The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/495628
Head Coach Jim Harbaugh On Spring: The Process Is Ongoing Michigan didn't light off any fireworks in its spring game April 4, either lit- eral or figurative. Junior quarterback Shane Morris led the Blue to a 7-0 win over the Maize, paced by true freshman quarterback Alex Malzone. Perhaps more accurately, the Blue defense pitched a shutout, while the Maize only came close. Either way, head coach Jim Harbaugh found aspects to like and to focus on between now and September. Perhaps best of all, nobody limped or was carted off when the spring game came and went. "There were no injuries, as least not ones you don't come back from soon," Harbaugh said. "I was most pleased with that." Harbaugh focuses hard on putting together a strong, tough offense, and the spring demon- strated the Wolverines have a ways to go there. That wasn't unexpected, given a talented and veteran defense versus an offense with new quarterbacks, a developing run game and some pieces missing. The head coach gave the proper nod to his defenders. "Obviously, the defense played extremely well," Harbaugh noted. "There has been a lot of im- provement in our secondary, and that showed up again today. The pass rush is improving." Offensively, Harbaugh noted, there were some bright spots even on a low- scoring Saturday. "I thought [ junior quarterback] Shane Morris did a nice job, and [senior wideout] Amara Darboh," Harbaugh mentioned. "The running game, at times, was okay. You know it's not going to be real good in a spring game. It just never has been, especially with the format we had." He pointed out that, with teams drafted, the offensive line split into two squads, breaking up the continuity there. The running backs are still learning to find their way behind new blocking schemes, etc. Harbaugh expects more, without a doubt. He's also directed the development of teams before, and knows it's coming. — John Borton Harbaugh said of the spring game, "Obviously, the defense played extremely well. There has been a lot of improvement in our secondary, and that showed up again today." PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL