2022 spring game

So yeah, I'm UFRing the Spring Game. Did you want recruiting roundups instead? Yeah, that's what I thought. Anyway you're not supposed to read much into spring stuff except I noticed they were still doing a thing that annoyed me a lot last year.

If you missed all that, there was a running question through these exercises whether Cade McNamara's keep reads were hot or if they were determining what their post-snap mesh results were going to be beforehand. This was true for RPOs as well as zone reads. And it made life hard because I couldn't tell for certain if the coaches were telling McNamara to give no matter what, or if that was just how he was reading things, or maybe he was reading something else.

With the benefit of an offseason and Sherrone Moore's recent coaching clinic, where he echoed Josh Gattis's claim that they put reads on all this stuff, I think I can say it was mostly on McNamara.

However there were a few instances where his coaches gave him a read that wasn't the thing that turned out to be wide open. And I wanted to call attention to that, not because Michigan's missing out on some easy yards, but because I think they're making a conscious decision about this, and…you're going to laugh…it kind of makes sense.

The Wide Open Bubble

Let's begin with this play from the spring game.

Maize has Darrius Clemons in the backfield (the one on top) as a split-back flanking McNamara with Donovan Edwards. Clemons takes an orbit motion to the opposite flat, but nobody goes with him. The defense is blitzing the slot safety, Caden Kolesar, behind a crash from the OLB, Jaylen Harrell. That means there isn't anybody for Clemons until the deep safety.

McNamara is clearly looking at Kolesar. Kolesar is clearly the slot defender in the best position to be running outside with Clemons. Kolesar is clearly blitzing. And yet McNamara gives. Why?

We're going to ignore the play's result (it's a risky but successful demolition of Counter GT by Kris Jenkins) to focus on what McNamara does after the handoff. First thing he does is look at Clemons. And probably feels kinda bad.

But it's what Cade does next that interests me. This is a trot, but he's clearly been practicing this as a rollout/QB run.

The look to Clemons suggests that's an option. But given his reaction to Kolesar, I think I can say with some confidence that McNamara wasn't reading Kolesar on an RPO bubble to Clemons; he was reading Kolesar on a QB keep with a pitch option to Clemons.

1 hour and 39 minutes

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1. Spring Game - Offense

starts at 1:00

It's been so long since there was a spring game we could actually talk about. Instead of a punting exhibition we got Donovan Edwards and Blake Corum smack-talking each other from across the field. It was fun. Davis Warren looked to be functional, Bowman maybe not as much. Yes, Alex Orji's name is pronounced the way you think it is. Mullings might be the closest to replacing Hassan Haskins as the power back (Wisconsin recruited him for running back, after all). Idaho... Almost impossible to grade the offensive line based on how much it was mixed around but the starting five are probably decided anyways. Comment below if you think Seth should UFR the Spring Game!

Team Blue defeated Team Maize down at the Big House today in Michigan Football's 2022 Spring Game by a final score of 20-12. It was a day filled with refereeing quirks (including flags thrown by Jim Harbaugh), extravagant celebrations, and plenty of little-known walk ons. An exhibition game doesn't merit a detailed recap like we'd do for a regular season game, since the flow and narrative of the game is not important, but I felt it would still be good to put a post up on the site so all of you can rant in the comments. I presume Seth or Brian will have more detailed takes after a proper re-watch during the week, but this piece will give you a few quick kneejerk takes and observations about what we just witnessed: 

[Patrick Barron]

OFFENSE

Davis Warren has a cannon for an arm. Today we got a sizable glimpse at walk-on backup QB Davis Warren, who has been battling Alan Bowman for the QB3 designation in spring practice. What stood out the most about Warren was his huge arm, zipping the ball down the field and attempting several deep balls, two of which connected (one to Donovan Edwards and one to Amorion Walker). Warren has more raw talent than your typical walk-on due to his unique story, and that seemed apparent today. 

Alex Orji is Joe Milton 2.0. You could say the same about Orji in terms of arm strength, but his accuracy was rough. Orji went 1/7 for 9 yards, and most of his throws were way overthrown, rifled over a receiver's head or 10 yards too deep. However, his muscular build was apparent, rushing seven times for 35 yards, including one 23 yard keeper. Team Maize dialed up a couple designed Orji keepers in short yardage situations, so if you're looking for who will fill the VillariCat role this season, it looks like Orji. 

Michigan's skill position players are all good at throwing. With the memory of Donovan Edwards' bomb in the B1G Championship Game still fresh in the mind, Team Blue dialed up two different double pass plays and both worked. Darrius Clemons and Erick All both delivered accurate balls that were completed for 21 and 31 yards, respectively. At this point you have to wonder how many of Michigan's skill position guys can throw the football accurately. 

Darrius Clemons hype is real! Michigan's true freshman receiver answered some of the hype he's been getting in spring ball by emerging as Team Blue's favorite receiver. He made three catches for 52 yards, and the most memorable (by far) was a diving 35-yard TD catch. Clemons toasted Joshua Luther down the seam and Alan Bowman overthrew the pass. Clemons laid out and hauled it in, leading to a selfie celebration in the end zone. Kid looks good. 

A nice game for Tavierre Dunlap. The Wolverines have an open competition for the burly back role behind Corum and Edwards, and Dunlap is currently the favorite. Today's performance was a nice showing from the RS freshman in his pursuit of that job. Dunlap rushed 18 times for 73 yards and a TD, looking confident running the ball. He did drop a screen pass, but he likely won't be asked to do that much when the season gets started. 

[Patrick Barron]

DEFENSE

Lots of blitzes. You weren't supposed to hit the QB as part of the rules, but that didn't stop the defenses from getting pressure. Both teams dialed up plenty of blitzes and a lot of them got home. You never show anything schematic in an exhibition game, so there's not much to read into it, but I found it a rather interesting development. 

So far, so good for Mike Sainrstil, The Corner. Sainristil didn't pop up much at his new defensive position, but he did memorably get a PBU on Andrel Anthony and looked comfortable doing it. We also saw Sainristil on offense on one occasion too, suggesting that he may feature on both sides of the ball this fall.

Flashes from Mason Graham. The true freshman DT has been getting some spring buzz and he featured in a few moments, including when he drew a holding call on new center Victor Oluwatimi. Graham showed good burst off the line of scrimmage and it seems like the hype that he could see playing time this fall might have some legs. 

A solid showing from German Green. The brother of Gemon has seldom seen time away from special teams in his Michigan tenure, and that figures to stay the same this fall, but he did show up in the secondary today. Green broke up a couple passes and I felt it was still worth it to shout him out. 

The first look at Will Johnson. I didn't notice the 5* true freshman CB all that much today, but he held his own in the end zone against a route run by Cornelius Johnson. That's not the easiest assignment for a young player, but Johnson did fine. That's about all I can say after first watch.