Michigan vs. Minnesota Awards

Tag: Stephen Hopkins


3Oct 2011
Uncategorized 14 comments

Michigan vs. Minnesota Awards

Didn’t you dummies watch the Notre Dame film?  What else is there to do in Minnesota but watch film?
(image via AnnArbor.com)

Let’s see more of this guy on offense . . . Thomas Rawls.  The freshman running back (10 carries, 73 yards) is yet another runner who looks better than Stephen Hopkins.  The lower Hopkins goes on the depth chart, the better off Michigan will be.  Fitzgerald Toussaint (11 carries, 108 yards, 1 touchdown) looks like the best back, Vincent Smith is a solid change-of-pace and third down back (5 carries, 27 yards; 3 total touchdowns), and Michael Shaw (8 carries, 60 yards) ran the ball well on Saturday, too.

Let’s see less of this guy on offense . . . Hopkins.  It was necessary for #33 to play almost the entire way because starting fullback John McColgan missed the game due to injury.  McColgan has developed into a better blocker this year than he had been previously, and I think he has some value when running out of the I-formation.  Hopkins made a nice catch out of the backfield for 28 yards, but I’m hoping McColgan can return when the schedule gets tougher.

Let’s see more of this guy on defense . . . Blake Countess.  The freshman cornerback looks to have surpassed sophomore Courtney Avery.  He’s a decent enough tackler and has better coverage skills than Avery or redshirt junior J.T. Floyd.  Countess had 2 pass breakups and 1 forced fumble to go with his 5 tackles.

Let’s see less of this guy on defense . . . Troy Woolfolk.  For goodness’ sake, let him have a week off.  For the fifth week in a row, Woolfolk left the game due to injury.  He’s got a tweaked ankle.  I know he wants to play and I commend him for it, but everybody and their mother knew that Michigan didn’t need Woolfolk to beat Minnesota handily.  The coaches had a chance to rest him against Minnesota so he would be available for the two tougher offenses coming up the next two weeks – Northwestern and Michigan State.  Now he’s still injured, Northwestern looms as a snake in the grass that could rise up and bite the Wolverines, and Michigan State follows with its dangerous passing game.  There won’t be another possible opportunity to rest him until possibly Purdue, three weeks from now.

Play of the game . . . The most exciting play of the game was Devin Gardner’s scramble and run.  He bootlegged right into a defender, ran out of an arm tackle, reversed field, juked two defenders, gained about 4 yards up the sideline, and then churned his legs for another 2 or 3 yards after the defense caught up to him.

MVP of the game . . . It’s a tough choice between Denard Robinson, Vincent Smith, and Fitzgerald Toussaint.  I’m going to go with Smith, who didn’t have a monster day numbers-wise but had a hand in three offensive touchdowns.  His day included 5 carries for 27 yards and 1 touchdown; 1 pass reception for 28 yards and a touchdown; and 1 halfback pass for 17 yards and a touchdown to Drew Dileo.  On top of that, he made a heads up recovery of a Devin Gardner fumble late in the game.

26Sep 2011
Uncategorized 13 comments

Michigan vs. San Diego State Awards

Ryan Van Bergen had a  solid day for Michigan with a tackle for loss and a forced fumble





Let’s see more of this guy on offense . . . Jeremy Gallon.  Michigan needs to find a way to get Gallon the ball.  He’s good at running after the catch, and if Denard Robinson can’t find success throwing the ball down the field, then the coaches ought to find a way to get Gallon the ball on short passes and let him gain yards on his own.

Let’s see less of this guy on offense . . . Stephen Hopkins.  Hopkins is a fumble machine (3 career fumbles in 43 rushing attempts) and he’s not very good on top of that.  The seat of his maize pants ought to be planted firmly on the bench unless it’s garbage time.  The first two backs (Fitzgerald Toussaint and Vincent Smith) are doing just fine, and if a third back needs to carry the ball, then it ought to be Michael Shaw or Michael Cox.

Let’s see more of this guy on defense . . . Blake Countess.  Countess played pretty well as Troy Woolfolk’s injury replacement, notching 7 tackles and 1 pass breakup.  Woolfolk needs to take a week off and rest his sprained ankle, which he has aggravated each week since he hurt it against Western Michigan.  The coaches keep playing him sparingly, and he keeps limping off for large portions of each game.  Woolfolk ought to get this week off and let Countess, J.T. Floyd, Courtney Avery, and Raymon Taylor handle the cornerback duties.  I think Michigan can still beat Minnesota without Woolfolk.

Let’s see less of this guy on defense . . . nobody.  It’s not that everyone on defense is playing great.  It’s just that the guys who are mediocre don’t seem to have quality backups to spell them.  Michigan needs the young defensive linemen on the roster to grow up soon.

Play of the game . . . Ryan Van Bergen forcing Ronnie Hillman to fumble.  With about twelve minutes remaining in the third quarter and Michigan leading 21-0, San Diego State ran to the defense’s right and Hillman broke a decent gain.  Van Bergen, who was the left defensive end, took a perfect pursuit angle and punched the ball out after about an 18-yard gain.  To top off the play, outside linebacker Jake Ryan hustled to follow the ball and jumped on the fumble 30 yards downfield.

MVP of the game . . . Denard Robinson.  He once again had a horrible day throwing the ball (8-for-17, 93 yards, 2 interceptions), but that didn’t stop him from running for 200 yards and 3 touchdowns on 21 carries.  He’s now averaging 138 yards rushing per game and 7.8 yards per carry.

11Sep 2011
Uncategorized 22 comments

Michigan 35, Notre Dame 31

With about 30 seconds remaining in last night’s game and Notre Dame up 31-28, I said to my fellow watchers, “I predicted Notre Dame would win by a score of 31-27.  I don’t want  that to be the score, but that was my pick.”

I’m glad I was wrong.

That was one of the most exciting games I’ve seen as a Michigan fan.  It reminded me of the 2004 “Henne to Edwards Game”, a victory over MSU in which quarterback Chad Henne chucked the ball up repeatedly to wide receiver Braylon Edwards, who decided to just flat-out win the game for his team.  With Michigan down 17-7 at halftime, I thought to myself, “Well, hopefully Brady Hoke returns to the ways of Lloyd Carr and they become a ‘second half team.'”  Uh . . . yep.  The Wolverines scored 28 points in the fourth quarter, including 14 in the final 1:12 to steal a victory from the Irish.

Wow.

Denard Robinson sucks is awesome.  I have to admit there was a time that I thought this was going to be Robinson’s worst game as a starter.  Early on he was just plain inaccurate.  Then he became inaccurate and  made poor decisions.  Then he made poor decisions . . . accurately.  Robinson finished the game 11-for-24 for 338 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 3 interceptions.  He also carried the ball 16 times for 108 yards and 1 touchdown.  His total of 446 yards and 5 touchdowns was excellent, but how he got there was strange.  Through three quarters of football, he was 4-for-14 passing (if that accuracy rate sounds familiarly horrible, that’s because it’s the same as Michigan’s kickers circa 2010) for 136 yards, 1 touchdown, and 2 interceptions.  In the fourth stanza, Robinson went 8-for-11 for 217 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 1 interception, plus a recovered Stephen Hopkins fumble that he turned into a touchdown.

Notre Dame is awesome sucks.  I do think Notre Dame is an improved team this season, but they have nothing to show for it.  They won their final four games in 2010 and had two opportunities for victories to open 2011, but they blew both chances.  They remind me of Michigan from the past couple years – able to move the ball, but turnover prone; the Irish have 9 turnovers in two games.  Quarterback Tommy Rees looked excellent at times, but he also threw an ill advised pick to cornerback J.T. Floyd, failed to see Jordan Kovacs dropping back for another interception, and let the ball slip from his hand in the red zone late in the game, a fumble that defensive lineman Ryan Van Bergen recovered.  Overall, Rees was 27-for-39 for 315 yards and 3 touchdowns.  Receiver Michael Floyd caught 13 of those passes for 159 yards, but failed to turn any of those receptions into scores.

Thank goodness for Junior Hemingway.  There were lots of “heroes” in the game – Robinson, Jeremy Gallon, Roy Roundtree, Jordan Kovacs, Matt Wile, etc.  But none were more important than Hemingway, whose amazing body control saved Robinson’s ass time after time.  Robinson completed only 46% of his passes on the day, but two of his eleven completions were amazing catches by Hemingway for big plays.  His first of the day was a 43-yard TD reception on which he leapt high in the air, came down with the ball, and blasted his way through a Notre Dame defensive back to just barely reach the pylon.  His second was on a horrible decision to throw the ball into double coverage, when he stopped and jumped high in the air once again.  His third was on a crossing route when he kept running despite presumably seeing Robinson in the grasp of a defender; Robinson made his best throw of the night, which Hemingway caught and turned into a 77-yard gain before being tackled inside the 10-yard line.  He ended the night with 3 receptions, 165 yards, and 1 touchdown.  Nobody else on Michigan’s team can do what Hemingway does.

The offense is still explosive.  I hate hate hate it when people like Mark May question Al Borges’ ability to use Denard Robinson effectively.  Michigan’s offense is just fine when Robinson makes accurate throws.  When Robinson is inaccurate, the offense suffers.  But insert any quarterback’s name in that previous sentence and the comment holds true.  Robinson made a few bad decisions in the first half (throwing an ill advised screen pass to Vincent Smith that was picked, throwing into double coverage, tossing jump balls to the 5’8″ Jeremy Gallon, etc.), but there were wide open receivers that Robinson repeatedly missed.  He doesn’t throw an accurate deep ball, and that was apparent last year under “genius” Rich Rodriguez, too.  Robinson got a lot of yardage from bubble screens and short throws last year, but with teams stacking the line of scrimmage and daring Michigan to “pass to win,” those hitches and bubble screens just aren’t going to be there.  The bubble screen worked well for Notre Dame because Michigan was backed off in fear of Michael Floyd.

What happened to Michigan’s defensive line?  I knew Notre Dame’s offensive line would be pretty solid, but so far the defensive linemen have produced very little through two games.  They had 8 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, and 2 fumble recoveries in last night’s contest, but both fumble recoveries were more a function of being lucky than good.  Starters Craig Roh and Will Heininger didn’t register on the stat sheet, and the only production from the backups came from 3 tackles by Jibreel Black and a fumble recovery by William Campbell.  Meanwhile, the team didn’t register a single sack despite 39 pass attempts, and running back Cierre Wood gashed the Wolverines for 134 yards and 5.4 yards a pop.  The linebackers and defensive backs have been outplaying the defensive line in Michigan’s two games.

Pass protection good, run blocking bad.  Except for a Dan Fox blitz that resulted in a quick sack, the offensive line protected Robinson very well.  He did scramble around at times, but usually that was after hanging around in the pocket for a while and not getting rid of the ball.  On the other hand, Michigan’s running backs got zero blocking whatsoever.  They combined for 8 carries, 13 yards, and 1 fumble.  Yikes.  Fitzgerald Toussaint apparently suffered an injury and couldn’t play, and despite having -3 yards, Michael Shaw looked the best of the bunch after he was walled off by defenders and still had the speed to get to the outside.  Hopkins is simply too slow to be a feature back, and he fumbled on the goal line.  Luckily, Robinson was there to pick up the ball and score.  Michigan could also use a new short yardage play, aside from the dive out of a single back formation.

Wanted: A Healthy Troy Woolfolk.  With Eastern Michigan on the horizon, Woolfolk might get a week to rest up a bit.  That would be excellent news for a defensive backfield that lacks size and/or coverage ability.  J.T. Floyd and Courtney Avery were both overmatched by Michael Floyd, which is understandable since they’re both smaller and perhaps slower.  I thought Avery had a decent day despite being flagged on a questionable pass interference call, but J.T. Floyd was picked on all night.  He had a couple nice plays, but he’s just not starter quality.  Woolfolk played sporadically in spite of an ankle injury – which he noticeably aggravated a couple times – and a hand injury that forced him to wear a cast.

Wow.  I wish I could have been there.  If I lived in Michigan, there’s no doubt I would have shelled out the money to attend.  That was the best Michigan crowd I think I’ve seen, and at 114,804, it was the largest in football history, too.  I thought ESPN did an excellent job of encapsulating the enormity of the crowd and the game.  Those in attendance will probably remember that game forever.

Go Blue!

2Aug 2011
Uncategorized 8 comments

2011 Countdown: #29 Stephen Hopkins

Stephen Hopkins

Name: Stephen Hopkins
Height: 6’0″
Weight: 227 lbs.
High school: Marcus High School in Flower Mound, TX
Position: Running back
Class: Sophomore
Jersey number: #33
Last year: I ranked Hopkins #50 and said he would be a short yardage back.  He carried the ball 37 times for 151 yards and 4 touchdowns.

Hopkins outstripped my predictions a little bit, although probably not significantly enough to warrant a much higher ranking than #50.  He was one of the primary backups to starters Vincent Smith and Michael Shaw.  His two best games came against Illinois (45 yards, 1 touchdown) and Iowa (38 yards, 1 touchdown) and showed the ability to break some tackles.  Overall, it was a solid debut season for the freshman from Texas.

Expectations have been raised, though.  Some spring practice observers suggest that Hopkins is the front-runner for the starting job, but I still have questions about whether he has the speed to be a featured running back.  There’s no question that he has a place on the team, perhaps even as the starting fullback on a team that lacks one.  Al Borges has been known to use split backs in a West Coast Offense manner, handing off to him up the gut or tossing the ball to him on swing passes.  In an effort to get the best athletes on the field, I think it would behoove the Wolverines to use Hopkins as a fullback and only a part-time tailback.  I look for big plays out of a tailback, and Hopkins isn’t the type of runner who can break off a 70-yarder at any given time.  He has lost nine pounds since last season (when he was 236), and there have been hints that the coaches want him in the 220-225 lb. range.  If that potential weight loss leads to a little extra pep in his step, that would be a good thing for his prospects as a runner.

Prediction: Starting fullback, part-time tailback; 50 carries, 200 yards, 5 touchdowns