Michigan Football: Jim Harbaugh News & Views
Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh on Monday delivered a stiff-arm better than anything senior running back De’Veon Smith has up his sleeve.
Harbaugh wasn’t about to reveal much on personnel questions, and nothing on injuries. Here are some key points from his press conference, Harbaugh’s quotes and our thoughts.
News: Harbaugh wouldn’t budge on naming a quarterback, although he knows who it is.
Harbaugh: “We know who our starting quarterback is, yes. Yeah, I’ll say who our starting quarterback is before Saturday. I didn’t say I was going to say it to you.”
Views: Harbaugh didn’t produce a depth chart, but he did likely produce a smile on the face of Lloyd Carr and a host of other coaches who don’t like to talk personnel about a game, especially the opener. The current coach takes a “none of your business” stance, unapologetically.
It makes sense from his standpoint. He’s ultra competitive and doesn’t want anybody to know anything before the game itself, even when his team is favored by half a dozen touchdowns. And that’s okay.
They are making the game open to the public on Saturday, and everyone will know then. As noted before, our revised stance has 6-6 redshirt sophomore QB Wilton Speight taking the field under center. But you’ll know for certain at high noon, five days hence.
News: Harbaugh likes his new captains, senior tight end Jake Butt and fifth-year senior defensive lineman Chris Wormley.
Harbaugh: “They’re two of the hardest working guys, two of the best players on the team. They both have a real great way of being good teammates.
“They don’t build themselves up and put others down around them. They both have that quality of building other guys up around them and making themselves smaller. When you do that, you make yourself very big indeed in the eyes of everybody — in the eyes of the whole world and in the eyes of the people that are on your team.”
Views: Nobody is going to mistake Butt (6-6, 250) or Wormley (6-6, 302) as small, but obviously that’s not what Harbaugh is talking about. And the comments about how they conduct themselves ring true, as far as an outsider’s observation and the way their teammates talk about them.
Harbaugh stressed how they help Michigan’s younger players, and Wormley himself talked about helping fashion freshmen like Rashan Gary. They care about more than this season, and they care desperately about this one.
They both have lived through the tail end of the dark days at Michigan, and they’re focused on the gleaming light dead ahead. They’ll be strong captains, backed by a number of seniors who could have been in those roles as well.
News: True freshman offensive lineman Ben Bredeson has grabbed Harbaugh’s attention this fall, and frosh cornerback David Long did so lately as well.
Harbaugh: “He’s very close. I certainly wouldn’t anticipate any kind of not playing for Ben Bredeson. He’s acquitting himself very well right now …
“David Long covered a go route in yesterday’s practice as good as it can possibly be covered. From press coverage to competing at the point of the catch, it’s as good as it can be covered. He’s going to be an outstanding, outstanding football player.”
Views: Those two are among the many freshmen who should see the field. Harbaugh insists the “waters have been hot,” in terms of competition. Senior cornerback Jourdan Lewis has marveled about how advanced Long is coming in, and Bredenson has a shot at starting.
That’s just scratching the surface. There’s Gary, running back Chris Evans, linebacker Devin Bush, safety Khaleke Hudson and a number of others who can see the field. They say it takes four years to judge a recruiting class, but this one stands to get a huge early recommendation, starting Saturday.
Freshmen always get the binocular focus in the opener, but it might be more so this season than in any year since the late 1990s.
News: San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick ignited a media firestorm by refusing to stand for the national anthem recently, citing the way minorities are treated in the United States. His former coach was asked about that action.
Harbaugh: “I acknowledge his right to do that, but I don’t respect the motivation or the action.”
Harbaugh tweeted soon after: “I apologize for misspeaking my true sentiments. To clarify, I support Colin’s motivation. It’s his method of action that I take exception to.”
Views: It’s good that Harbaugh can quickly correct a verbal fumble, and do so in a way that goes out across the nation. He probably saved himself a whole lot of explaining with regard to his initial comment.
The thoroughly patriotic Harbaugh wasn’t going to give even a hint of a thumbs-up to Kaepernick’s gesture. At the same time, the coach expressed an understanding of the sentiments that led to it.
Well played, in this instance. It would be worth more than the price of admission, though, to hear an honest exchange between the two, if the subject ever came up.
News: Senior placekicker Kenny Allen still has a shot at the kicking triple crown this year: placekicker, kickoffs and punter.
Harbaugh: “He can — there is nothing decided if he will. Kenny is solid in that [punter] position, and he’s a really good kickoff person. Right now, he’s the best at all three — punting, kickoff and field goals.
“If that remains the case, and he’s clearly the best, he’ll do all three. We’d like for him not to have to do all three.”
Views: If he doesn’t, look for true freshman Quinn Nordin to step in on kickoffs or field goals. Harbaugh also likes the way sophomore walk-on Ryan Tice has looked on field goals.
Doing all three can be taxing on a kicker over the course of a season and heightens the risk of fatigue or injury over the long haul. But Allen has trained intensely for this moment, and he certainly could handle the load in a handful of games — especially the ones that could hang on a crucial punt or field goal.