MICHIGAN FOOTBALL SPRING GAME SUMMARY 2001

Here is "my take" on the Spring game and the Michigan football team in general after the Spring game:

The defense will be solid, but the offense will be mediocre at best!

I left with about 5 minutes to go and the score was 21-7 for the "visitors." Navarre led the "visitors."

Offensively, Navarre looks to be a strong-armed drop back type quarterback, but isn't very mobile. He will be susceptible to the rush and blitz. He still hasn't learned to "look away" from where he is throwing. Expect more mistakes from the quarterback position. Gonzalez shows signs of explosiveness, but also makes a lot of mistakes. He can run and is very mobile; there were many misdirection plays put in for him. He runs the option well. There were at least 5 interceptions that I saw on the day which speaks well for our defense, but not so well for our quarterbacking.

In practice, I liked the arms of Shawn Cassidy and Andy Mingery, but neither are ready to challenge Navarre or Gonzalez. My guess is that Spencer Brinton may see significant playing time after he learn Michigan's "system" and plays. I also believe that Gonzalez will log significant playing time behind Navarre unless Brinton beats him out for the backup position. Quarterbacking will be adequate, but not nearly as strong as we've become used to with Henson, Brady, Griese, Driesbach, Collins, Grbac and Harbaugh.

At tailback, Perry looks like a "cadillac player." He is surprisingly fast when he gets around the corner. He has a powerful lower body especially his hips and quads. He had a knee injury in the 4th quarter, but it doesn't look to be serious as he was walking around later. We can't expect him to be as good as Thomas, but he can run. He must prove he can be an all-around player especially in blocking.

Tim Bracken looks solid as Perry's backup along with Walter Cross. Bracken is surprisingly strong and elusive. He breaks away when you think he is tackled. Ryan Beard wasn't playing so one came surmise he has quit or transferred. David Underwood will have to be very, very good to see playing time here; if anything, look for the possibility for Underwood to back up Askew.

BJ Askew looks bigger and will be a combination tailback and fullback. He is a good "one" back player. He can block, too. He is very good in the open field after he catches the screen pass.

Askew and Perry will be the starters with Bracken and Cross backing up. Armstrong will probably continue to back up Askew, but there is a big drop-off there in quality. Actually, Moundros looks to be at least as good as Armstrong if not better. Dudley is a non-factor here, but new recruits like Scott McClintock or Scott Sanderson may see some time if they are as fast as their times show.

At wide receiver, the starters will be Marquise Walker and Ron Bellamy. We won't have the threat of a David Terrell in either of those two or with our backups so defenses can concentrate more on stopping our running game.

The backups will come from Calvin Bell, Zia Combs, Brent Cummings, Tyrece Butler (who didn't play) or one of the new frosh (Massaquoi or Edwards). I wouldn't be surprised to see Massaquoi given a lot of time especially if he can get here early in the Summer for workouts. He is long like Terrell as is Edwards. Rudy Smith is another walk-on player who is about as good as any of the backups.

None of the wide receivers stood out, but that was mainly due to our defensive backs and linebackers on cover. They were excellent and made our receivers look back (Did I mention 5 picks?).

Our tight ends looked mediocre. Jim Fisher caught one TD pass on a nice, timed throw from Navarre. Ecker played but was unimpressive, and I believe he's going on his two-year mission next month anyways. This position will depend on Shawn Thompson's recovery. Seymour didn't play. Rosel and Joppru caught one nice pass each and Phil Brackins/Dietan Dubuc played, but none of them impressed. I'm sure Kyle Ealey will redshirt or be moved over to offensive line.

On the offensive line, it did not particularly impress. Some of them looked good at times, but there was no consistency. The defensive pass rush wasn't contained well and the running game didn't have too many holes to run through. It looks like sure starters will be Pape at one tackle with Solomon at the other. Goodwin will obviously start somewhere, too. So, that is three starters of five positions.

The last two positions will come from Petruziello, Anderson, Mast, Baas, Denay, Gaston and Morgan. Christofel didn't participate in Spring drills, but could also contend in the Fall. I will guess that Goodwin will stay at Center unless Christofel win the job. This would mean that Petruziello, Mast, Anderson and Baas would probably rotate at the guard positions. Overall, I'm not impressed with the offensive line. There is a huge drop-off from Backus, Williams and Hutchinson. My guess is that we'll struggle most of the season here until things gell (hopefully by Ohio State). I don't think Stenavich, Simelis, Henige or other frosh could compete here until they have a year of weight room conditioning.

On defense, did I mention 5 picks? They were pretty impressive especially the defensive backs and outside linebackers.

Shantee Orr didn't play because he's accused of rape, but Roy Manning did well in his place. Manning is very impressive as is Emmanuel Casseus (who had a pick almost in for a TD). Stevens, Kashama and Coleman also impressed. All look much, much bigger and more intimidating. Stevens really looks like a brute! Coleman is so stocky, he could never play fullback again; he looks to be 280. I think our defensive ends and outside linebackers will be strong, quick and fresh because we can rotate them and not reduce our level of play. I don't think Spytek played and I'm not sure why because I didn't hear about any injury, but he must be injured otherwise he'd have played.

As we all remember, Victor Hobson contributed to ending TJ Duckett's season last year. He will be the strength of our defense and a definite future pro linebacker. The question is will Carr rotate him with Orr as he did last year (or will Orr even be on the team)? Will Spytek back them up or will Manning or Casseus? This is a real strong position!

Our defensive line looks strong. It looks like Lazarus was moved inside over center to Nose Tackle. If he stays there, he'll start. My guess is that Frysinger will start at Anchor-Defensive End if his foot is o.k. (he didn't play in the Spring game). Otherwise, Rumishek will start there. Kashama, Coleman and Steven will rotate at the Rush-Defensive End position. This would leave Norm Heuer to start at Defensive Tackle (formerly known as Norm Boebert). If Lazarus goes back to DT, then Bowman becomes the starter at Nose Tackle. Walk-on John Wood logged significant playing time at DT as well. Dave Pearson will also see action at Nose Tackle, but will be behind Bowman. Walk-on Gary Rose is probably our 4th string NT behind Pearson. I didn't see Andy Brown on offense or on defense so I don't know if he's still on the team, but if he is on the team, he won't be a factor at any lineman position.

Massey, Spytek, Ofili or other frosh are going to have a hard time competing against this veteran group for playing time so look for redshirt years here.

At inside linebacker, we are exceptionally strong. Foote and Brackins will start with Jordan and Diggs being the backups. I was surprised I didn't see Zach Kauffman or Kolby Wells play (like Spytek), but both were also probably injured. Mostly, I saw walk-ons here like Cwayna and Killian. New recruits like Sarantos, Reid and McClintock will probably have to redshirt with this veteran group returning. Also, if needed, Hobson, Orr or Stevens could come inside.

Our defensive backs really look exceptional. Howard will start; he is great on cover. Surprisingly, Brandon Williams was also impressive as was Jeremy LeSueur. Either could start unless Marlin Jackson beats them both out. At Safety, Cato June will stay and NOT move to linebacker. He and Charles Drake will contend for the one position; Julius Curry will man the other. Ernest Shazor may be a factor here, but it would be surprising since they are all solid. Others who looked good in practice and in the game include Jon Shaw and Markus Curry. Both should see playing time and rotate in with 5 and 6-back situations. Mike Manning and Blake Nasif are both pretty good walk-ons players, but probably won't see much action because of the depth here.

Epstein wasn't called on for any field goals today, but he will obviously be one of the best punters and field goal kickers in the nation. He should also be drafted and will be playing for some professional team in 2002.

I watched the punters and placekickers in practice and there doesn't appear to be much in terms of backups and/or future kickers. Luke Perl, a walk-on, hit the post on one of his automatics. Adam Finley doesn't look all that consistent or strong-legged. Joe Ghannam punted one just before they started at 1 p.m. that looked like something any 11 year old kid could do (it barely made it over the line of scrimmage). Finley will probably backup both positions but is hardly a quality college kicker.

Looking at what I say on the field today, I would say we have a lot of work to do especially in the weight room (offensive line) and in throwing drills (quarterbacks and wide-receivers).

The Washington game will be a tough early test especially out there even though they have lost many good senior leaders. The three Big Ten road games at Penn State, Michigan State and Wisconsin will all be tough. The four home games with Illinois (Kittner), Purdue, Minnesota (Brown Jug) and Ohio State will also be tough. We will still be in the "thick of things" without Drew, but most of our games will be low-scoring and defensive struggles. I don't think we will be a good come from behind team; we will need to take a lead and let our defense hold it.