ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Jim Harbaugh and his 2019 Michigan Wolverines were without a handful of key players in the opener against Middle Tennessee State, but the U-M head coach is hopeful at least a trio will return Saturday against Army.
Junior wide receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones was in a boot on his right foot nursing what was reported to be an ankle sprain, while redshirt sophomore defensive tackle Donovan Jeter and fifth-year senior Jon Runyan Jr. were also out. Runyan dressed but did not play.
Redshirt junior Michael Dwumfour seemed to reinjure his banged-up right arm on his first tackle attempt and didn’t return.
"All three have a chance to play this week," Harbaugh said of the first trio. "We'll see [on Dwumfour]. I haven't seen Michael yet today."
Harbaugh essentially confirmed after the game that the first three were not long-term injuries, but he wasn’t certain about Dwumfour.
As for Saturday’s win, Harbaugh was pleased with a lot, noting his team still had to clean up the mistakes to be a contender. He identified several standouts, including three game MVPs.
“[The redshirt freshmen offensive tackles] played really good, especially Ryan Hayes. He was our offensive player of the game,” Harbaugh said. “He graded out right there with [senior guard] Ben Bredeson and [junior center] Cesar Ruiz and [senior guard] Mike Onwenu, which I thought was really impressive. Ben was a little higher, but considering it was Ryan’s first start, first game, seeing him and the effort he gave, he had some really fine, fine blocks, was good with his hands and sets, etc.
“I thought Jalen [Mayfield] was also good.”
With Runyan set to return, Harbaugh admitted he wasn’t certain what that meant for line composition going forward. Hayes could also battle Mayfield for the right to start at right tackle.
Both quarterbacks, senior Shea Patterson and redshirt sophomore Dylan McCaffrey, played well, Harbaugh continued.
“Shea was able to make some big plays, get some big chunk yardage throws. The ball handling’s being addressed, ball security, etc. Same with Dylan,” he said. “It was great to see him get in there and make big plays, as well, and both really ran the offense very efficiently. So did [redhirt frosh] Joe Milton when Joe was in.
“They were accurate and ran the ball well, ran the offense well. Shea was really good against the blitz. This is the thing that defenses will do. They’ll blitz you; test you. Field pressure, sideline pressure with the corner blitz. They ran a multitude of blitzes. Shea for the most part had a really clean game in terms of getting us in the right protections and the right plays. … same with Dylan.”
The running backs had a perfect game in protection, led by freshman Zach Charbonnet’s nine-for-nine.
“I don’t think we’ve had a back get nine pickups in protection since we’ve been here, one single back, be 100 percent nine out of nine,” Harbaugh said. “It’s like, ‘wow.’ That’s really good. There were some sophisticated protections going on. There were some changes in protection at the line of scrimmage, some protections changed right before the football was snapped between quarterback and center. It was just easy for him.
“He just handled it. Not even a misstep. That’s rare. I’ve been around pro backs that don’t understand the protections as well as the freshman back did in this case. That was a real positive.”
Charbonnet ran well, too, averaging 11.3 yards per carry and finishing with 90 yards, but redshirt frosh Christian Turner also ran well.
“Christian Turner had some really good runs, too … the one he made on the boundary watching it on film, that was outstanding,” Harbaugh said. “There are very few guys that can keep their feet and not go out of bounds in that type of situation with that type of momentum going sideways, to make the right turn up the boundary and get the first down. The extra effort run was really good, as well.”
Senior tight end Sean McKeon was also in the mix for offensive player of the game honors.
“I thought he did a good job on the one caught in traffic, took a hit from both sides, got the ball into the end zone. The other one would have been a difficult catch, but as he keeps progressing, we’ll see him make those more times than not,” Harbaugh added.
Junior cornerback Ambry Thomas was the defensive player of the game, and he was one of the most pleasant surprises. He notched a leaping interception and was outstanding in coverage.
“Everybody was just thrilled for Ambry. Everybody on the team thought that was just a wonderful thing,” Harbaugh said. “Wonderful, wonderful. He spent a lot of in the hospital this summer but to go out and get the interception, the fumble recovery, make the tackles … tackles for loss. All the things he did in the game were really just inspiring for the ball club.”
The entire secondary played well, Harbaugh said, adding junior Brad Hawkins “did an excellent job in the game.” Several others stood out individually.
“[Sophomore end Aidan Hutchinson, I thought he was really good as well in the game. It doesn’t seem like it was his first start, but it might have bene. … [junior end] Kwity Paye was also good. [Senior tackle] Carlo Kemp, as we’ve been seeing, played really good football.
“[Fifth-year senior linebacker] Jordan Glasgow was a standout in the game defensively. He’s been a special teams standout all along but probably would have been runner-up for defensive layer of the game. Aidan was considered, as well. I thought [junior linebacker] Josh Ross played extremely well … [redshirt frosh cornerback] Vincent Gray played really well. He was another one that was in the top six for defensive player of the game. He had four tackles, a tackle for loss and was good in coverage. Really did well.
“Overall as a defense, I thought we played good football.”
Finally, long snapper Cam Cheeseman was the special teams standout among several.
“Cam had a perfect game this last game. We awarded him the special teams player of the week,” Harbaugh said. “He’s just consistently good. He’s also the bigger body, which you like in the pro punt formations and for field goal. So he was perfect in protection and in accuracy and snapping back there … good, firm. The value of that is high.”
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