Michigan Football Preview 2017

2017 Michigan Football Preview

The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports

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68 ■ THE WOLVERINE 2017 FOOTBALL PREVIEW RUNNING BACKS and he can put his foot in the ground and ac- celerate. He's a nice change-up to those other two guys, because he's right in the middle, in terms of what he provides." Another contestant joined the fray in bowl practice and spring ball. Kareem Walker red- shirted during his true freshman season in 2016, getting acclimated to college life and working out his transition both academically and to the Michigan practice field. He stood out in bowl practices and kept on pushing in spring ball. He carried six times for seven yards in the spring game and will look to challenge the three experienced per- formers come fall camp. "He's been really, really good so far," Har- baugh said. "He's coming along in every way. He's running decisively and running very hard. I'm excited to see what he can do." Harbaugh gets to see what a couple of true freshman challengers can do when August rolls around. O'maury Samuels is a 5-10, 192-pound running back out of Los Lunas, N.M., who piled up 1,376 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns as a senior. Harbaugh de- scribed him as a do-everything back who can run between the tackles as well as burst onto the perimeter with his speed. Overall, Samu- els rushed for 4,306 yards and 50 touch- downs over the course of his high school career. Kurt Taylor, a 5-8, 197-pound back out of Loganville, Ga., will be looking to prove a point himself. He rushed for 930 yards and 14 touchdowns in his senior season, and was considered by recruiting experts as a bit of a sleeper. He committed to the Wolverines in mid-October 2015 and plans to affirm Michi- gan's faith in him. Michigan's backs reacted with interest at the sudden offseason change in coaching positions, and positively when assistant coach Jay Harbaugh entered the room ready to hit the ground running. His move from tight ends to running backs came as a surprise to the ball car- riers, but they've learned to adapt quickly in the Jim Harbaugh era. "I was shocked, but I had faith in him," junior running back Karan Higdon noted of Jay Harbaugh. "Coach [Jim] Harbaugh makes great decisions, and Coach Jay coming in and being up front about the situation was very respect- able. "Seeing how far he's come has been great." Higdon noted the younger Harbaugh brings considerable guidance to the table, despite not having been a running back himself. "Coach Jay hasn't played the position, so he can't exactly give us the insight on how we should run, but he gives us details on how we can attack certain situations, which is very good," Higdon expressed. "We've been attacking pass pro [protection] tremendously, and we've all been pretty good this spring. "We've definitely increased our draft stock with blocking. We've been work- ing on that, day in and day out. We've all gotten better." Blocking has always been an imperative for Michigan backs and wide receiv- ers, but there seems to be an extra emphasis on pass blocking among the Wolverines' tailbacks hopefuls, Higdon stressed. "You've definitely got to step up and pass protect," he said. "That's definitely being enforced this year. You've got to know your blocking scheme, and you've got to know how to attack it." Gearing up to coach the backs began long before Jay Harbaugh discovered he was going to do so for Michigan in 2017, he assured. "There's a lot of preparation, but it starts before that," Harbaugh said. "When you're coaching, you hear Coach [Tim] Drevno talk about the center: 'Hey, this is how the ball should have been snapped.' Or Coach [Pep] Hamilton, or Coach [Jedd] Fisch, or back when I was in Baltimore, Coach [Jim] Caldwell or Cam Cameron or Gary Kubiak talk about stuff with quarterbacks or receivers. "It doesn't really matter. If you're locked in and engaged with what you're doing, you just absorb it all. You're always preparing for any opportunities. "That's a big part of it. The obvious thing is, you do make a transition, you get a new job and you just start preparing. "What are these problems we need to solve? What are the questions that come up? What are the answers? If you don't have a good answer, you make sure you go get one. There are different ways of doing things. You try to find one that fits with what we're doing as a team." He's looking to enhance a Michigan rushing attack that averaged 212.9 yards per game and posted 41 touchdowns on the ground a year ago. It doesn't hurt that the cupboard came well stocked. — John Borton Junior Karan Higdon impressed in the spring game April 15, posting a game-high 81 yards and two touchdowns on 12 carries. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN The Change To The Coaching Roster Is Taken In Stride

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