Spring Game

The 2009 Michigan Spring Football Game is in the books, and it ended up being quite the event.  

The day started off after arriving in the Crisler Arena parking lot at about 7:45 a.m. to find a sizable line to take part in the locker room tours.  At about 8:20, we had finally made it to the front of the line, and eagerly went into the hallowed ground.  Once inside, we were bombarded by Picture Nazi's crowing out "1 or 2 pictures and move along".  The actual lockers were marked off movie theatre style, so it was impossible to sit in Nick Sheridan's locker (any Michigan fan's dream).  The tour ended up taking roughly 45-60 seconds, and felt more like a rushed walk through than anything else.  The real treat was to emerge out of the locker room to find that the line had grown through the parking lot and wrapped halfway around Michigan Stadium!  There had to be at least 20,000 people in line, and I hope every one of them was disappointed by their 60 second "tour".  

The gates opened to The Big House at about 9:30, so naturally everyone flooded in to get the best seats.  We were about 4 rows up in the North Endzone, about 20 feet to the right of the goalpost.  The highlight of the pre-pregame festivities happened while the kickers were warming up.  Walk on Scott Schrimshner shanked one wide of the net that nailed a fan right on top of the head, drawing "Oooooohs" from the 30,000 or so people that had already filed in.  

The Alumni Flag Football Game was a fun time-filler.  Some notable players were Anthony "A-Train" Thomas, Rick Leach (benched after a second-play interception), Ron Bellamy, Markus Curry, Guest Referee James Hall, Andy Migniery, and headliner Larry Foote.  The highlight had to be when Foote snuck on to the field (his contract with the Steelers prohibited full participation) and snatched a one handed interception out of the air ala Charles Woodson against Michigan State.  The whole game was a fun way to re-introduce some of the old guys to the crowd, even if it meant giving Michigan football color commentator Jim Brandstater a live mic for an hour.  This was a worse idea than giving a live mic to John Rocker at a GLAAD rally.  The whole event culminated with the entire alumni gathering at midfield with Rich Rod to sing The Victors with the crowd.  For any Michigan fan, this had to give you goosebumps, as there is nothing like singing the greatest fight song in college history in the greatest stadium in college history.   

The main course came next, as the crowd of now close to 50,000 erupted as each position group came out for warm-ups.  We got to witness the punt returners catching punts in our corner of the end zone.  The good news about this is that Greg Mathews is a pretty good dancer, as he got down to the nice mix of hip-hop tunes that was playing over the loud speakers.  The bad news is that Martavious Odoms still couldn't catch a punt if his life depended on it.  Captain Hook would have a better punt return rating than Odoms.  Let's hope that they find someone a little more reliable to return kicks.  

After warm-ups and a good stretch, the skill people did a little 7 on 7 work.  The defense was going about 65%, so the offense clearly got the better end of the deal here.  We got our first glimpse of QB Tate Forcier here, as he showed off a decent arm while completing pass after pass.  We also got our first glimpse of our terrible quarterback depth as Slowest White Guy Ever David Cone (not the pitcher) manned the second team, and future President walk on Jack Kennedy manned the third team.  Two words can describe these two quarterbacks: Steven Threet.  

Warm-ups complete, the team headed into the locker room for some last minute preparations or something.  In the meantime, a highlight tape of 2008 played, which featured all 8 of the positive plays that happened last year.  It served its purpose though as it killed about 5 minutes as we waited for the players to emerge from the tunnel.  As the anticipation grew, the Michigan Marching Band filed in to its roped off seating right next to the tunnel, and the day felt a little more like a Saturday game day.  A group of students raised the traditional M Club Banner, as the crowd buzzed.  Moments later, the 2009 version of the Michigan Wolverines roared out of the tunnel, serenaded by Hail To The Victors, something that always brings goosebumps to my skin. 

Now onto the scrimmage.  The term "Spring Game" is pretty loose here, as it was more of a controlled scrimmage.  The offense got points for things like first downs and not looking pathetic, while the defense got points for three and outs and such.  The 1st team O and D went against the 2nd team D and O, so we never got to see 1's versus 1's.  

The offense looked light years ahead of where it was last year, and this was mainly due to improved offensive line play and Tate Forcier.  The little freshman impressed me with his play making abilitiy, often scrambling out of the pocket and rushing or finding an open receiver for a first down.  He showed great accuracy on most of his throws, and he showed pretty decent arm strength, with the highlight being a long bomb that hit Roy Roundtree in stride for 6.  He also had his freshman moments, like when he threw the ball right to linebacker Brandon Herron, who acted like he had never seen a football thrown his way while it doinked off his hands.  Another play saw Tate scramble prematurely in the end zone, and he lost the ball for either a Defensive TD or Safety.  All in all, he was impressive in his first appearance at the Big House.  Some dynamics obviously helped his performance, as there were no 240 lb linebackers that could legally tear his head off, as the QB was off limits to contact.  

Other bright spots for the offense 

• The offensive line.  The first two units of offensive lineman looked like they could really be interchanged.  Each unit protected the quarterback fairly well, and created lanes for the running backs.
• Carlos Brown and Brandon Minor.  Minor got the start, but it was Brown who the crowd was really impressed with.  Breaking off big chunks of yardage, Brown capped his highlights by busting out an 80 yard touchdown run, showing off his game breaking speed.  If he can stay out of the training room, Carlos should see some serious carries in the fall.  Minor was his steady self, mixing his bruising style with surprising speed and agility.  He will be the workhorse, and the guy that will determine if this offense is good or not.  
• The slots.  Odoms, while not being able to catch a punt, looked good in the slot, catching a flurry of balls from Forcier.  His backups, Terrance Robinson and Roy Roundtree, also looked very impressive, with the aforementioned bomb to Roundtree being the highlight. 

The defense was a little different story.  Missing starters at DT (Mike Martin), LB (Jonas Mouton), and CB (Donovan Warren), the unit wasn't at full strength.  Still, the play was very inconsistent.  The optimist in me chalks this one up to the growing pains of implementing it's third defensive system in three years, along with missing three of it's top five players.  The pessimist in me saw many of the same players as last year making some of the same mistakes.  The one play that encapsulated the day involved Stevie Brown, any Michigan fan's worst nightmare.  David Cone rolled out on a play action bootleg, with Stevie in seemingly great position to stifle the play.  Cone, who has the agility of an elephant, pump faked a throw to toward the sideline that saw Stevie lose his jockstrap.  Cone proceeded to rumble about 50 yards before anyone caught up to him.  50,000 people collectively shot themselves in the face.  

This is not to say the defense did not have it's bright spots, as Brandon Graham dominated whenever he was in the game.  His signature play was blowing by RT Patrick Omameh to destroy RB Vincent Smith for a safety.  FS Michael Williams also looked very good against the run, delivering several big hits.  CB Boubacar Cissoko had the look of a fierce lock down cornerback.  Still, there is a lot of work to do for this unit if they want to consistently stop people in the Big Ten (or even the MAC).  

Walking out of the Big House, it felt like a good day.  Anytime you can watch football in April is a good day, but this one had a little something that made it feel extra special.  It felt like the next step toward Michigan becoming a dominant program again.  It washed the nasty semen/urine cocktail taste of last year out of my mouth, while delivering optimism about the upcoming year.  Still, some points leave me guarded about my expectations for the coming year.  At this point, the jury is still out on this team.  I will know more as I hear about how summer workouts progress, and then as fall practice progresses.  On this random Saturday though, Michigan football was back on top of the world.  There is only one reason for this.

They never once ran a toss sweep.

Coach Deuce