The Wolverine

February 2017

The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports

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FEBRUARY 2017 THE WOLVERINE 37   MICHIGAN FOOTBALL Wolverines score 40.3 points per game this season, No. 11 nationally and No. 1 in the Big Ten. U-M ended the season with 524 points, No. 5 all time behind only its 1901-04 point-a-minute teams. The offense ranked No. 111 nationally in points per game in 2014 with 20.9 the year before Harbaugh took over, and it averaged 31.4 points per game in 2015. Drevno is Harbaugh's longest-ten- ured assistant coach, having worked with his boss at San Diego from 2004- 06, Stanford from 2007-10 and with the NFL's San Francisco 49ers from 2011-13. He spent the 2014 season at USC before joining Harbaugh at Michigan in 2015. Brown ($880,000) and Drevno ($800,000) were already the Big Ten's highest-paid assistants in 2016. If the $2.4 million combined salaries are cor- rect it puts U-M's duo on par with some of last year's best paid, includ- ing LSU ($2.526 million), Texas A&M ($2.523 million) and Alabama ($2.4 million). STAFF TURNOVER CONTINUES AT MICHIGAN Michigan quarterbacks/receiv- ers coach Jedd Fisch left to become UCLA's offensive coordinator, and he will be replaced by Cleveland Browns associate head coach Pep Hamilton. "These 2 years have been so memo- rable! Learned so much, coached so many awesome kids, and worked with an A+ staff! Thank you @UMi- chFootball," Fisch tweeted. U-M will also have a new running backs coach after Tyrone Wheatley, a former Wolverine with a son on the current roster, took the same job with the Jacksonville Jaguars. The move reunites him with Doug Marrone, who he worked under at Syracuse and with the Buffalo Bills. Both Fisch and Wheatley served on Jim Harbaugh's Michigan staff the last two years. The Wolverines are also looking to replace director of player personnel Tony Tuioti, who left to coach the de- fensive line at Fresno State, and offen- sive analyst Jimmie Dougherty, who is now the wide receivers coach under Willie Taggart at Oregon. RASHAN GARY READY FOR MORE NEXT SEASON By all reasonable expectations, freshman defensive lineman Rashan Gary enjoyed a solid first year in a winged helmet. But when you come in as the consensus No. 1 recruit in the nation, expectations aren't always in line. Gary played in all 13 Michigan games, recording 27 tackles, five stops behind the line of scrimmage and one sack. He also posted seven quarterback hurries to tie for third on the team while learning the strongside defensive end position from fifth-year senior Chris Wormley. In a subdued Michigan locker room following the Orange Bowl, though, Gary felt both the pain of the loss and the desire to quickly advance from les- sons learned as a rookie. "In terms of learning things, like from [senior defensive end] Taco [Charlton] and Wormley, I'm very pleased," Gary said. "This year, I sat back and watched the older guys do it, so they could show the way. "I watched how to become a leader and how to separate yourself when things are down — how to be vocal. It's a big brother-little brother relation- ship, and I'm good in terms of that. "But performance-wise, whenever my number was called, I came in and did what I had to do." There certainly were disappoint- ments along the way, and those pro- vided some of the key points of in- struction for the freshman lineman. "When I mess up things, don't get frustrated," he noted of his greatest learning experience. "Don't get down on myself, because there is another play after. Don't let that marinate. If you mess up on one play, go on to the next." Given Michigan's loaded defensive line, Gary didn't step in as a starter in 2016. He'll certainly look to jump in there next year, but understood the situation. "I knew coming into college was a learning experience," he said. "I just came in to enjoy the process. My pro- cess was just sitting back and admir- ing what Taco was doing, what Worm- ley was doing. "At times like this — and they're out and I'm up next — I know what to do." Gary and his teammates hope to avoid times like they experienced in close games — three losses by a com- bined five points. "It's hard," he acknowledged. "I'm never used to losing. To know how hard we practice, how hard we train in the offseason, it just hurts. "But as a young guy, it's only going to make me hungrier for next year. We didn't do a good job of sending [the seniors] out the right way. But I love Worm, I love Taco, [Ryan] Glasgow, all the senior defensive linemen. I'm just happy to have played ball with those guys." Gary won't enter 2017 with lowered expectations, despite the heavy per- sonnel losses. "To me, with our class and the way the upperclassmen are, there's not go- ing to be a drop-off," he said. "This is only going to make us hungry going into the offseason." ❏ Gary compiled 27 total stops, five tackles for loss and a sack while seeing action in all 13 games during his true freshman campaign. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN 2017 MICHIGAN FOOTBALL SCHEDULE Date Opponent Result/Time (ET) Sept. 2 vs. Florida* TBA Sept. 9 Cincinnati TBA Sept. 16 Air Force TBA Sept. 23 at Purdue TBA Oct. 7 Michigan State TBA Oct. 14 at Indiana TBA Oct. 21 at Penn State TBA Oct. 28 Rutgers TBA Nov. 4 Minnesota TBA Nov. 11 at Maryland TBA Nov. 18 at Wisconsin TBA Nov. 25 Ohio State TBA Dec. 2 Big Ten Championship Game^ * at Arlington, Texas; ^ at Indianapolis

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