[Eric Upchurch]
News bullets and other items:
- Harbaugh saved timeouts because he planned to use them after second and third down and get the ball back with about 35 second to play; Iowa converted the third down.
- There were 10 guys on to block the field goal because they started with 12 guys and there was a miscommunication in the huddle about who was supposed to come off the field.
Any more on Wilton Speight?
“We’re gonna know more--It’s gonna depend just on how he feels.”
And can you talk about Jeremy Clark? Has he had the surgery, and have you guys started the petition at all with him for the sixth year?
“Yeah, he’s doing good. Surgery was successful and it’s a process. Where he is in the process is gathering the information, making a case. Soon.”
With Wilton, when do you think you’ll have to know to make a decision on him and is it a game-time decision at this point?
“Could be. As I said, when we’ll know is based on what the doctors say and how Wilton’s feeling, what he’s able to do during the week in terms of practice, etc.”
And it’s his shoulder?
“As I said, we’ll make that determination with the doctors and with Wilton.”
Do you at least know if there’s anything structural or is it just a soreness thing? Have you been able to determine that yet on Wilton?
“Um…as always, per our principle we don’t like to speak specifics.”
If need be, John O’Korn, have you seen enough of him in practice to be confident in him?
“Yes, yeah. Yes. John, Shane [Morris]. I especially would anticipate today, the next couple days at least, that they’ll get the majority of the reps. It’ll be good practice for them, but they’ve both had extensive practice time through the course of the year and yes, we are confident they will do a good job.”
[After THE JUMP: running-into-the-kicker calls, the program’s momentum when Harbaugh arrived, and praise for Indiana’s defense is definitely a thing now]
Nobody likes to lose, but can it sometimes help refocus a group knowing that you guys still control your own destiny and maybe get you back seeing a reinfused, reignited focus going into this week?
“I really thought our focus last week and every week going into every game has been a positive. You’re right, nobody—I know for sure, I can speak for ourselves, nobody likes to lose.”
What’s your understanding of when you can hit a punter that’s rolling out?
“When he’s outside of the—when he’s taken enough steps to be outside of the tackle box is my understanding.”
Did you think that play should have--
“I thought he was clearly outside of the tackle box, yeah.”
It’s just the first loss of the year, but when you lose a game, how do you balance—do you look at things, changes personnel-wise, or do you view it as one tight loss and not overreact, but you don’t want to underreact either. How do you deal with it?
“Um…the—come back Monday—today’s Monday—with an enthusiasm to make darn sure that doesn’t happen. Got a really good ball club coming in in Indiana. That’s a big game. That’s how we look at it, and we’ve got to get prepared so we can play our best this Saturday. That’s the mindset.”
Just to follow up to that, the fact that everything is still out there—the Big Ten title, everything else—does that help to keep your players engaged?
“Yeah, I mean, the engagement of the players has been a real positive week in and week out, no question about it; the way they practice, the way they prepare, the way they play on Saturday, that habit of winning. Now our goal is the same, which is win the next game.”
Chris Evans has gotten off to a pretty good start. Trying to think off the top of my head, but maybe the best freshman start since Chris Perry. What have you seen from Chris through the ten weeks, and when you’re giving him instruction, is there anything where you feel like he’s a little beyond a freshman as far as comprehension goes?
“Yeah, I would say that. [More advanced] than the average freshman football player, yes. He’s got real knack, instincts, very good, very good learner. Makes that a priority. That’s a real positive with him. It’s been plus-plus-plus with Chris.”
What’s Kevin Wilson been doing with Indiana in the time that you’ve watched them?
“Well, really coaching a good football team. Doing a very good job. The defense is an aggressive, athletic, fast [unit]. They create turnovers, they tackle extremely well, they cover a lot of the field physically. Really good defensive linemen. Active, athletic backers that cause a lot of the havoc, and very good players in the secondary.
“And they do a good job defensively with the scheme. They’re teaching a high volume of scheme to the defense. You know, man, blitz, zone blitz, different variations in the two-deep coverages as well as the single-high coverages, twists, multiple zone and blitz patterns. Just really—they’re getting a lot done on defense.
“Offensively, very effective. Put a lot of points on the board. They do a heck of a job.”
How much did you guys have to adapt not having Devin [Bush] in there. The linebackers, it seemed like they were having some challenges. Would he have been in the rotation there?
“Yeah, and especially he plays a high volume of plays on special teams and he is the third linebacker.”
What are the compensations you guys had to make in terms of that. Were there guys that normally fill that role, because you guys didn’t rotate a lot at linebacker?
“No, yeah, less rotation at linebacker and we had to replace him on all the special teams units.”
And that’s not just one guy that replaces him, that’s different guys that replace him on all the special teams units?
“Yeah, for the most part. Yes, multiple guys.”
Stopping the run was a little bit of a problem. Are you concerned about the D-line? It’s been a strength all year.
“Yeah, it continues to be. You gotta win two out of the three phases in a football game to win a football game. I thought our defense won that phase. Offensively, special teams, we did not feel like we won those two phases. That usually happens in a ballgame when you don’t win the game.
“I thought the defense played wining football and gave us a chance to win the game, and our defensive line continues to be a strength.”
Do you think you used Jabrill enough or too much or how do you feel about his participation Saturday?
“In the pass game? Offensively, yeah, we tried several ways to crack open the defense, to make plays, to get first downs, to score points. I think our longest gain in the game was maybe 12 yards in the running game. Jabrill had a couple real nice plays in there, but as a theme we weren’t able to manufacture enough yards on offense. Looking back, I don’t have an opinion whether we used him too much or not enough, to answer your question.”
If you do end up needing to go with John or Shane, how much does it help that they’ve been able to get in regularly this year to not have any rust build up, and does the offense change at all having those guys in there?
“I think it’s a positive that they’ve gotten game action.”
I wanted to ask about Rashan Gary. He seems to have quietly helped a lot but hasn’t had the big, explosive, impact plays that people suspected, but how has he grown and how much has Chris Wormley helped make an impact on him and helped get him settled in this year?
“Yeah, it’s—like Adam asked about Chris Evans, I think Rashan has made a big impact as a freshman ahead of normal, average production. He has been in on big plays. He contributes to a unit that’s one of our real strengths on the ballclub. Chris Wormley’s been outstanding. As good a teammate as you can be in terms of helping lead the entire team and also leading young players.”
Has his relationship with Rashan been especially close or a mentor-type situation?
“Yes, from my perspective it has. Chris is a solid guy to everybody. From my perspective, I don’t see him just singling a guy out. He’s got strong friendships and bonds with just about everybody on the team from what I can observe.”
With the last field goal they kicked, you guys had 10 on the field. What went wrong there? Was that just wires crossed?
“Yeah. Um…we started with 12 in the huddle and we were having Dymonte Thomas come out and I believe it was Tyree Kinnel—Dymonte came out and Tyree thought he was supposed to come out as well. That’s what happened.”
My other question was on the last drive, the field-goal drive, you guys called timeout right before they made a play. What was the reasoning to call timeout there as opposed to holding on to it? Just wanted to get your take on that.
“Yeah. Was hoping to get into—by then I had two timeouts left and I was gonna use them after second and third down to get the ball back with about 30 or 35 seconds to go in the game after the field goal attempt. When they ran the quarterback draw and made the first down on third down, knew that that wasn’t going to be an option anymore. That was the intent. We were trying to get the ball back for a last drive.”
For the seniors, it’ll be their last home game. Just reflect on what this class has meant to you and this program and what that’s like to have your last game at Michigan Stadium.
“It’s different. Remember it pretty well. But this class has meant so much to me personally, to Michigan football, to all of us. I look at these guys…the direction of the program was going a certain way almost like a locomotive. These upperclassmen, these senior and the guys last year as well—I mean, it’s a lot to get it stopped, to get the momentum stopped. It’s like stopping a freight train. I credit them for not only getting it stopped, but even hard, getting it turned on the tracks and headed the other direction.”
MGoQuestion: Going back to what you were saying about Indiana’s defense, would you say they have more variations on their two-deep and single-high coverages than you saw from their defense last year?
“Oh, from last year? Yes. Yes, I think so. It’s a lot. It’s as much as you’re gonna see in college football.”
When you haven’t lost a game all year and then you lose a tight game like this, do you have to do any uplifting of your team, rebuilding to let them know it’s not that bad? Does any of that have to go on at this point?
“You have to solider up. That’s what’s taking place. Have to prepare for a championship game, prepare for a big ballgame.”
Going back to being the last home game, can you reflect on your senior class and what they have done for this program? I know they have more games but this is their final home game—what they’ve done for your program and just everything the last two years and the culmination here playing their last game.
“As I said earlier, that’s the thing that stands out in my mind the most, and I give a great share of the credit to the guys that are playing in there, the senior class, the fifth-year class, guys that were in the program last year that were playing. The greatest share of stopping the momentum turning in a different direction. That’s very hard to do, and they deserve a lot of credit for that.”
How much discussion do you have with the players or the team as a whole about the rankings or scenarios in terms of the Big Ten or a wider view?
“About the same. It takes very little time to see. You know what they are and onward.”
You know what they are, but did you tell them--
“I think they know. I think if you asked them, most of them probably know it’s pretty accessible. To answer your question, not a deep, long conversation necessary.”