4

Softball
vs. Toledo
Wednesday, 3:30 p.m.
Varsity Diamond

SPORTS

Softball
vs. University of Detroit
Today, 3:30 p.m.
Varsity Diamond

The Michigan Daily

Monday, April 17, 1989

Page 12

4

Blue

beats

White in

Spring

game

Bunch, Boles, Blue
run for 24-17 win

4

Leroy Hoard (in white), last season's Rose Bowl MVP, barrelled his way to 46 yards in Saturday's Spring game. Hoard had trouble finding
running room behind the white team's inexperienced offensive linemen.

j;


Adam Benson
Hedging My Bets

_
.:
'

The stars were out
for dress rehearsal

Think of the spring football game like it's a
casting call.
Visualize Michigan football coach Bo Schem-
bechler directing a new show, searching through
88 spring tryouts, all trying to fill the lead roles
before January. That's when the show hopefully
will head west, to the land where stars are born
- Los Angeles, or just a little north actually, in
Pasadena.
Schembechler will tell you that no Michigan
player has ever won a job from a performance in
a spring game, but a strong showing can help
put a player in a position where the coach may
have to open a spot in the lineup.
Those who went to Michigan Stadium on
Saturday may not have sensed this driving factor
in this contest. But even for established players,
the battle had great importance.
"Spring game is important cause we have a
little bet," Michigan tight end Derrick Walker
said. "The winners eat steaks and the losers eat
hot dogs. When you line up across from your
teammates you've got to play hard because the
coaches are going to be looking on Monday
morning."
"MOST PEOPLE really don't want to eat
hot dogs and franks Monday afternoon," running
back Tony Boles said. "So it's a competitive
thing. We are really striving to see who is going
to win."
Even with that threat hanging over his team,
Blue quarterback Ken Sollom did do the placing

of the ball for the field goal kickers on his rival
white team. You kept expecting Sollom to do
like Lucy in the Peanuts cartoons, and watch his
opponents end up flat on their backs in disgrace.
Sollom didn't need to, the kickers did enough
to disparage themselves anyway.
Instead of playing dirty, Sollom played well
in quarterbacking his team to a 24-17 victory.
Although he did throw three interceptions, Sol-
lom completed 10 of 17 passes for 115 yards
while replacing the injured Michael Taylor.
And he is the fourth-string quarterback.
This team has a lot of good players, yet many
of the roles are already filled. Michigan returns
nine starters on defense and six starters on
offense. Don't forget that there is already great
depth at the linebacker, running back and quarter-
back spots before any of next year's class of
newcomers even put on the pads in Ann Arbor
for the first time.
But during this dress rehearsal, several players
did prove that they had star quality.
WIDE RECEIVERS Desmond Howard and
Yale VanDyne have more than just fancy names.
Howard caught two passes for 24 yards while
showing speed and footwork that would have
impressed Greg McMurtry, who was playing
centerfield for Michigan at the time.
VanDyne may have been even more
impressive with the losing white team. His 4
catches for 70 yards made him the game's leading
receiver. But can they play with the veterans like

McMurtry and Chris Calloway?
"Oh yeah," Walker said. "Yale is a hard
worker, He is an overacheiver. And Desmond has
really impressed the coaches this spring. Van-
Dyne and Howard will be a big plus to us this
fall."
Defensive back Lance Dottin has just as
flashy a name as his offensive counterparts, and
he even has celebrity bloodlines. But Rumeal
Robinson's cousin made an effort to distinguish
himself last Saturday with three interceptions,
including a falling catch of his own deflection
that might have been the game's finest play.
"Lance is a good player," said Walker. "He
improved a heck of lot this spring. We are happy
about that because we need somebody to replace
David Arnold at cornerback. I think he can do the
job in the fall."
Even with the great talent, Schembechler still
expects more from his team than he saw on
Saturday.
"From my stand point, that was not a very
impressive sight," said the coach. "I'm not going
to do that in the fall. We're not going to slop
that ball up and have it intercepted. We're not
going to drop the ball on the ground, and some
of those fumbles came from backs that know
better."
Credit the poor play to opening night jitters,
coach. Come September, it looks like you're
going to have a hit on your hands.

BY RICHARD EISEN
Behind a more experienced offen-
sive line and potent rushing attack,
the Blue team defeated the White
squad 24-17 in Michigan football's
annual spring bash at Michigan
Stadium Saturday.
In front of 20,000-plus fans, the
largest crowd to ever see a Michigan
spring game, the Wolverines strutted
their stuff in hopes of keeping their
jobs or winning a spot on the de-
fending Rose Bowl champion squad.
The game started with a bang -
or you might say a rumble - as
Rose Bowl MVP Leroy Hoard re-
turned the opening kickoff 78 yards,
deep into the Blue zone.
But the White squad went three
plays and out as three rushes turned
into a practice of futility. This began
the afternoon's most distressing pat-
tern as the White team constantly
had trouble rushing the ball. Mich-
igan coach Bo Schembechler attrib-
uted the White's ineptitude on the
rush to its inexperienced offensive
line.
"The White team couldn't run
because from tackle to tackle the line
was completely freshmen," Schem-
bechler said. "And that just goes to
show you how much learning it
takes in there before you really learn
the job."
THE ENTIRE afternoon,
Hoard, who rushed 13 times for 46
yards, spent his time dodging
penetrating Blue defenders. On one
occasion, he even ran away from his
blockers on a screen pass, causing
him to get creamed by a defender and
fumble the football.
"(Hoard) ran very well, and I
think one the of problems was the
frustration of running behind a line
that didn't block very well for him,"
Schembechler said. "Then, he tries
to do everything himself and coughs
up the ball. That he can't afford to
do. No back is worth the fumble."
After the three futile rushes, J.D.
Carlson, the leading candidate for the
placekicking position, kicked a 21
yard field goal to put White in the
lead, 3-0. The White team would
never lead again.
The Blue team took possession
under the direction of quarterback
Michael Taylor, who immediately
engineered a 5:38 drive to put his
team up 7-3.- .
Taylor completed two of three
passes on the drive, with his one
incomplete throw coming off a
double reverse flea flicker. The Blue
team drove down to the White 9-yard
line where Taylor rushed a quarter-
back draw to the three.
IT WOULD BE Taylor's last
play of the game as he left the field
holding his throwing hand. Schem-
bechler later said it was a jammed
finger and should be nothing serious.
Ken Sollom took over for the rest
of the game for the Blue team and
finished with 10-17 passing for 115
yards and three interceptions.
Wilbur Odom started at quarter-
back for the White team and yielded
to Elvis Grbac in the second and
third quarters. Grbac, who finished
with 4-11 passing for 38 yards and
two interceptions, couldn't muster
much offense.
The Blue team scored twice more
before halftime, one on a drive orch-
estrated by running backs Jarrod
Bunch, Tony Boles and Levitius

Johnson. The three ran up the field
with great vigor and it was Bunch
who finally entered the end zone on a
five yard run over the middle.
John Albertson added a 36-yard

field goal to give Blue a 17-3 half-
time lead.
There was no scoring in the not-
so-scintillating third quarter. Despite
the boredom that seemed to set in
the crowd, a bunch of turn-overs
awakened the crowd intermit-tently.
"From a Spring Game standpoint,
I guess it was fairly entertaining be-
cause people like yourselves and the
fans like interceptions, fumbles,
turnovers and double reverse passes,"
Schembechler said. "But from my
standpoint, it was not a very im-
pressive sight. We're not going to
do that in the fall.
"WE'RE NOT going to slop
that ball up in the air and have it
intercepted. And we're not going to
drop the ball to the ground."
There was a lot of slopping and
dropping in the third quarter and the
game in general. Collectively, both
teams turned the ball over nine
times.
First-year redshirt Lance Dottin
had much to do with the turnovers.
The cornerback intercepted three
passes, one which he batted into the
air and brilliantly caught it while
lying on his back. Talk about your
tip drills.
In the fourth quarter, the White
team exploded with two touchdowns,
its first scores since the first quarter.
Surprisingly enough, the first White
opportunity was created by a Blue
turnover.
After Bunch fumbled deep in his
own territory, Odom bulldozed a
naked bootleg into the endzone a few
plays later to pull within seven, 17-
10.
THE BLUE SQUAD iced the
victory with another Bunch touch-
down, his third of the day - a one-
yard run. The White made it inter-
esting late in the fourth quarter as
Odom connected with Chris Cal-
loway on a 18-yard touchdown toss. 4
But it all watered down to the
White team's inability to rush the
football, something that Schem-
bechler despises. After the game, the
coach was handed a computerized
readout of the game's statistics.
"The Blue team rushed for 200
yards," Schembechler read. "and the
White team rushed for 69 - a dis-
grace to Michigan football. And
that's why they got their rear ends 4
beat."
Schembechler giggled. "Pretty
simple, wasn't it? I won't even look
at the passing stats. I know how
they got beat. "
And that's how the White team
lost.
Blue Banter
*Obviously, Schembechler is still
not pleased with his kicking game. 4
When asked if he saw anything
positive in the kicking game yes-
terday, the coach blurted: "No."
For the White team, Carlson
missed field goals of 47 and 49
yards, but each kick had more than
enough oomph to get there. Eduardo
Azcona kicked one punt for 36 yards.
For the Blue squad, John Albertson,
who kicked a 36-yard field goal,
booted four punts for an average of 4
42.3 yards, including a 67-yard punt.
The worst stat - not one kickoff
was booted inside the opponent's ten
yard line.
-Junior safety Tripp Welborne
and inside linebacker John Milligan
each led the White squad with 13
tackles. Inside linebacker Chris Bohn
led the Blue team with seven tackles.

-Wide receiver Greg McMurtry
missed the game because he was
playing centerfield for the Wolver-
ines at Ray Fisher Stadium.


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