Final Spring Practice in Review

By Sean · Saturday, April 15, 2006 · 9:27 PM |  Share | 12 Comments 

Earlier today I attended the final spring practice, which translated to a bunch of drills and a minor scrimmage at the end. Overall, I have to say that I’m a little disappointed. Players that were “supposedly” improving showed me the same stuff as last year. I’ll get into the specifics a little later, but for right now let’s just go over some of the things I noticed.

The picture to the left is one that I took when I first arrived at the stadium. There was a pretty good sized crowd in attendance, I’d say about 30,000 or so people. If you notice in this picture (click to enlarge), the construction has still got a long way to go before being completed. This so called “Concrete Replacement Project” better get going in order to finish before September 2nd. About half of the lower bowl is completely torn up, and concrete is only in place in a few spots. Bill Martin wasn’t lying when he said the two biggest cranes in Michigan were sitting in the Big House, those things were about 40 stories high. I was very impressed with the turnout for today. Lots of Michigan fans came out and showed their true maize and blue colors.

Now that the atmosphere is down, let’s get into what I actually saw throughout my afternoon in A2. For about the first hour of the practice, different types of drills were run. I had the defensive line practicing right in front of me, so I got to see them very well. One thing that concerned me was that LaMarr Woodley was limping around and also didn’t participate in any of the drills being run. Alan Branch did not impress me very much, he was getting thrown around, and later on was flattened by Adam Kraus when the offensive line came down to do some drills with the d-line. James McKinney looked very good, but during the scrimmage, left the game limping very harshly with an injury. I don’t know what’s in the water at these practice facilities, but the injuries are just ridiculous.

We finally got to see how Zoltan Mesko could punt if you didn’t see warm-ups before last season’s games. He should definitely be the starter this fall. There’s no doubt in my mind. Ross Ryan’s got a great leg for the kickoff game, but for punting he just doesn’t compare. Ryan can get good hang time on his punts, but they don’t reach very far. Mesko has the hang time and the distance. He had a punt that was so far today during the scrimmage that the crowd even gave him a big ovation.

The top third backs are Mike Hart, Kevin Grady, and then Alijah Bradley. Mike Hart didn’t practice too much, probably just trying to stay healthy. Grady and Bradley got the bulk of the plays, along with Carlos Brown. Brown looked spectacular out there. He can really turn into a play-maker. I don’t know which mindset I should be in after Carlos took a run to the house after breaking a few tackles… the defense either sucks, or Brown is something special. Let’s stick with the second one. Brown also took some snaps in the backfield much like Antonio Bass did last year. He’s got the speed to take those kind of plays all the way. Brown didn’t work out at all as a defensive back from what I saw, but it’s better if he just concentrates on running back.

At wide receiver, it was nice to see so many targets out there. Adrian Arrington and Doug Dutch were back for the first time since injuries last season. Both didn’t do too much, but the important thing was that they were out there. Mario Manningham and Steve Breaston looked good. LaTerryal Savoy got lots of playing time today, and had a few good receptions. The best catch was made by Alijah Bradley during an out drill with Jason Forcier. Bradley had to dive with the ball coming from over his shoulder. Somehow Bradley made the grab for a standing “o” from the Big House crowd.

Garrett Rivas was doing his 15 yard kick drill down in my endzone, so I got a good look at him. Rivas looks as though he’s trimmed down. Maybe Lloyd’s message about dropping some weight got through to him. I wish his kicking was better though. On a 25 yard or so field goal attempt, Rivas completely shanked the kick, sending the ball flying way off to the left of the upright. Looks like we’ll have another year of inconsistency at that position.

Last but not least for my observations is the quarterback position. I’m not trying to be really negative, but there was no improvement from last year in my mind. Chad Henne looked really bad out there today. During short passes he just smoked the pass right by the receiver, with no touch whatsoever on it. Many passes were also thrown to high or were off behind the receivers. Henne looked exactly like last year, maybe even a little worse. One thing that really scares me is that Henne now has the impression that he can run it whenever he wants. Henne took off at least 5 times when he couldn’t see anybody. Eventually Henne is gonna get smashed if he keeps running like he did today. We just can’t afford for him to put himself in such a vulnerable position. Jason Foricer, our backup for the season, looked ok. He had the short touch passes down much better than Henne. His running also looked good after a great rollout where he blew by the defense. Forcier disappointed me a little on the longer passes, overthrowing his targets by a good margin, but he doesn’t have that much experience. Overall, I guess he did about what I expected. Jeff Kastl is our 3rd string guy, and didn’t get many snaps in at all today.

Now that you’ve got what I saw, I’ll tell you what I liked and didn’t like.

Impressed me:
*Carlos Brown… Brown came out very fast and showed off his athletic ability with a few very good runs. Brown has only been here for a few weeks and already he’s leaving a good impression in my head.

*Zoltan Mesko… Mesko didn’t get a chance to show his leg off last year, but when the crunch time came during today’s scrimmage, he certainly gave me a good taste in my mouth. Ryan was decent, but Mesko has got a cannon on his leg. He launched a 60-yarder down the field to draw a loud cheer from the maize and blue faithful.

*Alijah Bradley… Bradley has worked his tail off and it finally has paid off. Bradley, now a 5th year senior, has put himself in a position to get a hefty amount of playing time. Alijah has my support, and played very well today making some good runs and a great catch.

*Defensive Backs… The DB’s looked very good today. All day receivers had their attempted catches contested. All were dressed except Brandent Engleman, and even Ryan Mundy has made it back to the field and made some very fierce hits. At the very end of the day, the DB’s ran 100 yards, but had down-ups every 5-10 yards. That takes some athletic ability to survive.

*Fan Turnout… After a dismal 7-5 season, and so much in-stadium construction, I didn’t expect as many fans to show up as they did today. The entire side of the stadium opposite to the press box was crammed full of fans. The fans were also very into it even though an actual game wasn’t being played.

Didn’t impress me:
*Chad Henne… The mechanics still aren’t down it seems. Henne was missing receivers left and right, and was throwing it right by them. He also took off to run every now and then when he had a guy down field open. Henne must improve from now to the first game if we’re going to be successful this season.

*Garrett Rivas… Rivas may have dropped some weight, but his kicks are still bad as ever. Shanking a 25-yarder into the crowd doesn’t do much for me. Inconsistency is the story of his life, now as a senior he’s worse then when first getting here.

*No Jerome Jackson… Jerome is conspicuously absent from the spring roster. I don’t know if this is a direct effect from his attempted rap song, but it looks like he’s not even in the doghouse, but off the team. Jackson filled in great last year, and even won the Iowa game in overtime. I’d like to see him back, I don’t think it’s fair to get rid of a player because of a rap song that wasn’t even meant to be public.

*Injuries… It’s not even the fall yet and already injuries are becoming a problem. 2005 was about the worse season I’ve ever been through injury-wise, and now it’s looking like 2006 could be just as bad with the track we’re on right now. As I stated earlier, James McKinney left the scrimmage barely being able to walk, and LaMarr Woodley didn’t do anything at all today.

*Big Ten Officials… A very recognizable officiating crew from the Big Ten was there to get warmed up I guess. I knew the face, as we’ve been screwed over many times in the past by him, I just can’t think of a name. But, LaTerryal Savoy got jacked out of a touchdown. He caught the ball and put it over the plane of the goaline for what should’ve been a TD, but the refs said he was down at the 1. It’s the spring and already the crappy officiating starts.

Overall, it was a fun day. It’s nice to get an early look at the 2006 team. Things will probably change greatly from now until August, but it’s cool to get an idea of what to expect. Before today if you asked me my feeling for the 2006 season, I would’ve said very excited. Now, after seeing Chad and some of the other players do the same old things, my excitement level is back down to average. Don’t get me wrong, I can’t wait for the season, but I’m just a little concerned now.

The final spring practice was good though. Anything free involving Michigan football is a good result. The football news will be very limited now, the dry spell of the offseason is about to begin. Until then, read up, and go blue!