The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/80972
WHAT'S OLD IS NEW U-M Is Going Back To The Basics With Its Running Backs I BY ANDY REID n his 21-year career as Michigan's running backs coach, Fred Jackson has had his fair share of high-profile, nationally sought- after recruits. Ball carriers such as Chris Perry, Anthony Thomas and Chris Howard all shunned a bevy of offers to choose the Wol- verines. In recent years, though, that hasn't exactly been the case. Mike Hart, who set program records for career rushing yards (5,040) and attempts (1,105) between 2004-07, was a little-known prospect out of Syracuse, N.Y., when Jackson put him on a path toward greatness. The Wolverines' current go-to back, redshirt junior Fitzgerald Toussaint, who last year became the 32nd player in program history to rush for 1,000-plus yards in a season (1,041), was a four-star pros- pect out of Youngstown, Ohio, but at the time of his commitment, he held just five other offers, from middling BCS programs like Pitts- burgh, Cincinnati and Illinois. And youngsters such as sophomore Thomas Rawls and incoming freshman Drake Johnson were nearly invisible on the recruiting trail before committing to the Maize and Blue. every year, and Vince knows better than anybody what I expect from my backs. If I didn't go to practice one day, he could go out there and know and tell the guys what they needed to do." "Your senior takes over the position RUNNING BACKS COACH FRED JACKSON ON VINCENT SMITH "You have to have confidence in your own ability to assess talent," Jackson said. "After coaching running backs as long as I have, you know exactly what you're looking for. As a coach, you can't listen to the guys who are assigning five stars or four stars or whatever. They don't coach running backs. They can say whatever they want, but I have to trust myself. "I don't care when someone says, 'Fred, I don't know why you took that kid.' I'll say, 'I don't know either, man.' And then when he goes out there and beats you, you'll know why I took him." It's sometimes hard to define what, exactly, sparks Jackson's inter- est about a specific running back. It's certainly not physical attributes — he's molded players from Hart, 5-9, 209, to Tyrone Wheatley, 6-1, 225, into dominant running backs. And although there are obvious benefits to having a tailback that can run fast, that's not a defining characteristic for Jackson, either. "Speed for a running back is overrated. It's all about moving the chains," he said. "You can score fast — and you saw that here when we had the No. 1 offense in the Big Ten in 2010 — and that may not help your team. You want someone who can move the chains, and eventually, they're going to break a big one. I call it the 'Tick, Tick, Tick, Boom' theory. That's what we want from our running backs." When Jackson sets out to identify the next Michigan running back, it all comes down to one trait, because if he has it, the rest will follow. "The No. 1 thing I look for in a running back is toughness," Jack- 100 s THE WOLVERINE 2012 FOOTBALL PREVIEW RB Last season, Vincent Smith rushed for 298 yards and two touchdowns on 50 carries, while also catching 11 passes for 149 yards and two more touchdowns. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN