Even though it is summer for Michigan football, with Michigan’s coaches talking Sunday at the Best of the Midwest Camp, lots of news was made. Here’s a look around the Internet to see what’s being written about the Wolverines:
Hill is in Ann Arbor now. Which means it's full speed ahead for the former top-ranked safety.
“Just going to let him roll," said tight ends coach Sherrone Moore, who was Hill's primary recruiter. "With freshmen, it’s really hard to gauge (if they can play early). He has all the ability in the world, obviously, from a skill set standpoint. So I’m going to let Coach Brown and Coach Partridge handle all that, and I’m glad he’s here. So we’ll see.”
The current plan for Hill is to see time on defense and special teams. There's playing time available in the secondary, as former starting safety Tyree Kinnel graduated.
But Hill, who ran a 4.30 laser-timed 40-yard dash in high school and may be the nation's fastest player in his class, could also get a look on offense.
“Yeah, I think there’ll be a fight about that (between the offensive and defensive coaches)," Moore said with a smile on Sunday at the Best of the Midwest camp at Grand Valley State. "I think there’ll be some of that. But we’ll see …
Hill originally committed to Michigan this past September following an official visit for the SMU game. Then in December, he abruptly announced his flip from U-M to Alabama on Twitter less than two weeks before the start of the early signing period.
Michigan never gave up, though. And Moore never panicked.
“I think you have to maintain (composure)," Moore said. "If you panic, it’s going to show to the parents, if sudden change happens if the kid was there, what would you do?
"So I just think you have to keep a level head and let the kids know at the end of the day, it’s not what’s best for us, it’s what’s best for them. That was really the message for us to them and I think that (message) in his head and his family really put through, and helped us get him back.”
Aaron McMann, MLive.com: Josh Gattis talks tough in evaluation of Michigan WRs
Which brings us to the wide receivers, a group at the focal point of the drastic change in philosophy from head coach Jim Harbaugh. And while they stand to benefit the most here, Gattis isn’t ready to shower them with praise just yet.
“We’ve still got a long way to go,” Gattis said Sunday during the “Best of the Midwest” camp at Grand Valley State University. "I think, on paper, everybody is a little bit more excited about us than I am.
“I’m a hard coach, they’ll tell you. I slow those pats on the back down.”
Gattis, whose role also doubles as receivers coach, praised some of the more experienced receivers. He didn’t name names, but conceded that Michigan has “some guys that have played a ton of football and made some big plays.”
The Wolverines return two of their top receivers from the 2018 season: Donovan Peoples-Jones, who caught a team-high 47 passes for 612 yards and eight touchdowns; and Nico Collins, who caught 38 passes for a team-high 632 yards and six touchdowns.
“They stand out from a skill-based (perspective),” Gattis said. “But when I look at each and every one of them, fundamentally, there’s areas where we got to grow.”
“A revamped offense gets its first major test against the Badgers' defense on the road in Madison,” ESPN’s Dan Murphy writes. “The true season-defining games won't come for the Wolverines until they face rivals later in the year, but if you're looking for a slightly different Saturday to circle on the calendar, this one will either rev up the hype machine again or create cause for concern.”
Michigan running back Chris Evans, suspended earlier in the year by the university because of an academic issue, hasn’t been a member of the football team since then and will not be with the Wolverines this fall.
Evans had appealed the decision to the university hoping to have it cut from one year to a half year, which would allow him to play football this fall, but that hasn’t happened.
“Chris Evans is suspended for the year,” Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh told The Detroit News on Sunday after speaking at the Best of the Midwest football camp at Grand Valley State.
The decision was made by the university, not the football program.
Harbaugh had said at the start of spring practice there was a chance Evans could work his way back. Evans, no longer enrolled at Michigan and, obviously, no longer on a football scholarship, told The News in March the issue was “an academic mistake. Not my grades. I’m on pace to graduate.”
Evans had taken a job at an Ann Arbor restaurant delivering take-out orders and was working out at Xplosive Performance Academy in Southfield to stay in shape. He wrote an eight-page letter to the university to appeal the decision.
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