Michigan Football Tidbits: Going into Spring Football -- Running Backs

Posted at 8:00am -- 3/12/2010

Michigan Football Tidbits: Going into Spring Football -- Running Backs

It is mid-March and the football team will soon be into spring ball. Below is what we think of a few key players:

Of course, the GBMW staff will have a better, more complete idea in a couple of weeks, but this is where the opinion is riding heading into spring football, now less than one week away.

Developing / finding a go to running back is priority #1 for offense in our opinion.

Mike Cox:

GBMW starts off with the player that everybody seems to forget about the most within this position group. Mike Cox is a player that works hard in the off-season and last year won an award from Coach Barwis.

Can he step in this year and replace Brandon Minor in a big back roll that helps this offense be more effective by efficiently moving the chains?

Now is Cox’s chance to show what he can do and with Vincent Smith out this spring, Mike will get more reps and therefore an opportunity to impress the coaches. He just needs to show on the practice field that he is ready to take the next step and start making it happen.

Michael Shaw:

Can he finally stay healthy? He has caught the same disease that Carlos Brown and Brandon Minor picked up their entire football career at Michigan -- being injured.

Shaw has great talent, maybe most of the group. Combination of size, speed and explosiveness.

Fitzgerald Toussaint:

With Vincent Smith out, Fitz will definitely get a lot of reps, along with Shaw, at the running back position that features smaller backs.

Fitz is a very explosive player and he could be this year’s starter, that is how talented he is. But like everything else on this team, time to see it happen on the field.

Injuries to players always seems to get them a lot healthier and ready to compete when they know their playing time is on the line. Therefore, we envision Vincent Smith will be ready to go in late summer and going into fall practice he will be full go and 100%.

Austin White and Stephen Hopkins:

With depth issues and injuries, one would think either or both (White or Hopkins) could see playing time this year. This might depend on who gets injured or does not play well ahead of them. If a player like Cox does not do well, then Hopkins might get the nod, but if injuries continue to pile up to players like Shawn and Smith then White might see playing time

It would be nice if both could red-shirt, but at this position and with health issues, we only see one of them red-shirting.

Written by GBMW Staff

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