The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Tuesday, November 2, 2010 - 7A
Rodriguez says staff on
defense will not change
Michigan football
coach denies rumors of
defensive coordinator
Greg Robinson's firing
By NICOLE AUERBACH
Daily Sports Writer
Rumors of staff changes swirled
throughout message boards on
Sunday after yet
another defensive NOTEBOOK
* disappointment,
Wbut Michigan roach Rich Rodriguez
laughed them off yesterday.
"I just met with the defensive
staff the last three hours or so,"
Rodriguez said just after noon dur-
ing his weekly news conference.
"We all feel like we have to do all
we can to have success. Our coaches
work very hard."
Rodriguez repeated that he has
not made any changes to his defen-
sive staff. He said he first heard of
the rumors about a half hour before
meetingwiththe media.
"We've dealt with quite a few
(rumors) over the last few years,
haven't we? That happens in sports
and life in general," Rodriguez said.
"You deal with it, so I don't mind
answering the question. We're
working hard. We're all frustrat-
ed. To everyone's credit, no one is
pointing fingers, nobody's got their
heads down."
Defensive coordinator and line-
backers coach Greg Robinson,
* who is in his second year with the
Wolverines, was the subject of the
rumors. Michigan has allowed
more than 400 yards of offense to
opponents in five games so far this
season. The Wolverines are ranked
near the bottom of most national
defensive statistical rankings -
106th in total defense (440.3 yards
a game) and 117th in pass defense
(290.5).
Michigan leads the Big Ten in
total offense and rushing yard-
age, so the Wolverines' three con-
Michigan defensive coordinator Greg Robinson has been under fire recently due to Michigan's defensive struggles.
secutive losses automatically draw
attention to the defense.
When asked what an offensive-
minded head coach like himself can
do to help the struggling defense,
Rodriguez said he would spend
more time with defensive players
and in defensive meetings.
"I probably should do that
because we have more inexperi-
enced players over there," Rodri-
guez said. "I'm not going to be able
to wave a magic wand and fix some
of the issues defensively. Some of
the problems are not going to get
fixed overnight. You can't make a
guy experienced just by practicing
with them. We have a lot of inexpe-
rienced players defensively.
"I have a critical view of every-
thing - every coach, every player,
everything in our program every
day. That's what we do. That's what
head coaches do."
RICH "THE SITUATION" RODRI-
GUEZ: Rodriguez's love for Lion
King references is well documented
by the media.
His most recent pop culture ref-
erence was a bit more current - and
hilarious.
"Everybody wants to focus on
the negative," Rodriguez said.
"Nobody ever wants to talk about
the positive. I guess that gets
people's interest. It sells papers. It
gets people to turn on the TV. If
it's a negative story coming on, the
world's coming to an end. There's a
bombing, something tragic. But if
it's positive, it doesn't sell.
"It's why everybody watches
reality shows, right? To seethem get
in cat fights? Jersey Shore, whatever
you call it. People want to see two
people get into an argument and
boy, if they get to the point where
they actually try to swing at each
other, that's going to get great rat-
ings."
INJURY UPDATES: Rodriguez
said he expects defensive lineman
Mike Martin's ankle to heal enough
so he could begin practicing yester-
day or today.
Rodriguez hopes the other
injured players will be healthy to
practice and play this week. The
list includes: offensive tackle Perry
Dorrestein (knee), tailback Mike
Shaw (knee), tailback Fitz Toussaint
(shoulder), cornerback J.T. Floyd
(stinger) and quarterback Denard
Robinson (hip).
Rodriguez also said Shaw's injury
limited him against Penn State.
sALAM RIDA/Daily
Senior defenseman Chad Langlais has played in 137 games in his four years in
Ann Arbor. This year, he's in the Wolverines' top defensive pairing,
With experience,
Langlais serves as
defensive mentor
By CASANDRA PAGNI of things that rubs off on these
Daily Sports Writer players."
FALLON'S FIRST SPARKS
In his 137-game Michigan TEAM: In Friday night's road
career, matching up against some contest at Ferris State - a game
of the towering power forwards in which the Wolverines (3-0-1-0
of college hock- CCHA, 4-1-3 overall) were out-
ey hasn't been NOTEBOOK played from the start - Fallon's
a problem for third-period goal proved to be
senior defender Chad Langlais. just the spark that Michigan was
While the forwards may win searching for through the first
the size advantage, at 5-foot-9- two periods. The freshman's first
inches, Langlais usually wins the career goal put the Wolverines
puck. on the board, and cut the Bulldog
Langlais has anchored the lead to one.
Wolverines' top defensive line The goal was quirky - Fallon
all season, playing alongside admitted that he was trying to
freshman defender Jon Merrill. pass the puck back to sophomore
Described as a "workhorse" for center A.J Treais when the goal
No. 6 Michigan, the senior has went in. But according to junior
seen a ton of ice-time, playing co-captain Luke Glendening, it
on both the power play and pen- didn't matter.
alty kill, in addition to his even- "That was a huge goal for us,"
strength spot. Glendening said. "It wasn't pret-
"I like playing a lot," Langlais ty, but they don't ask how, they
said. "I feel like I ask how many.
get into the game It did the job
a lot more if I'm and really got us
playing a lot more. "He shows you going."
Conditioning The team
leve, T'feel like he'sa 'senior by sav ''tiae puA
I'm fine right now. for Fallon, who
Me and Jonny are the way he plays received a flood
logging a lot of f text messages
minutes, but I feel thegame." andcongratula-
like we're playing tory phone calls
better and better after netting
L. Young Wolverines claim doubles title
in impressive showing at Big Tens
By MATT RUDNITSKY
Daily Sports Writer
It didn't take long for the Michi-
gan men's tennis team's third-
ranked 2010 recruiting class to
start making some noise.
At the early-season Big Ten
Indoor Championships in East
Lansing this weekend, the fresh-
man duo of Justin Rossi and Bar-
rett Franks claimed the flight 'A'
doubles title after winning four
straight matches.
"It was a really big deal," Rossi
said. "Me and Barrett have high
expectations this year and we
knew we could do it, we just had
to play well and put everything
together and stay focused and
energized.
"And we did that, and came up
with the title."
Despite the implications of
the tournament, which crowns a
player as the Big Ten Champion, a
slew of the conference's top play-
ers didn't participate. Michigan
didn't send any of its top-three
competitors - seniors Jason Jung
and Chris Madden and sophomore
Evan King.
"You know, this tournament is
interesting," Michigan associate
coach Sean Maymi said. "Some
teams send a lot of guys and oth-
ers don't. When comparing to the
bulk, I thought from my perspec-
tive that we had a lot of youth. We
brought all our freshmen and our
oldest guy was (junior Duncan
Muil), and it's just as new to him
as it is to the rest of them."
Rossi - a blue-chip recruit -
won three matches in the singles
main draw, eventually falling in
the quarterfinals to Ohio State's
six-foot-seven sophomore Peter
Kobelt, 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-2.
Michigan sophomore Chris Cha
made the Round of 16 by winning
two consecutive matches, but he
dropped his next match, ending
the tournament with a 2-1 record.
Another freshman, blue-chip-
per Shaun Bernstein, dropped his
first match, but went on an impres-
sive four-match winning streak in
the back-draw.
His run ended in the semifinals
with a 6-3, 6-4 loss to Indiana's
Jeremy Langer.
The team recorded a respect-
able 12-10 overall record in singles
and a 6-2 record in doubles.
"I think as a whole we repre-
sented ourselves well," Bernstein
said. "We had one quarterfinal-
ist in Rossi, and the kid that beat
him is in the final. Cha also beat a
really good player from Penn State
in the second round.
"No one made too huge an
impact, so as a team we definitely
need to improve, but to this point
in the season, when we've all been
worried about exams and stuff, I
think we've done well overall."
And though the team may not
have shown its full potential, it
showed it's ready to compete for
a Big Ten title this season, Maymi
said.
"I think we're right in the thick
of things, as far as the level, in the
Big Ten," he said. "And hopefully
by the spring, we'll be doing bet-
ter."
This weekend's event marked
the end of the Wolverines' fall
season, with the lone exception of
King.
On Thursday, King will com-
pete at the USTA/ITA National
Intercollegiate Indoor Champion-
ships in Flushing, NY, the site of
the U.S. Open. The tournament
includes the nation's top 32 colle-
giate players.
The Wolverines' dual match
season commences on Jan. 15,
when Western Michigan visits
the Varsity Tennis Center in Ann
Arbor.
each game."
In the Wolverines' weekend
matchup against Ferris State,
Langlais flashed the offensive
side to his game as well. Lan-
glais picked up two assists on the
weekend, on freshman forward
Jacob Fallon's lamplighter on Fri-
day and sophomore left winger
Kevin Lynch's power play goal on
Saturday.
Langlais's performance Sat-
urday night earned him the first
star of the game, but the Spo-
kane, Wash. native has been a
leader for the entire season. With
three true freshman defenders in
Merrill, Mac Bennett and Kevin
Clare, the veteran Langlais is a
role model Michigan coach Red
Berenson expects the rookies to
turn to consistently.
"(Langlais) is an experienced
player who really shows his
experience," Berenson said. "He
doesn't show you he's a senior
because he looks old or because
he's that much bigger than any-
body. He shows you he's a senior
by the way he plays the game.
"The way he competes, the
way he battles, the way he plays
in situations, how he's got the
coaches trust. He goes out there
with the ultimate confidence that
'I can do this job.' That's the kind
his first goal as
a Wolverine. But Fallon won't
dwell on that moment, knowing
that he still has a ladder to climb
to be successful at this level.
After playing in just four
games this season, Fallon is
aware that he - like the other
freshmen on the team - need to
find a way to match the size and
strength of the opponents Michi-
gan faces each weekend.
"You have to think a lot quick-
er," Fallon said. "But the game is a
lot more physical too, bigger bod-
ies out there. You can't dominate
the game the way I used to when
I was 15, 16. I just take weight-
lifting very serious and try to get
bigger and better every day."
NOTES: Looking ahead to the
Wolverines' upcoming series at
Alaska-Fairbanks, Berenson said
after yesterday's practice that
senior Shawn Hunwick will get
the nod in goal on Friday, with
senior Bryan Hogan starting Sat-
urday. ... In practice yesterday,
the top offensive lines remained
as they were on Saturday against
Ferris State, with seniors Carl
Hagelin, Louie Caporusso and
Lynch playing together, and
senior Matt Rust, junior David
Wohlberg, and sophomore Chris
Brown on the second line.
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