20Jan 2016
Video: Jabrill Peppers highlights
Even though Jabrill Peppers played a wee bit in 2014, this past season was essentially his first year of playing college football. The results were pretty exhilarating.
Even though Jabrill Peppers played a wee bit in 2014, this past season was essentially his first year of playing college football. The results were pretty exhilarating.
The Big Ten Network released the All-Big Ten Defensive team on Monday night (LINK). Several Michigan players were honored, including Thompson-Randle El Freshman of the Year Jabrill Peppers. As exciting as Peppers was, I probably would have voted for Penn State freshman running back Saquon Barkley (1,007 rushing yards, 6.1 yards/carry, 7 touchdowns), who was running behind a patchwork offensive line with an ineffective passing game. But you can’t go too wrong with a guy like Peppers, who played well in all three phases of the game (72 yards and 2 TDs rushing, 8 catches for 79 yards, 27.9 yards/kick return, 45 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, 10 pass breakups).
Hit the jump for the coaches and media teams.
Jehu Chesson had a great day receiving, although this attempted leap did not end well.
I’m glad Jake Rudock transferred to Michigan. I’m not sure what Michigan’s record would be without Rudock, but they wouldn’t be 8-2. This one would have been a loss for sure. Rudock was 33/46 for 440 yards, 6 touchdowns, and 1 interception. On top of that, several times he bailed out Michigan with his legs and finished as Michigan’s leading rusher with 7 carries for 64 yards (9.1 yards/carry). He accounted for 504 total yards, which (I believe) is the second-most total yards in Michigan history, behind Devin Gardner’s 584 total yards against Indiana in 2013.
Let’s see more of this guy on offense . . . Sione Houma. I’m not in love with Houma as a tailback, but it sure is fun to watch him play with his hair waving all around and his 240 lb. body barreling into people. He finished the game with 6 carries for 19 yards and 1 catch for 32 yards. He’s a decent enough threat at fullback now that I think opponents are going to have to keep on eye on the fullback dives and traps, and that might spring one of the tailbacks on the outside at some point. Houma isn’t quite the blocker that Joe Kerridge is, but Houma is good enough at catching and running that I think it mostly makes up for the blocking differential.
Hit the jump for the rest of the post.
This is an old picture but oh well.
Michigan did what they should have done. Michigan had some occasional issues stopping the run (running backs Robert Martin and Josh Hicks averaged 8.1 and 4.6 yards/carry, respectively), but it didn’t hurt them much because Rutgers wasn’t balanced at all. I was fairly impressed with Martin, who has some quickness, while both backs run tough. Without wide receiver Leonte Carroo, Rutgers had zero threats in the passing game. I mentioned in the game preview that I thought Michigan would struggle to pull away if Carroo played, but that clearly wasn’t an issue.
Jabrill Peppers on offense. On the one hand, I like the way that Michigan is strategically using Peppers on offense. Instead of giving him a series of plays, they are rotating him in and out of the game, showing different formations, etc. Sometimes you see teams give a guy a series or two throughout a game, but I think defenses can key on the guy and get used to him being on the field. With the way Michigan uses him, the defense has to adjust on the fly to a guy who can line up at WR, RB, and QB and be the most dynamic player on the field. It’s a good strategy. On the other hand, I think Michigan will have to unleash Peppers a little more down the stretch if it’s a closer contest. The thing that’s missing at times is the play where Peppers runs exactly what the play looks like it’s going to be – a go route, a toss sweep, etc. He is Michigan’s most dynamic player, but I think he needs to touch the ball in conventional ways, too. He said after the game that he suffered a thigh bruise in practice that hampered him a little bit, so this wasn’t the week to push it. I’m looking at a game like Ohio State as a place where he should probably be in on some standard plays.
Hit the jump for the rest of the game recap.