The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/495628
up very quickly, and you're not go- ing to have to worry about him and a playbook at all. He will have it down pat. He'll know what to do, knows how to read defenses. "I can't say enough good things about him. He just got an incredibly bad rap in a bad situation where the fans didn't like the offensive coordi- nator." The last straw for the 6-3, 208-pound Rudock at Iowa may have come when the Hawkeyes listed him as the sec- ond-stringer in a post-bowl depth chart. Rudock threw for 4,819 yards and 34 touchdowns over two years, but was replaced by sophomore C.J. Beathard in the TaxSlayer Bowl loss to Tennessee at the end of the 2014 season. Beathard remained in front of him in a rare depth chart put out well prior to spring football, and Rudock began looking around. According to Kakert, there are no issues with him whatsoever. "Jake's a great kid," Kakert said. "He's pre-med, going to be a pedi- atric surgeon, I believe … help kids. He's a world-class kid, a great stu- dent, is going to graduate and wants to go to med school after football is done. I can't tell you what a nice, good guy Jake Rudock is. They don't make them better." On the field, Kakert added, Ru- dock did precisely what the coaches called on him to execute. "That's the sign he's coachable," Kakert said. "[Iowa head coach] Kirk Ferentz, as you know, he's allergic to turnovers. The safest play is the right play; don't take a bunch of chances. And he would get them into the right play. If it meant checking down to a run, a stretch play, something, just a dump-off pass, that's what he would do to try to avoid making turnovers. "That's what he did. Fans always want offense. They're going to get that this fall with Beathard, but Rudock was really good his soph- omore year at the end of the year. That Michigan game, he led them back from 21-3 down back to a win. The next week. they went to Lincoln and pummeled the Huskers. He had some good moments. His arm is adequate, though you're not going to confuse him with a guy with a cannon arm. But he can throw it far enough to be effective." With Michigan junior Shane Morris struggling in the Wolverines' spring game April 4, completing 11 of 24 passes (45.8 percent) — though his receivers dropped five balls — Ru- dock could find himself in an ideal situation when he arrives in Ann Ar- bor, if he can win over his new team- Jedd Fisch, U-M's passing game coordinator and quarterbacks and wide receivers coach "I've known Jake for a long time, since 2011, and I am excited to be a part of the staff that is now coaching him. I think that Jake brings great maturity and experience to the program."