On Dominic Zvada
He's done a great job. He's kicked a lot of long field goals this camp, he's been consistent from short field goals so he needs to continue to do it. Also, Adam Samaha has been doing a great job, too. Both of those guys are competing at a high level and have done a great job in camp.
On Zvada's long-range kicking
He's been consistent from long-range, too. I think he's 6/7 from 50-plus, which is nice. He's gotta continue to do it day in and day out but he is really good right now. Looking forward to keeping him going.
On kick and punt returners and whether Semaj Morgan and Tyler Morris factor in
100%, yep. Semaj is back there and Tyler is back there. They've both been doing a great job. Will's been back there, a lot of people have been back there. We're trying to gain depth in that role. You're going to use a lot of guys throughout the season, there's going to be injuries at some point during the season so you're going to have to have a stable of returners back there. We've got a lot of people working, they've all caught the ball really well and all have done a lot of work in the summer and put a lot of work in this fall camp.
On any surprising names at returner this season
There's going to be a lot of athletes back there, we're going to try to get the most explosive guy with the ball in his hands and we're going to try to score as much as we can.
On whether he picked up anything from Jay Harbaugh
He's like my brother, man. He's a great coach, obviously, he's one of the younger guys in the NFL so I've learned a lot from him. Just from his game plan standpoint, we worked together hand-in-hand. A lot of it will be the same but we just want to play fast as a special teams unit. Want to have great fundamentals, have great awareness of the ball both mentally and physically and then play with a lot of trust from player-to-player, coach-to-coach, just continue to work through those things as we go.
On whether he's working with the safeties
I help Coach Morgan with anything he needs. Working on the defensive side as well trying to make sure I've giving the best help to Wink and to the defensive staff as possible.
On the culture of wanting to play special teams and whether it still exists
100% still the case. We've got a lot of guys like Makari Paige who is a great safety who still wants to play special teams. You'll see those guys out there and they all want to do it. Again, we have a lot of players who are role players as well who are doing a great job and that are unselfish. Really pleased with the culture of the team and how they're handling it. A lot of it will still be the same, we'll have some new nuances but, again, they love playing teams here and it's a great job to me.
On who the role players are
Obviously, Joe Taylor is not in camp right now but he's definitely one of those guys for us throughout the year. A lot of young guys are stepping up like Chibi (Anwunah) has done a great job this camp, Breeon Ishmail has done a great job this camp. A lot of those guys that are wherever they are on the depth chart, we don't know yet, we're still in day seven but have showed up a lot in drill work and in some teams stuff we've been doing.
On why he thinks the coaches have been getting in trouble more than the players
Biggest thing is we try to recruit the best players we can. High-character players. Obviously, Coach Moore has done a great job of assembling everybody on the staff, love everybody on the staff. Coach Wink is awesome to work with, Coach Campbell is awesome to work with. Special teams room you've got my dad in there so I think you've got a lot of high-character people in there. It's going to be great, Team 145.
On the new NFL kickoff rules
It's going to be interesting. I've talked to a few guys about it already. Kind of some of the things they've drawn up, it's going to be really cool. I think it challenges you mentally, I think it also gives you a chance to get some more returns and some more explosive plays within the special teams realm. Could it come down to college? I'd be excited if it does. We'll take whatever challenge we have. Right now we're just playing with league rules.
On the benefits of the spread punt
We've ran both schemes since I've been here. Definitely pro-style and a mix of shield and whatnot. We'll probably continue to do something like that. We'll add different wrinkles as we go, though. I do like it from a coverage standpoint.
On the in-helmet communications on special teams
For us on special teams, it'll probably the captain of the unit at that time or we might just go with signals. We're still debating on that right now.
On whether he borrows from his baseball experience
Yeah, 100%. Baseball is a game of failure, right? It's a lot of one-pitch-at-a-time mentality, similar to special teams. There's no drives in it, it's just one play and then you're off the field. My baseball background helps me here just from a mental standpoint.
On who will handle kickoffs
Yeah, so Tommy Doman, Adam Samaha, Hudson Hollenbeck have all done a great job. I mean, we did kick off the other day. They all booted it, they all created great hang times, they all had really good control. Just excited to see how we move throughout camp with the rest of that.
On how a decision will be made if all things are equal
Experience will play a factor in that and Tommy has been the guy, he was a full guy last year. But if we do need to take some off his plate, I think we got really good guys that are behind him as well.
On balancing a key player returning without injury
I think you’ve just got to play football. Right? Then you play it at a high speed. I don't think you have to have that in the back of your mind. You just play as fast as you can, as hard as you can, as long as you can.
On coaching with his dad
It's awesome. It's the best thing ever. There's been a lot of success here with sons and coaches it seems like so hopefully we just continue to add to that every now and then, but he's still in charge, don't get it twisted.
On analysts coaching
I think it's awesome. I mean, being in that role last year, I couldn't coach so you could do a lot of the breakdowns and all that stuff behind the scenes, but I think it's awesome. I think it allows for more development as coaches and whatnot as we continue to move through this but it's great.
On safeties standing out
There's a lot of them. I mean, Makari has done a great job. Q’s done a great job. Wes has done a great job. Mangham’s done a great job. I'm pretty excited about that group. I think they're going to continue to do a great job. Coach Lamar Morgan has been developing a great group there with my assistance, and it's been awesome.
On whether there's a culture of stepping across NCAA boundaries at Michigan
The culture to me is I think we follow every rule. For me, I know we're handling the compliance. I think we've done a great job of just making sure that we're doing everything we're supposed to be doing.
On whether competition at safety breeds more success
I think there's a lot of competition there. Like just so much in the special teams room, there's a lot of players that are making a lot of good plays and big plays in practice right now. You just got to continue to do it. Continue to learn the playbook more and more and I think we'll have a pretty good rotation coming up this season.
On whether the DBs will move around a lot
We'll move them around just as the installs fit. You'll see them in different spots and moving around.
---
Discuss this article with our community on our premium message boards
Not a subscriber to Maize & Blue Review? Sign up today to gain access to all the latest Michigan intel M&BR has to offer
Follow our staff on Twitter: @JoshHenschke, @Berry_Seth14, @TrevorMcCue, @DennisFithian, @BrockHeilig, @JimScarcelli, @Jerry_Diorio
Subscribe to our podcasts: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify
Check out Maize & Blue Review's video content on YouTube
Follow Maize & Blue Review on social media: Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram