Observations on the Michigan Football Spring Game 2022
Michigan football completed its 14th Spring Practice with a game scrimmage between a split squad on April 2, 2022; the game was broadcast by the Big Ten Network.
Offense
Since J.J. McCarthy couldn't participate, Cade McNamara started and looked solid as alway as a team manager in his few series at Quarterback, but was only 1 of 3 for 9 yards; however, both Davis Warren and Alex Orji were very impressive. Warren was 12 of 23 for 179 yards; Orji ran 7 times for 35 yards, and while inaccurate with only a 1 of 7 performance for 9 yards, he did show a "cannon" of an arm. Alan Bowman was 9 of 19 for 100 yards and 2 TDs with 2 sacks. Tavierre Dunlap led Wolverine rushers with 18 carries for 73 yards and a TD; however, the most impressive showing of the backs was Kalel Mullings and Orji. Mullings carried 4 times for 36 yards including a 21 yarder plus caught a one yard pass. Leon Franklin carried 13 times for 37 yards. Danny Hughes carried 6 times for 21 yards. Blake Corum carried 7 times for 40 yards plus had a 9 yard reception. Donovan Edwards had a 39 yard reception plus ran twice for one yard. A.J. Henning caught 5 passes for 32 yards. We all know what Donovan Edwards, A.J. Henning, Cornelius Johnson, Andel Anthony, Isaiah Wilson, Erick All, and Luke Schoonmaker can do; they are all good players with great capabilities in receiving and running with the football. Freshman Darius Clemons caught 3 passes for 52 yards, and threw a 21 yard completed pass; he was targeted by Michigan quarterbacks 10 times. Cornelus Johnson caught 3 passes for 43 yards. Peyton O'Leary caught 2 passes for 22 yards. Will Rolapp caught a 19 yarder. Freshman Amarion Walker caught a 39 yarder, Freshman Colston Loveland caught a 31 yarder, and Redshirt Freshman Max Bredeson caught 3 passes for 34 yards. Other receivers who caught a pass included: Joe Taylor, Matthew Harrison, Roman Wilson, Luke Schoonmaker, and Sam Staruch with a 5 yard TD to close the scoring on the afternoon. We have an impressive quarterback and receiver group for 2022! Our offensive line looked solid with Trent Jones and Karsen Barnhart starting at Right Tackles, Ryan Hayes and Jeff Persi starting at Left Tackles, Zak Zinter and Transfer Olusegun Olawatami started at Center, Greg Crippen and Reece Atteberry started at Right Guard, and Trevor Keegan and Raheem Anderson started at Left Guard. Several others played quite a bit including Giovanni El-Hadi at Left Guard, Mica Gelb at Right Tackle, and Kraig Correll at Right Guard. Overall, we should have an offense capable of consistently moving the ball, and scoring often.
Defense
The defense was not quite as impressive. We lost a lot of great players that are going to difficult to replace. On the edge, we do not have solid pass rushing capabilities. Taylor Upshaw is not quite as good as he thinks from his recent interview; he had zero tackles on the day with one quarterback hit. T.J. Guy had 6 tackles, Braiden McGregor had 5 tackles, Jaylen Harrell and Derrick Moore had 3 tackles each, Mike Morris had 2 tackles and a tipped pass, and Kechaun Bennett had one tackle for this group; overall, in my opinion, this group was not as impressive as I hoped. Our defensive front was led by Kris Jenkins with 4 tackles including a sack and a tipped pass; he is up to 277 lbs., and hopes to be over 290 by September to start the season. Rayshaun Benny had 6 tackles, and George Rooks had 7 tackles including one for loss with a quarterback hit. Mazi Smith, Julius Welschof and Gabe Newburg didn't play; Freshman Mason Graham played all afternoon with 4 tackles at Nose Tackle. Neither Ike Iwunnah nor Dominick Giudice played much, and neither contributed a tackle. The coaches may be pressed to add at least one player on the defensive line through the transfer portal as the spring rolls on to have have a more competitive group for the long 12 game season ahead. At linebacker, Nikhai Hill-Green led all tacklers with 8 on the day. Junior Colson continues to disappoint; he was the worst player on our defense in 2021 as a Freshman, and only had two tackles on the day with a quarterback hit. Yes, Colson is a fine physical specimen; however, as a linebacker, it is his job to fill gaps and make tackles, and he runs around a lot without doing either. Michael Barrett and Joey Velazquez looked good; Velazquez had 4 tackles with a pass break up and Barrett contributed on two tackles. Jaydon Hood was in on 5 tackles on the day, and hit Orji twice out of bounds with no penalties called; he will most likely back up Hill-Green at MIKE allowing Mullings to move to offense full-time. Tyler McLaurin played a little with no tackles. Nolan Knight and Jerome Nichols had one tackle each. Since the linebacker play continues to be lackluster, it will be interesting to see if Deuce Spurlock, Jimmy Rolder, and Micah Pollard are ready to contribute in Summer drills. In the backfield, the move of Mike Sainristil to Nickel was an outstanding coaching move; kudos to Coach Harbaugh and staff by making this happen. It looks like Will Johnson will play safety rather than cornerback; he had two tackles on the afternoon; Makari Paige had 3 tackles and a pass break up at free safety. R.J. Moten will most likely start at Strong Safety; he had 5 tackles, and Quinten Johnson also impressed with 7 tackles at Strong Safety. Caden Kolesar, Andrew Russell, and Jordan Morant had two tackles each at Safety. Freshman Keon Sabb had one tackle working at Safety. D.J. Turner continues to impress at cornerback with two tackles and a pass break up; he will definitely start at one corner in 2022 as he did in 2021. At the other corner, Freshman Kody Jones and Myles Pollard got a chance to play; Jones had 3 tackles with Pollard gaining 2 stops. 5th Year Seniors German and Gemon Green were also impressive; German had one tackle with 2 pass break ups, and Gemon had 3 tackles, one for loss. Keshaun Harris had one tackle, and Josh Luther had a pass break up.
Special Teams
Since neither Jake Moody nor Brad Robbins played, both Tommy Doman and Rhett Anderson dueled in punting with Anderson handling the placekicking duties. Doman punted 7 times for a 44.6 yard average including a 54 yarder with 2 downed inside the 20. Anderson punted 6 times for a 42.2 yard average including a 58 yarder with 3 downed inside the 20. Anderson was 4 of 4 in field goals; all were short kicks from 24 to 33 yards. Joe Taylor was receiving punts. Returns were not allowed in the Spring game format. We did have a missed extra point on the final TD.
The overall assessment of the squad are mixed. We have a good offense with several talented players who can execute; however, we don't have the same scenario for our defense. Even though the Maize team lost, 12-20; they had 5 red zone opportunities, but could only convert four of those with all field goals. This also signals red zone issues as we experienced in the past few seasons. This squad needs to get the work done in the weight room as well as Spring/Summer drills so the players and team can improve enough to be at a championship caliber level for its 2022 season.
Spring Game Cancelled in 2020
Spring Game 2019
Spring Game Cancelled in 2018
Wolverine Devotee's Cloudy History of the Spring Game, 1925-2016