Michigan Head Coach Jim Harbaugh made his debut in front of 60,000 fans for Michigan’s spring game. Stephanie Sokol/The Pit
[dropcap]H[/dropcap]ARBAUGH! HARBAUGH! HARBAUGH!
Let’s be honest, that’s the only thing you could think of on Saturday when the Michigan Wolverines played in their annual Spring Game.
No one could blame you for being so simple-minded. Jim Harbaugh has brought an energy enthusiasm and excitement to Michigan football that hasn’t been seen since the Wolverines beat Tim Tebow, Urban Meyer and the vaunted Florida Gators in the 2008 Capital One Bowl.
This was evident by the estimated 60,000 people that showed up for the game – which Michigan says is the highest attendance for a spring game in two decades.
As for the game itself, it was far from pretty for the Wolverines offensively. Both the Maize (led by true freshman Alex Malzone) and Blue (led by junior Shane Morris) teams struggled to generate any type of consistency and the only score of the day was a 14-yard pass from Morris to Jaron Dukes.
In fairness to the offense, it takes much longer to implement an offensive system than 14 spring practices and the Wolverines defense should be very good in 2015 – the unit returns 20 of 24 players from a two-deep that was ranked 7th in total defense in 2014.
Here are my top three takeaways from the game …
If the season started today, Shane Morris (7) would be Michigan’s quarterback. But as Coach Harbaugh said, the position battle will heat up this summer. Stephanie Sokol/The Pit
1. Shane Morris is clearly the leader at the quarterback position right now. Granted, we were unable to see Wilton Speight (redshirt freshman) due to an injury. The competition for the starting job is far from over, though. Prize recruit Zach Gentry will head to Michigan this summer and all reports indicate that former Iowa quarterback, Jake Rudock, will be transferring to Michigan this summer. While Rudock has not lit the world on fire in his two years at Iowa, he has shown to be very efficient and limit turnovers – something Harbaugh holds very important. We may not know who will start for Michigan in their season opener at Utah (September 3) until kickoff that night.
2. This is not breaking news or a surprise to anybody who follows Michigan football, but Jabrill Peppers is going to be a stud. While injuries derailed his freshman season, it may have been a blessing in disguise for Michigan. Peppers was able to receive a medical redshirt, while also having a full year to prepare for the college game. While he will likely start at safety, don’t be surprised to see Peppers be all over the field in 2015 – including some time on offense.
3. The offensive line for Michigan has been a massive question mark the last two seasons and the unit did not clear up the uncertainty with its play on Saturday. Although the starting unit – which we do not know as of right now – was split between the two squads, the familiar issues remained. Running backs had little to no room to run the football and far too often the quarterbacks were under pressure. The good news for Michigan is that offensive line coach Tim Drevno (who is also the offensive coordinator) is excellent at coaching the position. If Michigan is to find any success offensively in 2015, the offensive line will have to be much improved.
The excitement for the annual spring game is always tempered by the realization that we are five months away from seeing college football return. While that is a tough pill for fans to swallow, the Wolverines need every minute of those five months to improve if they want to compete with Ohio State and Michigan State in the Big Ten East.
*Photos by The Pit’s Stephanie Sokol
