The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom
Thursday, September 4, 2008 - 9A
Freshman LB to
transfer before
seeing the field
Defense tweaks
lineup and works
on its 3-3-5 set
By DAN FELDMAN
Daily Sports Editor
Apparently, one game was
enough.
A couple days ago, freshman
linebacker Taylor Hill decided
to transfer. He didn't play in the
Michigan football team's opener
against Utah.
The Youngstown, Ohio native
indicated to
Michigan coach NOTEBOOK
Rich Rodriguez
he wanted to transfer to a school
closer to home.
"He's a good young man from a
good family" Rodriguez said. "We
hope it works out for him."
Hill isn't the only freshman
linebacker whose services the
Wolverines are losing. Rodriguez
said it doesn't appear Marcus
Witherspoon will qualify academ-
ically, meaning he will probably
ever join the team.
It didn't take long for Rodri-
guez became irritated about talk-
ing about Hill and Witherspoon.
"Can we talk about the guys
that play for Michigan?" Rodri-
guez asked.
P There have also been internet
rumors that freshman running
back Michael Cox is transferring,
but he's still with the team.
"He didn't talk to me about it,
but I heard about it," Rodriguez
said. "I think he went through
some time there for a day, maybe a
half day, where he thought about
it. But I think he realized he chose
Michigan for all the right reasons.
There's no reason to try to leave."
DEFENSIVE ADJUSTMENTS:
The Wolverine defense was work-
ing on its 3-3-5 defense during
yesterday's practice.
Fifth-year senior Will Johnson,
not senior Terrance Taylor, was
playing in the interior of the de-
fensive line.
Sophomore Marell Evans, the
starter at weakside linebacker
against Utah, and fifth-year senior
John Thompson played strong-
side linebacker. Last week's start-
ing strongside linebacker Austin
Panter was off to the side.
Coaches had. said if redshirt
sophomore Obi Ezeh and Thomp-
son, both natural middle line-
backers, played together, Ezeh
would slide to the strong side.
But Ezeh excelled in the middle
Saturday. A career-high 15 tackles
and an interception earn him Big
Ten Defensive Player of the Week
honors.
As stated in the depth chart
for Saturday, redshirt sophomore
Jonas Mouton played at weakside
linebacker.
THREET FIRST: Redshirt fresh-
man Steven Threet took reps with
the first team offense before red-
shirt sophomore Nick Sheridan at
yesterday's practice. But Rodri-
guez hasn't announced a starter
for Saturday.
"I pretty much have it in my
mind," Rodriguez said. "But we're
not sure. We still have a couple
more days to do that. But both
will play."
GRADY ACTIVATED: Redshirt
junior Kevin Grady will play against
Miami (Ohio) on Saturday. He was
suspended for the Utah game after
pleading guilty to driving while in-
toxicated in the offseason.
Grady is on equal standing with
freshmen Sam McGuffie and Mi-
chael Shaw and junior Brandon Mi-
nor., Carlos Brown, when healthy,
is also on par with those other four
players.
Grady is a bigger, more powerful
back than those four, so he should
help with short-yardage plays.
INJURY UPDATE: Junior wide
receiver Greg Mathews and red-
shirt freshman defensive end
Ryan Van Bergen are doubtful for
Saturday's game against Miami
(Ohio).
SAID ALSALAH/Dz
Twenty-eight Michigan students participated in open tryouts for the football team yesterday morning at 6:00 a.m. in Oosterbaan Fieldhouse. Five hopefuls made it to the
next round of evaluation. Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez plans to hold an open tryout the first week of each semester.
Five potential walk-onsone
step closer to joining squad'
Big Ten doesn't impress
i in opening weekend
(AP) - This is no way to com-
bat the critics.
The Big Ten had three games
last week against teams of similar
status - and lost all three.
Michigan fell at home to Utah
25-23 in coach Rich Rodriguez's
debut on the sideline. No. 20 Illi-
nois put up 42 points against No.
6 Missouri but still lost 52-42 in
neutral-site St. Louis. And a phys-
ical Cal team beat visiting Michi-
gan State, 38-31.
"I don't really know what was
going on," Michigan State safety
Otis Wiley said. "They were just
pounding us."
Seven other conference teams
in action won (Purdue was idle),
but the victories came against the
likes of Maine, Western Kentucky,
Northern Illinois, Youngstown
State, Coastal Carolina, Akron
and Syracuse. That's not exactly
murderer's row in college foot-
ball.
The Big Ten's signature non-
conference win so far is probably
Wisconsin's 38-17win over Akron,
which was uncomfortably close
for a while. Northwestern owns
the lone win over a BCS opponent,
but the Wildcats' 30-10 win came
at the expense of the orange, who
finished 2-tO last season.
The two teams may sort the
issue out for themselves, as the
Zips visit Syracuse on Saturday.
Ohio State coach Jim Tres-
sel, whose team beat up on FCS
member Youngstown State 43-0,
looked for a ray of sunshine in the
doom and gloom.
"We got three losses in all three
of those games, but I don't think
we have to apologize for how our
teams played," he said. "We didn't
do what we needed to do but we
played like crazy."
DON'T USE YOUR HEAD: Illi-
nois head coach Ron Zook said his
team's poor tackling was one of
its biggest problems in Saturday's
52-42 loss to No. 6 Missouri.
The problem? Too much think-
ing, he said.
"Tackling is about 99 percent
emotion," he said. "You've got
to get past that thinking stage.
You're way better off having guys
flying at the football than trying
to make every adjustment pos-
sible."
Illinois middle linebacker Brit
Miller, a senior picked by Zook to
be a team leader, apologized to the
squad for the defensive letdown.
"If your offense scores that
many points, you should win,"
Miller said.
BEAST OF BURDEN: Michigan
State running back Javon Ringer
figures to be one worn-out dude
this season.
Ringer carried 27 times in the
loss at California, the most of any-
one in the Big Ten last week.
"As we enter into every game,
we're going with Javon until
he tires," coach Mark Dantonio
said. "Throughout the game we
checked with him, and he said
he was ready to go. It was one of
those situations where he didn't
want to come out."
Ringer gained just 81 yards, an
average of 3 yards per carry.
Ringer was spelled regularly by
Jehuu Caulcrick last season, par-
ticularlyinshortyardage and goal
line situations. But with Caulcrick
gone, the Spartans don't have that
luxury this year.
By COURTNEY RATKOWIAK
Daily Sports Editor
If he had his way, freshman
Matt Cavanaugh would have al-
ready been on the Michigan foot-
ball team.
During last February's open try-
out under Michigan coach Rich
Rodriguez, Cavanaugh, then-Cale-
donia High School senior, came
to Ann Arbor and tried to partici-
pate.
"I was actually the only non-stu-
dent at the time that showed up,"
Cavanaugh said yesterday. "I got to
watch all of them and talked to the
coaches, and actually, one of them
remembered me (yesterday)."
His talent was clear - he had
received an offer from Grand Val-
ley State in high school - and
the second time he tried to try
out, he became one of five play-
ers who made it past yesterday's
open tryout at 6:00 a.m. in Oost-
erbaan Fieldhouse. Of 28 prospec-
tive Michigan football players,
Cavanaugh, Jordan Kovacs, Domi-
nique Ware, Russ Farha and Gabe
Pena were invited back for further
evaluations.
The five chosen fromyesterday's
tryout will undergo eligibility and
"character checks" before return-
ing for another evaluation. Though
all the walk-ons will have to adjust
to practice, Rodriguez said one or
two of the athletes from yester-
day's tryout could potentially land
on the dress list this season.
The 90-minute tryout included
footwork stations, position drills
and timed 40-yard dash. Near the
end of the tryout, two athletes try-
ing out at quarterback alternated
throwing passes to receivers. Ko-
vacs had the fastest 40 timealisted
by the coaching staff, a 4.68, but
most of the athletes finished in
the high 4-second to low 5-second
range.
The lower turnout and early
morning workout made the mood
during tryouts noticeably more
subdued than in February.
Instead of coaches barking or-
ders, running backs coach Fred
Jackson's patient instructions and
words of encouragement during
footwork drills echoed through
the fieldhouse.
Though some players said they
thought the 6:00 a.m. tryout time
was a move to discourage nonseri-
ous athletes, Rodriguez said it was
the only time the coaching staff
could take a break from preparing
for games.
"That's when my whole staff
was available," he said. "From 7:30
in the morning until about 11 at
night, it's pretty busy. This way,
we could get the whole staff's at-
tention."
Rodriguez anticipated that 25 to
35 athletes would'aftend the morn-
ing tryout. Though attendance met
expectations, he said he was dis-
appointed by low turnout at the
offensive and defensive linemen
positions.
When asked about the dropoff
in tryout attendees from last se-
mester, Rodriguez was quick to
answer.
"It's probably because a lot of
the 65 guys that were there (in
February) realized they couldn't
have made it," he said.
The Michigan coaches were
already familiar with many of
the players before watching yes-
terday's workout. Nine of the 28
athletes also participated in last
February's tryout, including three
who were originally invited back
for an extended evaluation but
didn't make the team. None of the
three made the list again after yes-
terday's tryout.
Of the 12 athletes who were
invited for an additional evalua-
tion in February, sophomore Tony
Anderson and juniors Bobby Cen-
tlivre, Mike Fish 'and Nick Koehig-
sknecht made this year's fall ros-
ter. Anderson was the only one
to dress Saturday against Utah.
Rodriguez said yesterday Ander-
son will "wind up playing at some
point for us" but wasn't sure if
the cornerback's Wolverine debut
would come this season.
Anderson's accomplishments at
last year's tryouts motivated Ware,
his friend and fellow sophomore,
to follow a five-day-a-week work-
out regimen including 100-yard
sprints and weight training. Ware
was the only player of the five cho-
sen yesterday who participated in
both open tryouts.
"I think I did real good," Ware
said before learning he made the
team. "The coaches learned my
name, so I guess that's a good
sign."
Rodriguez will continue to hold
an open tryout during the first full
week of every semester.
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