Spring the 4th: a little different than Spring the 1st. [photo: Eric Upchurch]

As fans of Kansas, Villanova, and Loyola-Chicago have informed me, Michigan is the only Final Four team that fields an FBS football program, let alone a hockey program, putting us in the unique position of reading tea leaves and entrails from spring practice at the same time that two real life championships are a pair of actual real life games away.

--------THIS IS YOUR FRIENDLY MGOBLOG REMINDER THAT YOU DO IN FACT NEED TO BREATHE IN ORDER TO SURVIVE AND SHOULD PROBABLY DO SO NOW--------

The general form of this annual exercise is the fans go in hoping to hear certain things, and then pressers, videos and the odd practice insiders confirm, ignore, or dodge them with miniscule data. So I’m trying this in a new, more spring-reflective format.

New Harbaugh:

What we want to hear: Depends if you’re a Patton guy or an Eisenhower guy.

What we’ve heard: Harbaugh’s gone Eisenhower.

The players have noticed a change in their coach in large part because he sought input from them after the bowl game that capped an 8-5 season. He held a team meeting in January after the bowl game, and they shared their feelings.

“We had a sour taste in our mouth,” Higdon said. “I did, he did, everybody in this facility. He was open, (saying) ‘What do we need to do? What can I do?’ How often do you see that from a coach, asking his players? That’s stronger than anything.”

What it means: We’re picking through pabulum here. There was a sense coming from outside Schembechler Hall that Harbaugh was doing more face guy/program ambassador work, but he does all those things in the time that he’s literally not allowed to spend with his players. From the players’ responses though it does seem he’s been less aloof.

What it probably means is the coaching staff is taking last year’s failings seriously, and they’re trying to emphasize to the fans that they’re doing so.

Also Jim’s going to be a grandpa soon.

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[After THE JUMP: Stop me if you’ve heard this before but the defense sounds way more optimistic than the offense]

--------ALSO THIS IS ANOTHER FRIENDLY REMINDER THAT YOUR BLOOD DOES NEED OXYGEN AND YOU SHOULD PUT SOME OF THAT IN YOUR LUNGS RIGHT NOW--------

Quarterback

What we’ve heard: They did in fact get McCaffrey a cookie. [Chris Cook]

What we want to hear: Shea Patterson is lighting it up, but the young QBs had some lights go on and are going to push him hard. The words “Andrew Luck.”

What we’ve heard: Patterson can escape the pocket, the defense plays him with more contain, and via several sources he popped off a 75-yard TD run the other day. The players like him; Rashan going so far as to use a word known for making Aces swoon:

“He’s swaggy,” junior defensive end Rashan Gary said. “He’s a good, athletic kid. He’s got a big arm, and he likes to get outside the pocket a little bit, so I’ve got to watch how we contain. Coach makes sure we (keep) contain on him. Having him around changes the offense a little bit.”

Patterson walks into Don Brown’s office to learn coverages, which probably sounded like a good idea until Brown was like “We’re playing man to man, bub.” UMBig11 posted an insider thread that confirms the athleticism is immediately apparent:

The only real highlight appears to be Patterson and his ability to escape and make big plays. I think every UM fan either expected that or wants to hear it.

On the eligibility front the good news: Ole Miss has responded to Patterson’s transfer waiver request. The bad but expected: we suppose it wasn’t “sure, go ahead” because we would have heard that instead of Patterson et al.’s lawyer saying it’s submitted. The decision goes to the NCAA, and Patterson/Michigan’s camp remains pretty confident. For 247 insiders, Sam has a much more detailed take($) that includes potentially significant information about how the NCAA is handling all the Ole Miss waiver requests.

Regarding the state of Patterson’s competition, this is umbig11 responding to a question about McCaffrey:

Rising to the challenge. DM put on good weight. Neck and neck with Peters.

What it means: This isn’t a savior situation yet—they’re all still getting to know each other and nobody’s yet had an opportunity to run the offense. But Patterson’s floor is at least better than 2017 O’Korn.

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Running Back/Fullback

What we want to hear: Fred Jacksonian things from not-Fred Jackson. The cries and lamentations of villagers running from whatever sector Ben Mason’s recently marauded.

What we’ve heard: Higdon and Evans are working on pass protection, and their roles in different sets. Samuels and Walker are coming along nicely. Also this from Jay Harbaugh…

Jim said you’re sharing Ben a little bit with the defense now, Ben Mason?

“Yeah, Ben can do everything, so giving him an opportunity to smash more people is always a good idea.”

Murderfacing the countryside,
Murderfacing the peasants,
Murderfacing all the peoples,
And their thatched-roof COTTAGES!
THATCHED-ROOF COTTAGES!

However the backup situation sounds dodgy.

“Ben and Wangler are the two top guys, then after that Matt Brown is doing a very nice job. After that it’s a bunch of guys who are competing their tails off and are capable of playing. No one’s really emerged from that group yet, though.”

What it means: The guys are the guys and they’re doing as they’ve done. We haven’t yet heard Wangler is doing more than holding off some walk-ons so the door is open for instant Ben VanSumeren this fall. It also makes me think they’ll do more TE-heavy sets this year instead of having a fullback out there all the time.

Offensive Line

What we want to hear: Everything’s going to be fine, especially at left tackle because James Hudson, James Hudson, JAMES HUDSON! Also we’re still digging out the rubble but we think Chuck Filiaga killed a guy.

What we’ve heard: Steve Spanellis is the sixth-best offensive lineman. Grant Newsome’s going to give it a go in fall.

What it means: No, the tackle spot isn’t fixed yet; hope they find one by the end of spring and two by fall.

Tight End & Receiver

What we want to hear: Wooo DPJ! Tarik Black right back to it. Look at McKeon and Gentry block! Oliver Martin looks special. Niko Collins silky smooth.

What we’ve heard: The Niko part.

What it means: Maybe not much but the passing game is a point of concern already and I’d like to hear some things about passing plays other than how far the new quarterback can run on them. Umbig11 says probably don’t worry:

Quiet day for the most part. The focus was on technique and repetition at the skill positions. The OL had too many moving parts to get a feel for 1's or 2's etc. The backs and recievers had a lot of one-on-one coaching moments. This seemed to be more like a day of conditioning, coaching, and learning.

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Defensive Line

can we still hold the meetings in Barrett’s spleen? [Patrick Barron]

What we want to hear: Sweet hype for Dwumfour. Nice things about the nose tackles. Something about the young backups. Gary and Winovich are going to be the best DE duo in the country.

What we’ve heard: Gary was like “Yo Chase let’s be the best DE duo in the country!” Winovich talked to 247’s Isaiah Hole about Chase’s decision to come back, which came down to unfinished business after the Outback Bowl/his teammates.

“At the beginning, I think a lot of the guys were pitching the opposite. Like, 'This is your chance, man. What are you doing? We want you to come back, but go make some money. This is your time!' And then, I think as it got closer, it was funny – like Devin Bush, for example was like, 'You can't leave us! What do you mean you're thinking about going?'

At DT it’s a bit more muted. Don Brown talked about Mone strictly in terms of a run-plugging platooner, even mentioning his intention to get him off the field for pass rushing. That’s a ceiling beneath that of the rampant true freshman from the 2014 Penn State game, but on par with what we saw last year, and still quite good. Lawrence Marshall gets more talk than the redshirt freshmen, so it would appear the DT depth chart is pretty solid at Solomon-Dwumfour-Mone-Marshall, and maybe some Kemp. “Sky is the limit” for Solomon, which yeah, but I choose to read that as the coaches want to see him take a next step that he hasn’t yet.

On the outside, Kwity Paye is happening while Luigi Vilain is still injured and we’ve still not heard the name “Ronald Johnson” at all. Early enrollee Taylor Upshaw was prompted at the presser, and got the “he needs to eat fatty foods” response that presages an obvious redshirt. I’m sure you’re going to accuse me of bringing this up just to show Don Brown’s impression of Taylor Upshaw in his first defensive meeting, so go ahead and accuse:

They’re sitting in the meeting room as we’re putting in the first install and if I looked at them this would be their expression:

I can already see it in your eyes, Bacon.

What it means: It’s a very good DL, but not quite a Wormley-Hurst-Glasgow-Taco-Gary-Godin-Winovich unit yet, nor expected to be.

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Linebacker

Word is Gil is up about 35 hit points [Bryan Fuller]

What we want to hear: Exactly everything we’ve been hearing, particularly from Don Brown, but RBs coach Jay Harbaugh and umbig11 both independently mentioned how good the linebacker group looks.

What we’ve heard: Really nice things about all the freshmen, Devin Bush Jr. is a team leader, and Devin Gil is happening! Don Brown’s presser:

“Well, this Devin Gil? Dude now. Probably if you said to me ‘Who’s benefited the most from Ben Herbert?,’ he has. He’s faster, he’s bigger, he’s stronger. Smarts was never an issue, and it’s hard to say this but Mike McCray was so damn smart and had such just a good, solid instinct about how the game’s supposed to be played and his fits and you could tell him things week to week and change it one gameplan to another and he was great. This is that kind of guy, except I didn’t know if athletically—if you had asked me a year ago athletically can this guy make it, I would have been eh, I don’t know yet. He can make it.

What it means: Put to rest any fears you had about replacing last year’s captain. The pecking order doesn’t seem to be as important because they’re all going to see the field, but it’s even money if Gil or one of the freshmen start at WLB now.

Also a Wild Uche has appeared:

Then you take Uche, who, he’s a package guy but now he’s becoming a linebacker. Played in high school with his hand on the ground. Now all of a sudden he’s doing a much better job in coverage and just playing at a much higher, higher level. He, Furbush, Khalkee, Glasgow, and then I’m kind of bouncing around with personnel groups like we do on third down.

I’m not quite Ace-on-Poole for Uche, but I’m not quite not.

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Safety

What we want to hear: They can go two deep at every safety spot.

What we’ve heard: JKP is really smart and is going to be a big part of the team this year. Metellus has improved and is holding onto his job despite a strong push from J’Marick Woods.

What it means: A titch of improvement over last year but without the cringing feeling that an injury could end the season.

Cornerback

one to keep an eye on [Erich Upchurch]

What we want to hear: Everybody’s healthy and working on little things, and insiders repeating the name “Ambry Thomas” with increasing excitement.

What we’ve heard: Literally got this as a text from a practice insider yesterday:

“Ambry Thomas Ambry Thomas AMBRY THOMAS!!!!!!!!!”

…and this has been the first take from just about every observer. Brown brought up an eye-opening play where Ambry apparently ran down some kind of WR screen that a non-Peppers human shouldn’t be able to get to.

Also Don Brown saw a Spyder:

“Uh, Myles Sims? Had a big play today. Not out of place. I’m talking about you watch him make a break on the ball and I kind of went Damn, he’s big [holds hands level with the top of his head].

That might be filed under cornerback or safety I don’t know.

--------BREATHE EVERYBODY. EVERYBODY BREATHE--------

Chag same’ach.