The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Thursday, November 4, 2010 - 7A J.T. Floyd out for year, needs ankle surgery For Michigan, power play remains a work in progress ByTIMROHAN Daily SportsEditor Just as the Michigan second- ary tries to get back up and dust itself off, it gets knocked back down again. Before the season, the unit lost its most experienced player, Troy Wool- 0 folk, to an ankle injury he suffered in practice. And during the weekly Big Ten teleconference yesterday, Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez announced that the Wolverines' current No. 1 cornerback, J.T. Floyd, would miss the rest of the season * with an ankle injury. Floyd injured the ankle during practice, and Rodriguez said that the x-rays were negative for a fracture. But Floyd suffered ligament damage that will require surgery. "The unfortunate part of a lot of it is it's been in practice and we're not even tackling in practice," Rodriguez said. "So it's just kind of one of those freak things. ... A guy fell down in front of him and I don't think he saw it. And he got rolled up. " With Woolfolk out before the sea- son started, Floyd stepped into the leadership role on an inexperienced unit. Rodriguez called him the "solid rock" of the secondary, but now 9 senior cornerback James Rogers, plus true freshmen Courtney Avery, Terrence Talbott and Cullen Chris- tian will have to shoulder the load. Rogers is a converted wide receiver who saw little playing time prior to this season, and none of the fresh- men have started a single game for the Wolverines. Michigan's pass defense has allowed more than 290 yards per game with Floyd in the lineup, and that was only better than three other Division-I teams - ranking 117th in the country. Floyd started all eight games this season at left cornerback and record- ed66tackles,four pass breakups and oneinterception.Rodriguez said that Avery would start in Floyd's place on Saturday against Illinois, but that he would also like to get a couple of the other younger cornerbacks prepared to play, too. Redshirt sophomore cornerback .T. Floyd was Michigan's top cornerback. "I've been really pleased with (Avery and Talbott's) development," Rodriguez said. "They're both com- petitive guys, they're just young. And we know they're going to make some mistakes and there will be some growing pains with them. But they've done a good job in practice and we're going to try and acceler- ate the process as far as getting them ready to play at the level we need them to play at." Just five days ago, Rodriguez talk- ed with the media after the Wolver- ines' 41-31 loss to Penn State about how young the secondary was. That came after a game in which former walk-on quarterback Matt McGloin threw for 250 yards and a touch- down against the Michigan defense. Rodriguez has maintained all sea- son that the Wolverines are trying to get their younger defensive players up to that level where they can make contributions. The defeat at the hands of the Nit- tany Lions was the third loss in a row for the Wolverines. And in those games, the secondary allowed three touchdown passes against Iowa's Ricky Stanzi as well as 284 yards to Michigan State's Kirk Cousins. Floyd's absence adds injury to insult. "I think our guys have seen so much stuff, whether its injuries or misfortune or what-have-you, that it's almostbecome,'Okay, here we go. We'll hang together. We'll stay all in,' " Rodriguez said. "It's just another bump in the road. When you see so much of it, I don't want to say you get accustomed to it or get used to it, but you become resilient toward it. And I think our guys are very, very resil- ient. And the next guy will come in, step up and play." Michigan's secondary was already a shell of what it could have been before Woolfolk and now Floyd were lost due to injuries. The Wolverines lost former five-star recruits Justin Turner (transfer), Boubacar Cissoko (dismissed from team) during the past year. And another potential defensive back, highly touted Demar Dorsey, was committed to play at Michigan but was not admitted to the University this past spring. Redshirt sophomore safety Jor- dan Kovacs is now the only player starting in the secondary with start- ing experience prior to this season. Without Floyd, eight of the 11 players listed as a defensive back or hybrid on the depth chart are either true or redshirt freshmen. "We're pretty young back there in the secondary - now we're get- ting a little bit younger," Rodri- guez said." By MARK BURNS Daily SportsEditor Before last Christmas, then- junior forward Louie Capo- russo had just seven goals and was nowhere near the torrential 24-goal pace of his sophomore season. But in the last 15 games of the season, Caporusso altered his game mentality to a "keep it simple, shoot more" philosophy. And with the modification came results: 14 goals, 8 assists to be exact. This season, the No. 6 Michi- gan hockey team's power play, which is converting at a 21-per- cent rate, could take a page out of the former Hobey Baker finalist's book. While converting one in five opportunities is certainly respect- able, with the Wolverines' depth and senior leadership in Caporus- so, Carl Hagelin and Matt Rust, there's no question Michigan (3-0- 1-0 CCHA, 4-1-3 overall) should be seeing better results with the man advantage. "We've turned it over way too often," Michigan coach Red Berenson said after Tuesday's practice. "Certain players have been guilty of that, and we've got to change that. ... We know these teams are good defensively - we saw it with (Nebraska-Omaha), we saw it with Ferris (State) - these teams aren't going to give you time to look around and decide what you're going to do with the puck. "You've got to do it quick, you've got to move it and you've got to know what you're doing with it." And as Berenson said, it starts with not holding onto the puck for too long and knowing where the four other players are on the ice, followed by tape-to- tape passes, according to Hage- lin. "You can see the difference when we make good passes or not," Hagelin said. "If you make a few good passes, the other team is going to start running around. If you make a bad pass, the puck is out (of the zone) right SALAM 510A/Daily Senior forward Louie Caporusso will be a key factor on the power play unit this season for the Wolverines. away. So, (we're) just making sure that we're making the right plays and more patient with the puck this weekend." Hagelin added that, in practice this week, Berenson has the play- ers executing more of an overload style of power play before the Wol- verines' two-game road series at Alaska (2-1-1-1, 5-2-1) starting Fri- day. An overload style means the team attempts to work the puck off the end boards, as opposed to an umbrella-type strategy, in which various plays are gener- ally executed from the top of the offensive zone. But along with a few technical adjustments, there is definitely a need to shoot the puck more. Through the first month of the season, the Wolverines have accu- mulated just 49 shots on42 power plays. And for Michigan to create more grade-A scoring opportu- nities this weekend, it will need to pepper Fairbanks' netminder Scott Greenham and future goal- ies with all the rubber they can handle. A certain aspect of the power play is luck and getting a favorable bounce here and there. But at the same time, Hagelin admitted that with a little persistence and hard work, the goals are going to come and the puck is going to bounce their way eventually. Said Caporusso, "Sometimes you get bounces and people will be like, 'Oh, you have a sweet power play,' but really you're just getting lucky. ... It's a lot of luck actually, when you think about it. The Pittsburgh Penguins last year had some of the most talented guys in the world and the worst power play in the NHL, so go fig- ure that one out." I CAN AMERICA STILL ACT? CRITICAL CHALLENGES AT HOME & ABROAD A 2010 CITIGROUP FOUNDATION LECTURE Dr. Jessica Tuchman Mathews President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Wednesday, November 10, 2010 4:00-5:30 p.m. Free and open to the public. Reception to follow. Ford School of Public Policy Annenberg Auditorium 1120 Weill Hall 735 S. State Street Info: 734-615-3893 www.fordschool.umich.edu Co-sponsors: Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy IUN ViRS:TY OF MIC GAN International Policy Center atuheemR.foe coolof PubicPoicy CAREERS FOR THE PUBLIC 0000 Thursday, November 4, 2010 WeillHall Ford School of Public Policy 6:00 PM Looking for ways to stay committed to social justice after college? Hear alumni in various ilelds discuss how they have remained committed to social justice in their professional careers Network with recent alumni to learn about work opportunities http://sitemaker.umich.careers4publiegood/home