8 - Tuesday, September 14, 2010 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Despite attention, Robinson stays humble By TIM ROHAN most impressive thing. He's not the Daily Sports Editor kind of guy who wants more of it. He actually doesn't like it. ... He's not The list of awards that sopho- going to be taken by the storm. It's more quarterback Denard Robinson not gonna fluster him, it's not gonna has not won shrinks with each pass- take him off his game. And he's han- ing week. Accolades and national dling itbeautifully." attention are expected for a player Robinson carried the ball 57 who amasses 885 times in Michigan's first two games yards of offense NOTEBOOK - 36 more times than any other in two games and teammate. With those 57 carries, leads the nation in rushing yards - Robinson amassed 455 yards, for an as a quarterback nonetheless. average of eight yards per carry. A He has won the Walter Camp natural question to ask is whether Player of the Week and Big Ten Robinson can withstand that kind Offensive Player ofthe Week for each of workload throughout a physical of the first two weeks of the season. Big Ten slate of games. He's the fourth FBS player ever to "Listen, we have 500 yards rush- win the Walter Camp award twice ing, if all 500 come from one guy, I in a season. The Wolverines have 10 don't care," Rodriguez said. "We've more regular season games left. got to do what we have to do to win But Michigan coach Rich Rodri- the game and score points. We're guez said at Monday's press con- going to make them defend all 11 ference that he isn't worried about (players). Everybodysays, 'Wellyou all of it going to Robinson's head. can't run your quarterback 20-some Robinson said his family has been times a game.' Um, well did they say encouraging him to stay focused. that when they handed off to Barry Does he pay attention to the hype? Sanders - you can't run Barry Sand- He doesn't even have cable televi- ers 20-some times a game? If he can sion, he said, and he tries to stay off handle it, he can handle it. Would the web. you like to have more balance? Yeah The Wolverines have no doubts if they give you that - great. that Robinson's head is screwed on "I promise you, Denard wouldn't right. have whatever he has rushing if he "Denard's probably the best per- didn't have some dudes blocking for son that could handle all of this him up front and guys catching the fame," redshirt junior center David ball. He'd be the first one to tell you Molk said. "He knows how to han- that." dle it. He understands it. He doesn't In Rodriguez's spread, the quar- search for it, which is probably the terback is at the center of the offense - he's the ringleader. "Our quarterback in our offense is like a point guard that can shoot the three," Rodriguez said. "He's got to be able to distribute it some- times. And sometimes he's got to shoot the three. Denard's been tak- ing a lot of threes." Rodriguez said that in practice, Robinson doesn't take any hits (none of the quarterbacks have since camp started in August). UNDER (LESS) PRESSURE: After defeatingtwo teams, in Con- necticut and Notre Dame; that were considered strong opponents before the season, Michigan finds itself ranked in the top 25 illboth the AP and the Coaches polls this week. The Wolverines are ranked No. 22 in the Coaches poll and No. 20 in the AP poll. Senior cornerback James Rog- ers said Monday that half the team probably doesn't even know they are ranked. Before the season, Rodriguez, who was 8-16 in his first two sea- sons, was on the hot seat. The success the Wolverines have expe- rienced the first two weeks of the season hasn't changed Rodriguez or his team, he said. He isn't worrying about how many people are jumping on the maize and blue bandwagon. "Am I different guy now than I was two weeks ago - same guy," Rodriguez said. "Same coaches, same players, same staff, same people. We've won two games. If so Sophomore QB Denard Robinson runs for an 87-yard touchdown in the Wolverines' 28-24 victory over Notre Dame on Saturday somebody's perception changed with that, if it changed for the bet- ter, that's good. If it changed for the worse, that's not good. I worry about what I can control. And what I can't control is whatsomebody else's feel- ings are for whatever reason. I'm not going to worry about that. "Everybody likes to be liked. I've said that before. ... I will live in world where if you win, more people are happy. There's probably some people who are still unhappy no matter what we do. And they'll be unhappy the restof their lives. What are you goingto do?" KICKING UPDATE: After red- shirt freshman kicker Brendan Gib- bons missed two second-half field goal attempts in Saturday's game,. Rodriguez decided to use redshirt freshman Seth Broekhuizen for the Wolverines' last point-after attempt. Rodriguez stressed on Monday that the kicker competition is wide open and that he's not sure who will handle the duties Saturday against Massachusetts. INJURY UPDATE: Sophomore linebacker Mike Jones broke his leg in the win over the Fighting Irish and will Rodriguez said that he is "doubtful" for the rest of the season. Redshirt junior linebacker Bren- don Herron sprained his ankle on Saturday. He will be day-to-day. MEN'S soccer w 4 Blue expects young talent P R E I E to play big offensive roles By STEPHENJ. NESBITT Daily Sports Writer As he assessed the depth chart before the season began, Michigan coach Steve Burns knew that he had a special offense at his disposal - a talent-laden attack with the most potential of perhaps any team he had ever coached. After losing forward Mauro Fuzetti - the team's top goal-scorer last season - to the MLS draft, the Michigan men's soccer team (2-1-1) reloaded up front by landing a few of the nation's top recruits. And with two of last year's three leading scorers returning in senior forward Justin Meram (a JUCO transfer last year) and sophomore midfielder Hamoody Saad, Burns already had a solid foundation in place. He didn't want tocompletely revamp his team's makeup, but he added a few players to help bolster the offense. The biggest addition was for- ward Soony Saad, a five-star recruit out of Dearborn, Mich., and brother of Hamoody. Soony scored a state record 172 goals in high school, was named Mr. Soccer for Michigan and received the Gatorade National Player of the Year award this May. "Soony is a legitimate goal scor- er; the most prolific to ever come out of the state of Michigan, and the best in the nation," Burns said through the athletic department earlier this year. "We expect him to have a dynamic career wearing the Maize and Blue." Yet adding just one piece wasn't going to solve the puzzle for the Wolverines. Burns' final count had seven true freshmen coming into the offensive ranks, including Fabio Pereira Vil- las Boas, a highly-touted, Brazil- ian-born attacking midfielder. The team also has redshirt freshman forward Noble Sullivan back this season after he was forced to miss last year with an injury. "We've got a strong freshman class coming in, and the success of our season is going to rest partially on their success over the course of their firstcyear here," Burns said fol- lowing the season opener. "We're counting on them to contribute, and they're capable of it." According to Meram, adding youth to a team playing with a strong, experienced backfield is a major advantage. "It's a new crew up front for us," Meram said. "The advantage is that other teams don't know what the new guys are about, and they have so much talent. When all of us are together on offense, it scares even our own team because we've got so many threats." The rookies were thrown to the wolves right from the onset, as No. 14 Drake came to Ann Arbor looking to avenge an upset loss to Michigan last season. Burns showed complete trust in his new offense, sending out Meram, Boas, sophomore mid- fielder Latif Alashe, and the Saad brothers to start - two freshmen, two sophomores and a senior. With those proven weapons leading the offensive charge, the outlook for Michigan is much more promising than in past seasons. "This year our offense is a lot better than what we had last year," Hamoody said. "Last year we were expected to have a bad year, and that really brought the team down. But this year we feel like we have the most talent in the Big Ten, and with our forwards combining very easily, this year we're ten times bet- ter than last year." OFFENSIVE OVERHAUL Although the game versus Drake ended up in Michigan's loss column as a 1-0 defeat, the young offense more than doubled the Bulldogs in shots,shots-on-goalandcornerkicks. That aggressive style of play has been constant through three games this season, as the Wolverines have doubled every team in those same three categories. Their attack- ing attitude has also earned them twice as many fouls as they've been penalized for, which keeps the play in the opponent's end of the field. As far as the aggression that the team has displayed, Meram credits the team playing with more energy than in the past. "We're just hungry," Meram said. "We're all goal-scorers, from me to Hamoody, Soony and Fabio, we compete every day at practice because we all want to score. We're unselfish, so we all help each other out, and I think that's really the bot- tom line." Another explanation for Michi- gan's spike in offensive shot pro- duction comes from an unexpected source. And because of this seem- ingly minor detail, Hamoody said he has the opportunity to "be more lethal on the field." The conference's new gamepiece - the Adidas' Jabulani ball that was so controversial during this sum- mer's World Cup in Africa - has been an interesting addition to say the least. "It's a weird ball," Hamoody said. "(It) can go in one direction and then all of the sudden dip and change direction. When we shoot it from far out it's so hard for the goal- keepers to handle. There is no way a goalkeeper is going to catch that ball, he has to push back out, so that just gives us another opportunity to shoot off the rebound." And the effects have already shown themselves, as Hamoody took a strike from long-distance and fooled the goalkeeper to beat Detroit 2-1,in overtime, on Sept.1a THE CAMARADERIE OF A BROTHERHOOD This offensive group seems to have a special connection while playing on the field, even after just four games, and that's not only because of the brotherly connection between Hamoody and Soony. The offense has displayed trust throughout the beginning of the season, which has resulted in a plethora of quality scoring chances. As for the brothers, they've kicked things off just right. They are first and second on the team in goals, with little brother Soony leading the race with three goals. "I feel like the younger players on the team almost have the same mindset," Hamoody said. "We play for the person next to us, we don't play for ourselves. If I had a shot that I had a 50 percent chance of making, and I saw Fabio had a 51 percent chance of scoring, I'd give it to him." As the Big Ten season draws near, that on-field connection will play a huge factor in determining whether this team will be a true contender or a non-factor in the conference. In his last season as a Wolverine, Meram promised that it would not be the latter. "You will see us compete for a Big Ten championship this season," Meram said. "I guarantee you that." Right in stride, Hamoody pushed the ball a little further still. "Every year we set the goal of winning the Big Ten. I feel like this year we all know that we have a good chance of actually doing it. If we get our forwards clicking on offense, as well as helping out on defense, we can really make a big splash in college soccer and finally makea name for ourselves." SAMANTHA TRAUBEN/Daily Experienced deense led by keeper, a strength for 'M' By CASANDRA PAGNI Daily Sports Writer If defense wins championships, having a goalkeeper nicknamed "brick wall" for his physical pres- ence and skill in the net can surely make a team breathe easier. The 2010 Michigan men's soccer team (2-1-1) boasts an experienced backfield from the keeper position on out. Two seniors - Chase Tennant and Jeff Quijano - will hold down the outside positions of the Wolver- ines' back line this year. Tennant is two starts away from engraving his name on the top 10 list for career starts at Michigan, and Quijano has been a four-year starter for the team, making experience plentiful between the pair. Sandwiched between the senior defenders are two sophomores - Kofi Opare and Brian Klemczak - who play in the center of the back line and have fit right in with the veterans around them. Opare and Klemczak each started 10 games for the Wolverines last season and have locked down starting spots thus far this season. "(Quijano) and I can both help the sophomores a lot," Tennant said last week. "They've really developed immensely as players. Right now, we are practicing (with the defense) like that and we're doing really well in the back, with (Quijano) and I supporting the two players in the middle." While Michigan coach Steve Burns isn't afraid to experiment with his lineup, especially after los- ing defensive MVP Julian Robles to graduation last season, the back line of Tennant, Klemczak, Opare and Quijano is the one that he's featured in each of the Wolverines' four games this season. Burns has every reason to be confident in his defenders, as the group has become increasingly familiar with one another's style and tendencies on the field. But even players who have a good sense of how their fellow defenders will react to a play know that nothing is guaranteed, espe- cially when facing potent offensive threats like No. 14 Drake and Seat- tle University. The Michigan back line continues to work on its forma- tions during opponents' set pieces - especially free and corner kicks - as that's one area Tennant iden- tified as a problem in past seasons. "In the past we've had problems as far as our defensive shape and the way we move," Tennant said. "That's one of the things we've been working on this season is being able to move as a team, and we can cover more ground if we're all on the same page." The Wolverine defense has allowed opponents to get18 on red- shirt senior goalie Chris Blais this season - the keeper that senior midfielder Alex Wood called a "brick wall." With a shutout already under his belt this season - coming in a 2-0 Michigan victory over the Uni- versity of Illinois-Chicago - Blais now owns seven shutouts in his Wolverine career. "We expect (Blais) to make big-time saves," Tennant said. "Throughout his time in the goal, especially last season and now this year, he's been able to do that. "He's really one of those guys that we can depend on if the defense makes a mistake. We have every reason to believe he'll make a big time save, and he has the confi- dence to do it." Blais has made 15 saves in the net this season, with four goals getting 1 past him. Ranked second in the Big Ten in goals-against average and save percentage last season and third in number of saves 67, Blais is a keeper that has proven his ability to shut opposing offenses down. "Obviously my redshirt year I learned a lot," Blais said. "Playing with Seattle (overthe summer) was a huge help butjust gave me experi- ence to know that going into games you're goingto be the one playing. "Experience is just in playing games, knowing your defenders. I'm pretty used to playing with (Quijano, Opare, Klemzack and Tennant). I know how those guys play. There's definitely a pretty good comfort level back there as I have been doing that since the start of last year and in to this year." Michigan has made Blais its main guy this season, naming the keeper a team captain for his lead- ership and electric presence from the box. While Blais embraces the honor that comes with a captain's title, he is understandably more concerned about winning soccer games. As the only guy who can see the entire field ahead of him, Blais continu- ally makes sure he is vocal enough from the goal to motivate his team- mates. Blais continues to amp up the rest of the Wolverines off the field as well and as a spoken leader, he uses his experience to make sure everyone knows how vital they are to the success of this year's squad. "We have talked a lot about how this is everyone's team, not just the captains and not just the seniors," Blais said. "We didn't want a cul- ture where seniors were talking down to other guys, because when it really comes down to it, everyone is playing for Michigan and every- one is playing to win."