Several of us went to the Michigan Coaches clinic and were able to watch the practices and drills. The first day was shorts and helmets, second day was full pads, and third day was scrimmage. Of course, the players need to continue to work hard and keep on developing, but this is what we saw so far this spring.There is a lot of talent at the split end position. Trick will be finding players who fit this system and who are willing to do the things necessary for this offense to succeed.
A clarification regarding the drills they ran during practice was the quarterback and the wide receiver one on one with the cornerback. The wide receiver had the whole field in which to run one of three routes. Warren and other cornerbacks had to start out by using very close press coverage. They had officials at the practice to call any interference of any kind. Therefore, in this drill the wide receivers had a huge advantage and should have won. The impressive part about Stonum (being a freshman) was his ability to get off the line of scrimmage.
If season started today:Mathews (SE), Stonum/Savoy (SE), and Clemons (SL)
Split Ends:
Matthews:
He did not practice so hard to comment on him without seeing him, but we know what he can do. He is fearless over the middle and has excellent hands and concentration. He is also a physically strong player who is good blocker. Coaches do think he needs to continue his development with Barwis and increase his speed to help alleviate his lack of true speed. Mathews has improved his quickness and explosive abilities a great deal, but he is not the fastest wide receiver on the roster. Mathews has improved his quickness and explosive abilities a great deal. He is fearless over the middle and has excellent hands and concentration. He is also a physically strong player who is good blocker.
Stonum:
Strengths:
By now, you know we think Stonum was the star of spring that has had an excellent spring for a high school senior. He simply is the most impressive freshmen wide receivers have seen and he has amazing football speed. He has good hands seems willing to go over the middle and gets off the line. He is more physical than people think and he has the total package and he is type of split end who can thrive in this offense. He is the most physically gifted wide receiver on the roster at this time. Just might be fastest player on team regardless of position. In addition, have good hands and runs better routes than most freshmen do do at this stage of his career.
Weakness:
He is a freshman and like most freshmen sometimes need to listen and become more coach able. Not worried about it though because Coach Dews has been on him hard, but they like putting him in very tough situations like going against Warren in one on one drills. He needs to learn to play without the ball because in this offense the split ends blocking is as important as catching the ball. Of course as a freshman he needs to work on his blocking and got pulled a couple of times for missing his block.
Hemingway:
Did not practice so hard to tell how he is doing, but from all indications he had an excellent spring going before his injury. He is type of split end who can do well in this offense.
Savoy:
Strengths:
He is very physical and loves to mix it up.He plays very hard and he will knock you out if he could. Has good hands and willing to go into traffic. He has improved his ability to get off the line and seems to be a good team guy. Probably the best blocker out of the split ends practicing during the clinic (Mathews did not practice). By the way, Savoy went up against Trent and Warren who did well.
Weakness: He is not fast and has trouble getting separation and getting off press coverag. He is not a game-breaker. Will probably be in the mix, but will contribute mostly as a team player.
Babb
Strengths:
He is physically gifted and has good straight ahead speed who can add another deep route runner. He is somewhat polished compared to some others. He has average to good hands.
Weakness: He is not a good route runner and breaks, and especially coming out of breaks. As fast as he is he is not quick and probably most troubling he has a tendency not to listen. He talks back to coaches at times and has a long way to go who needs to dedicate himself more or he is going to put him in a position where he may never play much at Michigan. He lacks experience after playing defensive back last year and needs work on his routes.
Rogers:
Strengths:
He is very fast and runs the fly route well. He definitely shows some ability and is hard worker.
Weakness:
He is very raw. He has all kinds of trouble running routes and getting off line. He has average hands and is not strong enough. Rogers needs another year of development and at this point seems to be a man without a position. He is very thin and not overly physical. Lacks experience after playing defensive back most of last year and spring.
Slot Receivers:
Clemons:
Strength:
Right now, he is the only one on team that will play. They wanted to use C. Brown quite a bit in slot this spring, but he is hurt. Clemons has developed into a player who is going to be a starter on this team. Coaches love him and he has seemingly gained a ton of speed. He is very versatile, strong who can run screens, reverses, etc. He has great combination of size, speed, good hands, physical and will do anything that is asked of him. Be shocked if he does not start somewhere. Just has an outstanding skill set who has really improved his conditioning and looks faster. Major props for him going out in spring and giving everything he has at difficult position for him
Weakness:
Must get consistent and show it on game day. Not sure slot is the right position in this offense especially with some of the smaller slot type freshmen coming in this fall. Just not quite as good in space or ball carrier. Twice during the clinic if had, a better ball carrier would have had a huge gain instead of just a good gain
written by CoachBt, MaizeMan and ErocWolverine
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