On seeing improvement from Tommy Doman
Yeah, I think he's been doing a great job in practice, right? So, he's had a really good practice week. We've done a couple different things in practice to help him get into a better rhythm, and I think we'll continue to make his pregame routine a little bit different just to try to get him started a little bit earlier. So, I think he's on the right track. Looking forward to what he does this week.
On what went into the decision to have Jordan Marshall returning kicks against Texas
Yeah, I mean, Jordan, he's an awesome player, right? He's a freshman that's young, and he delivers a lot of potential for game-breaking ability, just like Kalel. You can probably see both of them back there at some point. But we have a lot of explosive players, so just trying to use all of our personnel to the best of our ability.
On when they decided Marshall would return kicks
I don't think we went in a different direction. I think we just wanted to get some other carries and kind of separate the load a little bit. Definitely excited about Jordan. He did a great job against Texas, but has to continue to do that as we work through the week.
On whether there's an emphasis for players to return kicks this year
I just think we want to be aggressive. There's been a lot more kick returns, I think, already, but we want to be aggressive, and we want to continue to create the field position for our offense.
On whether it was bad luck that Doman's punt took a bad bounce against Texas
Yeah, I mean, just the nose didn't turn over, so it got a backwards roll, and then we had to get on it quickly. But, yeah, a little bit of bad luck in the way we hit it, but we'll get better with that.
On how the team has played in field position battles
I think we've been good on most of the counts. I know punting, we've got to get better, and at the end of the day, that's on me. I've got to get them in a better rhythm, so we'll work on that.
On Dominic Zvada
Yeah, he is a warrior every part of the week. He does kicks on Tuesdays and Thursdays. He's dialed in every day, ready to kick, and he works his vision stuff throughout the week. He does a phenomenal job. He's a true pro in our eyes, and he prepares the way you should prepare.
On how he discovered Zvada
Yeah, so Dom hit the portal, and so we were just Twitter messaging everybody that we could to hit the portal and ended up being one of the best kickers in the country being in the portal. So we were like, yeah, definitely want to reach out to him, and we recruited him. I know a lot of other peoples were in the hunt for him. We got lucky and won it at the end.
On when he knew Zvada would be a good kicker
Yes, I mean, the greatest thing is when we were recruiting him, you just got the personality feel from him where he was able to be cool, calm, and collected just as we were talking. There wasn't a lot of highs and lows, it seemed like, in his life. He just was very steady, and he's done a good job of doing that for us.
On whether Zvada is similar to James Turner and Jake Moody
100%, yeah. I mean, kind of just their heart rate doesn't go up at all. It's pretty nice to talk to them during the game. They're like, yeah, just let me go out there. Let me send it. And I'm like, yeah, sweet. Trust you. But, again, we have a good relationship in the point to where he says, hey, I feel good right here. Hey, I don't. And then now we're able to adjust off of that. But, yeah, he's definitely calm, cool, and under control at all times.
On Doman's struggles
And Tommy's done it previous years, right? Like he did it last year, and he's been here for four years, and he's had great practice habits. Just getting him back into the rhythm, I think, that's just my job of making sure he's ready to go on Saturday.
On Zvada's vision work
Yeah, so he'll work, you know, dry swings and just visualizing him kicking the ball himself. Or he'll work, you know, the video game comment that he made the other day, just seeing and putting himself in a position that he's going to be in. And then I think that helps him just stay even-keeled throughout the whole process.
On whether there's a fine line with coaching a player like Doman and not getting too far in his head
No doubt, yeah. I think there is a fine line. And the greatest thing is I play baseball, right? So that's a game of failure. Three out of ten, you're considered a Hall of Famer at some levels, right? So I understand what failure is and how to come back from it. But again, I don't think Tommy's failed. I think he just has to prove it each and every Saturday, right?
On how a player like Zvada ended up at Arkansas State
No doubt. And we love recruiting high school kids because we love to develop here at the end of the day. But if you're able to see someone perform in big stages, like Dom performed at Ohio State as a freshman. That was his first game out. He's 4-4 on field goals there. So you kind of see where they're at prior to the whole deal, if that makes sense, in the transfer portal. And I think it is a good thing for us as well.
On the emphasis of the defensive backs this week
Yeah, just continuing to tackle and effort and angles and using our pillars.
On tackling
Is it like- Yeah, effort and angles. Just how we teach our pillars, just making sure that we're good on the fundamentals of football. Pad level, staying low, and being able to use our feet and run our feet.
On what had him convinced that Zvada was the guy
Oh, 100%. I mean, when he comes in, you hear a different sound off his foot. And that's not to say Adam isn't a great kicker either. Adam's a really good kicker. And the competition in the room is awesome. Just to have everybody in there, I feel like we have one of the better rooms in the country, to be honest. And they do a great job of competing and pushing each other every day. But, yes, Dom is- When you see him and you get to know his personality, you get to know him as a person, you see why he is setting the example for the room.
On whether what is displayed in games is what is seen from Zvada every week
Yeah, 100%. 100%. 100%. And he does a great job of understanding who he is and what he's doing. And he knows how to adjust and when to adjust.
On communicating with Zvada during games
So, we do it during pregame, and we set a line between ourselves. And then after that, throughout the game, the Michigan wins in the stadium, kind of tricky every now and then, because it kind of swirls and does some different things. But we'll communicate throughout the game, hey, do you still feel good from this area or not?
On what the biggest reasons were for the defense getting away from the pillars
Yeah, I think that's more for Coach Wink and them on that one. I think you've got to ask them on that one.
On how Zvada sometimes doesn't know the distance he's kicking from
Yeah, well, he just gets so tunnel vision, right? We talked about the vision and talked about how he works, and he's just tunnel vision on that, of just making sure he has good football contact. And at the end of the day, he'll go through. But I think some kickers just black out in some senses. Not that they don't know exactly what they're doing. They just sometimes just, I'm all about the ball right now, and that's where they go to.
On the distance he's comfortable using Zvada from
Yeah, definitely, you know, 35-yard line for most times is a pretty comfortable range for us. You know, he could even move it every now and then depending on wind. But, yeah, definitely anything plus 50. We tried some 60s in practices. We'll see how that goes in the game if we get a chance to do it, though. He did pretty good, so we'll keep working on that.
On why the program just doesn't recruit kickers right out of the portal and not out of high school
No, I just think it's your needs at the time, right? So it's depending on your needs. So we have down for two more years, so maybe we could go grab somebody from high school and then develop them as well for two more or anything like that, and we've got Adam here still. So that's going to then transcend, I think, how you recruit on what's already in your room right now.
On whether he's paid attention to the new NFL kickoff rules
So the hardest thing for me is I game plan all night and day, so I'm worried about Arkansas State, and I don't really get to watch the NFL. I talk to a couple buddies, though, up there in the NFL, and to me I would love to see it if it's safer for our kids at the end of the day. If it is a safer play for our kids, 100% I'm all for it. But, you know, until they change the rules, I've got to go by the rules we're playing with right now.
On Hudson Hollenbeck
Hudson's been doing a great job. I mean, the coolest thing, like I said, back to our room, I think it's one of the best in the country, and at the end of the day we compete every day with each other. So Hudson's been doing a great job. I'm super excited about him. He just needs to continue to develop where he's at, but he does have one of the natural biggest legs I've ever seen. So he just needs to continue to do what he's doing.
---
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
