File. Today was a blue polo day.
News bullets and other items:
- Kyle Kalis’ back is fine, but Hoke cautioned that it could always flare up again
- Jake Butt and Delano Hill will not play Saturday. Hill will likely be back next week.
- Drake Harris and Ian Bunting could be redshirted
- Ty Isaac’s hardship waiver was denied; Michigan appealed the decision last week
Opening remarks:
"Okay, everybody ready? You ready? Thanks for coming. We have 72 hours until we kick it off. We’re excited about that and I think that’s something that every team in this country -- you've been practicing against each other, you've been doing things against each other. Our preparation has been good. I think there's a couple of things we are trying to teach every day are the good habits that you want from a fundamental and technique standpoint and so that's a goal for us. A goal for us [is] to play fast and play physical every Saturday with consistency.
“Yesterday we had to come inside which we didn't really want to, but that storm kind of came through and put us back inside but we had a good practice. We have continually, and Nuss[meier] has done this, done wet ball drills every week even when we've been outside so if we can get in those conditions, which we have a good chance to all the time in the fall. But mental errors, we had a little bit too many of those. We want to make sure we clean those up today but it was a good physical practice. We've got to clean up some areas though when you look at some of the mental errors on both sides of the ball."
Are all openers special no matter who the opponent is?
"Yeah, I think anytime [because] you never get a second chance to make a first impression. Also, as you go out there you want to see what kind of team and where you're at. I think it's important that every week you get improvement from your team and so this will be a starting point obviously that we'll have this weekend."
Are Delano [Hill] and Jake [Butt] the only ones that you're still worried about from an injury standpoint?
"Jake definitely will not play. Delano won't play. I think he'll be ready next week."
What's Drake Harris' status?
"He won't play. He's back in practice now and he's missed a lot of football so there's a good chance he'll be a redshirt this year."
What's your timetable for naming captains for this game and how will you inform them?
"Well, I'm going to meet with the seniors again and [the] leadership group and we’ll name them sometime before the game."
Maurice wasn't on the depth chart…
"Maurice Hurst?"
Yeah.
"He's on there. He's got a good chance of playing for us. It's just, how many guys do you want to list?"
Talk about what you plan to do with the rotation there. Is it going to be quite a bit?
"Well, we're going to start with the guys who are out there, the guys who are first up on the list unless they absolutely don't practice like they need to. I'm assuming that won't happen. Then we'll really just take it how the game goes. There's a good chance that if you're looking at certain positions, especially the interior of our front, I think all those guys are going to play some football for us."
[After THE JUMP: Kyle Kalis’ injury, tight ends, and a Ty Isaac waiver update]
Is [Kyle] Kalis back in line to start?
"I think that's the one position we're still, you know, figuring out if you want to call it that. They are both getting first-team reps, him and Joe [Burzynski]. Right now if we went out today Joe, he'll go first with the first team. Kyle, there was some concern with the back and how those things flare up. There was a little concern. How much do you give him because of that? And how much you work [Kyle] Bosch in on that side of it but I think we'll know a little better here in the next 48 hours."
Any update on Ty Isaac? You said his appeal was – did his request get denied?
"Yeah, the waiver got denied. The waiver got denied initially and then we appealed."
When did you guys appeal?
"Probably… today's Wednesday? Game week. Probably last week, midweek."
So you don't know…
"We don't know. We don't know how long it will take."
What kind of tight and production can you get from receiving standpoint and do you feel comfortable with them?
"Well, I think between Keith [Heitzman], AJ [Williams], and Khalid [Hill] – Khalid is a guy who's had a really good fall camp. He's gotten better so I think that's a big improvement. Is he an on-the-line tight end every time? No, he doesn't really fit that. He's more of an H-back, U-back, whatever you want to call it kind of guy. We've had some pretty good production. When AJ gets out in a route and catches the ball you notice him and it's a good thing, so we've had some real good production from them."
Is [Ian] Bunting a guy that can still help you there?
"You know what, I think as we go we’ll find out during the year but right now we'd like to try and have him take this year and try to get settled from all standpoints, academically and play and all those things."
With an early game, which is unusual for Michigan, what's your morning routine?
"Well, we’ll have a walkthrough. We’ll have a walkthrough across from Campus Inn at the church over there. I think that's like 73:0 so we’ll do that. Have our normal pregame then, meeting, then get on the buses."
With Kalis is it a pretty serious back injury that you're worried about?
"I think you're always worried about the back. Is it serious? Well, he's going full speed now. But backs have a tendency to flare up and I'm not going to get into specifics but he's fine right now."
You said early in camp that he would be your best option there.
"I thought he had a really good summer coming off of a good spring and early fall camp stuff. I thought he did a nice job."
On the running backs – have you seen any change in who…
"Derrick will be the guy who will take the first snap."
Much has been made of this match up since the start of camp but I'm curious, with the move towards autonomy in the big five and the college football playoff do you think we are going to see a lot more of these match ups with the smaller conferences against the power conferences?
"I would say probably not."
Why not?
"Well, I think it's going to be more of a… number one, what's your schedule going to be when you look at the playoff, the college football playoff. What that committee is going to take into account when you look at scheduling. I think athletic departments aren't going to be as willing to pay the payout that some of these teams are getting or asking for. I think the business side of that part of it will be part of the discussion also."