Devin Funchess Answers Your Questions

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17Apr 2012
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Devin Funchess Answers Your Questions


Farmington Hills Harrison tight end Devin Funchess broke tradition last April when he committed to Michigan over Michigan State. Despite MSU’s strong ties to his school, Funchess inked his letter of intent for Michigan and immediately began injecting a bit of blue into the Farmington Hills Harrison (FHH) program. Although Devin’s been busy “talking to the young kids” about Michigan while training hard for the upcoming season, he took some time out of his Tuesday afternoon last week to give TTB readers an update and answer several questions.

FHH – Cass Tech rivalry: “That was a great game to be a part of because of all the high-talent players. . . . That game pretty much decided our whole season to me. I figured that we were going to win it all – because the level of players that were on the Cass Tech team was better than the rest in the state of Michigan.”

On not committing to Michigan State: “There are a bunch of high-level athletes [out of FHH] who have gone to Michigan State. They are a big time player for our high school athletes. . . . When we [Devin and Mario Ojemudia] committed to Michigan, a bunch of their fans were going all crazy, asking us what was wrong, calling us names and all that.”

Height and Weight: “I’m 6’4” and a half/6’5” and about 223 [pounds]. . . . The coaches want me to come in at around 225/230. They tell me I’ll eventually get to about 240/245.”
Blocking: “That was always one of the weaker parts of my game, but I got better at it this year because my high school line coach taught me a different technique I can use on defensive linemen.”
Route running and splitting out: “I’ve run pretty much all of the routes that receivers usually run. . . . On the weekends I go to a camp to work on my footwork and routes. It’s run by Reggie Wynns and Chris Archie. . . .The coaches told me that in the red zone, I’ll get split out more for more jump ball type plays or play as a U-back. . . . It’s a tight end off the line that’s lined up in the backfield or spread out in the slot. I’d be behind the line of scrimmage and on pass plays, I’d start on the left and run over to the right and be the first option in the flat. And then when I move over to the slot, I can get motion when I line up there, and I’d usually be guarded by a slower linebacker. . . .”
Playing next season: “The coaches want me to play right away because they lack pass-catching tight ends, so they told me to come in and get ready to play. . . . It’s probably about an 85% chance I step on the field this year, first game.”

A mini-celebrity: “My life has changed drastically. I used to be able to go to the mall or wherever without anybody knowing me. But [now] a couple people always will come up to me. And when I was on spring break [in Panama City, FL] a couple people came up to me because they recognized my face. It was kind of weird.”
11Apr 2012
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Ask a Question: Terry Richardson

Terry Richardson is the best prospect in Michigan’s 2012 class,
according to ESPN.
On May 19, 2011, cornerback Terry Richardson selected the University of Michigan out of a top five that included USC, LSU, Alabama and Notre Dame. Oklahoma, Ohio State, and Penn State were among his other 25 scholarship offers. I’ll be talking with Terry this weekend, so leave a question for him in the comments section if you’d like, and I’ll try to address it in the interview.
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Image for MaxPreps Video.

10Apr 2012
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Drake Johnson Answers Your Questions

Ann Arbor (MI) Pioneer running back Drake Johnson

Although Drake Johnson attended Community High School, located in the Kerrytown district of downtown Ann Arbor, he wore a Pioneer uniform and tore things up on a football field located in the shadow of the Big House. During his senior year, Johnson scored 37 touchdowns and rushed for an eye-popping 2,805 yards (8.2 yards per carry).

Drake was nice enough to talk with me on a recent Friday night following his track practice when he spoke on a variety of topics and answered several reader questions.
Speed: “A lot of people have timed me in the forty. I mean, my track coach has, my football coach has – I’ve had multiple people do it. It’s always in the 4.36 – 4.38 range, and I ran the 100 [meter dash] in 10.7 flat. I’m trying to improve to a 10.6 flat. Sometimes people think that just because I’m not taking insanely fast, short steps, I’m not as fast as someone else. But if some runners take five steps to cover ten yards and I’m taking three steps, then if I’m covering that much ground, then I’m going to beat you.”

Weight: “Right now, I’m 206 pounds. Once track season starts I lose a lot of weight because I’m more focused on the running aspect as opposed to the strength aspect. And then once track ends, it’s back to more of the football aspect as opposed to the track aspect. . . . I think Coach Jackson wants me to [eventually] be at max 220 pounds.”
Committing to Michigan: “It wasn’t so much pressure as it was expected because my whole family’s gone to Michigan. It runs in my family to go to the university. My mom is the head cheerleading coach (Pam St. John). My dad went there; my grandfather went there. My step-dad played quarterback at Michigan (Tom Slade). . . . Yeah, he’s my step-dad and he passed away almost six years ago, coming up. . . . When I was really young, my mom used to be really afraid of me going to games because there was like 110,000 people walking around and she didn’t want me to get lost, but then at like age 13 I’d go to maybe four or five games a year.”
Another position of interest? “Well, I’ve always been a really good receiver. I think my junior year I had like 600 receiving yards – it was in a more spread-type offense so I had more like 1,400 rushing yards instead [of 2,805] – and I also had about 45 catches. I’ve always been good at catching the ball. It’s nothing that I particularly had to develop; it’s just kind of a natural ability to catch the football. So if I switched positions I would like to go there, I guess, but it’s my preference to stay at tailback, of course. . . . I played outside linebacker last year [junior year] and learned about how to play against a tailback, so having that knowledge makes it easier to get past them. The front seven, I’ve gotten a lot of the gist of what they might do.”
Running back competition: “They’re all really good backs, so it would be unfair for me to say that any one of them is more competitive to me than any other one of them. To get to that point, they’re all really, really good. They had to be to go to Michigan.”
Staying prepared: “The coaches haven’t really talked about how they want to use me yet, but Coach Jackson has been telling me what he wants me to do to be prepared. . . . Normally, I’ll wake up and run two to three miles. If not, then I’ll go up to the weight room or do a track workout.”
A happy roommate: “I don’t know who I’ll be rooming with, but whoever I do will probably be a very happy person, though. I have a ton of electronics, which I’m sure anyone my age would like.”

Thinking ahead: “I’m going for Psychology, so I can be a Psychiatrist. Since I’m getting a degree from Michigan, I might as well pursue it for what it’s worth. I know that a Michigan degree is worth a lot. So Medical School wouldn’t be free because that would be past the four or five years or whatever it [the scholarship] is worth, but it [Medical School] would be a lot easier to pay for with just the normal [undergraduate] tuition gone.”
9Apr 2012
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Ask a Question: Devin Funchess

Tight end Devin Funchess will arrive on campus in June and enter a situation that should afford him a good opportunity to make an early impact. During his senior season for Farmington Hills Harrison, Funchess moonlighted at linebacker but spent most of his time catching the ball, racking up 452 receiving yards on 21 catches (21.5 YPC), scoring five touchdowns. Most of those stats came when he was lined up as a wide receiver, and Devin has talked about playing a “tight end-receiver hybrid” role to best utilize his receiving abilities and help the team. I’ll be talking with Devin tomorrow evening, so leave any questions that you might have for him in the comments section, and I’ll ask them in the interview.
28Mar 2012
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Ask a Question: Drake Johnson

Image via AnnArbor.com
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Drake Johnson amassed 2,805 rushing yards and 37 touchdowns during his senior season at Ann Arbor Pioneer, and in a few months, he will graduate and walk across the intersection of Main Street and Stadium Boulevard to play in the Big House. I’ll be talking with Drake after his track practice this Friday, so leave a question for him in the comments section if you’d like, and I’ll try to address it in the interview.