Baseball
vs. Eastern Michigan
Tomorrow, 3 p.m.
Fisher Stadium
S
ARTS
Softball
vs. Michigan State
Tomorrow, 3 p.m.
Alumni Field
Blue-chip Mitchell commits to Michigan
By CHAD A. SAFRAN
*AILY SPORTS EDITOR
AUBURN HILLS - It took less than a
minute.
However, in that short time, the future of
Michigan men's basketball changed.
The Wolverines' recruiting class increased
by a mere one, turning the group from Young
Guns III into the Quad Squad when Detroit
Pershing's Willie Mitchell announced hewould
be attending Michigan in the fall.
Winner of Michigan's Mr. Basketball award
this past season, Mitchell completes a Wolver-
ine recruiting class that includes Travis Conlan
of St. Clair Shores Lake Shore, Maurice Taylor
of Detroit Henry Ford and Dallas' Maceo
Baston.
Taylor, Baston and Mitchell, all playing for
the West, displayed their variety of skills yes-
terday at Magic's Roundball Classic, held at the
Palace of Auburn Hills before 10,121 fans.
National Player of the Year Felipe Lopez led
the East team to victory over the West squad,
141-135.
Taylor scored 22 points, grabbed six re-
bounds and blocked five shots on his way to
earning West MVP honors.
Despite the fine performances from the St.
John's-bound Lopez (East MVP with 25 points
and 11 assists), Taylor, and 5-foot-9 dynamo
Kareem Reid, the story of the day was Mitchell.
"This was one of the hardest decisions I've
ever made in my life," Mitchell said. "I talked
to Magic (Johnson) and my family. I knew
when the clock hit zero, zero, zero that it was
time to make this press conference."
Mitchell considered four other schools -
Michigan State, Minnesota, Kentucky andSyra-
cuse -- before choosing to become a member
of the Wolverines. The 6-foot-8 forward nar-
rowed it down to the Spartans, Wildcats and
Michigan Saturday night but did not reach his
final decision until yesterday morning.
Mitchell,who plays inAAU summer leagues
with Conlan and Taylor, stressed the impor-
tance of Michigan coach Steve Fisher's relaxed
style ("He lets us play our game") on why he
decided to come to Ann Arbor.
Fisher could not comment on Mitchell's
commitment due to NCAA restrictions.
"With the crazy rules, I can't comment until
I get a signed tender (official letter of commit-
ment),"Fishersaid. "He can'tsign until Wednes-
day at 8a.m. So we probably won't have it until
Friday."
Another NCAA rule regarding the number
of times coaches watch potential signees pro-
hibited Fisher from attending yesterday's con-
test, yet he managed to view abitofthe game on
television.
Despite his accolades, Mitchellearned mixed
reviews from the so-called recruiting experts.
Brick Oettinger of The Poop Sheet rated
Mitchell as the 11th best prospect in the nation
and praised his "great hands" and "burning
desire to win."
Yet, The Hoop Scoop's Clark Francis said
that Mitchell "appeared to be more concerned
with catching alley-oops and being flashy than
being productive."
Mitchell produced one thing for Fisher al-
ready - a letter of intent.
*Hope springs eternal for 'M' football
Tight end treats
0
*Riemersma well
By ANTOINE PITTS
DAILY SPORTS WRITER
Last year at this time, Jay Riemersma finished the
spring solidifying his spot as a backup to quarterback
Todd Collins. One year later, Riemersma remains a
backup - this time at a different position.
Saturday's Blue-White game marked the debut for
Riemersma at tight end. He led all receivers with 57 yards
on four catches. Quarterback Jason Carr hit Riemersma
*vith a 22-yard first-quarter pass that set up the White
team's lone touchdown.
A shoulder injury along with Michigan's lack of depth
at the position precipitated the switch for Riemersma, who
has junior eligibility this fall.
"If I can be successful at tight end and play there a few
years, I'd be more than willing to do that to help the
team," Riemersma said. "Realistically, if I go back to
quarterback, I'm going to be backing up Todd."
Riemersma's rotator cuff injury dates back to training
camp last fall. After a long throw he felt numbness in the
Warm but played through it. In five games, he completed
three of eight passes.
"It was hurt all season long," Riemersma said. "I just
tried to play through it. I figured if something happened,
I'd just have to go in there and do my best."
The Michigan coaching staff kept the injury secret
until the Hall of Fame Bowl. Collins was shaken up in the
first series of the game. Instead of Riemersma entering the
game, third-stringer Carr took the next snap.
"That's probably when everyone knew something
*was up," Riemersma said. "I didn't go in when Todd went
down on that play."
Experience as a quarterback has helped Riemersma in
the switch. His ability to read the defense has been key.
However, the physical aspects of tight end have been more
difficult to come by.
"The routes and the recognition of the defense was the
easiest transition I made," Riemersma said. "The block-
ing and the technique of blocking has been the hardest."
While learning the position this spring, Riemersma
ad to block linebacker Matt Dyson, an All-Big Ten
selection the past two years.
"I've been going against him most of the spring,"
Riemersma said. "As far as learning the position and
learning it fast, that's one of the best guys to do it against."
See RIEMERSMA, Page 20
Davis gains 142 yards;
leads White past Blue
By CHAD A. SAFRAN
DAILY SPORTS EDITOR
It was a time for reviews, pre-
views and miscues.
It was time for the annual Blue-
White intrasquad spring football game
that signals the close of the spring
practice session at Michigan, and the
White came away with a 10-6 victory
at Michigan Stadium Saturday.
The game allowed Michigan coach
Gary Moeller one final peek at the
Wolverines before they reconvene in
August for two-a-day practices.
And Moeller expressed a similar
concern for his team that he did be-
fore the 1993 campaign.
"The offensive line is the thing I
worry about most," said Moeller, who
viewed the contest from the press box
while assistants Fred Jackson and
Bobby Morrison led the two squads
on the sidelines.
The offensive line, which began
to gel late last season as the Wolver-
ines finished with an 8-4 record, suf-
fered a great loss in spring practice
when sophomore Joe Marinaro went
down with a knee injury.
Marinaro underwent reconstruc-
tive knee surgery and the Wolverines.
hope he will be ready by October.
"He's.going to be missed," said
quarterback Todd Collins, who engi-
neered the Blue offense in the first and
fourth quarters. "In the beginning of
the spring the offensive line was pretty
dominant. We have some holes to fill
on the offensive line."
The defenses of the respective
teams took advantage of the shaky
line play as the two teams combined
for only 515 yards of offense. The
White limited the Blue to 119 rushing
yards on 44 attempts for an average of
3.6 yards per carry, and held the Blue
scoreless for over 55 minutes.
Defensive tackle Trent Zenkewicz,
for the White, and outside linebacker
Matt Dyson came up with three sacks
between them. Zenkewicz pummeled
Collins for an 8-yard loss in the first
quarter.
"He was a little rough out there,"
Collins said. "He's been involved a
lot (this spring). He's been causing
some havoc in the backfield."
Dyson was in the backfield more
often than Tyrone Wheatley on this
day, as he constantly harassed White
QBs Jason Carr and Scot Loeffler,
batting and tipping passes as well as
just blowing past whoever attempted
to block him.
"They're not going to take it easy
on (the younger players) in the fall,"
Dyson said. "There's no reason for
me to take it easy on them now."
The White defense did not allow
the Blue to play much at all Saturday.
Down 10-0 midway through the final
quarter, Collins marched the Blue 68
yards in 10 plays over a 5:49 span
before connecting with wideout
Amani Toomer at 11:33 of the fourth
quarter.
The sophomore receiver jumped
above White defenders Tyrone Noble
and Earnest Sanders to snare the ball
in the back left corner of the end zone.
However, Remy Hamilton missed the
extra point, keeping the score at 10-6.
Hamilton, who also missed a 37-
yard field goal in the second quarter,
is competing with Erik Lovell for the
place kicking job. Pete Elezovic, the
position holder the past two seasons,
graduates later this month, leaving
the vacancy to his 1993 backups.
Lovell knocked home his only field
goal attempt - a 23-yard effort at the
See SPRING, Page 20
Tailback Ed Davis scored a touchdown in a 10-6 White victory Saturday.
Tumblers finish in top five at Regionals
Plocki's speech leads women to third in Regionals; berth in NCAAs
By TIM SMITH
DAILY SPORTS WRITER
It wasn't perfect, but it did what it
had to do.
The Michigan women's gymnas-
tics team was in Tuscaloosa, Ala. this
weekend for the NCAA Central
*Regionals with hopes of advancing to
the NCAA Championships April 23.
Host Alabama won the meet in
impressive fashion by scoring a 196.9,
and was followed by Louisiana State
with a 194.4. The Wolverines fin-
ished third with 193.6, but ensured
themselves a place in the NCAAs by
finishing with such a high score.
The Regionals are held in five
ifferent areas of the country, with
the winners getting automatic bids and
the next seven seeds being awarded to
the other top finishers.
The Wolverineswillbeseededsixth
in the championship - the highest
they have ever been seeded for the
event. Coach Bev Plocki was satis-
Junior Debbie Berman thinks that
the turnaround had a little to do with
a lockerroom pep talk between events.
"We went to the lockerroom after
bars and beam and refocused and went
out and hit some beautiful floor rou-
tines and vaults," Berman said. "We
refocused because everyone really
wanted (to go to the NCAA's), so
everyone put it together, and the last
two events were much better."
Plocki said her lockerroom speech
centered on the fact that the time to may have been some nervousness in
step up was now, or there would be no the beginning of the meet, which could
tomorrow. have contributed to the slow start.
"I told them that now was not the "It was one of our biggest meets of
time to analyze the-problems," Plocki the year," Wymer said. "Alabama fans
said. "I told them we needed to come were all around and rowdy. I think it
out and have two great events or we'd just took a while to get warmed up to
be sitting home for the Nationals. I the meet and get in gear."
think it really sparked them because Wymer went on to capture the all-
they went out for the last two events around title with a score of 39.60, and
and did remarkably well." was followed by Kim Kelly (39.55)
Junior Beth Wymer feels that there See WOMEN, Page 16
Men have solid showing; finish fourth at West Point
By TONYA BARTOW
FOR THE DAILY
A required change in the size of its
lineup did not stop the Michigan men's
gymnastics team from a strong show-
ing at the NCAA Eastern Regional
Championships at West Point Satur-
day.
The Wolverines placed fourth with
a score of 276.725. The top three
their scoring, making good scores dif-
ficult in the early going.
"We placed third on rings, our
second event," Darden said. "It was
difficult to get that good of a score
early on. The judges had very sharp
pencils in the beginning."
The team had its strongest show-
ing on the floor exercise and the high
bar.
mom, -~ t l - - p4 -.,__.....i. ti...
'We were expecting to
do a whole lot better.
But things don't
always go the way you
want.'
- Kris Klinger
Michigan vmnast
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