ANN ARBOR,MI– Typical Michigan weather. The previous day was in the high 70’s or low 80’s, but on the day of the Spring Game, it got a bit chilly. Not that that stopped the roughly 35,000 Wolverine fans from showing up and supporting their team.
The pregame tours were an interesting look into a usually unseen side of the football experience, and the alumni flag football game was entertaining, especially watching the ‘coaches’ get into it with the referees, Bo-style.
As for the actual game itself, it was encouraging to see how much the defense looks improved. They were making significant strides to stop the run, and Will Campbell clogged the middle well. He looks like he’ll have a good year in the trenches. The secondary was still prone to some bad coverage. They gave up a 97-yard pass between Denard Robinson and Roy Roundtree. To be fair, the pass was perfectly placed (and I mean perfect), but Roundtree shouldn’t have been behind everyone to begin with.
Speaking of Robinson, he looked exponentially better. His throwing was crisp, he still had his explosive running and his decisions were quick and accurate. Since they did not allow hitting the quarterbacks (Tate Forcier was the only one to actually touch the turf with his body on a scramble-run), it was hard to judge Robinson’s running, because there were times I think he would have made the tackler miss, and others that I think he might have been sacked, but he still had his amazing speed and he still moved well with the ball.
Unfortunately, the other two quarterbacks of note were not as impressive. Devon Gardner showed why I believe he needs a year as a redshirt. His arm strength was impressive, but it lacked consistent accuracy. He moved around well in the pocket and up-field, but he wasn’t as elusive as one might have hoped. Forcier, on the other hand, looked slow and rusty. Some of that might be because of his ankle problems, but most of it just looked sloppy. Towards the end, he did start showing signs of his amazing ability to stay in the pocket and make throws downfield, so hopefully the rust shakes off. For now, however, Robinson looks like the leading candidate for the starting job.
There was one more unpleasantness. Zoltan Mesko will be missed. Watching the kickers proved that. The field goal attempts were actually rather good, with some of the kickers hitting 40+ yard attempts in a swirling wind. The punters, however, were rather pathetic. In all seriousness, the best punt o f the day came from Forcier on one of his rugby-style kicks on a fourth down. I think one of the two punters did not connect on a punt for over 20 yards; one of them didn’t make five. So let’s pray that the punters spend some time in the off-season practicing, or you might see Tate out there for fourth downs too.
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