A Broken Hand Is What Kept Tru Wilson Out; Says He's Back To Full Strength
Michigan Wolverines football senior running back Tru Wilson was expected to be one of U-M’s top players at the position heading into the season, alongside redshirt freshman Christian Turner and freshman Zach Charbonnet.
Injuries derailed that sentiment early on, however, with the veteran playing just eight snaps in the season-opener against Middle Tennessee State before getting injured.
He then missed the Army and Wisconsin contests, but returned this weekend to carry four times for 13 yards in the 52-0 annihilation of Rutgers.
It was unknown what Wilson’s exact injury had been up until today, with the senior revealing the ailment was more significant than most had expected.
“I felt pretty good other than the little padding I had on my hand,” he said when asked if he was back to 100 percent. “I just held the ball in my left hand as much as I could.
“I had actually broke it [my hand]. I kept practicing the whole time though, so I stayed in shape and involved with the offense.
“I was never really out. [It didn’t make it harder to hold onto the ball], but I just didn’t want it to get hit so that’s why I held it with my left hand.
“I’m back to full strength and just had the pad on it, and will start carrying it in my right hand more and more. You take it [the game] for granted sometimes, so to finally get back out there after three weeks felt great.
“The Wisconsin game hurt; I sat on the couch and watched it with some buddies, wondering what I could have done to help.”
There was plenty of concern following the Wisconsin debacle about how the club would respond this weekend against Rutgers, though the players seemingly had no issues putting the loss to the Badgers behind them in appropriate fashion.
Wilson was asked, however, to recap what he saw from his teammates upon their immediate return from Madison, and what their mindset is heading into Saturday’s massive showdown with the undefeated Iowa Hawkeyes.
“It’s hard to explain,” he pondered, thinking back to what his teammates were like upon their arrival from Wisconsin.
“There wasn’t a sense of urgency, but more of how it’s a long season and how it’s happened to us and other teams before, where we go on to do great things after an early season loss.
“We have everything we’ve hoped and dreamed for still ahead of us, and we can still do great things. We learned from it and it showed on Saturday, and we’re going to keep that momentum going.
“Iowa will be another big test for us, and will be another chance for us to show who we are. They’re all must-wins at this point.”
Establishing the ground game has been a problem for the Maize and Blue all season (just 3.4 yards per carry on the year, which ranks 106th nationally), and will be especially difficult against an elite Iowa front seven that is holding opponents to just 77 rushing yards per game (10th best in college football).
“It’s very important, especially being a Michigan running back,” Wilson insisted today. “You’ve seen a punishing running game throughout the years and an identity of being a physical team.
“Running the ball allows you to keep the clock moving, so if you can establish a good ground game, it just keeps that clock ticking and heightens your percentage of winning the game.
“I don’t think it was necessarily stressed any more than usual [by the coaches this past week], but I just felt like we needed to pick it up.”
Notes
• Wilson has garnered a reputation for being an elite pass blocker at U-M, and he was asked this afternoon if his broken hand has hindered those capabilities at all.
“I’ve always kind of shouldered the guy and never had the best technique," he laughed. "It kind of hurt because I wasn’t able to do it at first, but now that I’m back to full-go, I can continue working on it with Coach Jay [Harbaugh]."
• Head coach Jim Harbaugh revealed today that he prefers a running back by committee approach rather than putting the entire load on one player's shoulders, citing Charbonnet's 33 carries against Army as an example.
“It just depends who you have in the running back room," Wilson explained. "If you have four or five guys who can do the job, then you can play them all or whoever is hot. If you have different guys who can do different things, then it’s just kind of about whoever is in the [running backs] room.”
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