Video: 2012 Spring Game – Every Snap

Tag: Devin Gardner

14Apr 2012
Uncategorized 14 comments

2012 Spring Game Review – Offense

Thomas Rawls (#38) looked pretty solid in today’s spring game

QUARTERBACKS
Denard Robinson didn’t play much.  We know what we have in Denard, and we’re not going to know whether he can cut down on his interceptions until the fall.  Devin Gardner looked very athletic.  He seems to be faster and in better shape this year than last, but he struggled throwing the ball.  He tried to force some throws, but the receivers really struggled to get separation from the defensive backs.  That’s probably why Gardner scrambled repeatedly, and he made the defense look silly at times.  Third stringer Russell Bellomy looked like what we’ve been expecting – a game manager type who can scramble a little and make check-down throws, but he seems to lack the requisite arm strength for pushing the ball downfield.

RUNNING BACKS
Fitzgerald Toussaint continues to look like a star on offense.  Backup Thomas Rawls looks faster and stronger to me than he did in the fall.  He seems like a viable #2 back and he runs angry.  You could tell when he got the ball that the defense stepped up its intensity a little bit, because those guys knew they were going to have a fight on their hands to get him down.  He did make a nice touchdown run early, but keep in mind that he ran through the tackle of backup free safety Jarrod Wilson, who should still be two or three months away from graduating high school.  Vincent Smith continues to be subpar running inside, but he caught the ball well.  To me it’s a wasted rep when he’s handed the ball to run up the middle.  Justice Hayes is in the same boat.  He doesn’t have any mass or strength behind him.  If there’s an injury to Toussaint or Rawls in the fall, the coaches are going to have to look at freshman Drake Johnson or maybe moving Hopkins back to tailback.

FULLBACKS
Hopkins and Kerridge looked pretty solid.  Michigan should be set at this position, especially with reinforcements coming in the form of Sione Houma.

WIDE RECEIVERS
As I mentioned above, the receivers really struggled to separate from the defensive backs.  We didn’t see a whole lot of Roy Roundtree, but he and Jeremy Gallon looked decent.  I would not be surprised to see Gallon lead the team in receptions this season.  He’s going to be a tough matchup.  After that nobody looked particularly impressive.  Jerald Robinson had an embarrassing drop, Jeremy Jackson is who he is, etc.  Games this season will continue to be won on the ground.

TIGHT ENDS
This continues to be a weak spot.  Brandon Moore didn’t get any separation, and both Moore and Ricardo Miller struggled at the point of attack.  They were playing against some pretty good defenders – Craig Roh, Jake Ryan, Cam Gordon – but tight end will be a liability this season, in both the running and passing games. I don’t think we’ll see as many two- and three-tight end formations as we did last season.

OFFENSIVE LINEMEN
Taylor Lewan is a very good left tackle.  The starter at left guard was Joey Burzynski.  All spring we’ve heard that Elliott Mealer was the front-runner for the left guard position, and I think that might still be the case.  I have no inside information on this, but I have a feeling that Burzynski’s start was kind of a practical matter.  The coaches didn’t want Lewan on the field much; with Michael Schofield as the primary backup at left tackle, they seemed to want Mealer to rotate in at right tackle when Schofield flipped.  Burzynski doesn’t have the ability to play tackle.  Burzynski looked fair against the pass and somewhat ineffective in the running game.  Barnum blocked well, but he had two bad snaps because he failed to get the ball up to Denard before getting out of his stance.  That will be something to watch heading into the season.  Barnum also needs to speed up his shotgun snaps, which are noticeably slower than David Molk’s.  He’s also got to work on calling protections.  Omameh looked mostly solid but got blasted by William Campbell.  Schofield struggled some in pass protection, but picked it up as the day went on.  As far as backups go, the walk-ons played like walk-ons do, outside of Burzynski.  Graham Glasgow doesn’t know how to pull.  Kristian Mateus looks downright skinny.  Erik Gunderson might be able to play in a pinch.  Chris Bryant looked solid in the running game.  Jack Miller still lacks size.  Barnum must  stay healthy this season.

23Mar 2012
Uncategorized 23 comments

Mailbag: Should Devin Gardner play wide receiver?

Should Devin Gardner play wide receiver or be the backup quarterback?

Okay, this wasn’t really a mailbag question.  It was asked by Lankownia in the comments section.  Also, it’s the hip topic of spring practice (so far).  Here are my thoughts.

Yes, yes, a thousand times yes, play him at wide receiver.  Michigan is hurting – badly – at the wide receiver position.  Besides the 2008 squad (Greg Mathews, Laterryal Savoy, Darryl Stonum, Martavious Odoms, Toney Clemons, etc.), I think this is Michigan’s worst receiver unit in years and years and years.  Each of the returning receivers has at least one major flaw:

  • Jeremy Jackson: slow
  • Jeremy Gallon: short
  • Drew Dileo: short
  • Jerald Robinson: maturity issues
  • Roy Roundtree: chemistry issues
  • Darryl Stonum: drunk
Roundtree has the best chance of being the number one guy because he’s been Michigan’s leading receiver before, but he wasn’t often targeted last season, he’s had some issues with his hands over the past 1.5 seasons, and there was a fair bit of confusion between him and Denard last season when Roundtree went one way and the ball went sailing elsewhere.  Beyond that, all of these guys are role type players who have limited ceilings in this offense.  Gallon has some big play ability, but it seemed that Al Borges’s only way of getting him the ball last season was to run a throwback screen (and to Jedi Mind Trick the Notre Dame Fighting Irish into completely forgetting he was on the football field).  Robinson is a jump ball guy who has receiving ability similar to Junior Hemingway’s, without so much talent when it comes to running after the catch.
So aside from Denard Robinson and Fitzgerald Toussaint, this isn’t a scary offense.
Now throw a 6’4″, 205 lb. guy with long arms and good leaping ability into the mix.  Instantly, he’s the tallest receiver on the roster.  He’s probably the second fastest receiver on the roster.  He can jump.  He can catch.  He’s bright.  Can he block?  I don’t know.  Other than that, all the tools seem to be there.
The catch is that if Gardner plays receiver, who’s being groomed to be the quarterback in 2013?  And who enters the game for Denard when he inevitably dings up a shoulder or a hip or a knee?  While Gardner’s playing wideout, he’s not taking snaps.  Meanwhile, third-string quarterback Russell Bellomy is getting some looks and then you have to look at 2013 freshman Shane Morris, a highly touted but [obviously] young QB.  Depth will once again be thin in 2013, even if Gardner plays quarterback.  Those are problems to worry about in the future, though.  Right now, assuming the electric Robinson can stay healthy, you need to get the best eleven on the field.  Gardner is one of the best eleven athletes on the offensive unit.  It doesn’t do anyone much good to leave a kid like that wasting his time on the bench for three years.
I do have confidence in the futures of both incoming freshmen, Jehu Chesson and Amara Darboh.  But you can’t count on them to be ready immediately.  You have to plan to play the guys who are already on the squad, and I don’t think you can convincingly guarantee me that every guy in the above bulleted list is a better receiving prospect than Devin Gardner.
On a side note, this discussion  is why you recruit at least one quarterback every year.  I insisted for the entirety of the 2012 recruiting cycle that Michigan should – and would – get a quarterback to sign with them in February.  It had happened for 14 years in a row and wouldn’t stop.  Well, I was wrong.  The Wolverines got a commitment from Morris for 2013 and ignored the position for 2012.  Now they’re flirting with the idea of putting the #2 quarterback at receiver and being stuck with Bellomy as the sole backup devoted to the quarterback position.  If the doomsday scenario occurs in which both Robinson and  Gardner get hurt, the Wolverines will be left with Bellomy and ___________ at quarterback.  That scenario is unlikely to actually occur, but if Michigan had an incoming freshman quarterback, the Gardner-to-receiver thing would be a no-brainer.  Instead, it has fans – and the coaches, it seems – unsure of how to use Gardner.
13Dec 2011
Uncategorized 4 comments

Quarterback Preview: Michigan vs. Virginia Tech

Logan Thomas

MICHIGAN
Starter: Junior Denard Robinson (6’0″, 195 lbs.) is 133/237 (56.1%) passing for 2,056 yards, 18 touchdowns, and 14 interceptions.  He has also rushed 208 times for 1,137 yards (5.6 yards per carry) and 16 touchdowns.
Backups: Sophomore Devin Gardner has played in 9 games, sometimes in a package with Robinson on the field.  Gardner is 11/23 (47.8%) passing for 176 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 interception.  He also rushed 25 times for 53 yards and 1 touchdown.  The next guy on the depth chart is true freshman Russell Bellomy, who has yet to play this season but has traveled to road games.

VIRGINIA TECH
Starter: Redshirt sophomore Logan Thomas (6’6″, 254 lbs.) has started all 13 games this season, going 215/363 (59.2%) for 2,799 yards, 19 touchdowns, and 9 interceptions.  He has also rushed 137 times for 416 yards (3.0 yards per carry) and 10 touchdowns.
Backups: Redshirt freshman Mark Leal has played a backup role in 3 games this year.  He is 9/13 (69.2%) for 153 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 0 interceptions.  Redshirt junior Ju-Ju Clayton is the third quarterback but has yet to play this season.

THE TAKEAWAY
Thomas is capable of excellent play; against Miami he went 23/25 (92%) for 310 yards and 3 touchdowns through the air, plus 2 more rushing scores.  He played some great football throughout the year.  But he’s coming off a game against Clemson in which he completed 50% of his passes, threw 2 interceptions, and rushed 12 times for only 2 yards.  Meanwhile, Robinson is one of the most dynamic players in the country, capable of taking over a game at any given time.  While he has been prone to interceptions and erratic passing, he’s coming off a three-game winning streak in which he completed 60% or more of his passes, scored 11 total touchdowns (5 passing with only 2 interceptions), and played arguably the best game of his career against Ohio State (14/17 for 167 yards and 3 touchdowns, plus 170 yards on the ground and 2 more touchdowns).  Thomas is good, but Robinson has the ability to be unstoppable.
Advantage: Michigan

14Nov 2011
Uncategorized 48 comments

Michigan vs. Illinois Awards

Ryan Van Bergen (#53) was a force to be reckoned with all night.
(image via MGoBlue.com)



Let’s see more of this guy on offense . . . Martavious Odoms.  Odoms was struggling to see the field earlier in the year, partly because he was recovering from a broken bone in his forearm.  It was frustrating to see a key player from the past few seasons end his career by barely seeing the field.  Luckily, that trend appears to be ending.  He got what seemed to be the most playing time of the season against the Illini, when he had 2 receptions for 46 yards, including a 27-yard touchdown reception from Devin Gardner to go up 24-7.  Odoms was also wide open in the endzone early in the game, but Denard Robinson overthrew him.

Let’s see less of this guy on offense . . . umm . . . Denard Robinson at quarterback.  Bring on the anger.  Robinson has clearly regressed this season, and I’m not going to blame it entirely on offensive coordinator Al Borges.  Borges hasn’t made the same playcalls that allowed Robinson to put up good numbers last season, but much of that is on Robinson’s shoulders, too.  He was unable to hit wide open receivers early in the year, and his inability to hit the deep ball has been extremely maddening.  I described Robinson last year as “wildly accurate” because of his throws that would be catchable but wouldn’t allow receivers to run after the catch.  There was another fine example on Saturday evening when Robinson hit tight end Kevin Koger down the left sideline, and Koger was so wide open that he had time to stop, catch the ball, get started again . . . and get dragged down at the 2-yard line.  If that’s even a decent throw, it’s an easy touchdown.  Devin Gardner at least deserves a prolonged look if Robinson isn’t getting it done, because Robinson is turnover-prone and his rushing has been disappointing for the last several weeks.

Let’s see more of this guy on defense . . . Thomas Gordon.  Gordon has been a turnover machine with 1 interception, 4 fumble recoveries, and 2 forced fumbles on the season.  He’s also the team’s second-leading tackler, despite coming off the bench for the past two games.  Meanwhile, senior Troy Woolfolk has been inserted at safety despite clearly being unhealthy; Woolfolk has yet to create a turnover in his career.

Let’s see less of this guy on defense . . . Troy Woolfolk.  This is obvious, considering the above paragraph.  Woolfolk is hurting the team by playing such significant minutes.  I wish he would have been allowed to get healthier earlier in the season, but he wasn’t.  It’s pretty apparent that he won’t be healthy during the regular season, although hopefully he can get his body right by the bowl game.

Play of the game . . . Jordan Kovacs’ forced fumble and Gordon’s recovery.  Illinois had just stopped Michigan on the goal line and had some emotional momentum.  Running back Jason Ford popped free for 8 yards up the middle when Kovacs put his facemask on the ball, which fell to the ground while Gordon jumped on it.  If it hadn’t been obvious previously, it seemed to me right there that this day just wasn’t going to go well for the Illini.

MVP of the game . . . Ryan Van Bergen.  The defensive tackle/end had 7 tackles, 3 tackles for loss (for 28 yards), and 2.5 sacks.  Mike Martin (9 tackles, 1/2 a sack) would be a decent choice, and so would Fitzgerald Toussaint (27 carries, 192 yards, 1 touchdown).  But on a night when Illinois couldn’t do anything consistently on defense, in large part because quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase was under pressure, I have to give it to the guy who took him to the ground a few times.