The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Thursday, September 6, 2012 - 5A
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Thursday, September 6, 2012 -
'M' prepares for triple option
Air Force brings
gimmick offense to
Wolverines hope to
find footing on offense
' Ann Arbor for
home opener
By LUKE PASCH
Daily Sports Editor
When the Michigan foot-
ball team trudged off the field
at Cowboys Stadium follow-
ing a 41-14 loss to Alabama on
Saturday night, it was clear
the defense had a considerable
amount of improving to do.
Veteran defenders lacked
discipline on their assignments
and missed tackles through-
out the contest. The defensive
line failed miserably at closing
off running lanes. The second-
ary struggled in the absence of
standout sophomore cornerback
Blake Countess, who tore his
ACL in the first quarter and will
miss the rest of the season.
Unfortunately for the Wol-
verines, they'll be trying to
rebound against Air Force's
mind-boggling triple-option
offense. Though the Falcons
aren't necessarily considered
one of the premier programs
that will show up on Michigan's
schedule this year, they do pres-
ent a number of challenges for a
defense that appears to be ailing
early in the season.
"(It's) just mass chaos -
there's three options on every
play," said senior defensive end
Craig Roh on Tuesday. "It's
smoke and mirrors really, is
what it is. The defenders just
have to play their key and play
their assignment."
Michigan coaches and play-
ers this week have emphasized
the irpportance of staying dis-
ciplined on the defensive side of
the ball. Air Force is lauded as
an incredibly disciplined team,
and if senior quarterback Con-
nor Dietz sees a defender out
of position, he will exploit the
mistake by hitting the correct
option. Even Roh, who is one of
Michigan's most experienced
defenders with 39 consecutive
starts going into Saturday, has
to be more disciplined in his
approach than he was Saturday.
"In fact, Craig Roh's biggest
problem in (the Alabama) game
was he was trying to
much sometimes, whit
pens when you're the s
veteran," said defensiv
dinator Greg Mattison.
the touchdowns, for e
where (fifth-year seni
Floyd missed the tackle
hole - which would ha
a two-yard gain and h
touchdown on it - Cr.
just tried to make the pla
and should
have stayed
outside."
The play "(I
Mattison c
referred to ch
was the Crim-
son Tide's thr
third touch-
down of the e
first quarter
- a nine-yard
scamper by
do too playing against Paradise Val-
ch hap- ley High School - one of his old
easoned - Arizona high school rivals that
e coor- is known for running the system
"One of - has helped.
xample, TosimulateAirForce'sunique
or J.T.) attack, coaches have shaken up
e in the the scout team so that redshirt
ve been junior wide receiver Joe Reyn-
e got a olds is running the quarterback
aig Roh position in practice.
iy inside "(Reynolds) actually played
the triple
option in
high school,"
's) just mass Roh said. "He
actually has
aos - there's a gun for an
arm, which is
ee options on impressive.He
play." threw a couple
very Wpy." (Wednesday),
and I was
impressed."
Air Force
flexible in practicing their game
plan this week, trying to mimic
the Falcons as best they can.
"They'll never get close, but
Joe Reynolds is coming down
and doing some of the quarter-
back work, imitating Connor
Dietz - he's done a nice job
with it," said Michigan coach
Brady Hoke. "Up front, offen-
sively, those guys are working
at it. (Freshman) Ben Braden
and some of those guys, it's a
little different because they're
265 (pounds) and Ben's a
300-pounder."
Air Force's starting offensive
linemen actually average about
254 pounds, which is far less
than Michigan's average of 304
pounds, so it is understandably
difficult to replicate the mobil-
ity of the Falcons' offensive line-
men.
If the Wolverines are look-
ing for a silver lining, though,
they'll have to remember that
Air Force's undersized offen-
sive line is likely much easier
to play against than Alabama's,
which averages 314 pounds and
is largely regarded as the coun-
try's best.
By STEVEN
Daily Sports
The Michigan w
team entered this
a fresh offensiven
brand new scheme.
Out went the Io
mation the Wolve
for much of last yea
a more balanced at
tures two strikers
from all over the fi
create scoring oppo
And during its se
win against Fordha
Michigan looked l
team. Even withou
top two scorers - j
Nkem Ezurike, w
peting in the unde
World Cup, and fif
midfielder Clare
is suffering from a
injury - Mich-
igan found the
back of the net
five times.
But since
that match,
the Wolverines
have reverted
back to their
2011 selves,
averaging only
one goal per
game in their
last five matches. W
far in 2012, they h
than they had at t
season.
"As a team, we'
ing about it - that'
back on track with
senior midfielder
"We need more tho
finish games."
The team's scor
finally caught up w
past weekend, as P
fered a pair of one
On Friday, the Wo
defeated 1-0 by Ca
Northridge and on
dropped a 2-1 deci
Long Beach State.
"Against Long B
we had just one go
lot harder when th
PK at the end to re
the game," Jaffe sai
up two goals, and
goal, we would have
Last year, Michi
BRAID goals, its most in a season under
Writer coach Greg Ryan, who took over
the program in 2008. For the
'omen's soccer majority of 2011, the Wolverines
season with competed with Ezurike as their
mindset and a lone forward, playing with as
many as five players on the back
ne-striker for- line. But with a deeper and more
rines utilized explosive roster, Ryan changed
r and in came his formation to allow all of his
tack that fea- players to push the ball up the
and players field more.
eld looking to Though Michigan's scoring
'rtunities. woes could be attributed to the
ason-opening absence of Ezurike and Stachel,
am on Aug. 17, who have missed a combined nine
ike a changed games, junior midfielder Meghan
t last season's Toohey believes the scoring dif-
unior forward ficulties were the result of other
ho was com- issues.
r-20 women's "I think it's determination
th-year senior and mindset," Toohey said. "Just
Stachel, who believing in ourselves and some-
lingering leg one stepping up and just saying,
'I'm going to be
the one to score
the goal.'"
"We need Michi-
gan appeared
more than one poised to score
goal tfi .h more goals this
g to tinish season with
the return of
games. almost all of
its starters and
the addition of
a strong fresh-
ith 10 goals so man class. Forward Corinne Har-
ave three less ris, midfielder Lulu Haidar and
his point last midfielder Christina Ordonez
have all made an instant impact,
've been talk- each tallying a game-winning
we need to get goal in the first six games of their
scoring," said collegiate careers, but haven't
Emily Jaffe. received much help of late.
an one goal to That should change with the
return of Ezurike, junior defen-
'ing struggles seman Shelina Zadorsky and
ith them this sophomore midfielder Christina
Michigan suf- Murrillo this past weekend from
-goal defeats. the World Cup. Though the new
Averines were scheme hasn't made as big of an
lifornia State- impact on the scoreboard as Ryan
Sunday, they was hoping for so far, he isn't too
sion to No. 11 concerned because the Wolver-
ines are creating scoring chances
each, because for themselves.
al, it made it a "When you keep getting great
ey scored the chances, you're going to start fin-
ally finish off ishing. Iwould be concerned if we
d. "If we were weren't creating the chances, but
they scored a we are. We worked on finishing
e been fine."' (in practice) and we looked pretty
gan scored 26 good."
junior running back Eddie Lacy
that could have been avoided
had Roh stuck to his assignment
when Lacy bounced to the out-
side.
But Roh understands what
he needs to do against the triple
option, and his experience of
coach Troy Calhoun lives and
breathes the triple option,
though, and he recruits for
his particular system, so it's
highly unlikely that Michigan's
scout team will be able to piece
together the whole thing togeth-
er. But the Wolverines have been
Kennedy, Reynolds to debut song at Big House
By STEPHEN J. NESBITT
Daily Sports Editor
As quarterback and wide
receiver, Jack Kennedy and Joe
Reynolds were always a likely
tandem. They met three years ago
and quickly struck up a chemistry
on the field, as Reynolds hauled in
Kennedy's passes.
In time, Kennedy noticed
something in Reynolds, some-
thing he'd never had in a wide
receiver before - this guy Reyn-
olds had some serious pipes.
Kennedy and Reynolds start-
ed to meet away from the field,
trading in the football for a lap-
top and their cleats for a couple
pairs of headphones. Today, three
years later, they are known as
JDK&Rey, a rap and R&B duo.
Reynolds provides the soaring
melodies while Kennedy works
the wordplay and rhymes. They
combine to do all of their own
production.
One of the duo's songs, "Hun-
dred Level", their third release of
the summer - will be included in
the Michigan Stadium pregame
mix prior to the Michigan's home
opener against Air Force on Sat-
urday.
JDK&Rey collaborated with
the Michigan Marching Band
for "Hundred Level" as an early
showcase of their unique flair.
Early this summer, they adopt-
ed the name JDK&Rey and start-
ed to publish the trove of music
they had already compiled - or
"stockpiled," as Kennedy put it.
First came "Away," which was
recorded more than a year ago.
Then "Kenny's Anthem," which
details the ups and downs of
senior linebacker Kenny Demens'
dating life.
"For some reason, everyday
they said, 'Hey Kenny, how's it
going with your girlfriend?' "
Demens said. " 'Oh, we're off,
we're on, we're off, we're on. This
happened, that happened.'
"I didn't know that they were
taking notes and making a song
about it."
Finally, they wrapped up the
record and Reynolds e-mailed it
over to Demens.
"At first I didn't believe it,"
Demens said. "I thought they
were kidding. They kept saying,
'Hey Kenny, we've got a song
about you.' "
His reaction?
"I couldn't stop listening to it."
Demens said.
The music video for "Kenny's
Anthem" will be released on Sept.
12. And, no, Demens won't be
in the video - Reynolds played
his role. "Hundred Level" was
released on Aug. 10 in preparation
for the season opener.
Kennedy remembers coercing
a hesitant Reynolds into the stu-
dio three years ago. That's when
their musical relationship began.
Kennedy had some beats on his
laptop; Reynolds heard them and
was sold.
At first, the duo was joined by
former Michigan offensive line-
man Ohene Opong-Owusu at
first. Opong-Owusu played the
piano, Kennedy the drumset and
Reynolds the acoustic guitar.
They had all the pieces.
"Well, we might as well do
something with this," Kennedy
said.
In fall camp two years ago, the
coaching staff held a talent show.
Teammates urged Kennedy and
Reynolds onto the stage. (It didn't
take too much coaxing.) They did
a short set, joined by punter Will
Hagerup on electric guitar, and
waited for feedback.
The feedback came quickly.
"Theguys just went nuts," Ken-
nedy said with a smile. "They had
ERINKIRKLAwD/aily
Fifth-year senior quarterback Jack Kennedy (left) and redshirt junior wide receiverJoe Reynolds (right) will have their song "Hundred Level" played Saturday..
no idea we could even do that."
At the Sugar Bowl in Janu-
ary, the football team took a boat
ride down the Mississippi River,
the massive artery dividing New
Orleans. Kennedy, Reynolds and
Hagerup took the stage again to
serenade the crowd. They have
also performed at Mock Rock, in
front of an audience of a couple
thousand. But the big unveiling
will be at the Big House on Sat-
urday.
Kennedy got his start in music
back in high school, playing
drums in a rock band. He dabbled
in rapping but didn't record any-
thing until he came to Michigan.
"I'm just trying to be creative
with flows and actually say some-
thing in the music," Kennedy
said.
Reynolds has been a crooner
for years, but his musical talent,
he said, started when he moved to
Rochester, Mich. and was taught
guitar by a friend in school. He
pinpoints to New Orleans-based
singer-songwriter Frank Ocean
as one of his favorite artists.
The group has taken to Face-
book and Twitter to promote
themselves, but most of the atten-
tion has been drawn in by Michi-
gan teammates.
"A lot of the guys like it so
they've helped us get it out there
and promote," Kennedy said.
"The response has been more
than I could have expected."
"I'm a fan," Demens said.
"Those guys are talented."
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