Michigan Football Preview 2015

2015 Michigan Football Preview

The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports

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secondary coach in charge of safeties. Jackson has spent the past four seasons working with defensive backs for Harbaugh in San Francisco. Jan. 16: John Baxter joins the coaching staff as Michigan's special teams coordinator. Baxter comes to Ann Arbor after spending four years at USC as the program's associate head coach and special teams coordinator. In addition, Jedd Fisch is hired as the team's passing game coordinator and quarterbacks/wide receivers coach. Fisch spent the past two seasons as the offensive coordinator for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Jan. 17: U-M legend Tyrone Wheatley comes back to campus to be Michigan's running backs coach. Wheatley, who had a standout career as a Michigan running back and track athlete, returns to Ann Arbor after spending the past two seasons coaching running backs for the Buffalo Bills. Jan. 20: Harbaugh announces he has hired his son Jay Harbaugh as tight ends coach. The younger Harbaugh spent the 2014 season working for his uncle, John, with the Baltimore Ravens as an offensive quality control coach. In addition, Mike Zordich is hired as the second- ary coach with a focus on cornerbacks. Zordich was the co-special teams coordinator and safe- ties coach for Youngstown State in 2014. Feb. 1: Former University of Michigan football standouts and current New England Patriots Tom Brady and Alan Branch claim the Lombardi Trophy as the Super Bowl XLIX champions with a 28-24 victory over the Se- attle Seahawks. Feb. 4: Michigan announces a 14-member recruiting class on National Signing Day. The class is ranked No. 50 nationally, the lowest rating for a Michigan class in the Rivals.com era, which started in 2001. Feb. 5: T.J. Weist joins the staff as the team's senior offensive analyst. Weist most recently served as offensive coordinator and interim head coach at Connecticut. Feb. 24: Michigan football kicks off spring practice for the first time under Harbaugh. April 4: Michigan conducts its annual spring football game at Michigan Stadium. Harbaugh says, "I liked a lot of things," but mostly that no one was injured and the team now has good momentum moving forward. April 9: Quarterback Jake Rudock joins the program as a graduate student. Rudock spent the first four years of his career at Iowa and will be able to compete for the Wolverines this fall. Rudock posted a 15-10 record as the starting signal-caller at Iowa, completing 417 of 691 passes for 4,819 yards with 34 touchdowns and 18 interceptions. April 10: Punter Blake O'Neill joins the pro- gram as a graduate student. A native of Mel- bourne, Australia, O'Neill played at Weber State during the 2014 season and averaged 44.1 yards per punt, setting a single-season punting average record for the Wildcats. May 1: Funchess is drafted in the second round of the NFL Draft with the 41st overall pick by the Carolina Panthers. Just 22 picks later and still in the second round, former Michigan defensive end Frank Clark is selected 63rd over- all by the Seattle Seahawks. May 2: Ryan is drafted in the fourth round of the NFL Draft with the 129th overall choice by the Green Bay Packers. May 11: Cornerback Wayne Lyons joins the team as a graduate transfer from Stanford. Ly- ons will be eligible to compete for the Wolver- ines this fall. He posted 128 tackles, including 66 solo stops and 4.5 tackles for loss, and made three interceptions for the Cardinal. THE WOLVERINE 2015 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ■ 141 The "Not So" Big House — After destroying Appalachian State 52-14 in the season opener, Michigan went 1-3 over its next four games, including back-to-back home losses to Utah and Minnesota that came after an embarrassing shutout defeat to Notre Dame in South Bend. After dropping the conference opener to Minnesota 30-14 in Michigan Stadium Sept.27, the Wolverines sat at 2-3 overall and had three losses in the month of September for the first time in the 135-year history of the program. Sophomore quarterback Shane Morris started for the second time in his career against the Gophers and was ineffective before being replaced by Devin Gardner in the fourth quarter. The Big House used to be a safe haven, but with apparent confusion on the staff and teams beating up on the Maize and Blue at home, things were not how they once were. Michigan would drop one more home contest, to Maryland Nov.22, taking its overall record to 5-6, its Big Ten record to 3-4 and its home record to 4-3 before ultimately falling in the season finale on the road at Ohio State. Problems Up Front — Replacing fifth-year senior tackles and NFL Draft picks Taylor Lewan and Michael Schofield might have been a near impossible feat, but even so the narrative of struggling to run the ball has become familiar and frustrating. The Wolverines averaged 162.8 yards rushing per game last season, which put them No. 77 in the country and seventh in the Big Ten. The Maize and Blue also weren't close to producing a 1,000-yard rusher, with De'Veon Smith being the closest, but still 464 yards shy of the mark. Not since Denard Robinson has a player in the winged helmet rushed for a 1,000 yards in a season, and he was a quarterback. The Wolverines gave up 26 sacks in 2014, which put Michigan No. 77 in the country in that category. Offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier was expected to bring toughness and an ability to run the ball with him from Alabama, but that ultimately didn't happen with any consistent success. Big Ten Slide — Back-to-back seasons with 3-5 records in the Big Ten is not going to fly with the Michigan faithful, and unfortunately for Brady Hoke and his staff, that's what the Wolverines did in 2013 and 2014. After getting off to a 12-4 start in conference play in his first two season as head coach, Hoke slid in the wrong direction and finished 18-14 in the Big Ten throughout his four-year tenure. His Big Ten winning percentage at Michigan (.562) is higher than that of Rich Rodriguez (.250), but considerably lower than that of Lloyd Carr (.779), Gary Moeller (.750) and Bo Schembechler (.841). The decline in wins, especially in conference play, along with a sense of softness on the ros- ter, left interim athletics director Jim Hackett no choice but to fire Hoke Dec.2, just three days after the 2014 season ended. Struggles At Signal-Caller — In 2013, Devin Gardner was special on more than one occasion. His 294 yards and four touchdowns through the air, plus 82 yards and a score on the ground, against Notre Dame was critical in getting Michigan off to a 5-0 start. Granted it was against In- diana, but passing for 503 yards and two touchdowns while running for another 81 yards and three more scores is like something out of a video game. Top all of that off with a 451-yard, four-touchdown performance against Ohio State in the nail-biting season finale (when he also ran for a touchdown on a broken foot) and you had the making of a special statistical season, totaling 2,960 yards passing with 21 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. He also added 483 yards and 11 touchdowns on the ground. Looking at those numbers, there was plenty to be excited about in 2014. Yet, Gardner was not the same. The year before, he eclipsed the 200-yard passing mark eight times. In 2014, he threw for more than 200 yards only twice. His touchdown passes decreased by 11 and his interceptions went up by four. His rushing totals in both yards and touchdowns were cut in half, and it all added up to less in the win column as well. Quarterback Devin Gardner fi nished his fi nal season at U-M with only 1,896 passing yards and 10 TD throws compared to 15 interceptions, and also managed only 258 yards and four scores on the ground. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL opener, Michigan went 1-3 over its next four games, including back-to-back home losses to Utah and Minnesota that came after an embarrassing shutout defeat to Notre Dame After dropping the conference opener to Minnesota 30-14 in Michigan Stadium Sept.27, the Wolverines sat at 2-3 overall and had three losses in the month of September for the first time in the 135-year history of the program. Sophomore quarterback Shane Morris started for the second time in his career against the Gophers and was ineffective before being replaced by Devin Gardner in the fourth quarter. The Big House used to be a safe haven, but with apparent confusion on the staff and teams beating up on the Maize and Blue at home, things were not how they Michigan would drop one more home contest, to Maryland Nov.22, taking its overall record to 5-6, its Big Ten record to 3-4 and its home record to 4-3 before ultimately falling Replacing fifth-year senior tackles and NFL Draft picks Taylor Lewan and Michael Schofield might have been a near impossible feat, but even so the narrative of struggling to run the ball has become familiar and frustrating. The Wolverines averaged 162.8 yards rushing per game last season, which put them No. 77 in the country and seventh in the Big Ten. The Maize and Blue also weren't close to producing a 1,000-yard rusher, with De'Veon Smith being the closest, but still 464 yards shy of the mark. Not since Denard Robinson has a player in the winged helmet rushed for a 1,000 yards in a season, and he was a quarterback. The Wolverines gave up 26 sacks in 2014, which put Michigan No. 77 in the Offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier was expected to bring toughness and an ability to run the ball with him from Alabama, but that ultimately didn't happen with fly with the Michigan faithful, and unfortunately for Brady Hoke and his staff, that's what the Wolverines did in 2013 and 2014. After getting off to a 12-4 start in conference play in his first two season as head coach, Hoke slid in the wrong direction and finished 18-14 in the Big Ten throughout his four-year tenure. His Big Ten winning percentage at Michigan (.562) is higher than that of Rich Rodriguez (.250), but considerably lower than that of Lloyd Carr (.779), Gary Moeller (.750) and Bo Schembechler (.841). The decline in wins, especially in conference play, along with a sense of softness on the ros- ter, left interim athletics director Jim Hackett no choice but to fire Hoke Dec.2, just three days after the 2014 season ended. Struggles At Signal-Caller — 2013, Devin Gardner was special on more than one occasion. His 294 yards and four touchdowns through the air, plus 82 yards and a score on the ground, against Notre Dame was critical in getting Michigan off to a 5-0 start. Granted it was against In- diana, but passing for 503 yards and two touchdowns while running for another 81 yards and three more scores is like something out of a video game. Top all of that off with a 451-yard, four-touchdown performance against Ohio State in the nail-biting season finale (when he also ran for a touchdown on a broken foot) and you had the making of a special statistical season, totaling 2,960 yards passing with 21 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. He also added 483 yards and 11 touchdowns on the ground. Looking at those numbers, there was plenty to be excited about in 2014. Yet, Gardner was not the same. The year before, he eclipsed the 200-yard passing mark eight times. In 2014, he threw for more than 200 yards only twice. His touchdown passes decreased by 11 and his interceptions went up by four. His rushing totals in both yards and touchdowns were cut in half, and it all added up to less in the win column as well. Quarterback Devin Gardner fi nished his fi nal season at U-M with only 1,896 passing yards and 10 TD throws compared to 15 interceptions, and also managed only 258 yards and four scores on the ground. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL Top Storylines Of 2014 2014 RESULTS Date Opponent Score Aug. 30 Appalachian State W, 52-14 Sept. 6 at Notre Dame L, 31-0 Sept. 13 Miami (Ohio) W, 34-10 Sept. 20 Utah L, 26-10 Sept. 27 Minnesota L, 30-14 Oct. 4 at Rutgers L, 26-24 Oct. 11 Penn State W, 18-13 Oct. 25 at Michigan State L, 35-11 Nov. 1 Indiana W, 34-10 Nov. 8 at Northwestern W, 10-9 Nov. 22 Maryland L, 23-16 Nov. 29 at Ohio State L, 42-28

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