Michigan Spring Game Takeaways

 

The Michigan fans were blessed to be able to go into THE Big House to watch the reining national championship, the Michigan Wolverines to watch their spring game. There was a lot of great things that happened, there's a couple of things that may be concerning, but it was great to see them out and playing today. 

The first possession of the game was pretty amazing to see with the lineup that they had for offense. They had Alex Orji being the starting quarterback and Donovan Edwards starting running back. Donovan Edwards did not lose any abilities since the national championship against Washington with his burst through the hole with having multiple 10+ yard gains. Orji had a couple of low passes but then showed some great plays with a crisp out route in the first drive to get the first down. The drive ended with Orji having an option play running for an 18 yard touchdown. The first drive looked pretty impressive with Michigan only having one returning offensive player. This offense looked like it is going to be very exciting with having both the quarterback and running back to have the opportunity to just get the ball and make big plays. They kind of reminded me of the 2006 West Virginia with Pat White and Steve Slanton. The option could be dominant and defenses would not know what to do to stop it. 

With Michigan having so many key players graduating or leaving for the NFL draft, there are a lot of positions to be filled. With watching the game, both team had a pretty good offensive line with some big holes being opened and giving the quarterback some times to pass the ball. The receiving core last year had a lot of veterans on the team with Cornelius Johnson, Roman Wilson, AJ Barber. And this year they will need some players to really step up to make big plays. In the 4th quarter it was amazing to see a familiar name with Sophomore Kendrick Bell (Ronnie Bell's little brother) went deep for a 42 yard touchdown catch. Another eye opening play was Fredrick Moore catching a short pass and going 48 yards to the end zone. We did not see a lot of that last year with the deep receiving touchdowns, but with the speed they have this year, I hope it can happen often. 

Defense showed up today for most of the game, knowing that the game only consisted of 3 touchdowns. A couple of key returns with defensive lineman and the secondary, the big concern was the linebacker situation. But with a key transfer of Jaishawn Barham, hopefully he can fill that position and be dominant in the middle. 

Overall, Michigan looked pretty good for a lot of new players playing the starting positions today. They will not have an easy first couple of games like last year, so they will have to know who will be fitting where in the depth chart because before you know it, September 7th, Texas will be coming to Ann Arbor for the game of the week. Coach Moore has shown that he can get a team prepared for big games and hopefully he can do it again this year.