to go down south to see Ohio State and Michigan and then Florida, Florida State, and Alabama. Then I can pretty much determine my top five. The top five is going to pretty much determine the official visits that I want to take."

Along with the five schools listed above, Brown has serious interest in several ACC schools: Virginia (his presumed favorite), Virginia Tech, North Carolina, and Clemson. Brown also talked about pushing his decision back to late September or early October—giving him a chance to take those official visits—and a couple schools that tried to get in on his recruitment a little too late:

He also added that while he hasn't seen FSU lately, coaches from Wisconsin and Michigan State stopped by. He doesn't take any of that too seriously, though. As much as he appreciates those visits, it's clear they won't have a dramatic impact on him.

I couldn't resist.

Defensive Back Recruiting, Non-Peppers Edition

Four-star IL CB Parrker Westphal is expected to end up at Michigan sooner or later; as well all know, though, the recruiting process features more than its fair share of twists and turns. The entry of Stanford into Wesphal's recruitment is of some concern considering his desire to go to a strong academic school (Northwestern and Vanderbilt are both under serious consideration, as well), though their strict visit/offer policy could be a non-starter, as could Westphal's previously-stated desire to enroll early:

Stanford has visited several times, per Westphal’s account, but a catch-22 looms.

“I honestly have no clue,” he said of the latest on Stanford’s recruitment. “They visited three times within two weeks, but then a few questions popped up. They don’t accept early grads, but it wasn’t set in stone [that I graduate early]. Then they want me to come out to camp and get an offer. So far, I have no clue. So they say they’re interested, but then ask the tough questions.”

Thus, we’ve reached the paradox. Per Westphal, Stanford doesn’t want to offer until they see him on campus, in part to confirm his interest and in part to ensure he is a good fit on the gridiron. Yet Westphal doesn’t want to visit a school that has yet to offer, and further, is upset by Stanford’s extra scrutiny given that 20 other schools have proffered.

It sounds like there's a lot to work out before Stanford becomes a serious contender; if they offered, however, there could be real mutual interest—Michigan and Stanford are the two schools that best fit Westphal's desired combination of strong academics and competitive football.

Four-star DC CB Jalen Tabor released his final eight schools on Twitter over the weekend:

Final 8 UMD, Vandy , Florida , Alabama , UT , FSU , Michigan , Ohio State ! #Blessed to have this opportunity ! I Thank God For everything

— #⃣1⃣ (@HesSuchATEEZ) May 18, 2013

247's experts are split between predicting Florida and Florida State for Tabor, who's also unofficially visited Alabama, Maryland, Tennessee, and Vanderbilt. Michigan is fighting an uphill battle, especially with Tabor's eyes looking South, per Scout's Brian Dohn ($):

His list has four SEC schools, one ACC school and three Big Ten schools (Maryland moves to the Big Ten in 2014).

“Conference does matter a little bit,” he told Klein. “I want to play in the SEC. If you look at the NFL draft the last five first-round cornerbacks were all SEC players. It makes a difference, but it isn’t going to make the decision.”

If the Wolverines can land Jabrill Peppers and Westphal, it's doubtful they'd have the need (or space) for another cornerback; I'd be pretty surprised to see Tabor end up in the class.

Rankings Updates

Both 247 and Rivals revised their top lists in the last 24 hours, and of course those lists contain several Michigan commits and targets. In Rivals' case, they've only released the new Rivals100, which contains one Wolverine pledge: Drake Harris, who moved down one spot from #56 to #57. Da'Shawn Hand and Jabrill Peppers maintained their 1-2 standing on Rivals, while Malik McDowell held firm at #23.

Here's the full breakdown on commit movement in the new Top247:

Drake Harris stayed at #37
Bryan Mone moved up two spots to #49
Mason Cole moved down one spot to #106
Michael Ferns moved down four spots to #179
Lawrence Marshall moved down ten spots to #217
Juwann Bushell-Beatty moved down seven spots to #222

We're still at the stage when elite recruits are getting discovered at camps and recruiting services are reconciling a prospect's offer sheet with their rankings (see: Joe Mixon moving up 40 spots), so it's no surprise to see the commits towards the lower end of the list move down a few spots. 247 likes Mone more than any other service right now, but I think that might change as we move forward; his film is really impressive for a guy his size.

Happy Trails

...to four-star TN OL Alex Bars, younger brother of Wolverine OL Blake Bars, who chose Notre Dame over Michigan and Tennessee (among others) last weekend. Bars was Michigan's top target to fill the third (and likely final) offensive line spot in the 2014 class, or at least the one considered most likely to commit. The top remaining targets with offers are IL OL Jamarco Jones and MO OL Roderick Johnson, though Jones is considered an Ohio State lean and Johnson appears to be headed South. We'll see if Michigan starts putting out more O-line offers or if they're comfortable waiting on elite prospects and potentially standing pat at two linemen.

Etc.

Jabrill Peppers' new music video is legit:

Keys to rap video legitimacy: lyrical talent, not filming in a shed.

2015 grayshirt offer and Danish exchange student Hjalte Froholdt was Michigan's lone campus visitor last weekend; per 247's Clint Brewster($), Froholdt "really like[s]" the Michigan staff and wants to visit all the schools that have offered him, which now includes Ohio State and Michigan State, among others.

Per Sam Webb($), 2015 TX RB Sotonye "So So" Jamabo is learning plenty about Michigan from his personal trainer, former Wolverine running back David Underwood.

The Champaign Room asks the important question about Northwestern's recruiting tear. "The Devils Den" would keep tabs on such things.

Unverified Voracity Gonna Rage Some Cajuns

Brian — Mon, 20 May 2013 16:15:09 +0000

Best ever. Wolverine Historian assembles 15 minutes of Keith Jackson clips, and it's as glorious as you'd think.

"my spine is still tingling" -Ace

WH's magnum opus? To date.

Get the brooms. Congrats to the softball team, which swept through their regional in three straight games. Michigan opened the weekend with a 5-0 shutout of Valpo, did the exact same thing to Cal the next day, and took out the Bears again to close out their 16th regional title.

Michigan gets Louisiana-Lafayette this weekend at Alumni for the right to go to the WCWS after the Ragin' Cajuns upset LSU. Michigan beat ULL earlier this season in Florida 3-1. That was ace vs ace as Driesenga faced off against ULL's Jordan Wallace, who was 31-7 this season with a 1.73 ERA and four Ks to every walk issued. A two run Ashley Lane homer was the difference.

ULL proceeded to stomp through the Sun Belt before falling into the elimination bracket early in their conference tourney; though they pushed through and took WKU to a winner-take-all final they could not get the job done in that. That didn't seem to affect them, as they also swept through their regional without giving up so much as a run.

Michigan should be favored, I'd guess.

Notable things said during the takeover. WTKA's annual Mott Takeover was Friday and raised almost 100k for the eponymous children's hospital. It also was an opportunity for people to say notable things on the radio. The reddest of the red meat came from Steve Everitt. Brady Hoke's pet viking took the opportunity to blast Kirk Cousins for something innocuous he said two years ago and dump on "Notre Shame," no doubt causing a tweed-jacketed Notre Dame alum driving through town to bite down so hard on his pipe that it cracked. Meat for the meat god!

In news-ish substances, Roy Manning reiterated that Jake Ryan was on track for a midseason recovery and talked up his potential replacements. On Beyer:

"He's done a great job, he really has," Manning said of Beyer. "The transition was seamless for him. He did the things that made him successful in the past. That kid really is a sharp kid. Probably one of the hardest working kids -- I think most people on the team -- hardest working kids on the entire team."

Curt Mallory noted that statements around here that nickel is really a 12th starting spot are neither balderdash nor horsehockey:

“He got the majority of the reps at the nickel back,” Mallory said of Thomas on Friday during the Mott Takeover on WTKA-AM (1050). “That position has been played in the past by not only Courtney, but also Thomas Gordon. That really is a position that’s a starting position. Our first year, I believe Courtney played 400-some snaps at that position alone.

"(Thomas is) going to be a contributor -- we’re expecting him to be a major contributor, more so at the nickel back position and we’ll see where he goes from there.”

Also, yeah, Thomas has already locked down a starting job. Borges talked up Kyle Kalis and did vaguely imply that Glasgow had a slight edge for the LG job:

"The depth chart is still in pencil there, but one guy who took the next step was Kyle Kalis," Borges said. "When he came in, he was just not ready to play yet. It was overwhelming from the systematic perspective. Not so much physically. Kyle from the first day to the last day (of spring practice) really improved his game. He's a powerful kid who can run-block and is learning the techniques better in the passing game.

"And Jack Miller, our center, did a really nice job. He's in a competitive battle with Graham Glasgow, but he kind of answered the call, so I think he's going to be a factor. Left guard, Graham Glasgow, will be part of the mix there, coupled with Ben Braden, who's as talented a lineman as we have."

Chances Michigan brings in a transfer QB are dim, so it's on Shane Morris and the other guys coaching him up:

"You can't coach him -- that's your problem, is you can't coach him," offensive coordinator Al Borges said last week. "But our kids can coach him. So if he goes out there in some offseason workouts, there's no rule against Devin Gardner showing Shane Morris what to do.

"He'll have to get it through osmosis a little bit."

This is kind of a strange thing, to think a Cass Tech player is underrated. If you'd like some confirmation that Delano Hill is pretty dang fast, he ran a 10.8 100 meter at state regionals a few days ago while also anchoring Cass's 4x100m and 4x200m relays, both of which finished first.

That is not quite Denard's 10.44 from his high school days, but it's not bad for a guy who's nearly 200 pounds and is likely to play safety. Add it to the pile of reasons to think the guy is being sold a little short.

The other ball and stick game. Baseball squeezed into the Big Ten tournament as the sixth seed, not a bad accomplishment for Erik Bakich's first year. Michigan takes on Nebraska at 3:30 Wednesday (BTN) just a few days after taking two of three from the Huskers to close out the regular season.

After all, what can go wrong with drafting a touted point guard out of your home state? In news not at all likely to make me start watching the Pistons regularly for the first time since they traded Chauncey Billups—which still kills me, I mean broke-ass inefficient Allen Iverson cumong man—the Pistons have not even talked to Trey Burke:

Later Thursday, Burke is slated for at least six more interviews with pro squads.

Does he have one with the Detroit Pistons?

"No, I don't," Burke said Thursday. "I was actually surprised. But talking to my father (and agent, Benji Burke), he said some teams do that just to not let other teams know that they're interested (in a player).

"I don't know. I don't think they're going to bring me in for an interview."

Burke measured at 6'1" at the combine, which is a couple inches taller than I thought he would. That further bolsters his case to go near the top of the draft, so the Pistons potential lack of interest is likely moot anyway. Instead, Joe Dumars will pick the guy with the fewest eyebrows.

Etc.: home video of Michigan folks stopping in at Mott. Peyton Siva tells Burke the best block ever was in fact a block and not a foul. Jeff Withey changes his tune on Mitch McGary. Michigan won't break its Adidas contract. Well… yeah.

Friday Recruitin' Battles Buckle-Phobia

Ace — Fri, 17 May 2013 17:01:49 +0000

You Know The Drill

TRUE FACT: TomVH used to say "buckle up" all the time. You should remind him of this frequently.

On Wednesday morning, TomVH broke the news that five-star NJ CB Jabrill Peppers will announce his college decision live on ESPNU on May 26th*, when he'll choose between finalists LSU, Notre Dame, Michigan, Penn State, Rutgers, and Stanford. Peppers ~~has a visit set to Penn State for tomorrow~~, and could make one more "surprise" visit—presumably Rutgers—before making his announcement.

[UPDATE: Scout's Brian Dohn just posted on the GBW message board that a source tells him Peppers has cancelled his Penn State visit ($).]

As for any concerns that those final visits could sway Peppers from a presumed pledge to Michigan—let's just say it doesn't sound likely, given this quote to a local paper:

“I know and feel very confident in the decision I’m going to make,” said Peppers.

Michigan commits feel very confident in that decision being for—you guessed it—Michigan:

So on the 25th me and my boy @wiltonspeight will be out in San Diego and will watch our boy @jabrillpeppers commit to the UofM! #team135

— Drake Harris™ (@drizzygetbusy01) May 15, 2013

(If you're wondering why Speight and Harris will be in San Diego, quarterback guru George Whitfield—the guy with the broom who's worked with Devin Gardner—is hosting a camp that weekend.)

You have nine days until following proper safety protocol is strongly advised. I have eight days to decide whether pre-writing a post is worth the jinx-bait.

BONUS: In the wake of the MSU-Jay Harris mutual** parting of the ways so Harris can pursue a rap career, Peppers weighed in on his USA Today blog [emphasis mine]:

Peppers, who will choose between Michigan, Stanford, Penn State, Notre Dame, LSU and Rutgers on May 26, said that each school is well aware of his current rap career and long-term aspirations.

"They ask me about it all the time," Peppers said. "They're OK with it because my raps are clean. I just think if he (Harris) really wanted to pursue rap he could've gone about it a better way. I don't think anyone in their right mind would turn down a free education to a prestigious university to play football. It could only help your career."

Peppers said from broadening your vocabulary, to overwhelming exposure, to having an established fan base, "whether you're nice with your rap skills or not," college has "unlimited benefits" to boosting a career in the booth.

One key difference between Peppers and Harris, aside from the blunt-smoking and bailing on a free education: Peppers is nice on the mic, Harris... well, you've probably seen the video by now. I'm legitimately disappointed Leon McQuay III didn't sign on this year, both for the obvious reason—he's pretty good at football—and so he and Peppers could potentially form the elite defensive back version of JDK & Rey.

BONUS BONUS: Speaking of good defensive back recruits, IL CB Parrker Westphal could be approaching a commitment, per TomVH ($):

After his visit to Arizona State [this weekend] Westphal says he might take a trip to Tennessee, but nothing is set in stone. From there he will only focus on those schools on his list and continue to visit and evaluate what those programs have to offer. Westphal still says he is in no hurry to make a decision, but would like to get it done sooner than later.

“I want to make it before the season,” he said. “Games don’t start until August, but practice is in a few weeks so we’ll see when it happens.”

Michigan is "still the school he uses to compare other visits," and Westphal noted that his recent Florida visit went well... with the caveat that Michigan offers better academics. If he sticks to a summer decision timeline, it's hard to see him ending up elsewhere.

--------------
*Now a banner day for fans of Michigan football and Arrested Development. Peppers' announcement will hopefully ensure that I don't attempt to watch the entire fourth season in one sitting. (I probably will anyway.)
**Since Harris had signed a LOI, it's my understanding that State could not legally revoke his scholarship without consent, though the looming prospect of getting through admissions means Harris still didn't have much of a choice, in all likelihood.
--------------

[Hit THE JUMP for the latest on the linebacker situation, new offers, Michigan visiting the son of rap royalty, and more.]

Sorting Out The Linebacker Situation

PA OLB Chase Winovich is still the clear-cut number one option to fill Michigan's need at strongside linebacker. While he's indicated that a decision should come soon between the Wolverines, Ohio State, and Pitt, new interest from some big-time schools may alter those plans, per The M Block:

What's next? "I'm trying to get a Pitt visit set up. I want to stay overnight and get a good look there. I'm thinking it might be this Wednesday, the weekend, or the following Wednesday. After that I'll probably have a good idea about what school I want to go to. With Ohio State and Michigan being like a campus school and Pitt being like an urban campus it could help me decide what feels right. I'm still trying to investigate a couple of different schools too and get some different looks. I'm not ready to close any doors yet. Alabama just came to my school on Friday, Stanford asked me to make a trip out there so it's going to be tough. When that time does come to make a decision, it's going to be one of the toughest decisions I've ever made, and it's going to be a lot of phone calls."

Will you decide by the end of May? "Anything is possible, that's all I can say to that. Whenever it feels right, it feels right and that's when I'll decide. I can't even say that my Pitt visit will be my last visit. If Alabama asks me to come down I might make a trip down there or if I can get out to Stanford I might want to see them. I'm not closing that window yet."

He sounds... conflicted. Ohio State experts think he's leaning towards the Buckeyes. Multiple Michigan experts think the Wolverines have a very good chance. It's unclear whether Winovich himself really knows what he wants to do, or when he wants to do it, even though he says "I think I have a leader in mind."

It's not surprising, then, that the Wolverines are looking at backup plans for outside linebacker. One is Kenton (OH) three-star Noah Furbush, who now holds a Michigan offer and has seen his recruitment take off recently—Ohio State appears to be the team to beat should they decide to offer, but it's unlikely they would if they land Winovich. Another is MO three-star Jimmie Swain, who has a solid offer sheet and tells The M Block that he's still very open in the recruiting process—the Wolverines recently checked in on him but have yet to extend an offer.

Michigan is also moving on 2015 linebackers, offering a pair of Texas prospects in the past week in Malik Jefferson and Cameron Townsend. Jefferson should be one of more decorated linebacker recruits in his class($)—his early offer list includes Texas, Texas A&M, Ohio State, and Oklahoma—while Townsend has a Texas offer and interest from Notre Dame, per 247.

Show Him Tha Blue Carpet Treatment

SOUNDTRACK: Snoop Dogg. Surprise! (One of the best Snoop songs of the last decade, IMO.)

Michigan assistant Dan Ferrigno recently stopped by the school of 2015 Diamond Bar (CA) WR Cordell Broadus, per Scout's Kyle Bogenshutz ($). Normally, in-school visits to unoffered rising juniors don't merit mention in this space, but exceptions can be made—in this case, Broadus is the son of the one and only Snoop Dogg (real name: Calvin Broadus). While the Doggfather is a well-known USC fan—as is his son—the younger Broadus' high school coach has a Michigan connection:

“There’s not much you can say, it’s the Michigan name, you know?” said [Diamond Bar head coach Ryan] Maine. “All of the history and all of that. I played at the University of San Diego so my coach was Jim Harbaugh and so we started talking about Jack Harbaugh -- the dad -- because him and Jack used to coach together and I know Jim has Michigan ties.

“Just the cool stuff that happens pregame at Michigan and the crowd and all that. I told Cordell, they pack over 100,000 in that stadium every game and he was like, ‘for real?’”

Lest we forget, Snoop's been known to rock the Maize and Blue before. I, for one, would happily welcome the beginning of Michigan's G-Funk era.

Not shying away from the sons of famous fathers, the Wolverines also dropped in on 2016 WR Michael Irvin Jr., son of "The Playmaker", per Sam Webb.

Etc.

Wilton Speight earns rave reviews from opposing coaches, per The Wolverine's Michael Spath ($):

"I worked with Matt Ryan when I was a kid and while it's too early to say Will will be the next Matt, at the same point in their development, this kid is right on that track," said Turner, who coaches against Speight at St. Christopher.

"If you dial up Division I quarterback, they would send you him from casting. He's smart, poised, has outstanding size and he's a gifted athlete, better than most people will give him credit for. He really hasn't shown me a weakness in two years."

Speight's arm strength was questioned when he committed, but another coach said that he has "a gun, and anyone that says otherwise hasn't seen him in person and hasn't tried to defend him," and stated that he can make any throw. Add this to the mounting pile of evidence that the Wolverines did their homework and truly believe they got an elite guy before his recruiting profile blew up.

Five-star CA ATH Juju Smith has set an official visit for the Notre Dame game, per Scout's Greg Biggins ($). Smith also set an official to Notre Dame and recently received an Alabama offer, so there will be plenty of competition for his signature.

TMD. This is terrifying. Michigan now #1 in ESPN's team rankings, which for some reason are paywalled. I'm now making Crystal Ball predictions on 247—check them out before anyone decides and my credibility is ruined.*

---------------
*Since someone will ask, my rationale for picking Artavis Scott to Florida: When I made that prediction, the two other experts to weigh in had him pegged for Michigan; I don't think he ends up here after quickly backing off the "package deal" idea when Mason Cole committed, and Florida is the other school he's given a close look at so far. No insider info here, just a hunch.

Unverified Voracity Is Probably Named Pappy

Brian — Fri, 17 May 2013 15:16:24 +0000

Brace yourself. LSUFreek spent yesterday swapping rival coaches' hair. Paul Chryst/Dana Holgorsen:

Aaand our local rivals:

As Orson says, that makes Hoke look like a senator straight out of O Brother Where Art Thou.

Point Gene Smith. OSU's AD on the possibility of playing The Game at night.

"Are you crazy? What's wrong with you? It'll be noon. I have to be open to 3:30, but noon is my favorite time for that one."

Grudging respect meter: incremented.

Oh come on man. I'm gonna need some more detail on this($), Wyatt Shallman, before I agree this is a thing that actually happened:

In elementary school, he once caught a 10-pound bass using nothing more than a Spiderman fishing rod and a Lifesaver candy.

I wasn't born yesterday, Wyatt Shallman.

Goodbye, stupid o'clock bowl. The Big Ten has (likely) dumped the Insight.Chicken bowl in Arizona, not that Michigan ever showed up in it since any vaguely bowl-eligible Michigan program got snapped up as soon as the Big Ten bylaws allowed it and they were too far down the pecking order. I mean, that 7-5 outfit a couple of years ago got snapped up by the Outback.

For people looking for more variety in their bowl destinations, it's still grimly central Florida in the consolation prize area:

The Gator Bowl and Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl previously had rotated the No. 3 Big Ten selection after the Rose Bowl. The Holiday Bowl is expected to get the No. 3 Big Ten pick, after Capital One and Outback. The next Big Ten team could go to the Gator Bowl or Music City Bowl, depending on the year.

They've only managed to insert the Holiday in there and lessen the big ten presence in the Gator Bowl. Meh. The Pinstripe and Please Change The Name Of The Bowl In San Francisco are likely to be added, but again so far down the pecking order that it's unlikely Michigan is around when those bowls are picking. Also slightly alleviating the central Florida malaise is the Orange Bowl, which will get a Big Ten team at least three times over the next twelve years. In those years the ACC will send a team to the Citrus. Miami, while inconvenient to get to, is essentially its own insane tinpot country that is at least interesting.

More helpful than the bowl switch up is the Big Ten taking back some of their autonomy as far as who goes where:

"We'll probably be somewhere in between (a bowl committee) selection and a conference placement," Delany said after the league's athletic director meetings in Chicago. "So what we'll do is give a lot of conditions to each bowl, and they will have to get conference approval for the selection that they choose.

"The goal is going to be that we keep these games fresh and also that the bowls create the best possible lineup. I think there's been some fatigue."

So if fanbase X that's been to central Florida six straight years ends up in a big pile of approximately equal teams they'd probably ship 'em to the Holiday or Music City.

Also in annoying things, the Holiday will feature the #2 Pac-12 team against the #3 Big Ten team. The Big Ten has a couple extra teams, yeah, but with the road-ish nature of that game that should be an even 2-for-2 or 3-for-3 if it's going to be even in the long run. The Big Ten doesn't help perception of itself much when its quest for maximum dollars continually puts them at a disadvantage in bowl matchups.

Weird thing I just thought of in relation to all this: if we do get a Ten Year War II going on the Rose Bowl is going to be the consolation prize for the loser of The Game. Ew.

Are we dumping the only incompetent Germans? This is admittedly a bit of a stretch that Drake Harris would be the one guy who knows what Michigan's plans are in re: their apparel contract, but he's tweeted out "when we got back to Nike, I hope we get [appalling uniforms that prove seventeen year olds are blind and/or insane]" and responded to a guy asking him about it that he thinks it'll go down in two more years. That's not accurate according to Angelique Chengelis, though the door is going to be open:

Brandon on WTKA says 3.5 years left on Adidas contact. Will honor contract. And then....negotiations begin

It is possible that they're telling recruits they plan to switch in an effort to assure them they won't end up having to play skins in a critical conference game. There are many, many reasons to do this, from Adidas's uniformly (ha!) appalling alternates to the labor kerfuffle to the fact that the only incompetent Germans can't supply Michigan with non-tearaway uniforms or replacements for the tearaway ones.

Well, yeah. Brandon says the 2014 Penn State game will likely be at night:

"That's a good hunch," Brandon said when asked the likelihood of a Michigan-Penn State night game at Michigan Stadium. "I would expect that Penn State game would be a terrific game in early October to have as a night game against a Big Ten opponent."

…because the other three are Maryland, Indiana, and Minnesota. Dave sounds a little defensive, must be getting a lot of heat for the Worst Home Schedule Ever. At least he acknowledges it's a problem:

"Football can be pretty boring in September if you've got all your teams playing down to competition," Michigan athletic director Dave Brandon said. "It's boring for the fans at the stadium and it's boring on television. We don't want to be boring, so we want to strengthen the schedule."

Also in October and November when you're playing Rutgers and Maryland every week. My mind is still struggling to interpret those as football games instead of extra byes.

Chrome it up! Death comes for us all. YOLO. Synergy. Brandon:

Michigan ended last season by making a rare alteration to its winged helmet, adding a matte finish for the Outback Bowl. That theoretically could open the door for more changes, including a chrome helmet, which many teams already employ for their alternate looks.

The idea surely would ruffle feathers in some corners of the fan base. But Michigan has also shown a willingness to push the envelop during the Brandon era.

So, would he do it?

Brandon said he is reluctant to alter the helmet so drastically -- but added, "never say never."

He cites "some polling done," which… I mean it's already locked in your brain or it's not. Also he calls college football "the platform" at some point. I hope MBA programs know they're killing the language.

/buys even more Ann Arbor Torch & Pitchfork stock.

I'm with Dave here though. The MSA president, still as useless as ever:

"The students are upset to say the least, they feel that the athletic department broke its long-held social contract with the students," said Michael Proppe, Central Student Government president for the 2013-14 academic year.

Oh I see they've changed the name to something more evocative of Stalin to emphasize their extreme lack of power. Anyway. Ahem.

YOU broke the "long-held social contract," Michael Proppe, by not showing up. You and lots of other people. The deal was: you get cheap tickets, show up, and be loud. You have altered the deal. Pray Dave Brandon doesn't alter it any further.

Etc.: Oh goody: "dead is a strong word" for expansion. Big Ten ADs want seven wins to be the minimum for bowl eligibility. Rutgers' new AD was on the wrong end of a lawsuit about discriminating against pregnant women. Kicker: is a woman.

Yes please can we ignore the twitter losers with five followers who rant at players? Rick Reilly, world's most overpaid man. Hawaii goes back to "Rainbow Warriors." Thumbs up.

Sports On Earth's Matt Brown demolishes MSU. Ugh protected basketball rivalries, ugh. Denard profiled. Single plays suck in a 14 team conference.

Links for 2013-01-09 [del.icio.us]

Thu, 10 Jan 2013 00:00:00 PST

Marching Band Director resigns to take job at WMU
maybe they'll be audible now?
Online comments hurt science understanding, study finds
you guys are just the worst
Derrick Walton Jr. highlights vs Pershing
very Burke-like crossover in this one
Official Ryan Potter Highlight Mixtape: The greatest recruit film ever
ICYMI Michigan has not offered this guy yet, which is an outrage. ICYMI Michigan has not offered this guy yet, which is an outrage. ICYMI Michigan has not offered this guy yet, which is an outrage. ICYMI Michigan has not offered this guy yet, which is an outrage. ICYMI Michigan has not offered this guy yet, which is an outrage. ICYMI Michigan has not offered this guy yet, which is an outrage.

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Wed, 09 Jan 2013 00:00:00 PST

Nik Stauskas Credits Family & Team For Making Him a Top Shooter in America - northpolehoops.com
“Playing with guys like Trey Burke (who in my opinion is the best point guard in America right now) helps my game a lot. Trey is a very gifted passer and he looks for me on the wing a lot especially in transition,” Stauskas told NPH. “Not only does he draw a lot of attention and get me open looks, but I also get to see first hand how hard you have to work to be one of the best players in America. Seeing him in practice every day makes me realize how much harder I have to work if I want to get to his level,” he continued.

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Tue, 08 Jan 2013 00:00:00 PST

It Has Been Zero Years since Northwestern Last Won a Bowl Game
"Not too many coaches deliver a sincere address about the hard work and tenacity of their football players with the remains of a monkey toy sitting on the table like the head of Alfredo Garcia"

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Sun, 06 Jan 2013 00:00:00 PST

Burke putting together a run for the ages as arguably the top point guard in America
"When Trey got it going in the first couple minutes (of Michigan's win at Northwestern on Thursday), I almost caught myself out there just watching," Michigan freshman Nik Stauskas said. "Oh my God, this guy. "This guy's unbelievable."
Rapid Reaction: Michigan 94, N'western 66
"In the first half, the Wolverines finished 21-of-36 from the field and 8-of-13 from from beyond the arc. And then it was over. Good luck defending that. "

Links for 2013-01-03 [del.icio.us]

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 00:00:00 PST

John Beilein: Proximity to Kid Rock is 'why I came to Michigan'
"BAWTITABAW, KEMOSABE, DO YOU SPEAK IT?" Beilein said.

Links for 2012-12-30 [del.icio.us]

Mon, 31 Dec 2012 00:00:00 PST

Lakers Coach Mike D'Antoni investing in guard Darius Morris
finding a role as a defensive stopper. Michigan en route to being PGU

Links for 2012-12-28 [del.icio.us]

Sat, 29 Dec 2012 00:00:00 PST

Michigan's Dennis Norfleet defies adversity, including predatory plant attached to his leg since 1998
"Not many people know what it's like to have your leg slowly digested by a plant," said Norfleet. "It's not all it's cracked up to be."
McGary named Big Ten Freshman of the Week, giving team 5 weekly awards in 7 tries
these young folks are folking good

mgoblog - we had subs it was crazy

A Week In The Life of Al Borges (part 2)

Unverified Voracity Misses Exit Wound Opportunity

Picture Pages: Datbull

2013 Recruiting: Ross Douglas

Hokepoints: What's a Nickelback?

A Week In The Life Of Al Borges (part 1)

Monday Recruitin' Doesn't Film In Shed

*BREAKING* 6'6", 230-Pound Quarterback Has Strong Arm After All

Come On Down, Andrew Brown

Defensive Back Recruiting, Non-Peppers Edition

Rankings Updates

Happy Trails

Etc.

Unverified Voracity Gonna Rage Some Cajuns

Friday Recruitin' Battles Buckle-Phobia

You Know The Drill

Sorting Out The Linebacker Situation

Show Him Tha Blue Carpet Treatment

Etc.

Unverified Voracity Is Probably Named Pappy

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BREAKING 6'6", 230-Pound Quarterback Has Strong Arm After All