Page 2C - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, September 5, 1985 Gridders out to restore 'M' dominance By PHIL NUSSEL Today's Michigan football trivia question: When was the last year the Wolverines posted a losing record? Give up? The an- swer is 1967 when Bump Elliott's squad finished at 4-6. Two years later, Bo Schembechler took over as head coach and has still not had a losing record. Last season, however, Schembechler's streak almost came to a rapid end when his team went an un- Michiganlike 6-6. Could this mean the in- famous losing season is right around the corner? One can only guess. ONE THING certain is that Michigan will not enter the 1985 campaign with their usual high ranking, their usual host of All- America and All-Big Ten selections or their usual chance for the Big Ten title. The Michigan of 1985 has no spotlight-type stars-at least not yet. The team will begin with a humble billing and only winning will alter it. And winning could be a burdensome task this season. The Wolverines face their toughest schedule in years. They play nine teams that appeared in bowl games last year. Indiana and Minnesota are the only non-bowl opponents. (Northwestern is not scheduled). THE TEAM will indeed get a baptism un- der fire in the first three games, meeting powerful squads from Notre Dame and Maryland at home along with South Carolina on the road. At the helm for Michigan will be senior Jim Harbaugh, who led the squad to a 3-1 record before his non-throwing arm was snapped against Michigan State. He retur- ned to the top spot last spring in what was termed a quarterback battle with juniors Chris Zurbrugg and Russ Rein. "I'd say he (Harbaugh) came out of spring ball clearly with the edge," said Schembechler. "Harbaugh shows a little more poise and experience. I'd say that on ,the basis of what we saw (last spring), that he has no after effects of the broken arm. HARBAUGH NOTED, "I knew I could come back. There was never any doubt because I just wanted to play so bad." Harbaugh will have a new offensive setup to work with in the fall- the split-back of- .fense. The new attack just might provide the spark needed to ignite a recently-sluggish Wolverine offense. The formation would improve quarterback protection. Schembechler surely has no idea of how good his team will be in '85, at least he wouldn't say so. "I'm not saying they're a great team or anything, because I don't believe that," he said following the spring scrimmage. "But I think they're going to be fun in the fall, and I think they'll be easy to coach." Harbaugh displayed a similar lack of cer- tainty. "I don't know how good we are, but the attitude is great. Everybody is enthused and excited to play." THE MAIN task for Schembechler and his assistants this fall will be to rebuild the defensive line, which was decimated by the loss of stalwarts Al Sincich and Kevin Brooks. The only returnee with any ex- perience up front is fifth-year senior Mike Hammerstein, who had 39 tackles last season. He led the team with five quarter- back sacks. Former linebacker Mike Reinhold looks to play the middle guard spot. Schembechler noted, though that Reinhold's size is questionable, being only 6-3, 228 pounds. Billy Harris is the only other player with ex- perience at the middle spot. Two big contenders for line jobs are Dave Folkertsma and Mark Messner. Folkertsma is a 6-5, 255-pound junior from Grand Rapids. Messner, who was moved around all spring, is another smaller lineman at 6-3, 235. "I THINK that there will be quite a few places that will still be up for grabs (on defense)," Schembechler said. The defense gets stronger in the secon- dary. An experienced core of linebackers is highlighted by All-Big Ten selection Mike Mallory. The fifth-year senior had a team- leading 96 tackles last season along with three interceptions. The linebacking situation was further im- proved two weeks into spring practice when senior Jim Scarcelli elected to return for his final year of eligibility. Junior Andre McIn- tyre (6-1, 245) had a good spring and will compete for a starting job. Andy Moeller and Jeff Akers saw a lot of action last year and will most likely see just as much or more this season. STEVE THIBERT, Tim Schulte and Keith Cowan all lettered in '84 and will have a good shot at seeing more playing time at outside linebacker. The Wolverines return all of their defen- sive backs from last season. Senior Brad Cochran (6-3, 209) is back after leading the squad with five interceptions last season. He also was fourth in tackles with 56. Junior Garland Rivers (81 tackles last year) is also back with Ivan Hicks, Doug Mallory, Al Bishop and Dieter Heren. If all goes right, Tony Gant will also be back. The main question is whether his broken leg will recover from nerve damage. ON OFFENSE, the biggest losses were in the trenches-Doug James at guard, Art Balourdos at center and Sim Nelson at tight end. But their spots will all be taken by players with a considerable amount of ex- perience. Fifth-year seniors Clay Miller and Bob Tabachino return at tackle and guard, respectively. Miller (6-4, 260) received Academic All-America honors last year. John "Jumbo" Elliott and Mark Hammer- stein- both starters-also are back. Seniors Eric Kattus and Paul Schmerge both have done a good deal of blocking at tight end but little pass-catching. The two performed quite well all spring, however, and have eased Schembechler's worries over the position. LONG-SNAPPER Dave Herrick looks to be Balourdos' successor at center. The sophomore from Indianapolis suffered a knee injury in the spring and if it's too serious, a battle for the starting job could occur. Andy Borowski and Mark Hill could also take the job. The offensive backfield is led by speedy Jamie Morris. The sophomore tailback led the team in rushing last season with 573 yards in 118 carries. He added a second dimension with his ability to catch the Key questions remain for Bo S boys y k lp 0 Daily Photo by DAN HABIB Michigan's renewed prominence in the Big Ten could begin with defense. Here, middle guard Billy Harris and defensive back Brad Cochran smother Northwestern's Stanley Davenport. pigskin. Morris gathered in 14 passes for 131 yards. With the new split-back offense, he will be able to catch even more aerials. Morris' main blocker will be 6-2, 225- pound fullback Bob Perryman. The junior averaged over five yards per carry last year and ran for five touchdowns. Eddie Garrett, another fullback with experience and eligibility, will probably not return to the team according to Schembechler. He wouldn't comment further. JUNIOR GERALD White will be able to play either back position. Other runners in line to get playing time are senior Thomas Wilcher, senior Phil Webb and junior Ernie Holloway. All had good springs. There was bad news at wide receiver in the off-season when senior Triando Markray severly damaged his knee playing basket- ball. The word is that the veteran wide receiver is out of football for good. To fill his spot, Schembechler moved sophomore Erik Campbell from the almost backlogged safety spot to wide receiver, and the move could pay off since Campbell looked quite comfortable at the position in the spring scrimmage. He was recruited as a wideout. "HE'S GOT a lot of speed," said Har- baugh, "and, being a defensive back, he knows the coverages and he knows how to get open." Gilvanni Johnson and Paul Jokisch will be the other primary wide receivers. Jokisch averaged 17.8 yards a catch last season to lead the team. He had two touchdowns. At the end of the 1984 campaign, it was all but decided that junior Pat Moons would be the primary placekicker for the Wolverines. But since then, walk-on freshman Rick Sutkiewicz from Detroit Country Day has been steadily improving and has become a contender for the starting job. "I think he's kicked himself right into contention," Schembechler said after the soccer-style kicker hit two 43-yard field goals and three extra points in the spring scrimmage. MOONS, in the meantime, has been in consistent. "He's had some good days an some bad days," Schembechler explained. "That's why Sutkiewicz has made a run at him." The punting will again be taken up by sophomore Monte Robbins, who averaged 43.6 yards a kick last year as a freshman. All in all, the Wolverines will have to replace nine starters. But in many cases, it. will not be as difficult as it sounds because at several positions, the seniors were lost during the season to an injury. So it jus; becomes a situation where a starter;, replaces a starter. The team's experience can be 'debated, but the bottom line simply will be an obvious and overused sentence: if the team plays well, it will win. Schembechler ... a "fun" club in the fall "We went to the split-backs mainly because, other than Perryman and White, we're not a big back team," Schembechler explained obviously referring to the small but explosive tailback Jamie Morris. "We think we can exploit the little backs better from a flat-back position and improve our passing." ANOTHER NEW offensive wrinkle the coaches experimented with in the spring was the upstance position for the offensive line on passing plays, just like Brigham Young. Join the Daily Sports Staff Do you have something provocative to say about the Tigers, Red Sox, Cubs, Pistons, Lakers, Islanders or even the USFL? Say it on the Daily Sports page by joining the Daily sports staff. 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