ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The Wolverines’ first spring game under head coach Kyle Whittingham is complete, and the maize team beat the blue team with a late-fourth-quarter touchdown by running back Tomas O’Meara, 7-6.
There were a lot of takeaways from the scrimmage, from the running back play, to quarterback Tommy Carr, to the defense as a whole for both teams. After the game, Whittingham met with the media to discuss not only what he saw from the intrateam scrimmage, but also what Michigan football did across the 15 practices.
Here is everything that Whittingham had to say in his post-spring game press conference.
Opening statement
Offensive production today wasn’t real good, obviously. Only found the end zone one time, but there was a lot of positives. I thought we did a good job taking care of the football. There were no turnovers, but again, when you play yourselves, I think you’re good at sticking the radio tape away, so it’s give and take.
But highlights, I thought Tommy Carr showed a lot of poise and did some good things. Bryce had a limited time, you know, just that first quarter. And when you play a spring game, when you split up the team evenly, like we did, you’re playing with — the ones aren’t together, and the twos aren’t together, so you’re kind of a hodgepodge. But you still get a good idea of who’s playmaker and who’s not. And we felt like we got accomplished this spring as a whole, exactly what we needed to.
Football team got better fundamentally, technique-wise, got complete schemes installed on both sides of the ball. So we had a lot of work to do this spring. I think we made a lot of progress, like I said. Huge importance, we came out of this game with really nothing, no injuries. And only one significant injury throughout the course of spring. So we’re fortunate in that regard. But what’ll be key now is to continue to build upon what we got going.
Through the summer, they’ll have the month of May off. Nothing going on in May. We’ll come back June 1st on the summer conditioning cycle. And it’ll be key and critical that our players do a good job with the player-run practices and doing things this summer to stay sharp so we can keep the ground running in fall camp when that starts right around August 5th. So I think we’re in a good spot, but plenty of work to do. Some questions?
Where do you think the offense is from the start of spring ball, or even start of the winter, to where you are now?
I think we’re on track. We’re not where we need to be ultimately, but I think we’re on track given that it’s what, April 18th, and we’ve got a lot of opportunity ahead of us to get better. And so we saw the same thing last year at Utah, we had the same exact situation. We installed an entire new offense. And I’d say we’re right on par with where we need to be relative to what happened last year, and that we’re really gonna need a second rush. So no panic at all. And we feel like we’re heading in the right direction.
Like I said, there were some real bright spots out there today. I thought Savion Hiter’s really showing that he’s an explosive back. He doesn’t really get loose out in the open. But he’s a powerful back that’s gonna be a big factor for us this fall.
I was gonna ask you about Savion, and then Salesi Moa made some plays too. Those two are the more impressive freshmen you’ve been around?
Yeah, without a doubt. They’re both highly recruited, highly rated freshmen coming in. Both just fresh out of high school, they’ve only been here a few months, and for three months, and they did a nice job today.
What Bryce did today and over the spring, how did you see him develop?
He progressed all through spring. There’s a lot of some things that may not be noticeable to just the general, his pocket presence.He’s improved in all areas. Now he still has work to do. He knows that, we know that. But I think he’s ahead of where he was, certainly, prior to or from last season, and we think he’s got a big upside. There’s still been a lot of confidence in him. There’s no real different sentiment than what we had when we first got in here.
What have you seen from Deyvid Palepale this spring, and where does he kind of fit into?
Yeah, Deyvid’s in that rotation. We’ve got five guys inside, five guys outside on the edge. We feel really good about, and we think the better in spring and all. Three days ago, he was out with an injury, but he had at least 330, 40 pounds, tough to move, and he’s got some quickness.
Kyle, what’s your message to Tommy in terms of what he’s competing for and what his freshman year will look like?
Well, Bryce is our starter right now, and that’s not any different after today. Tommy has really made strides, and pocket presence and escapability can extend plays, keeps his eyes downfield. All the things you can look for in how many possessions, and that was still really early in his career, but experience level here, I think.
Just with how quickly everything was moving, and the way you guys really hit the ground running, when do you think things really slowed down for you, and then what does this off-down time over the next couple months look like for you?
I’d say we were settled in, when spring ball got here, we went with him the entire winter conditioning cycle, and in the weight room, and then we settled in, and throughout spring, just became more, I don’t wanna say comfortable, but things started to really smooth out. Going forward, it’ll be critical. I think we’ve got the best strength coach in the country, and we’ve got guys, those guys, again, start June 1 for another eight-week cycle. And that’ll be critical to continue to develop not only strength, but mental toughness, and the work ethic that this program’s gonna be known for. I just think that we’ve come a long ways in what, three and a half months, but we’re gonna need every bit of preparation time that we have before September 5th, when we land on the play.
More on Tommy Carr
Well, first of all, he’s got that it factor for a quarterback, that confidence, that field general mentality, the way he carries himself. He’s a football junkie. I’m in the facility at 10 at night, and I walk by the quarterback room, and there’s Tommy Carr watching film all by himself in the film room.
So he is completely just immersed in his development, as far as trying to get better and doing everything he can to perfect his craft. And that’s really what you wanna see in a quarterback. He’s a leader by nature, and by virtue of your position, you better be a leader at the quarterback spot. But I don’t wanna get too far ahead of ourselves, cuz he’s still got work to do. But it’s just been a very pleasant surprise. If you say who’s been the most pleasant surprise in the spring, it’d probably be him. So although I wouldn’t say they’re surprises, but guys that are really looking like they have some bright futures.
Coach, what did you see from Dominic Nichols in advance in the spring, with the other pass rushers on the edge?
Dom Nichols, he’s coming into his own. He’s a force out there. He’s a 6-4 plus and 260 pounds, and really has a great first step in pass-rushing skills. He’s a guy that I think has a chance to be, it’s up to him how good he can be. He’s gonna play this game for a long time.
On some of the others, like Nate Marshall, what was that for him?
Yeah, Nate Marshall showed progress. Who else, Cam Brandt, Cam Brandt had a really nice spring. He was consistent for us all spring long. Dropped a few pounds and really helped his game. He lost five or 10 pounds and gave him more quickness and a little more burst off the edge. Lugard, I can’t pronounce his last name exactly right yet, so I don’t wanna butcher that. But he’s a guy that we think can help us as well, big, long frame, 6-7 or whatever he is, and very athletic. So, and then we don’t even have John Henry Daley out there right now, but he’s expected back on June 1st. So again, that appears to be our strongest suit right now, as far as depth goes, and ten bodies ready to play. If he can be two and a half deep on the front line defense, you’re gonna have some room.
I know you talked about Salesi Moa a couple of minutes ago, but how would you assess how the pass catchers did today? And is there anyone that you’re looking to see more from as you get closer to the ball?
Yeah, Salesi Moa, you saw him make a few nice catches today. He started off spring really well, hit a little bit of a wall there towards mid-spring ball, but then started to progress and take off again towards the end. I think, like I said, John and Tommy, I believe his ceiling is very high, and he has a bright future.
The pass catchers in general today, I didn’t see a lot of drops. You’ll have to go watch the film, there might have been one or two that we could have come away with. But overall, the receivers have had a really nice spring. Two top guys, Andrew Marsh is a wide receiver one, there’s no doubt about that. JJ Buchanan is a wide receiver two. If you figure out there’s gonna be three, four, and five, that’s still a work in progress.
Todd Blackledge came in for one of your practices, and he made the observation that pass protection needed to get better. Looked like a little bit of that today. Would you agree with that assessment? And what’s the O-line look like?
I think the O-line’s gonna be fine. Once all is said and done, Jim Harding is a proven offensive line coach. He’s been with me, produced a solid offensive line every single year. I don’t think this year’s gonna be any different. We had two or three guys who weren’t very limited or out this spring. They’re gonna be very prominent in the fall and pushing for starting jobs.
And so I don’t necessarily think, especially today, when you had to split up the line, half were on the ones, and half were on the twos. And so I don’t have a big concern about it because I know Jim Harding’s track record. I know the talent level of the players that we got there, the guys that are gonna be joining us coming off injury. And I think we’re gonna be solid once we get into the season.
Kyle, what you anticipated at the start of spring football, to where you are now, did you find about what you thought you would find as far as the talent and the experience, was it more work ahead than you thought? Was there more talent than you thought?
I think it was about what we expected. We had a chance all through the winter conditioning to observe them and watch them, even though you can’t play football per se. You watch them move around and run through the agility drills and the change of direction drills and all that stuff. So you get a good idea of what you have athletically and talent-wise.
Now, of course, the ultimate test is what they do on the field, but I would say to answer the question, it’s pretty much what we expected. I don’t think there’s any surprises.
You mentioned the summer cycle a couple times now. What’s your message to the team as they treat that?
It’s important that we not only improve strength-wise, and by the way, we improved tremendously in the first cycle. We had guys improving their bench 70, 80 pounds in a three-month period. So that was very impressive. But the team’s gotta come together. The chemistry that you start to develop when you get, in this day and age, you have half a new football team pretty much every year. The bonding and just coming together as a team is gonna be critical this summer. We’ll get a few team activities in line to help that take place. The leader’s gotta lead and continue to set the pace. If you get your top 10% of your team that works their butt off and trains hard, everyone else seems to follow suit. So that’ll be critical for those top 10% guys to really set the bar and demand everyone else live up to that.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Michigan football coach Kyle Whittingham discusses spring game
Reporting by Isaiah Hole, Wolverines Wire / Wolverines Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
