Ryan Glasgow
[Fuller]
[I jumped in mid-answer]
“We’ve got two coaches who love to hit. With coach Drevno the O-line is real tough this year. On the D-line we've had a lot of guys step up and play real hard, so it’s been a real hard-hitting camp.”
Talk about yourself and where you’ve made progress since the end of last season.
“I think Coach Mattison has helped me with my technique a lot and also coach [Will] Carr has helped me and Mo [Hurst] with our technique a lot. He's helped us out a lot. As far as technique, I feel like our effort has always been there but we haven't always been the sharpest technique-wise, but I think that’s been a lot better since last year.”
What makes coach Mattison such a good coach?
“I think it’s experience of coaching. He’s coached every type of line.”
And guys like Ray Lewis.
“Yeah, he’s coached every type of guy. He knows how to get to it with coaching. He’s not going to coach everyone the same. He knows how to push buttons in the right way, and he has really constructive criticism and I think that’s what makes him a good coach.”
Last year you did have a scholarship. Are you still technically a walk-on? Have you heard anything about a scholarship?
“No, I actually got one last year after the season.”
[After THE JUMP: Chesson, Rudock, and Bolden]
That’s tremendous, congratulations. Who told you that and when did you get it?
“Mike DeBord gave it to me before he left for Tennessee. It was actually- I got called in one day and it was actually in the coaches’ office and they were like, ‘Oh, Ryan, you’re getting a scholarship. You’ll want to go right over to compliance and sign your papers.’ I was like, ‘Oh, cool.’”
What does that mean to you? Both you and your brother have gone through this now.
“It means a lot. It’s kind of like a little validation for all the hard work you’ve put in. And my parents don’t have to pay for it, which is awesome. They like that, obviously. Out of state tuition is pretty high at this university, so I’m saving them a couple bucks. I don’t know. It’s pretty awesome.”
You go against your brother in practice. Talk about that.
“It’s gotten a lot more professional as the years have gone on. Before it was real personal. Like, if I got the best of him it was a lot of rubbing it in someone’s face or actually feeling pretty pissed off that you got your ass beat by your brother that day, but it’s gotten real professional. It’s gotten more to football as we’ve gotten older- like, ‘Hey, good play,’ in practice ‘but it’s not going to happen again’ type of deal. Like, ‘You beat my ass on this play but I’m going to come back and try to beat your ass the next’ so I don’t know. It’s pretty cool though, going against my brother every day and getting each other better with every snap.”
What do you do best and what does he do best?
“You know, he’s real tough. He’s a real wide-bodied guy, real long arms. It’s tough to get into his body, especially I’m a shorter guy, kind of got stubby arms. I think I play pretty low and he’s a little taller guy so sometimes I get under him, but he never stops running his feet. He plays really tough. I think that’s what he’s really good at.”
What do you do best?
“Uh, I don’t know. You might have to ask him that question.”
What do you think are your strengths? Is it strength, is it foot speed, what is it?
“I think probably effort is probably my best attribute. I’m always going to play hard. I might now always play with the best technique- I’m going to try to- but I’m going to try and play with low pads and great effort every play.”
You also played basketball-
“Yeah, back in the day.”
What was your position?
“I played a bruising power forward. Not really a big points scorer, but I’d snag a couple rebounds every game and do my part.”
What was your size coming in here and what’s your size now?
“Probably about 6’3 and a half, 275 or 280 and now I’m 6’3 and a half, 300.”
What are your thoughts on Utah? Looking at them on film, what do you have to be most concerned with about them?
“Utah, I think they’re a great team. I know they beat us last year. They’re pretty solid up front. They’re returning a lot of guys, a lot of skill players are coming back. They have a very formidable offense and we’ve worked every day with their tempo, trying to simulate it and trying to keep up with them and trying to go out to Utah and get a win.”
MGoQuestion: Have you been working exclusively at nose, or have you been moving to different spots along the line?
“I’ve been working mostly nose. Yeah, like nose probably 99% of the time for me.”
Jehu Chesson
[Glanzman]
What do you like about Joe Bolden and Joe Kerridge as captains?
“They both possess similar traits in terms of being leaders. They do things right all the time. Joe Bolden, just speaking on him, he's a great man on the field. Everybody wants to follow him. Same thing with Joe Kerridge, man. I mean, those guys like Joe Kerridge…so yesterday when we elected him, two years years ago yesterday he got his scholarship here at Michigan and then to be able to see him get elected captain… it's awesome because he came on as a walk-on. I mean, nobody expected much from him but the way he's been living his life ever since he's walked on this campus is a tribute to his family, to who he is, and to everyone who had a role in bringing him up. It's awesome. I’m excited to have those guys as my captains.”
Joe Bolden is very vocal. Is Kerridge vocal?
“Yeah, they're both vocal. I'd say Joe's more vocal – Bolden – but guys lead in different ways. Not everybody's a rah-rah guy. Not everybody is a… how would you say it… yeah, they lead in different ways. Joe Kerridge will kind of come up like, ‘Hey, let's go, we’ve got to pick up practice’ while Joe Bolden is more like ‘Let's go! Dah duh duh duh duh’ yelling at everybody.”
What were some of your conversations like with Joe Bolden through camp? Did you talk to him over the summer?
“All I've talked [to him] about is just the expectations for this team. He's a guy who loves football. As I've gotten to know Joe over the past few years he's just a guy who really loves the team and he really puts others before himself. As coach Harbaugh would say, he lifts those up around him and kind of falls into the background. That’s the kind of guy he is, and in the world’s eyes that’s a huge thing because he’s actually magnified in that situation.”
Being captain, has he been critical, kind of pointing out, ‘Okay, you guys need to improve this. You need to do this better.’ Is he one to point out specific things?
“In terms of critiquing? I mean, you need to know your boundaries, know your roles. He’s not a coach; he is a captain. In terms of our effort he leads great in that sense, but we’ve got to let the coaches do the coaching and yeah, that’s it.”
I meant as far as motivation-
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like I said, effort. If I need to run my route better Joe’s not going to hesitate yelling at me, ‘Hey, pick up the speed’ because he knows what I’m capable of and I know what he’s capable of and we have to hold ourselves to that high standard.”
You’ve seen the quarterback competition firsthand. Specifically with Jake and Shane, how have they progressed?
“Oh, they’ve done so much better with install after install after install. I mean, each guy has really helped each other too. And those other guys that don’t really seem to be in the running have all rallied around each other and helped each other to get better. As I said when I was at Big Ten Media Days, they all go in a room and they all help each other study because at the end of the day only one quarterback can play, but those quarterbacks are on the sideline giving them the signals so they need to be on the same page. Jake has progressed wonderfully, Shane has progressed wonderfully as well so we’re really looking forward to playing on Thursday.”
How quickly has Jake acclimated, since he’s only been here a few months?
“Yeah, he’s done a great job. He…gosh, it seems like just yesterday he came on campus, but he’s embraced everything. He hasn’t…he’s not a guy who complains. He doesn’t hang his head low. Guys are excited to follow him because he does things right. He comes in here with an attitude that we need to win every day; we need to stack little wins. So he just really brings what coach Harbaugh’s been teaching us and everybody here has [inaudible].”
How long did he take to establish himself as a leader?
“So there are two parts to that. Off the field it didn’t take long at all, and on the field in terms of making plays you obviously need to learn the playbook, so it’s not like he came here in the summer and boom, he was a leader. I couldn’t really say a timetable. Sometime during camp. Oh, gosh, maybe the first week or so, he really knew his playbook and started to make plays on the field and guys started to look up to him. Guys started to embrace him as a quarterback and also as a teammate.”
You know how tough it is for a freshman receiver to get in the mix. These young guys- Drake Harris, Grant Perry- do you think they’ll see playing time?
“Definitely, definitely. We have high expectations for everybody that plays the receiver position because the expectation is within the position. It doesn’t matter who’s playing it, you’ve got to fill the shoes and fill the roll of whatever you’re doing on the field. If they’re not ready to play they can’t play, but I’m saying here before you today that we have very talented guys, very talented young guys eager to learn. They’ve been flying around, so I expect to see them out there.”
Have you seen Drake Harris make some big plays?
“Oh yeah, I’ve seen him make tremendous plays.”
Can you give us an example of some things he’s done?
“Oh man. He runs his routes crisp. [He’s an] unbelievable jumper. He hooped a little bit in high school, so he has a vertical so he can get to the ball quick. He just…he tries hard, man. He really does. He tries hard. I’ve learned a lot of things from him too. We’ve just got to feed off of each other, feed off of each other’s energy and get it done as a group.”
Jake Rudock
[Fuller]
Where do you think your game has improved the most under Jim?
“I don’t know. That’s tough to compare without playing. Need to get out on the field and see what’s changed, but I think he’s helped with decision-making and understanding. You know, not everything is just 1,2,3, but understanding that sometimes you’re reading areas and sometimes you’re reading people, and I think that’s something you can kind of fine tune.”
How ready do you feel for the first game? Are you eager for Thursday? Do you wish you had more time?
“I think everybody is eager. Everyone wants to play. Guys don’t sign their naming saying, ‘Yeah, I want to go play against my own team all day, every day.’ So I think everyone’s eager and excited to play. We’ll use the time that we have to prepare.”
Jim didn’t rule out yesterday just having a straight No. 1 or a 1/1a or whatever it might be. Whatever it might be, what are your thoughts on that if it’s not that just you’re the starter or not just Shane’s the starter?
“I don’t know. I don’t really have any thoughts on that right now. I’m excited. I think everyone in this building is ready to play right now, ready to get started and help the team as best they can. All 11 guys will be ready to go, offense, defense, and special teams.”
The situation last year with CJ [Beatherd]- did you take anything away from having two guys gunning for the same job all season?
“Yeah, I mean, you have two guys always gunning for a job- you have three, guys, four guys sometimes. I think the biggest thing is not to focus on that, but just focus on what you can control.”
What are your impressions of Utah? They played a tough game here last year. What catches your eye when you look at them on film?
“They’re a tough, physical team. They really fly to the ball. All 11 guys on defense work really hard. They’ve got a good front seven and their secondary, they really understand what they’re trying to do. They may have a new coordinator, but it’s still- we’ll see what happens, but that’s the thing. First games are tough because you don’t have a lot of film, but you know kind of the culture. You know they’re going to play really tough, and they’re a well coached team.”
Joe Bolden
[Fuller]
Not to put too much pressure on you, Joe, but you’re kind of a captain here at a pretty critical juncture in Michigan history for all the obvious reasons. How do you view that? That it’s not just a normal year to be a captain, it’s kind of a different time to do this.
“Uh, ha, an honor. I guess that’s as simple as I can describe that. But no, it’s just you try not to concern yourself with what’s going on, what other people think, and I just said this in another interview but if they don’t need to know then they don’t need to know and they don’t need to know for a reason, so why concern yourself with what they are saying when you don’t need to know it…if you followed me through that whole spiel right there.”
Who’s they?
“Outside people. People outside Schembechler Hall. Coach Harbaugh talked about the submarine; nobody outside the submarine needed to know what’s going on inside.”
The other Joe [Kerridge] was just talking about when the vote went down and coach Harbaugh coming out…were you sitting there thinking ‘This could be me’? You had to give a little speech- were you thinking about that at all?
“Um…gosh, leading up to it it was really- you know, the meeting room…you know, you leave 18- to 23-year-old guys sitting in a meeting room for 15 minutes alone [and there’s] a lot of chatter, a lot of talk, some about football, some about not football, some guys joking with one another but leading up to that I really…it is what it is. The expectation was probably there.
“Personally, I felt like I haven’t screwed up anywhere along the way. There’s a fine line you walk when you have to do things right, and as long as you’re walking on that line you’re doing things right. It’s just another great honor to be named and actually be viewed that way by your teammates.”
As a leader of this group, all the craziness of last year was just kind of a constant pressure cooker. This year with the spotlight from Harbaugh and all that stuff…how much does last year’s spotlight prepare the group for going through this now?
“Oh, gosh. I don’t think last year…last year’s not talked about. It is what it is. We didn’t perform. We didn’t do well. We didn’t end well. If you don’t execute then you don’t get the result you want, and I think guys realized that. They said, ‘Alright, January, we’re back to work. It’s a new team. It’s a new year.’ We’re just ready to focus on Utah and play more football games.”
Shane said he’s more mature this year. Have you noticed that? Can you tell the difference in him from last year or the year before?
“Yeah. I guess mature in what way? Facial hair?”
/laughs
I don’t know. He was just saying he understands the importance of studying and focus…
“Yeah, I’ve definitely seen Shane- you know, I was here when he rolled in. Even before he rolled in he was around a lot, as all of you know, but Shane’s matured as an individual, as a football player, and as a leader.”
Your roommate Desmond Morgan is coming back this year. What does this mean for him to get that second opportunity after a lost season?
“Yeah, I think Des is very thankful, very excited. Been itching. He played one game last year and I think he played pretty well in that game. He’s ready to get on the football field again. Like I said, it’s a new team, new energy. He’s just ready to go.”
How did he handle last year?
“Good. He’s on the sidelines right with the linebackers, with everybody telling us what he sees on the field, what maybe we don’t see. You’ve only got two eyes; you can only look at so many things at one time, so Des was an extension of coach Matty last year.”
