By Zac Ellis

With spring practice in full swing, here’s a glance at some of the nation’s most noteworthy recent developments:

• Nebraska: The feel-good story of the week came out of Nebraska’s spring game. Seven-year-old cancer patient Jack Hoffman, a lifelong Huskers fan, took a handoff from quarterback Taylor Martinez in the waning moments of the scrimmage and scampered 69 yards to the end zone (video above). Huskers players mobbed Hoffman as more than 60,000 fans cheered for the youngster, who befriended running back Rex Burkhead last year while battling brain cancer. What was Hoffman thinking as he took the field? In his words: “Scoring a touchdown.”

• Florida: The Gators limped into their spring game on Saturday with a banged-up group of offensive linemen. The unit was so injury depleted (four linemen were out), in fact, that Will Muschamp changed the format from a traditional spring game to an open practice with scrimmage-type situations. But some good news came out of Gainesville: Quarterback Jeff Driskel, who is aiming to improve his decision-making in his second year as the starter, showed significant signs of development.

• Florida State: Following the departure of E.J. Manuel, the Seminoles’ quarterback situation features plenty of new faces. And while it’s looking like Clint Trickett has the slight edge to become the Seminoles’ man under center, Jacob Coker and Jameis Winston are giving Trickett a run for his money. Still, Trickett is showing the experience that comes with having played in Jimbo Fisher’s system the longest.

• Louisville: After sitting out last season with a knee injury, running back Dominique Brown is leaving a lasting impression this spring. Coach Charlie Strong said Brown has fared well in his workouts — which is good news for the Cardinals with fellow tailback Senorise Perry recovering from an ACL tear. Brown showed flashes of his old self and ran for three touchdowns in a recent scrimmage. The 6-foot-2, 230-pounder could become a valuable complement to quarterback Teddy Bridgewater as Louisville looks to build on its momentum from last season’s Sugar Bowl victory.

• Michigan: Michigan’s quarterback depth took a hit when backup Russell Bellomy tore his ACL in spring practice. Though the Wolverines are likely in good hands with Devin Gardner as the starter, Bellomy’s injury doesn’t bode well if Gardner were to go down as well. In other news, coach Brady Hoke and staff are preparing to host a handful of top 2014 recruits at the team’s spring game on April 13.

• Notre Dame: The Irish took the field this spring looking to fill a void at running back. And with Cierre Wood and Theo Riddick both gone, George Atkinson III could be the answer for Notre Dame. He’s certainly made some noise in practice. That’s good news after fellow tailback Amir Carlisle suffered a broken collarbone, which will keep him out of the team’s spring game.

• Ohio State: Last season’s bowl ban prevented Ohio State from having several additional weeks of practice during the postseason, and the Buckeyes appear to be making up for lost time with some competitiveness in Columbus. Quarterback Braxton Miller is feeling the effects, as he took a hard hit from defensive end Noah Spence in a scrimmage last week and re-irritated an already sore rib. Miller reportedly walked to the sidelines and exchanged a few choice words with his defensive teammates. The two sides had to be separated, but Urban Meyer said he likes to see a little fight from his quarterback.

• South Carolina: Wide receivers Shaq Roland and Shamier Jeffery have wasted little time emerging as potential replacements for the departed Ace Sanders and D.L. Moore. Coach Steve Spurrier likes what he’s seen so far from the wideouts, both of whom might turn out to be big-play targets come fall. Jeffery is the younger brother of former South Carolina star Alshon Jeffery, who now plays for the Chicago Bears. Meanwhile, Jadeveon Clowney isn’t likely to risk injury in the Gamecocks’ spring game; he is currently slated to sit out.

• Texas A&M: You’ve got to hand it to the Aggies: They aren’t taking things lightly in spring practice. A&M players are participating in a drill called the “Tunnel of Truth,” which features a runner and a blocker facing two defenders while the rest of the team looks on. It’s pretty obvious this workout is keeping the intensity high in College Station.

• Texas Tech: While Michael Brewer remains the clubhouse leader to become Seth Doege’s replacement as the Red Raiders’ next starting quarterback, the team’s bigger question mark seems to be at center. New coach Kliff Kingsbury and staff still say it’s too early in spring practice to anoint a new starter at the position, but sophomores Jared Kaster and Tony Morales are currently competing hard for the gig.

• USC: Coming off its first six-loss campaign in a decade, USC’s top priority this spring is finding a sturdy replacement for Matt Barkley. Though Max Wittek stepped in for Barkley late last season, Wittek’s inconsistency in those outings prompted a three-way quarterback competition with Cody Kessler and Max Browne. Word out of Los Angeles is that Kessler and Wittek have gradually separated from the pack. The Trojans also need someone to step up at cornerback, a position Kiffin described as a “huge concern.”

Wolverines coach Brady Hoke announced the injury on Monday and said Bellomy was out indefinitely. Bellomy was hurt during Friday’s practice.

Bellomy is backing up Devin Gardner.

(© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

THE GOOD

• 8 Wins and New Year’s Day - There is no question that 8 wins and a New Year’s Day bowl game should be the floor for Michigan football.  And after last years 11 wins and BCS Bowl game win, I think many feel like this year was a step backwards.  In some ways, it was.  Despite the fact that Michigan didn’t accomplish many of its goals, they continued to move the program back to stability and success, something needed in Ann Arbor.   The best way to look at it is this – if I told you at the beginning of the season we’d basically play the last 4.5 games without Denard Robinson at QB, and instead start a player who spent the last 9 months playing wide receiver at QB, it would be tough to complain about the final results.   Especially when you realize that 3 of  Michigan’s 4 losses were to teams that finished the season ranked 1 through 3 in the AP poll.  Beyond that, Michigan is now 14-0 at home during the Brady Hoke era, and despite the 1-2 record against its rivals this year, is 3-3 in the Big 3 Rivalries.  In short, though this team didn’t achieve all its goals, this 8-4 finish is drastically different than the 7-5 mark from the 2010 team.
• Improved Defense - Despite a more difficult schedule, including defending national champion Alabama, the Michigan defense managed to put forth an even better performance in 2012 than they did during their magical 2011 turnaround.  Statistically, Michigan moved from 17th to 10th overall in Total Defense, despite just giving up 6 yards less per game.  Michigan gave up about 1.5 more points per game in 2012, dropping from 7th in Scoring Defense to 16th, but that includes the shellacking Alabama gave us. Finally, though Michigan gave up about 30 yards per game more on the ground this year, it was countered by the #2 pass defense in the country.  And they did all this after losing Mike Martin, Ryan Van Bergen, and starting corner Blake Countess.  For those wondering if Greg Mattison caught lightning in a bottle last year…he didn’t.  What should be terrifying for the rest of the Big Ten is that he’s been doing this with guys recruited for a different system.  Though we lose some depth off of the defensive line (Will Campbell, Craig Roh) and defensive secondary anchor Jordan Kovacs, something tells me we won’t skip a beat. I’m not sure how you improve on back to back Top 17 defenses – but I’m betting Mattison finds a way.
• QB Dilemma Solved - Heading into the season, it seemed that Devin Gardner’s switch to wide receiver, though not permanent in Devin’s mind, was a part of the long term plan by the coaches.  The idea would be that either super frosh Shane Morris would take the reigns next year, or spend a year backing up Russell Bellomy.  Then the Nebraska game came and things got dicey when it was clear that Bellomy wasn’t the answer, at least not now.  But when Gardner moved back to QB, a funny thing happened – we were all reminded about how a year ago, there was talk/speculation that the best Michigan offense didn’t have Denard Robinson at QB.  Despite a lackluster performance in Columbus, Devin Gardner proved that he is clearly the quarterback of the near future for Michigan, and probably for an NFL team too.  Though Gardner may not be as electrifying as a player as Denard is, he showed poise, presence, and football knowledge that in all honesty we’ve been lacking from Denard.  That’s not a knock on Denard, it just not his strength.
• Young Stars -  One reason for optimism is the emergence of several young stars, especially on defense.  Last year some of you might have snickered at my Jake Ryan man crush. I think its fair to say that I’m not the only one anymore.  54 solo tackles, 15 for a loss, 4.5 sacks, and 5 forced fumbles is a heck of a sophomore campaign.  For what its worth, here’s the stat line for Heisman finalist Manti T’eo of Notre Dame – 52 tackles, 5.5 tackles for a loss, 1.5 sacks, 0 forced fumbles, though he did have 7 interceptions.  Obviously there is more to playing the game than stats, but its hard to argue there was a more productive linebacker than Jake Ryan.  Outside of Ryan, the continued development of Frank Clark and the flashes shown by linebackers James Ross and Joe Bolden bode well for the Michigan defense of the future.  On offense, Devin Funchess, though less effective later in the season, appears to be the type of playmaker Michigan needs.  With so much attrition and young players thrown into the fire early the last 4 years, its nice to see a pipeline of young talent developing in a way that creates excitement for the future.

THE BAD

• No Rings - Brady Hoke has set the bar for Michigan Football and the only way to clear that bar is to win Big Ten Championships.  So in that regard, this season was a failure.  While I find more nuance in grading success vs. failure, there is no question that this team’s inability to win the division, let alone the Big Ten Title, is a disappointment.  Despite last year’s identical 6-2 record, Michigan was actually in a much better place this year to win the division, if not the conference, which is probably what makes this even more frustrating.  Had we beaten Nebraska in Lincoln, we would’ve won the Legends Division, regardless of what happened in Columbus.  Last year’s season was salvaged by a BCS bowl win.  This year, though a win over a good South Carolina team in the Outback Bowl would be a nice way to end the season, the only New Year’s Day Bowl game that counts is played in California and involves Roses.  
• Wasted Denard - One reason this failure of this team to win the Big Ten is so frustrating is that one of the best ambassadors for the program in Michigan history, Denard Robinson, will leave Ann Arbor without a championship ring.  For four years Denard has been everything you’d want in a student athlete.  More importantly, when nobody cared about Michigan football coming off of 3-9 and 5-7 seasons, he gave people a reason to care.  He kept Michigan on SportsCenter with his Playstation stats and Heisman contention.   I learned long ago that sometimes sports don’t end in storybook endings.  If they did, Chad Henne’s arm would’ve magically healed so Michigan could’ve beaten OSU in 2007 for the Big Ten title.  But after the loss in Lincoln, part of me always expected that Nebraska would lose again and Denard would lead us to a victory in Columbus for a Big Ten title.  None of that came true, and it sucks to think that a once in a generation player like Denard will leave Ann Arbor without a Big Ten Title ring.
• No Running Back of the Future - After Fitzgerald Toussaint’s breakout sophomore year where he was the first Michigan running back to hit 1,000 yards since Mike Hart, we all assumed we had our next great Michigan running back for 2 more years.  For some reason, whether it was the offensive line, or just a change in scheme, Fitz never could find his 2011 form this year.  He was so inconsistent that he was actually benched halfway through the year while the coaching staff tried out a couple of other backs, who unfortunately couldn’t break out.  Toussaint finally hit a groove in the 8th game and looked like his old self.  Unfortunately, that success was short lived as 3 games later a gruesome leg injury raised questions about whether Fitz will ever play football again.  Word is that he will, but when he will be back to 100% is anyone’s guess.   With Fitz unlikely to be back in top form by the beginning of next season, Michigan is without a go to back.  Thomas Rawls, though a bruiser, hasn’t shown to be to the answer as of yet.  Freshman Drake Johnson has apparently looked good in practice, but has no actual game experience.  The Wolverines are still in the hunt for Super Senior Derrick Green, who is good enough to start as a freshman – but he has to commit first.  In short, no matter what happens, running back is a huge question mark heading into next year.

THE UGLY

• The Gardner Decision - Due to scheduling and real life, I never had the chance to properly rant about the debacle that was the Nebraska game.  So consider this my belated opportunity to do so.  I’ll start it off by saying  this – it is my opinion that Brady Hoke and the coaching staff owe the entire team an apology for not playing Devin Gardner at quarterback after Denard got hurt.  They should apologize for costing this team a chance to win the Big Ten Title, because that’s exactly what they did.  As we all know by now, after Denard got hurt, Russell Bellomy came in at QB, and the offense became incapable of moving the ball across the street.  I completely understand why Bellomy was the immediate choice.  He was good in practice and by all accounts had taken the backup QB role more seriously than Gardner.  He deserved the shot.  But when it became blatantly clear to everyone that he couldn’t get the job done, Michigan needed to make a change.  I know that Gardner hadn’t been practicing at QB, but how much worse could he have been than a guy that went 3-16 for 38 yards.  Even a sandlot playbook would’ve been more successful – plus Gardner has the threat to run every play.  In hindsight, after seeing what Gardner did in subsequent weeks, its easy to say he would’ve been more successful, but even at the time the coaches should’ve tried him.  If the goal is to win the Big Ten, and you have to win this game to do so, you pull out every stop.  At this point it was clear the winner of this game would have a huge leg up in the division race, so its incomprehensible why the coaches didn’t try everything, including playing Devin Gardner.  This was still a one TD game with 10 minutes to go, so all it was going to take was one play.  Gardner was capable of that, it was clear to everyone Bellomy was not.   In the end, its 100% the reason we are playing in Central Florida instead of Pasadena on January 1. 
• Ohio State Playcalling - Though it didn’t mean much when it came down to the Big Ten race, the loss in Columbus still hurts, mostly because our playcalling in that game is another head scratcher that I still don’t understand.  There are varying accounts of what Denard was capable of in that game from a throwing standpoint but the key issue I have is this – we never made Ohio State attempt to defend Denard as a passer.  By the 2nd half they knew that when Denard was at QB he was running, and when Gardner was at QB he was likely throwing.  Which made our offense predictable.  This is the same offense that a week earlier had scored touchdowns on six straight drives against Iowa, with all sorts of wrinkles and new plays involving Denard.  Against Ohio State we saw almost none of that.  Hoke blamed it on the flow of the game.  I blame it on the stubbornness of Al Borges.  This isn’t the first time Borges has basically ceded the questionable ground this year.  Against Alabama he barely ran with Denard, because he felt that it wouldn’t have been effective based on Alabama’s defense.  The only problem is that he never forced Bama to stop the run.  The same thing happened in Columbus as we never forced Ohio State to try to defend both Denard and Devin, especially in the 2nd half.   Losing to Ohio State hurts.  But losing to Ohio State while not busting out the entire playbook is beyond frustrating.  Like Nebraska, I never had the chance to completely dissect the game in Columbus, or maybe I just didn’t want to.  Some might argue that like Notre Dame, it came down to execution –  but all you need to know is that on the final interception the Devin Gardner threw, his receiving options were Joe Reynolds, Jeremy Jackson and Drew Dileo.  Our best receivers, Gallon and Roundtree, weren’t on the field, and Devin Funchess was blocking.   Al Borges has a lot of things to prove to me and the rest of the Michigan fanbase on Tuesday in Tampa because right now there are a lot of questions about the way he calls a game.
• What Could’ve Been - Regardless of the outcome on New Year’s Day, the 2012 season will always be one of the great “what if” seasons for me.  What if we hadn’t had 6 turnovers in South Bend? At the very least Notre Dame wouldn’t be playing for the BCS title.  What if Denard hadn’t gotten hurt?  What if when Denard got hurt Hoke and Borges were smart enough to give Gardner some snaps in Lincoln after Bellomy proved to be ineffective?  What if Borges had used Denard more in Columbus in the 2nd half?  In the end, the games against Notre Dame and Ohio State really only count for style points (though victories in both would’ve landed us in a BCS bowl again).  The one that hurts the most is Nebraska, because I still believe that in a weakened Big Ten, this Michigan team was the cream of the crop, and should’ve at least made it to Indianapolis, and probably Pasadena.  Instead, the best we can hope for is a fun offensive explosion on New Year’s Day to leave a good taste in our mouth heading into 2013.  Nothing to sneeze about – as winning New Year’s Day bowl games is hard to do and is usually reserved for Top 15 caliber teams, but I can’t say I’ll enjoy seeing Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl for the 3rd straight year.

THE GOOD

• Devin Gardner - Shortly after the Nebraska game after Russell Bellomy’s less than stellar outing, Michigan fans were up in arms, freaking about the future of Michigan football without Denard Robinson (whether that meant this week or next year).  Now some of those same fans are advocating that Devin Gardner should be the starting QB the rest of the year.  I won’t go that far, but on Saturday Gardner proved why he was considered an elite recruit coming out of high school in 2010.  And with apologies to Russell Bellomy, he also took what appeared to be a very shaky post-Denard quarterback situation for Michigan and created a clear path of succession. The stats were promising, especially for a guy who had been playing wide receiver all year.  12-18 for 234 yards and 2 touchdowns, plus an additional 44 yards on the ground and another touchdown.   He wasn’t perfect, throwing an ill-advised interception and taking a couple of bad sacks – but anyone watching this game knows that while Gardner may be an asset at receiver, he was meant to play quarterback.  Yes, it was just Minnesota, but Gardner showed poise, patience, awareness and more importantly, passing skills that you want to see in your quarterback.  And it’s true that his receivers bailed him out on some tough throws – but at the end of the day he got the ball where he needed to.  Denard Robinson is the quarterback this year, and if healthy should continue to be.  But Devin Gardner is the QB of the future.
• Jake Ryan - You didn’t think that just because I took a couple of weeks off you’d escape me gushing about Jake Ryan, did you?  Listen…it’s not my fault.  He’s the one who went out and had 3 tackles for a loss and 9 tackles total.  He’s the one who seems to be around the ball every play.  He’s the one who has become the face of this defense.  He actually forces me to write about him.  Let’s just leave it at this – Jake Ryan continues to be awesome.
• Red Zone - If I had been blogging the last couple of weeks, the one point I would’ve been harping on is Michigan’s failures in the Red Zone, but on offense and defense.  Against MSU and Nebraska Michigan’s offense made it to the Red Zone 4 times but came with only field goals in each instance, leaving a total of 16 points on the board in each game.  Saturday, Michigan had 3 Red Zone trips and scored touchdowns on all three – a huge reason they were able to pull away from Minnesota.  On the other side of the ball vs. MSU and Nebraska, the Michigan defense faced 5 Red Zone situations and gave up touchdowns twice and field goals the other times.  Not a bad ratio, but given the offensive struggles, the team needed better from the defense in those instances.   On Saturday, Minnesota made it to the Red Zone four times, but only managed one touchdown and two field goals.  Out of a potential 28 points, Michigan only surrendered 13 – though to be fair Minnesota basically gave away a field goal on a ridiculously stupid fake FG attempt on 4th and 17.  In any case, the Red Zone improvement on both sides of the ball is why this game wasn’t close and is a trend we need to continue.
• A Running Game - Sometimes it takes desperation in order for teams to deliver.  The sputtering Michigan running game finally got on track on Saturday with 182 total yards with Gardner, Fitz Toussaint, Thomas Rawls and even Jeremy Gallon all contributing.  This wasn’t a world beating performance, but it was a step in the right direction.  A 41 yard run by Toussaint on 4th and 1 may have inflated the stats a bit, but Michigan was able to pick up yards in chunks, especially in the Red Zone thanks to Thomas Rawls.  They won’t have the same success against elite defenses, but as of right now there aren’t any elite defenses left on the schedule.

THE BAD

• A QB Controversy - No, I’m not advocating in any way that Devin Gardner become our permanent starting QB this year if Denard is healthy.  But I’d be remiss if I didn’t discuss the fiasco in Nebraska.  Now that we’ve seen what Gardner can do with one week of practice I’m pretty confident in saying that Hoke and Borges committed a travesty by not giving him at least one series last week against Nebraska.  After the game, I bought the line that Gardner wasn’t ready because he hadn’t been taking snaps.  Now, I’m not sure how that is possible.  Especially after seeing what Bellomy had that night – how could Gardner have been worse?  I’m willing to give the coaches a pass on making Bellomy the first guy in after Denard went down.  By all accounts Bellomy was great in practice (even out performing Gardner in the spring) and had the skills to give us a chance.  Besides, all things being relatively equal, the idea of Bellomy throwing to Gardner seemed to give us a better chance than Gardner throwing to Bellomy.  The problem is, not all things were equal.  Bellomy may be a practice warrior, and with time, he may even be a “gamer”.  But right now he isn’t.  And more importantly – Devin Gardner is.  Some guys just have that “it” factor, and Gardner has it.  Once it was clear the stage was too big for Bellomy, the coaches should’ve given Gardner a series.  I don’t care if he hadn’t been playing QB all year – he was the #1 backup in 2011.  He couldn’t have forgotten the entire playbook.  With his athleticism, even if they had given him 5-10 plays at the half he could’ve run, it would probably have been an improvement over Bellomy.  I don’t mean to trash Bellomy because I think he was just a victim of a poor coaching decision and put into a very tough situation.  It’s not his fault.  It’s Hoke’s.  And if we end up spending the first weekend in December in Ann Arbor instead of Indianapolis – and worse January 1 in central Florida instead of Pasadena – I hope he apologizes to the team, because I think the Gardner/Bellomy fiasco will end up costing us the Big Ten title.
• Offensive Line - Part of the success of an offensive line is the ability for the line to come together as a unit throughout the season.  The best lines occur when the sum is greater than the parts.  On paper, this offensive line seems to have a lot of talent Taylor Lewan might be a Top 15 pick in the NFL draft, Ricky Barnum and Patrick Omameh both have several years of experience, and Michael Schofield was a starter at guard last year after switching to tackle.  Unfortunately, something is amiss.  We’re now 9 games into the season, and it’s clear that this year’s offensive line just hasn’t come together the way we had hoped.  From a run blocking standpoint, they just haven’t found a way to consistently open big holes for the backs.  And even when they do, getting to the 2nd and 3rd level to block linebackers and safeties hasn’t occurred with enough frequency.  That’s how you turn 3 yard runs into 15 yard runs.  On the pass protection side, it doesn’t seem like our QBs are under that much duress, but we thankfully have mobile QBs that may mask a deficiency there.  The offensive line did allow for a good offensive performance on Saturday, but watching it play to play you never felt like they were a dominant, or even above average group. 

THE UGLY 

• Special Teams (sort of) - When you win by 22 on the road with your backup QB, you tend to have to nitpick to label anything as “ugly”.  But there were a couple of issues on special teams worth noting.  The first was a bit of anamoly from this year as punter Will Hagerup, who had been averaging over 46 yards per punt coming into the came only managed 88 yards on 3 punts including two outright shanks.  Hopefully this is just a hiccup in his form that can be fixed before it becomes a long term trend.  The other issue is one that has been troubling for a few weeks – kick returns.  On Saturday Minnesota averaged 25 yards on 5 returns, including a 45 yarder.  Michigan isn’t bad in kick coverage, but it’s not a strength.  And worse, it seems like we’re heading towards a tipping point of an opponent breaking a big return, as Minnesota almost did on Saturday.  

Robinson injured a nerve in his right elbow late in the first half of Saturday’s loss at Nebraska. He had a similar injury earlier this month against Illinois.

Hoke said Monday that Robinson’s elbow gets “numb and tingly,” because of the nerve problem and that makes it difficult for the senior to grip the football.

The unranked Wolverines plan to let converted receiver get more snaps at quarterback to compete with Russell Bellomy to be the team’s backup in case Robinson has a setback before — or during — Saturday’s game on the road against the Golden Gophers.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

This week in letters to football teams College Edition:

Dear Florida, somewhere Tim Tebow is crying and laughing at the same time. I knew you were bit too highly ranked. Perhaps you should have tried the alligator f–khouse on Georgia instead of the gator chomp?

The infamous death stare. Muschamp is doing that right.

Dear Oregon, my sources tell me you scored 70 points because you are sangry about not being ranked 2nd. Well damn take it back. [UPDATE: Still not ranked 2nd and leapfrogged by Notre Dame LOLOLOLOL]

Dear Oklahoma, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO- *breath*

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO- *breath*

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Teo may be a damn Heisman candidate…Landry Jones found this out.

Dear Bama, Emperor Nick Saban: “something, something, something, roll tide”

Let the butt hurt flow through you

Dear Michigan, I hope you all have noticed by now that the meme on every Michigan note is picture of Denard Robinson rolling back into the pocket with the caption “I have no idea what im doing.” Which is indeed hilarious, and somewhat true. But on Saturday October 27th, Michigan really learned about what having a QB who has no idea what he is doing is really like (again). Michigan!… I would like you to meet the backup to Denard Robinson, Russell Bellomy! He started against Nebraska with three interceptions! 3/16 passing for 38 yards. If this is the future for Michigan, welcome back to the dark ages. But alas there is hope! Brendan Gibbons was the only Wolverine to score, just like last week (only he won the game last week, you cant Nugent every game). This man has a career in the NFL. So hopefully there is photo of Bellomy below, and if not, oh well.

No caption necessary

Dear USC, My faith in you is gone. Get out, all the way out of my top 10.

Why are you crying? I used lube?

Dear Oregon State, if only you could score 70 points like your big brother, maybe you wouldn’t get beat by unranked teams while you’re in the top 10? *slaps hand* Bad Oregon State! Bad!

DERP!!!

Dear K-State, your 55 points is irrelevant to Oregons 70…
Sorry.

[No Gif/Jpeg was earned by K-State. You get nothing.]

Dear FSU, 45 to 7? That’s how you feel? Basketball season Duke will be coming for that ass…

#2 seed…way to go Duke

Dear South Carolina, how do you manage to keep winning!?

This is just…wow

Dear Rutgers, I forget you existed… beat by Kent State? What’s a Rutger?

“I’m a Rutger” – Rutger Hauer

Dear Cinci, this is my first note to you! Also, probably the last…..

I found Randy Orton’s pyro

Dear Auburn, I heard you no longer run out of your tunnel before games. Instead you come out hanging your heads playing the song “its a hard knock life” after each loss. I bet head coach Gene Chizik cries himself to sleep saying “I’m sorry Cam….”

Holy…hell…I found this…

Dear Ohio, so much for being the new Boise…

Well… time to return to obscurity again guys

Dear Wisconsin, My God… the Big Ten is just hurrable (Barkley voice).

Not apparently a factory installed option

Dear Boise State, one word… sangry.

The face of Sangry

Dear Texas, almost losing to a 1-7 team……. the word win is tossed around these days…..

I googled, “positive Kansas football plays” and this came up…

Dear Ohio State, if you manage to go undefeated, you will be labeled the luckiest team of all time…
OF ALL TIME!
ALL!
TIME!!!!

OSU won the ineligabowl!

Let me start by stating that it pains me to write this. I’m a Michigan alum, and if you know anything about my alma mater, it’s that we love Michigan football to no end. Some of my best college memories were made in the Big House—two of those being graduation and Michigan’s victory over Notre Dame in the first home night game in history last season. So of course, last night’s loss at Nebraska was hard for me to watch. This is not solely because Michigan lost—but because of the way that it happened.

The Wolverines arrived in Lincoln with a 3-0 conference record, the lead in the Legends division, ranked 20^th in the nation, and coming off of a win at home against in-state rival Michigan State University. Denard Robinson was healthy, Brendan Gibbons had perfected his kick (helping win a game against MSU with 4 field goals), and defense was much better than they were when He Who Shall Not Be Named was head coach. Many fans, including myself, favored Michigan to win this game, biased or not. But instead, we just got a taste of where Michigan’s offense stands without starting QB Denard Robinson.

Both teams were left scoreless in the first quarter, which was a first for Nebraska this season. The second quarter is where it all went awry. Robinson suffered an injury to a nerve in his right arm, which prevented him from being able to grip the football and kept him on the sideline for the rest of the night.

Now, I’ve heard every last criticism about Robinson at the quarterback role. “He’s too small. He’s inaccurate. He needs to throw more. He needs to throw less. Maybe he should tie his shoes.” The list goes on…and I’m not saying that there’s no truth to some of those claims. But last night, everyone watching ESPN 2 found out just how important Denard Robinson is to this team’s offense—as soon as his replacement was brought in. Backup QB and redshirt freshman Russell Bellomy led the offense for the rest of the game, and here’s where the night got rough. He was 0-10 on his first 10 passes. He threw 3 interceptions. He overthrew passes to his receivers. Offense couldn’t stop the blitz. HE JUST WASN’T READY. It was a rarity to see Michigan make a big play on offense in the second half. By the end of the night the Cornhuskers had upset the Wolverines 22-9.

This game pointed out all of the flaws in Michigan’s offense, and there are two that I found to be particularly alarming. Flaw #1: When Denard Robinson is removed from the lineup, offense isn’t able to deliver.  Flaw #2: The Michigan offense has not scored a touchdown in 2 games, even with Robinson healthy last week against Michigan State. I attended Michigan during the era of He Who Shall Not Be Named, so I know first hand how many great strides Brady Hoke has made in the football program as head coach. Hoke and his coaching staff have made huge improvements on defense and with Gibbons (who kicked a career long 52-yard field goal last night against Nebraska). But it looks as though offense is going to be Hoke’s biggest project in the coming weeks.

My suggestion on the backup QB situation in Ann Arbor:  Make Devin Gardner your second-string Quarterback. Gardner was the go-to backup QB last season. It has been reported that he still gets (limited) reps with the QBs in practice, despite being used as a receiver this year. Although he’s been playing well as a receiver, Gardner is a better option than Bellomy at quarterback right now. They should use him there while they continue work on developing Russell Bellomy’s skills.

The Wolverines (4-2, 2-0 Big Ten) got a scare when Robinson left the game with an undisclosed injury late in the first quarter. He missed just one-plus possessions, though, and returned to score on a 6-yard run to put Michigan up 17-0 late in the first half.

Robinson, who wouldn’t elaborate on the injury after the game, ran for a 49-yard score – giving him 10,000-plus career yards of offense – on the Wolverines’ first drive of the second half and tossed an 8-yard TD pass to Devin Funchess on their next possession to make it 31-0.

The Fighting Illini (2-5, 0-3) lost their starting quarterback, Nathan Scheelhaase, because of an undisclosed injury in the second quarter.

Robinson was 7 of 11 for 159 yards with two TD passes, including one on his first drive to Jeremy Gallon, who turned a short toss into a 71-yard score. He ran 11 times for 128 yards, his 18th career 100-yard game on the ground, and scored on a juke-filled, 49-yard run along with a 6-yard run on a play designed to be a pass.

Scheelhaase completed two passes for 4 yards and ran six times for 34 yards, including a 23-yard gain in which he was injured when he landed face first in the turf when Jibreel Black hit him from behind. He was replaced by Reilly O’Toole, whose two turnovers in the third quarter helped Michigan pull away.

In the first half, Illinois had chances to keep it close.

Illini coach Tim Beckman chose to attempt a 50-yard field goal – instead of going for a fourth-and-4 from the Michigan 32 down by 10 points – and Taylor Zalewski missed the kick, ending the drive in which Scheelhaase was hurt. The Illini turned the ball over on downs on their next possession when running back Donovonn Young was dropped for a loss by Kenny Demens on a fourth-and-1 from the Michigan 41.

The Wolverines turned the lopsided game into a rout with 21 points in the third, turning two turnovers into TDs and forcing the Illini to lose 9 yards in the quarter.

On Illinois’ first snap of the second half, O’Toole threw an interception to Demens and the linebacker returned it 13 yards to the Illini 27 to set up Robinson’s perfectly lofted pass to Funchess. Toole avoided getting sacked by Jake Ryan later in the third quarter, but held onto the ball long enough for the outside linebacker to get back to him to force a fumble at the Illinois 6.

Fitzgerald Toussaint, who had 62 yards rushing on 18 carries, scored on a 2-yard run two plays later to put the Wolverines ahead 38-0.

Michigan put backup Russell Bellomy, who replaced Robinson when he was hurt, back in and he fumbled on the first drive of the fourth quarter. Bellomy handed off to Thomas Rawls up the middle and he did the rest, breaking two tackles on a 63-yard run to give Michigan a 45-0 lead later in the fourth.

Michigan got its first shutout since beating Minnesota 58-0 on Oct. 1 last season.

Just before kickoff, college football’s winningest school unretired the jersey worn by former President Gerald Ford. The Wolverines allowed linebacker Desmond Morgan to wear No. 48 with a “Michigan Football Legends,” patch and he made a tackle on Illinois’ first play.

Michigan gave its fans a lot of reasons to cheer on a chilly, rainy day, but they were loudest when it was announced that rival Michigan State lost earlier in the day at home to Iowa. The Wolverines will host the Spartans on Saturday, hoping to snap a four-game losing streak in the series.

(© 2012 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited.)

(I’m truly sorry I ever questioned him as a hire…he’s the perfect man for the job.)

First, let me say that nobody hates Notre Dame than me, not even you Kasey King.  And the amount of people blaming Denard Robinson for the loss is utterly embarrassing.  Yes, Denard did have arguably his worst game of his career and it was at a terrible time.  BUT, seriously?  How many games has Denard won for us the last three years? 10-15 games?  I mean, honestly, you want a new quarterback, but do any of you clowns actually realize how much worse this team will be next year?  OBVIOUSLY, Denard has to play better, four interceptions and a fumble is just brutal.  Yes, this team has lived and died by Denard’s play the past three years, and so when the team struggles, you shouldn’t be so ready to toss him under the bus.  Where is the rest of the team?  Denard can’t be perfect every game.  The only way that Michigan is better next year is if the defense is improved, because the offense is going downhill.  After this year, Michigan loses their starting right guard, center, second wide receiver, your #1 receiver moves back to quarterback, and you lose the best playmaker on your entire offense.  Maybe you guys should consider the road ahead before you start whining.

Next year, Denard will be replaced with Devin Gardner, Russell Bellomy or Shane Morris (who is most likely going to miss most of his senior season), WOOF.  Seriously, all of you guys bitch and moan, and sure it would be nice to see him play better, but how many of you sit there and boast about him and praise him after he has a good game?  Then you want to throw him under the bus after a loss and a bad game?  The most disgusting part is that this happens with EVERY single Michigan quarterback.  Everyone bitched and whined about Tom Brady when he was here, then it was John Navarre, then it was Chad Henne and now it’s Denard.  No one is ever happy with the play of a Michigan quarterback; there’s no pleasing you morons.  I’m not sitting here saying that Denard is the best quarterback in the land and that he is Peyton Manning or something.  But you’re fucking ignorant, if you think you will see another offensive player be as big of a playmaker as he is at the University of Michigan.  No offensive player that has ever suited up for the University of Michigan has ever created as many mismatches as him.  The only offensive players you could potentially make an argument for would be Braylon Edwards or Anthony Carter.  And I know that most of the people who will read this don’t even know who Carter is.

(The Braylon Edwards Show)

Sure I’m beating a dead horse here, but you need to accept the fact that yes, Denard is not the best quarterback we’ve ever had, but whining about it or throwing him under the bus will not change that.  And saying, “it’s time to get a quarterback in here” is a retarded thing to say, because by the time Shane Morris is ready to start, it will be two or three years from now.  I know that if you clowns don’t like Denard Robinson, there isn’t a chance in the world you guys are going to enjoy Devin Gardner or Russell Bellomy.  Enjoy Denard while you’ve got him, nobody should have thought we could win a National Championship this year.  It will be literally three more years until Michigan can compete for a National Championship, so learn to be patient or at least think before you speak.  I know it’s tough, I often have trouble with it.

Now onto the game.  The defense played fantastic.  Sure they didn’t make a stop when they needed to late in the game, but if you told me that if Michigan held Notre Dame to 13 points, I would have told you that we would have housed them.  The defensive line could have played a little bit better and gotten more pressure, but I’m not going to complain about the defense.  It’s college football, there will always be missed coverages and blown assignments, which is obviously frustrating and I bitch about it in the moment, but after taking time to let it marinate, holding Notre Dame to 13 points on the road after giving up 25 points and 417 yards to Air Force at home is pretty damn good.  If Greg Mattison can get the defense to continue to improve their performance like this each week as the year goes on, they could be huge for Michigan down the road.

“It won’t happen no more. I’m going to be accountable for the rest of the season. I don’t want to feel like this no more. In the 22 years I’ve been living, this is the most disappointed I’ve ever been in myself.”-Denard Robinson after the game.

Keep in mind Denard knows when he doesn’t play well.  If you want stuff to complain about you should really have focused on this stuff: bad run blocking, bad pass blocking, Fitz Toussaint being incredibly average, and the most blatantly obvious one, garbage play calling.

Seriously, Denard can’t do it himself, but that’s what everyone expects and when he doesn’t you all complain and toss him under the bus.  Where is Toussaint?  He was a 1,000 yard rusher last year; 58 yards in a big game is not going to cut it, especially when they need to give Denard some help.  Our offensive line couldn’t open a hole to save their lives right now, where are the complaints about that?  Where are the complaints about Al Borges running a toss sweep in the red zone like its 1981 and Eric Dickerson is in our backfield?  Where are the complaints about Al Borges running a halfback pass with Vincent Smith after we already failed to capitalize once in the red zone and are already having issues passing?

The play calling was just brutal, and that is a huge inhibitor for Denard.  He can’t be unleashed on a team if he isn’t being used correctly and isn’t being given play calls that suit his abilities.  He has a live arm and can sling it 60 yards with ease, but that doesn’t mean I want him throwing to Devin Gardner on a Go route off play action.  The offensive line is having issues as it is, so why are play action passes being run?  Normally I go to bat for Al Borges, but last night was one of the few times where I was utterly frustrated with the play selection.

Thankfully they have a bye week this week, the offense can use the work, and hopefully they can install some new looks.  I will say this, I was extremely disappointed that they didn’t use more plays like they did early where Denard handed the ball off to Gardner and he threw it up.  With two quarterbacks on the field almost every play, they should put in more looks like this, instead of letting a runningback throw it.  The only good news right now is that they can still win the Big Ten, because this conference looks weaker than it ever has.

Photo Credit

There’s really not a whole lot to recap, so this will be more of a preview for this Saturday.  It was basically what you expected when Michigan plays the UMass Minutemen.  The offensive line got a better push against an inferior defensive line and opened up the run, and the defense looked fairly solid.  Denard only had one really awful throw, which was obviously when he threw the ball about 5 minutes too late to Jeremy Jackson and they picked it off and housed it.

All things considered, I was pretty content with what I saw, particularly from the freshmen.  The only thing I don’t understand is how or why people want Russell Bellomy to be the starting quarterback next year, and leave Devin Gardner at wide receiver.  Sure Gardner is arguably the team’s best receiver, but Bellomy is pathetic.  Yeah he had basically all walk-on offensive linemen to avoid burning redshirts in a blowout, but still.  He has yet to complete a pass in his career, and rushed for 8 yards on 5 attempts.  I don’t see how this team can do anything but play Gardner or start Shane Morris.  At least on the plus-side, Justice Hayes looked great in garbage time, with 3 rushes for 19 yards and a TD.

(I was literally screaming at him to run the ball the entire time he was in the pocket…if you can run like that, why force a bad pass?)

I will say that if Michigan plays that way against Notre Dame, they’re going to get mauled.  Notre Dame exposed Michigan State as a one-dimensional team (which is what I’ve been saying they were for months, but whatever).  Andrew Maxwell is a worse passer than Denard, and with an extremely stout front seven, Notre Dame had literally no problem.  Manti Te’o is an absolute stud, and it is going to be imperative that the offensive line keep him out of the backfield and away from Denard.  Notre Dame’s secondary has had some injuries, with two starters already knocked out for the year, but with their pass rush, I’m not sure Denard will have enough time to take advantage of that weakness.  This is a perfect game for Devin Funchess and Roy Roundtree to go off.

The Funchise.

Michigan’s defensive line is still a huge concern.  Will Campbell has proven to be a bona fide bust at this point, and I think we can attribute that to having some bad habits coming into school, and  Rich Rodriguez trying to convert him to offensive guard.  I did like the new overloaded 3-3-5 nickel defense that Greg Mattison installed for this past week.  Putting Frank Clark and Jake Ryan on the end of the line with Craig Roh and Jibreel Black inside was a nice mix up look.  It’s also become incredibly clear that the young Michigan freshmen linebackers are going to be studs.  James Ross and Joe Bolden have been awesome, and at least this gives Mattison something to work with in the future.

The bad news for Michigan continues going into this game, because it looks like Notre Dame finally found a quarterback.  And while they don’t have a great running back and no Michael Floyd, having the best tight end in the country (Tyler Eifert) is certainly going to ease that pain.  He was targeted 9 times out of 32 pass attempts last week, and is clearly a favorite of quarterback Everett Golson’s.  His height is going to provide a serious advantage for them against the Michigan safeties.

The good news coming into this game though is the fact that Notre Dame still runs a spread offense.  Michigan doesn’t have to worry about getting overpowered like they did against Alabama, and the defense can try to use its speed, to make the necessary plays.  The defense does need to start producing turnovers though, because they haven’t done hardly anything in that department all year.  If the Michigan defense can get a few turnovers and Denard doesn’t throw any horrible picks, Michigan should be able to control the game and get the win.

Notre Dame won’t want to lose four straight to Michigan, so they’re going to come out hard right out of the gate.  I mean seriously, three straight wins all within the last-minute, Notre Dame has to be losing their minds.  The only plan should be to weather the storm early and then go to work on them later.  Give the ball to Denard, let him make plays, and have our defense not break down.  It’s quite simple and effective, unless of course you’re playing Alabama, but it is exactly what Michigan needs to do to get their fourth straight win.  I think Michigan will end up winning this game in a squeaker (as usual), and it will bring Notre Dame back down to earth, and get the media to realize they aren’t “back” yet.

Photo Credit

Photo Credit

Photo Credit

If you’ve already read Mike’s in depth preview of the UMass game, you know this one won’t be close.  The Minutemen are a far cry from the team that almost won in the Big House in 2010, and thankfully, so are we.  If Michigan we’re to lose this game, it would be more unexpected than a Mark Dantonio smile.

The best part about tomorrow’s game is that Michigan will hopefully get to work out some kinks on both offense and defense, will get to rest some key players before the Notre Dame game, and will get some experience for some young guys who normally don’t see the field.  And if a walk-on can score a touchdown or make a tackle, that’s great too!

This weeks recipe for a win is to make sure that the bus driver safely makes it from the Campus Inn to the corner of Stadium and Main.  Instead, let’s take a look at a few things to watch out for/build on:

• The Rush Offense – The rushing game outside of Denard has been non-existent the first two weeks.  Indiana rushed for 333 yards last week against UMass.  If we can’t run effectively against UMass, we may never find our groove this year. Hopefully Toussaint finds his groove tomorrow, the offensive line gels a little bit and gains some confidence, and we’re all rooting for Justice Hayes by the 3rd quarter instead of Toussaint and Rawls.
• The Rush Defense – Through two games, UMass is 121st in rushing yards in the country – dead last.  And their two opponents were Indiana and UConn.   This is a very very bad rushing attack.   I said that we couldn’t judge this rush defense against Alabama because of how good the offensive line was and we couldn’t judge it against Air Force because of the uniqueness of the offense they run.  While a strong performance tomorrow doesn’t prove that we have a solid defense (see Indiana and UConn), a poor performance means there is reason for alarm.  Barring one big run or a lot of yards against the 2nd/3rd teamers, UMass shouldn’t be anywhere close 100 yards on the ground tomorrow.
• Russell Bellomy/Devin Gardner – If as expected Michigan builds an early lead, it should be a short game for Denard Robinson.  That means we should get a good luck at the current #2 QB Russell Bellomy and will get a chance to see if he has the goods to take over for Denard next year, fend off super frosh to be Shane Morris and keep Devin Gardner at receiver.  Bellomy will be the first QB in after Denard – but I’ll be very interested to see if Gardner gets any snaps at QB too.

PREDICTION

3 years ago Michigan played a similar caliber opponent in Delaware State and won 63-6, and it wasn’t that close.  UMass is probably better than the Hornets, but not by a ton.  Denard is gone by the start of the 3rd quarter, two Michigan backs rush for 100 yards, Jordan Kovacs looks like his old self, and the only thing keeping Dennis Norfleet from a career day is that he’ll probably only get 3 chances at best to return a kick.

Michigan 55

UMass 6

While the Wolverines return 15 starters from last year (6 offense, 7 defense, K/P), they need to fill some big holes on the offensive and defensive lines. Nevertheless, the Wolverines are right to expect much out of this year. They still boast one of the nation’s most dangerous offenses with quarterback Denard Robinson under center. There’s also reason for optimism in the running game as Fitzgerald Toussaint returns as the starting tailback, and probably Michigan’s best since the days of Mike Hart. Defensively, the losses of Mike Hart and Ryan Van Bergen will be significant, but the back 7 is almost entirely intact.

As the endless speculation continues, here are some of my observations from yesterday’s game.*

1. Toussaint looks poised to build upon his success last year. He runs with great anticipation and without hesitancy.
2. Quarterback Russell Bellomy looked pretty comfortable in the pocket. They didn’t run anything complicated through or at him. But he’s certainly better than the Nick Sheridan or David Cones of the world
3. I was ready to call Thomas Rawls the latest beneficiary of running back coach Fred Jackson’s hyperbolic tendencies, but then he broke a long one. He’s got great size, runs downhill, and appears to have good vision, which is key for a tailback.
4. Devin Gardner = meh. Looked great running with the rock, but I really only saw one good throw, and it was probably a better catch by Jeremy Gallon
5. I liked what I saw out of the O-Line (both 1st and 2nd units).
6. Having said that, it may just be that our D-lines weren’t all that impressive.
7. With Junior Hemingway gone and Daryl Stonum off the team, there isn’t a whole lot to be excited about in the passing game. But Jeremy Gallon made a great adjustment in the air to catch a Gardner Pass. He and opposite receiver Roy Roundtree will be leaned on heavily to make plays given how thin the Wolverines are at the position.
8. It was nice to see cornerback Blake Countess picking up right where he left off from last year. Granted it wasn’t the greatest pass from Gardner, but Countess showed off some skills with the pick.
9. Thank god I didn’t block out an afternoon to watch this game in person. It was easily the most boring, vanilla spring game I’ve seen in a long time.
10. But maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe it’s a sign of stability for the Wolverines. After all, this is the first time since the Carr era that we’ve had the same quarterback and offensive/defensive coordinators in back-to-back years.

*I fully comprehend that the Spring Game is merely exhibition. While the game features live contact, the quarterbacks are coddled and neither coordinator shows a whole lot, so caveats abound.

Previously: Low

The explanation behind these posts, in case you missed it:

Well, I decided — in a desperate attempt to figure out what type of content to post during the slow summer months — to apply these threat levels (minus the whole, you know, terrorist thing) to Michigan’s position groups. In other words, which groups are the Wolverines comfortably stocked at, and which ones have you buying mass quantities of bottled water and canned foods to prepare for the football apocalypse? I’ll be placing each of the position groups into one of the above categories.

Today, I take a look at the position groups that inspire confidence, but just the slightest amount of trepidation — here are the three groups that fall into the ‘guarded’ category:

Quarterback (Last Year: Elevated): We’ve covered the quarterback situation in depth as we continue our 2011 preview content, but I might as well take another shot at it. This year’s cruel twist of irony for the Wolverines is that their best, most productive player in 2010 — Denard Robinson, in case you live under a rock — may also be the team’s biggest question mark heading into 2011. While there is little concern over Robinson’s ability to flummox defenses with his legs while being at least adequate in his efficiency throwing the ball, nobody knows quite how well he’ll mesh with offensive coordinator Al Borges’s offense, in large part because we have little idea what that offense will look like. Personally, I think Robinson will once again improve as a passer while continuing to be the team’s biggest threat on the ground, even if his rushing production drops off, so my concern here is minimal — simply put, Michigan returns a true junior with a full year of starting experience now under his belt, and have I mentioned he was an All-American last season? Yeah, there’s that. Backing up Robinson will be true sophomore Devin Gardner, who saw a few snaps here and there early on in 2010 before ceding the backup job to Tate Forcier due to (1) Forcier probably deserving it in the first place, once he’d re-earned the trust of his teammates and (2) a lingering back injury that hopefully will earn Gardner a medical redshirt season at the end of his career. As a 6-4 quarterback who was very comfortable throwing from the pocket in high school, Gardner may actually be better suited to this offense than Robinson, and he should be a very solid backup plan should Denard go down — and if last season was any indication, we’ll see Gardner a fair amount this year. If complete disaster strikes, true freshman Russell Bellomy — a three-star dual-threat prospect that Hoke snatched away from Purdue — would be forced into duty as the only other scholarship QB on the roster, but that’s a worst-case scenario. Michigan’s offense is in good hands this season with Robinson and Gardner at the helm.

Offensive Tackle (LY: Guarded): Redshirt sophomore Taylor Lewan came to Ann Arbor hyped as the next coming of Jake Long, and after taking over the left tackle job against Bowling Green he did a very good job of delivering on that potential. Lewan was named second-team Freshman All-American, shut down Adrian Clayborn, unveiled the greatest tattoo/pickup-line combination of our generation, and generally did everything awesome except when he was committing drive-killing penalties. The hope is that Lewan will chill out on the penalties — a distinct possibility, considering he was starting at the most important position on the O-line as a redshirt freshman — and continue to punish opponents with his unrelenting, physically-dominant style of blocking. Now listed — before fall practice — at 6-8, 294 pounds, Lewan should be a force this season and contend for a spot on the All-Big Ten team. His counterpart on the right side will be redshirt senior Mark Huyge, who started seven games last season at both left and right tackle. While he has never been a true standout, Huyge has started 16 career games and has improved each year he’s played, and at 6-6, 306 pounds, he should be a solid road-grater on the right side of the line. There’s a chance that Huyge could be beaten out for the starting job by Lewan’s classmate Michael Schofield, who came in with four-star hype and has earned praise for his play in practice, but that would only be a good sign for Michigan — Huyge has proven to be a solid Big Ten starter, so anyone beating him out will be a very good player. The depth behind Lewan, Huyge, and Schofield is almost non-existent at tackle, but those three players are versatile enough to play either tackle position and Ricky Barnum, the projected starter at left guard, could slide over to tackle — where he’s seen action in two career games — if necessary.

Interior O-Line (LY: Low): The interior of the offensive line should be strong as well, led by redshirt senior center and preseason All-American David Molk. At 6-2, 288 pounds, Molk may not have ideal size for an NFL center prospect, but he’s been just fine at the collegiate level, and although he’ll be asked to do more man blocking under Borges — as opposed to a lot of zone and reach blocks under Rich Rodriguez, which requires quicker, and therefore often smaller, linemen — he should still be one of the country’s best at his position. Returning at right guard is last year’s other breakout player, redshirt junior Patrick Omameh, whom you may remember blocking stud Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o a good 15 yards downfield on Denard Robinson’s record-breaking touchdown run. Omameh is fantastic at getting to the second level and is a very good run-blocker in general, but he did have his struggles with some of the Big Ten’s elite defensive tackles — he’ll have to step his game up against players like Michigan State’s Jerel Worthy and Nebraska’s Jared Crick. The lone new starter on the line is redshirt junior Ricky Barnum, who was a key backup at both guard and tackle last season and should slide in comfortably at left guard. Barnum was one of the country’s top guard recruits coming out of high school, but was stuck last season behind senior Stephen Schilling and the emerging Omameh — reports out of practice were that he was ready to contribute last season, and he should be at least a solid starter after a three-year apprenticeship behind Schilling. For now, there’s still decent depth along the line (the big issues will come starting next year, thanks to Rodriguez not pulling in — and keeping — more recruits along the line), with redshirt junior Elliott Mealer as the primary backup at guard and redshirt junior Rocko Khoury ready to step in at center. Michigan’s offensive line should be quite good this year, which should help greatly in the transition to a new scheme.

With Shane Morris in the fold for 2013, does Michigan need a QB in the class of 2012?

Due to extenuating circumstances — namely, a vacation followed by my mind remaining on vacation well after returning — it’s been a while since I put up my supposedly-weekly links post. This week, Wolverines on the Web is catching up with the best of the last week (or more, in some cases) around the Michigan blogosphere:

I made an appearance on The Michigan Man podcast, now a part of GBMWolverine, to preview the Big Ten conference with host Mike Fitzpatrick. Part I of the podcast, covering the Leaders Division team-by-team, went up yesterday, and I encourage you to check it out. It’s always a pleasure talking with Mike, he puts together a great show, and hopefully I’m becoming comfortable enough with the podcast thing that you’ll notice a dwindling number of “errs” and “ums” as I attempt to make coherent points. Part II should be up next week, and I’ll be sure to link to it when it’s posted.

The Hoover Street Rag weighs in on the retired jerseys discussion, ultimately deciding that a ring of honor makes more sense than shelving any more uniform numbers:

Football only has 99 eligible numbers.  Michigan has retired five of them: #11, #47, #48, #87, and #98.  Oddly, these numbers are not honored anywhere in Michigan Stadium, so it takes a discussion of retired numbers to properly honor the men who wore these numbers.  Do we want the same fate to befall #21, or #2, or any other worthy number?  How do we acknowledge the fact that Tim Biakabutuka had one of the all-time great performances in 1995 while wearing #21?  This is a giant game of whack-a-mole; every time we answer one question, two new ones pop up.

I’ve never even though about the fact that Michigan’s retired jerseys aren’t displayed in any fashion at Michigan Stadium, something that strikes me as completely bizarre — what’s the point of honoring the players in such fashion if only die-hard fans can name them off the top of their heads? HSR thinks a ring of honor is forthcoming, and I’m inclined to agree.

MGoDiarist lfj75 takes an in-depth look at year-to-year improvement of defenses based on their previous year’s efforts, and the numbers come to a conclusion that makes the most sense — Michigan will likely improve, probably incrementally, with a small chance of taking a large leap forward. This is a very interesting way of looking at the issue, and certainly worth checking out, especially for you stat-geeks (said with love, as I count myself among their number).

Jeff over at Mets Maize argues that Michigan should take a quarterback in the class of 2012, given the uncertainty surrounding the position — especially Denard Robinson and even Devin Gardner’s ability to adapt to the new offense — and the fact that U-M currently has just three scholarship quarterbacks on the roster:

There’s a lot of “ifs” built into the nightmare scenario I described–I get that–but if there’s any position on the field you want to be sure of, it’s quarterback. Denard could very well give us 2 glorious years and seamlessly hand the ball off to Morris having a Henne-like true freshman year. Nothing would make me happier. But if Denard can’t stay healthy and is backed up sporadically by 2 quarterbacks equally maladjusted to this hybrid-ish offense, Hoke will regret not taking a QB in this class as he impatiently taps his feet, waiting for Morris’ arrival. A QB in the 2012 class would be worth it for this alone–at the very least, one more depth chart fail-safe to prevent the Denard-to-Morris transition from having a year’s worth of head-burying moments.

Personally, I think Michigan is fine at the position, something I stated in yesterday’s QB position preview. Jeff has some very valid points, however, but I ultimately think Gardner and potentially Russell Bellomy should be just fine bridging the gap between Denard and 2013 uber-prospect Shane Morris. In the end, I think there are much greater needs in this class — a pair of DTs, at least one wide receiver, etc. — that filling a precious spot with what I’d view as a luxury doesn’t make much sense.

MVictors explores the Dickensian aspect of Michigan’s 1932 and 1933 title teams (sorry, non-Wire fans, I couldn’t resist — actually, I’m not sorry at all, you need to watch The Wire if you don’t get that):

Harry Kipke’s 1932 and 1933 teams were champions not by virtue of a poll of writers or coaches.   The two titles were determined by the most widely recognized method at the time: the Dickinson System, a formula devised by Illinois economics professor Frank Dickinson that ranked college teams at the end of each season.

Before you note that I’m one letter off in my original joke, yes, I realize I stretched a bit for it. Also, I’m shocked to see how progressive (relatively, at least) the Dickinson System was, using strength of schedule as a major determiner of the national champion.

Greg also takes a look at why Michigan played Minnesota twice in the 1926 season, which made for a bit of an oddity on the Brown Jug. This will shock many of you, but the reason involved the Gophers being really, really good (though not as good as Michigan, who defeated them in both contests that year).

Over at SBNation’s Big Ten blog Off Tackle Empire, there’s a numbers-heavy look at strength of schedule for 2011, and it’s somewhat frightening to note that — by a couple measurements, at least — Michigan has the toughest slate in the conference when non-conference games are factored in. Not scheduling an FCS opponent has a fair amount to do with that, as the Wolverines project to have the toughest non-conference schedule besides Wisconsin.

Holdin’ the Rope continues the “Remember When” series with great look at the 2007 Northwestern game. You may be thinking, “Why?” Fouad explains:

People forget about this one a lot. In fact, I haven’t given it much thought since it happened. I decided to watch Wolverine Historian’s Chad Henne tribute video last night on a whim and it brought it all back. You might think that it’s “just Northwestern”–a 6-6 one at that–and, well, it is. It also isn’t. I would posit that if there was a game that defined Chad Henne was as a player, I think this one is it.

That probably elicited another, “Why?”, so you’ll have to click over to get the explanation, which mostly details Chad Henne’s robotic awesomeness even in the face of injury juxtaposed with Ryan Mallett just not being ready yet.

TTB Andrew has new interviews up with incoming freshmen Chris Rock…

…and Jack Miller:

There’s a lot more good stuff in those interviews (especially Rock’s — I just had to include the obligatory “You’re Chris Rock!” quote), so make sure to check them out.

More OSU-related genius coming from the MZone, where Yost takes that picture of the dead Buckeye fan forming the “I” in his grave and works his photoshop magic.

Quickly: MGoFootball posits that Tim Biakabutuka may be the best U-M running back of the last 20 years, with video evidence; Maize n Brew preview the defensive line, linebackers, and secondary; Brian — who is currently on his honeymoon, so congratulations are in order — profiles incoming recruits Frank Clark and Desmond Morgan.

Expect to see more drop-back passing from Denard Robinson this season.

It’s nearly August, which means it’s about time to kick the football season preview content into full gear. Over the course of the next few weeks, I’ll be taking a look at the 2011 Wolverines position-by-position. Today, the position previews kick off with a look at Michigan’s quarterbacks:

Returning: Denard Robinson (Jr.), Devin Gardner (Soph.)
Departing: Tate Forcier (transfer to, um, a school to be named later)
Incoming: Russell Bellomy

Returning Player Stats:

[table id=146 /]

Overview: It is rare that a team returning an All-American quarterback faces so many questions at the position, but Michigan’s current situation is unusual, to say the least. You’re all familiar with Denard Robinson, aforementioned All-American returning starter and the most exciting Wolverine since some guy named Charles Woodson. Robinson emerged as one of the country’s most electrifying players as a sophomore, winning the job from now-departed Tate Forcier after a true freshman season spent as a backup with a tenuous grasp of the offense. “Shoelace” put up video game numbers in 2010, crushing the NCAA record for rushing yards as a quarterback with 1,702 — the previous record, set in 1996 by Air Force’s Beau Morgan, was 1,494 — and he became the first player in NCAA history to pass for 2,500 yards and rush for 1,500 yards in the same season.

Of course, Robinson also had his struggles, both with a nasty tendency to get knocked out of games early and his ability to read defenses and make accurate throws downfield — 10 of his 11 interceptions came in the team’s final eight games, and while a couple came on unfortunate tipped balls, most were of the “what the hell was that?” variety. One would normally expect many of those issues to be ironed out in a quarterback’s second season as a starter, but Robinson must now learn a new system under offensive coordinator Al Borges, one that would appear to play less to his strengths — mainly his legs, and their ability to make receivers hilariously wide open upon the mere suggestion that they would be utilized — than Rich Rodriguez’s zone-read based spread.

It’s the biggest question surrounding the Wolverines this season, and the key to the offense — which returns ten starters — coming close to the production which saw the team finish second in Football Outsiders’s offensive FEI in 2010: How will Robinson adapt to the new system? The honest answer (and really the only true answer to any preseason question) is nobody knows — for now, we still have no idea what that new system will look like, as Borges will likely mix in more shotgun into his West Coast-based offense than ever before. All we know is that Robinson will run less and throw more, which should help his durability issues but could limit his effectiveness.

If Robinson goes down — and given what we saw last season, that’s a distinct possibility, at least for small stretches — the backup is sophomore Devin Gardner, who saw spot duty as a backup in the first five games of last season before shutting it down with a back injury, one which will hopefully earn him a medical redshirt at the end of his career. At 6-4, 210 pounds, Gardner appears far more suited to run a pro-style offense than Robinson, despite being the country’s top-rated dual-threat quarterback coming out of high school in 2010. It will be interesting to see how Gardner has progressed as a passer, as last season he was clearly still working on the mechanics of his throw, which often resembled a Vince Young-esque shot put heave instead of a fundamentally sound overhead toss. Some predicted before the spring that Gardner could compete this year for the starting job, and while that appears to be off the table, he should be a very solid option as a backup.

The only other scholarship quarterback on the roster is incoming freshman Russell Bellomy, a three-star dual threat prospect who was snake-oiled away from a Purdue commitment by Brady Hoke when he took the head coaching job. Thunder of Touch the Banner made a very interesting comparison when evaluating Bellomy after his commitment [emphasis mine]:

Watching highlights of Bellomy, his high school team runs an offense that looks a lot like Auburn’s.  It’s somewhat surprising that Rich Rodriguez, who needed a quarterback in the class of 2011 after Kevin Sousa decommitted, didn’t pursue Bellomy.  Bellomy has some serious wheels and escapability.  He only completed approximately 59% of his passes over the past couple seasons, but he threw very few interceptions (seven total from 2009-2010) and ran the ball for 1,200 yards over those two seasons.

Interestingly, Bellomy is a bit like offensive coordinator Al Borges’ old protege, Cade McNown.  Bellomy is a little bit taller than McNown, but he’s mobile, has somewhat erratic mechanics, and lacks great arm strength.  He shares those qualities with McNown, although the former UCLA quarterback also lacked some leadership qualities.  Judging by a couple interviews I’ve seen of Bellomy, he seems to be a very grounded, respectful, humble young man.

Despite the shortcomings that would be harshly revealed as an NFL player, McNown was a great college player, nearly leading UCLA to the BCS title game in the 1998 season while earning first-team All-American honors, the Johnny Unitas Award (best senior quarterback), and becoming the Pac-10′s all-time leader in total offense. That’s obviously a best-case scenario for Bellomy, and Michigan would be in rough shape if he was forced into duty as a true freshman, but he’s an intriguing developmental prospect.

Recruiting/The Future: As you can see, the Wolverines currently have just three scholarship quarterbacks to work with, so one would normally expect that Brady Hoke would pursue another signal-caller in the class of 2012. That may not be the case, however, as Hoke has already gained the commitment of elite in-state sophomore Shane Morris (class of 2013), and Michigan should return all three current quarterbacks next season. The Wolverines can afford to wait on Morris while Gardner gets his chance to start and Bellomy develops, and with Michigan likely out of the running with top-rated 2012 prospects like Gunner Kiel and Maty Mauk, it appears unlikely that Michigan will take a QB in next year’s rapidly-filling class.

The Final Word: While the offense will look different than what we’ve become accustomed to in the past few years, I still expect Robinson to have an extremely productive season while improving his efficiency as a passer. No, he won’t approach 2,000 rushing yards again, but the hope is that he won’t have to for this team to put up a lot of points. Al Borges has done, in my opinion, a great job of adapting to his personnel throughout his career, allowing his offense to evolve with each passing year, so I still expect to see a fair amount of shotgun and the zone read in 2011. If that’s the case, we should see another All-American performance from Robinson, with the obvious caveat that he must stay healthy in order for that to come to fruition. Still, with Gardner as a backup option, quarterback is a position I have little concern about heading into the fall.