Wolverine Historian posted a couple Jim Harbaugh tribute videos a few days ago. I have no idea why there’s this sudden interest in Harbaugh. Oh, well. On with the show!
Hit the jump for the second video.
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| De’Veon Smith was Michigan’s leading rusher in 2014 |
I meant to post this a few months ago, but somehow it got lost in the shuffle. Here are the results of the poll posted over the summer. (Caveat: This poll closed on September 4, which was several days after Michigan’s opening victory over Appalachian State.)
Derrick Green: 59%
Green ended up with 471 yards in half a season, which was 48 fewer than Smith’s total for twelve games. (Green was my pick in the preseason, too.)
De’Veon Smith: 35%
Smith led the team with 519 yards but did not surpass Green until well after Green was lost for the season with a broken collarbone. Green averaged 78.5 yards/game, and Smith’s only two games over 78.5 yards were the opener against Appalachian State (115 yards) and week 10 against Northwestern (121). Smith averaged 43.25 yards/game for the whole season.
Devin Gardner: 4%
Gardner finished fourth on the team with 258 yards. He undoubtedly would have gone for more, but an ankle injury slowed him down for much of the year.
Drake Johnson: 1%
Johnson was the team’s best back for the last third of the season, rushing for an average of 80 yards/game against Indiana, Northwestern, Maryland, and Ohio State. Unfortunately, he tore his ACL in the season finale.
Other: 0% (0 votes)
The only other tailback to get a shot was Justice Hayes, who averaged 4.4 yards/carry and ended up with 213 rushing yards on the season.
Michigan’s leading rusher total of 519 yards is the lowest since Brandon Minor led the team with 502 yards in 2009, a year in which Michigan also went 5-7.
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| Jake Ryan (image via MGoBlog) |
I posted the offense yesterday (LINK), so here are the defenders and specialists. Since Michigan ran a 4-3 Under for three of Hoke’s four years, I’m going with that look for my all-star team.
SDE: Ryan Van Bergen (2011)
45 tackles, 12.5 tackles for loss, 5.5 sacks, 1 forced fumble, 3 fumble recoveries, 4 pass breakups
Van Bergen was a stalwart defensive end for Michigan as a senior, earning All-Big Ten Honorable Mention but helping the entire defense by getting consistent penetration and having a great game in the win against Ohio State.
NT: Ryan Glasgow (2014)
24 tackles, 4 tackles for loss, 1 forced fumble, 1 fumble recovery
Glasgow made huge strides from his redshirt freshman to redshirt sophomore season, which propelled him past Quinton Washington for this spot. Glasgow was mostly able to hold his ground against double teams.
DT: Mike Martin (2011)
64 tackles, 6 tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks
Martin was named Second Team All-Big Ten for his performance in 2011, and he was consistently in the opponent’s backfield. Opposing centers couldn’t handle him one-on-one as a nose tackle, which allowed some young and/or mediocre linebackers behind him to make plays.
WDE: Frank Clark (2014)
42 tackles, 13.5 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, 1 fumble recovery, 2 pass breakups
I hesitated to put Clark on here because he was kicked off the team for an (alleged) domestic violence transgression. But just looking at the on-field results, Clark was a force. He achieved the above numbers in just ten games before being booted, and they would have been higher if Michigan’s coverage in the secondary hadn’t been so poor in the early part of the season.
Hit the jump for linebackers, defensive backs, and specialists.
SLB: Jake Ryan (2012)
88 tackles, 16 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, 4 forced fumbles, 1 fumble recovery, 3 pass breakups
Ryan was a huge playmaker for the Wolverines coming off the edge, and he had an ability to keep faster players from breaking contain. He was a capable pass rusher who sometimes played defensive end or blitzed from the interior of the defense.
MLB: Desmond Morgan (2012)
81 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, .5 sacks, 2 pass breakups
Pick any year from 2011 to 2013, and Morgan was basically the same guy in each. Other than a superb one-handed interception against UConn in 2013, I thought he peaked as a sophomore (he has one year remaining after redshirting this past season). Just a steady presence in the middle of the field.
WLB: Joe Bolden (2014)
102 tackles, 4 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, 1 pass breakup
This was a tough choice between Bolden and Kenny Demens, but I think Bolden has developed into a better tackler than Demens. Bolden looked a little out of place in his first two years, but he emerged as a junior under the tutelage of defensive coordinator Greg Mattison, who took over the linebacker position.
CB: Blake Countess (2013)
46 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 6 interceptions (1 touchdown), and 4 pass breakups
Playing a lot of nickel corner in 2013, Countess was outstanding. He was named First Team All-Big Ten and tied for the conference lead in interceptions.
CB: Jourdan Lewis (2014)
39 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, 2 interceptions, 6 pass breakups
Lewis got called for a few pass interference penalties, but he almost never got cleanly beaten by defenders. He was the only defensive back to record an interception in 2014, and his hustle plays against Utah and Maryland saved a couple potential touchdowns.
S: Thomas Gordon (2011)
67 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, 1 interception, 2 forced fumbles, 4 fumble recoveries, 2 pass breakups
Surely it was a run of good luck, but Gordon was always around the ball as a redshirt sophomore in 2011. From his one-handed interception against Eastern Michigan to his four recoveries, he was a takeaway machine.
S: Jordan Kovacs (2011)
75 tackles, 8 tackles for loss, 4 sacks, 1 interception, 2 forced fumbles, 1 fumble recovery, 1 pass breakup
Kovacs was a revelation for Michigan fans who were used to predictable defense from 2008-2010. Often used as a blitzer, Kovacs would stunt off the edge and was very adept at keeping outside contain despite average speed.
PR: Jeremy Gallon (2011)
19 returns, 192 yards, 10.1 yards/return
In general, the returners were not good during Hoke’s tenure. Gallon was the only one able to manage over 10 yards/return, nobody returned a punt for a touchdown (blocked punts notwithstanding), and Hoke generally went for safety over big-play ability.
KR: Dennis Norfleet (2013)
40 kickoff returns, 938 yards, 23.5 yards/return
Norfleet is #1 all-time at Michigan in career returns (94) and return yardage (2,203). I thought his patience and vision were best in 2013, but all three seasons have seen him with between a 23.05 and 23.63 yard average with a long return of 38-44 yards, so his seasons are mostly indistinguishable from each other.
P: Will Hagerup (2012)
45.0 yards/punt, 3 inside the 20-yard line, 4 touchbacks, 4 fair catches, 13 punts of 50+ yards
It’s tough to pick a season for Hagerup. He was the Big Ten Punter of the Year in 2012, but the coaches in the conference voted him as Honorable Mention All-Big Ten. He showed a big leg, but he only pinned teams inside their own 20-yard line 3 times while having 4 touchbacks (by contrast, he landed 16 inside the 20-yard line in 2014 but also had 9 touchbacks while averaging 42.9 yards/attempt).
K: Brendan Gibbons (2012)
16/18 on field goals (88.9%) with a long of 52, 45/45 on extra points
Gibbons had some memorable kicks in each of his final three years, but he was clutch in 2012. He hit his career long of 52 against Nebraska, he knocked one through to send the Northwestern game to overtime, and he hit the game-winner against Michigan State.
LS: Jareth Glanda (2011)
1 catch for 11 yards
Glanda was only the short snapper (field goals, extra points) in 2011, leaving the long snapping duties (punts) to Tom Pomarico. But Pomarico never caught a pass like Glanda did in the Sugar Bowl. Neither one had a bad snap, and Glanda would go on to be the long snapper in 2012 and 2013, but I’m picking 2011 because it’s my blog, dammit.
H: Drew Dileo (2011 and 2013)
Once again, I’m breaking the rules because you can’t stop me. In 2011 Dileo converted three fake field goals – a 3-yard run against Michigan State, a 4-yard run against Nebraska, and a pass (which was tipped and ended up in the hands of Glanda). Then again, in 2013 he slid into the holding position for Brendan Gibbons’s game-tying field goal at the end of regulation, which helped turn a loss into an eventual victory.
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| Denard Robinson |
You may or may not remember when I put together an all-star team for Rich Rodriguez’s tenure (OFFENSE, DEFENSE/SPECIAL TEAMS). Well, here’s the Brady Hoke version. I patched together a pretty good team from the four seasons that Hoke was the head man in Ann Arbor.
QB: Devin Gardner (2013)
208-for-345 passing, 60.3%, 2960 yards, 21 touchdowns, 11 interceptions
165 carries for 483 yards, 2.9 yards/carry, 11 touchdowns
This may be an unpopular choice, but Gardner had some brilliant games (Notre Dame, Indiana, Ohio State) during the 2013 campaign. He ended the year as Michigan’s second-leading rusher and showed some great potential. The Notre Dame victory was exhilarating, he threw for 503 yards (a Michigan record) against Indiana, and played great against Ohio State despite a broken foot for part of the game.
RB: Denard Robinson (2012)
177 carries, 1266 yards, 7.2 yards/carry, 7 touchdowns
I’m cheating a bit here by putting Robinson at running back, but he did start a few games at the position after he returned from the elbow injury suffered against Nebraska. He broke 100 yards twice in his three games at running back. Even so, he showed enough running skills at the quarterback position to make this essentially a no-brainer. Imagine the running ability of a team with Gardner at QB and Robinson lined up behind him or next to him.
FB: Joe Kerridge (2014)
3 carries, 56 yards, 18.7 yards/carry
6 catches, 53 yards, 8.8 yards/catch
Hoke employed a fullback quite a bit, but his fullbacks didn’t touch the ball a lot. Kerridge set a record for the Hoke era by getting 9 touches, including some critical first downs and a 52-yard run on a fake punt against Maryland.
WR: Jeremy Gallon (2013)
89 catches, 1373 yards, 15.4 yards/catch, 9 touchdowns
Gallon and Gardner had a symbiotic relationship. Gallon didn’t produce a ton before Gardner became the quarterback, and Gardner was unproductive once Gallon graduated. Regardless, Gallon was a record-setter at Michigan with 1,373 yards that season and had 369 yards in a game against Indiana, the highest Big Ten total in history.
WR: Junior Hemingway (2011)
34 catches, 699 yards, 20.6 yards/catch, 4 touchdowns
Hemingway may not have had higher catch or yardage totals than other candidates for this spot, but he made lots of clutch plays and was Denard Robinson’s go-to guy like Gallon was Gardner’s. Hemingway had some huge catches in wins against Notre Dame, Ohio State, and Virginia Tech
TE: Kevin Koger (2011)
23 catches, 244 yards, 10.6 yards/catch, 4 touchdowns
Jake Butt might have more upside, but Koger had better production in 2011 and had the best combination of skills that Hoke had available at the tight end position. Koger could block, catch, and run a little bit. Plus he was named a captain and liked well enough to be asked to be a graduate assistant on the staff.
LT: Taylor Lewan (2012)
13 starts, 1 touchdown
Lewan peaked in 2012 when he was a First Team All-American and dominant all year, including a great showing against eventual #1 pick Jadeveon Clowney of South Carolina in the Outback Bowl. He also fell on a fumble in the endzone, notching a touchdown against UMass.
LG: Michael Schofield (2011)
10 starts
Schofield, a tackle by trade, earned the starting left guard job when Ricky Barnum was injured. Somewhat surprisingly, he performed very well for a young guy playing an unfamiliar position. He would eventually turn into a 3rd round pick by the Denver Broncos.
C: David Molk (2011)
12 starts
Molk started the first twelve games of the year and sat out the first series of the Sugar Bowl against Virginia Tech with an injury he suffered in pre-game warmups. When backup Rocko Khoury struggled with two bad snaps on three plays, Molk entered the game and helped lead the team to a victory. Molk was a First Team All-American and won the Rimington Trophy, given to the nation’s best center.
RG: Patrick Omameh (2011)
13 starts
Omameh seemed to have a better season in 2011 than 2012, even though he was named First Team All-Big Ten by the coaches in the latter season and not the former. The offensive line protected quarterback Denard Robinson pretty well in 2011 (#34 in sacks allowed), and Omameh helped pave the way for two 1,000-yard rushers (Robinson, running back Fitzgerald Toussaint).
RT: Mark Huyge (2011)
13 starts
With Schofield slotted at left guard, Huyge is really the only choice here. He wasn’t spectacular, but he was solid and never stood out as being a weakness. He, too, was part of the unit that protected the quarterback and helped Toussaint and Robinson run for 1,000 yards each.
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| Jim Harbaugh |
Jim Harbaugh
Age: 50
Current position: San Francisco 49ers head coach
Salary: $5,000,000 per year
Head coaching experience: 43-16 at San Francisco 49ers (2011-present), 29-21 at Stanford (2007-2010), 29-6 at University of San Diego (2004-2006), 101-43 overall
History: Jim was born in Toledo, grew up in Ann Arbor while his father was an assistant at Michigan, and graduated high school in Palo Alto, CA. He then came back to Michigan as a quarterback, started for his final three seasons, was named Big Ten Player of the Year as a senior, and was drafted in the 1st round of the NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears. He became a Pro Bowl quarterback with the Indianapolis Colts in 1995. When his career was finished, he coached quarterbacks at Western Kentucky and for the Oakland Raiders before getting the head coaching job at the University of San Diego, where he went 11-1 in each of his last two seasons. He proceeded to improve a moribund Stanford football program from 4-8 in his first year to 12-1 in his final year there. That turned into being hired by the 49ers, for whom he has reached the Super Bowl and two other NFC Championship games. They are 7-5 so far this season, but there are rumblings of discontent from the front office and ownership.
My thoughts: Harbaugh is as intense of a coach as they come, and that’s not always the way to go about dealing with NFL players. Frankly, it rubs people the wrong way – at all levels – but millionaires don’t like to be treated like college kids. On the flip side, college kids are playing for the love of the game or with a desire to make it to the next level, so they can handle a little more in-your-face intensity. Harbaugh is a proven winner as a player, a college coach, and an NFL coach, and Michigan would be in excellent hands with him. He recruited well at Stanford, and he would be recruiting the same types of players at Michigan – high character, smart athletes who are hard-nosed and disciplined. Furthermore, Harbaugh would have a full complement of returning linemen, tight ends, and running backs as a coach who places a premium on running the ball. The defense is solid, too. The only huge question mark is at quarterback.
Likelihood of coming to Michigan: Some outlets are reporting that it is likely, and some are reporting that it is unlikely. Rivals, on the one hand, is keeping fans’ hopes up, but they are somewhat notorious for sending out positive vibes to keep readers happy. NFL people are saying he wants to stay in the NFL. I really have no idea whether he’ll come back to Ann Arbor or not, but money would not be an issue (numbers like $8,000,000 per year have been thrown around), he doesn’t seem likely to stay in San Francisco, and other potential destinations right now include the moribund Raiders and Jets franchises.
My wish list:
1. Jim Harbaugh
2. Bob Stoops
3. Dan Mullen
4. Les Miles
5. Greg Schiano
6. Tom Herman
7. Pat Narduzzi
8. Mike Shanahan
