A Gridders aim for title B3 MIKE~Z2 MCRAWJ~t behind new QB iy in,1vquA The last four even numbered years Michigan has been the Big Ten's representative in the Rose Bowl. The last three times the Wolverines have lost an experien- ced quarterback to graduation, the team has responded with disappointing records the following season. NINETEEN eighty-four is evenly divisible by two, but the man who was lined up behind center the last three seasons, Steve Smith, is no longer around. One of these streaks is going to come to an end. Although head coach Bo Schembechler won't admit it, the performance of the new quarterback is going to be the key factor in determining whether the Michigan Marching Band will be stepping down Colorado Boulevard next January 1. Schembechler's teams have a tradition of not playing up to standards under a new quarterback. Dennis Franklin in 1972, Rick Leach in '75, a whole bunch of guys in '79 and Smith in '81 could not lead the Wolverines to the Big Ten champion- ship. THIS YEAR there will be a battle for the starting spot, but junior Jim Harbaugh from Palo Alto, Calif., is the heavy favorite to take the field against defending national cham- pion Miami on September 8. "When you've got a new quarterback, you have uncer- tainty," said Schembechler, who is entering his sixteenth season on the Michigan sideline. "Harbaugh has the edge now only on the basis of having the most experience. Jim is a good athlete and he's very quick, plus (at 6-4) he'll give us more height." Harbaugh's football experience is not limited to running the second-string in practice for two years. His father Jack Harbaugh is the head coach at Western Michigan, so he's grown up around college football. Schembechler thinks that trait will give him an extra edge in his playing days. SHOULD HARBAUGH falter, the likely backup will be sophomore Russ Rein, who quarterbacked the blue team in the 1984 spring game. Others in the running are sophomores Chris Zurbrugg and recruit Bob Cernak from Lockport, Ill. There are two other big holes to fill in this year's offense besides Smith. Three-year starters Stefan Humphries at guard and center Tom Dixon have moved on to the pros, depleting the always-strong Michigan offensive line. Art Balourdas should step right into the center position, but guard is Schembechler's biggest offensive worry. It looks like either Bob Tabachino or Bob Popowski will take over Humphries' spot, while converted tackle Doug James will play the other guard. "BALOURDAS WILL be as'good a center as there is in the league," said Schembechler. "(Clay) Miller and (Mark) Hammerstein have'got to play well at tackle." It is very important that the line open up some holes because Michigan has an abundance of great running backs that can eat up the yardage. The incumbent at tailback is senior Rick Rogers, who gained 1002 yards in 1983. But he had academic problems this past spring and will have to work himself back into eligibility. There are a number of capable replacements, though, if needed. Speedster Thomas Wilcher, sophomores Gerald White and Phil Webb, and Atlanta native Ben Logue could all see action. SCHEMBECHLER is planning to bring the fullback into the offense more this season, and that may be the Wolverines' strongest position. Eddie Garrett, Dan Rice and Bob Perryman, all juniors, will be sharing time at that spot and have a lot of playing time among them. On those rare occasions when the Michigan offense throws the ball, Harbaugh will have a variety of talented receivers to choose from. Both the starting wide men of last season return. Vince Bean, who has started every game the last three years but has yet to assert himself with a large number of catches, will line up at split end and big-play man Triando Markray will be the flanker. Markray broke into the lineup after the mid-season suspensions of Steve and Gilvani Johnson, and despite only catching 11 passes, he made them good for 319 yards and four touchdowns, including a 67-yarder against Ohio State. AN ADDITION to the team this year that will be interesting to watch is split end Paul Jokisch, who joined the team for spring drills after playing basketball for two seasons. Jokisch stands 6-8 and was rated the number-one high school prospect in the state after his senior year at Brother Rice, but chose to play basketball instead. "It is going to take time for him to learn to run the routes and explode off the line," said Schembechler about Jokisch, who hasn't played football in two years. "He's got a ways to go, but has great potential." Tight end duties will again be handled by junior Sim Nelson, Michigan's leading receiver last year with 41 cat- ches, while senior Eric Kattus, who scored the winning touchdown against OSU last November, will back him up. IT REMAINS to be seen how well the Wolverine offense moves without superb runner Steve Smith at the helm and two All-Americas missing from the offensive line. Because of this, Michigan Stadium frequenters will likely see some con- servative play in the early stages of the schedule. "We're satisfied with the progress of our quarterbacks and we will work hard on the passing game," stated Schem- bechler after spring practice. "The option will still be there, but not as big a part without the great speed of Smith." With this inexperience in mind, it may be up to the defen- sive side to keep Michigan in position to win for much of the season. "THE SECRET when you have a new quarterback is to not try to do too much offensively and have the defense and kicking game carry you," explained the senior Big Ten coach. All one has to do to realize how awesome the Michigan defense can be is recall the performance put on in the Superdome last January 2 when the Wolverines held the powerful Auburn wishbone offense out of the endzone the en- tire Sugar Bowl, only to lose 9-7 on three Al Del Greco field goals. Three key players are missing from that unit - outside linebackers Tom Hassel and Carlton Rose, and strong safety Evan Cooper. But enough talent is coming back to expect the defense to once again be one of the country's best. THE ENTIRE defensive line returns two-deep, with three- year starter Al Sincich anchoring the three-man front at nose guard. Six-foot-seven senior Kevin Brooks, Vince DeFelice, Mike Hammerstein and Dave Meredith will handle the tackle positions. "Al is one of the toughest kids that ever played here. He's tough as nails," said Schembechler of Sincinch. "Brooks has got great range; he's just now developing." The inside linebackers will be very secure, with last year's leading tackler Mike Mallory returning, along with Tim An- derson, Mike Reinhold and Andy Moeller, all of whom played well at times in '83. RODNEY LYLES is a fixture at one outside linebacker position, but the other side will be up for grabs between Jim 4 4 Daily Photo by BRIAN MASCK Linebacker Rodney Lyles applies pressure on quarterback Jack Trudeau of Illinois, during Michigan's 16-6 loss to the Illini in Champaign last October. Scarcelli and sophomores Carlitos Bostic and Steve Thibert. The area to watch in 1984, though, is the defensive secondary. The group is young, inexperienced, having no seniors in its makeup, but has a great number of fine athletes available. Junior Brad Cochran returns to cornerback, where he made two key interceptions against Ohio State. Cochran transferred from Michigan to Colorado in 1982, but had a change of heart and returned to Ann Arbor last season to play his way to an honorable mention All-Big Ten selection. 1984 Schedule Sept. 8 MIAMI (Fla.) Sept.15 WASHINGTON Sept. 22 WISCONSIN Sept. 29 at Indiana Oct. 6 MICHIGAN STATE Oct. 13 NORTHWESTERN Oct. 20 at Iowa Oct. 27 ILLINOIS Nov. 3 at Purdue Nov. 10 MINNESOTA Nov. 17 at Ohio State zing team. We're a pretty good pass rush team. Our pass rush will be better," added Schembechler, in summing up the defense that will have to stop all those pass-happy Big Ten opponents. THE PLACEKICKING is very solid with former walk-on Bob Bergeron returning for field goals, and Todd Schlopy for kickoffs. Bergeron replaced Schlopy two games into the season and booted the memorable 45-yarder through the rain] and the goalposts with eight seconds left to give they Wolverines a 16-13 victory over Iowa. But mention the punting game and Schembechler will let out a groan. The graduated Don Bracken did the duties for the last four years and got progressively worse each season. In 1984, it will be up to Schlopy or sophomore Monte Robbins from Great Bend, Kansas to give up the ball on fourth down. Neither of them has punted in a regular season contest and neither got off a punt of more than 40 yards in the spring game, opening the door for some potential disaster from that part of the game. BUT AS Schembechler looks toward the fall, he knows that the Big Ten is up for grabs among as many as six teams. Iowa will have a great defense but only quarterback Chuck Long returns on offense. Ohio State has leading rusher Keith Byars back, but quar- terback Mike Tomczak broke his leg in the Scarlet and Gray practice game and will be in a cast right up until the start of practice in August. Defending champion Illinois will try to rebound from the 45-9 Rose Bowl embarrassment it turned in last year, but plays Iowa, Ohio State and Michigan all on the road this season. Wisconsin returns 19 of 22 starters from its 7-4 team of last year and everyone is looking for George Perles to start making some noise at Michigan State. Schembechler sees the race this way. "I know whoever can put a team together that plays as a team and has fun will have the best chance of winning." Of course, nothing is more fun that a New Fear's spent in Pasadena. 4 THE OTHER cornerback will be sophomore Garland Rivers from Canton, Ohio, while Tony Gant returns at free safety. Five players will likely battle for Cooper's vacated position - juniors Dieter Heren and Ivan Hicks, and sophomores Doug Mallory, Al Bishop and Dwayne Freeman. "Our linebackers are not made for pass defense, so we could move Heren or Bishop to outside linebacker where they would play like a nickel back," Schembechler said. "All our' young backs are good tacklers. "We've worked a lot on blitzes, but we're not a great blit- 4 Rogers . . . leading rusher UIrich's:, The Source. 0 0 2 1983 Football Statistics Individual Statistics Rushing Att Yds Rogers .................... 209 1002 S. SMITH .................103 667 K. SMITH............... 98 517 Garrett.................... 85 353 Mercer .................... 30 151 Rice ....................... 35 140 Armstrong ................ 20 91 Logue .................... 13 85 Perryman ................. 16 72 White ..................... 20 64 HALL ..................... 11 17 S.Johnson ................. 1 9 Bean ...................... 1 9 Witcher ................... 1 -2 Harbaugh ................. 2 -15 Avg 4.8 6.5 5.3 4.1 5.0 4.0 4.6 6.5 4.5 3.2 1.5 9.0 9.0 -2.0 -7.5 TD 9 10 3 0 2 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 Receiving No Yds TD Nelson................... 41 409 3 Bean....................29 412 3 Rogers................... 16 137 0 Markray................. 11 319 4 K. SMITH................. 7 49 0 Garrett.................... 5 24 1 CARTHENS............... 3 59 1 Armstrong ................ 3 13 a Kattus .................... 2 17 1 S.Johnson ................. 1 19 0 G. Johnson ................ 1 12 0 White ..................... 1 7 0 Rice....................... 1 2 1 COOPER,....... G. Johnson .... COHEN .. Gant ........ K. SMITH ..... S. Johnson..... Rogers ........ Wilcher ....... White ......... MICHIGAN ... Opponents ..... PR/Yds/Avg 31/344/11.1 6/43/7.2 1/25/25.0 1/10/10.0 Returns ti KOR/Yds/Avg 3/59/19.7 4/60/15.0 4/108/27.0 2/28/14.0 1/25/25.0 1/23/23.0 1/14/14.0 16/317/19.8 41/1076/17.2 39/422/10.8 14/41/2.9 MICHIGAN................645 3160 4.9 29 Opponents ................. 427 1352 3.2 5 Passing Att Comp Yds Int TD S. SMITH.................. 205 106 1420 8 13 HALL ..................... 25 13 118 2 1 Harbaugh ................. 5 2 26 0 0 MICHIGAN..............235 121 1564 10 14 Opponents.................329 179 1907 19 12 MICHIGAN ............... 121 Opponents................. 179 Field Goal 20-29 30-39 40- Bergeron ... . .... 4-5 7-7 3. Schlopy ................1-2 MICHIGAN ......... 4-5 8-9 3. Opponents............3-3 5-8 1 Punting No BRACKEN ................ 48 M. Mallory ................ Cochran ................... s ROSE ..................... 49 50+ Total COOPER.................. 3 1-2 15-17 n 1-2 Anderson ............... Brooks .................... -3 1-2 16-19 HASSEL................. 2 1-1 10-14 BOREN ................... Lyles...................... Defelice ................... Gant ................... LOTT.................... Yds Avg HEWLETT ................ 1794 37.4 Mike Hammerstein ....... Reinhold .................. 1794 37.4 Rodgers................... 2519 38.2 COHEN............... Meredith ............... Sarcelli ............... m Moeller............... BURGESS............. Rivers ................. Akers.................. SGray................. SCowan-................ WILSON..... .. 119 64 57 56 53 53 48 48 .42 40 39 37 36 26 22 22 19 17 14 10 10 10 9 9 5 5 1 1 1564 14 1907 12 Tackles Tackles Assists Total " " e Art & Engineering Supplies Reference & Professional Books Stationery & Office Supplies MICHIGAN ............... Opponents................. 48 66 " Prints & Frames " Michigan Items " Textbooks " Calculators & Computers S . "Full line of Backpacking 8 Camping Equipment" ADAAV CI DI C i I I I I U minmmmmu COUPON .mmmi If you can buy an item cheaper elsewhere, Ulrich's I U In terceptions f E