T, S 'LLx Y" f ' -.. ; - The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.cam Thursday, September 5, 2013 - 7A The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Thursday, September 5, 2013 - 7A Beilein riding high into new school year By NEIL ROTHSCHILD Daily Sports Editor The year 2013 has treated John Beilein well. He's working his dream job. He made the national champi- onship last season. He has a Big Ten ring. He's continuing to reel in the country's premier recruits to support the two potential NBA first-round picks that elected to stay at Michigan. He spent part of his summer in Russia coaching the US University Games team. He went to New York to see his former star point guard become an NBA lottery pick. And to top it off, University alum Stephen M. Ross has just endowed the Athletic Department with $100 million. And after all of that, the best part of his job? "Favorite part of the job is going to the individual work- outs early in the year and seeing the progress people have made," Beilein said. Sounds like an upset selec- tion, but considering how much Beilein relishes the minutiae - the process involved in his job rather than the results - it makes some sense. The least favorite part of his job? "There's very few things that I dislike about, you know, living your dream right now. How can you not just love every bit of this?" Yeah, that sounds more like it. Coming off the summer fol- lowing the most successful sea- son of his career, Beilein has much to be happy about. He strolled into the Crisler Center media room Wednesday after- noon, still seemingly in summer mode, with a pearly white polo, a McCallister plays for Team USA at U-21 worlds By ZACH SHAW went out on the field I just tried Daily Sports Writer to control the controllables and do what I could to put myself in the After watching the 2012 Michi- best situation possible." gan field hockey season from the Upon making the team, McCal- sidelines, redshirt junior midfield- lister and her new teammates er Ainsley McCallister was itching travelled to the Netherlands for a to get back on the field. week of practice before the event The two-year captain didn't in Germany. Learning in a sum- have to wait long, as she was mer practice setting proved to be selected to represent the United arewardingexperience. States in July's Junior World Cup "Surrounding myself with the in Monchengladbach, Germany. United States team and gettingto McCallister - the first Wolverine practice with them allowed me to to participate in the event since learn so much," McCallister said. 2005 - appeared in all six of the "I was able to see strategies, tac- United States' games, making one tics and other cool things I had start. The team went 3-3 en route never seen before." to a program-best seventh-place The competition itself proved finish. to be even more educational. In As a longtime participant in their six games, McCallister and various national team develop- the U.S. squad were exposed to mental programs, playing for the other countries' completely dif- junior World Cup squad brought ferent styles of play. McCallister several new opportunities. One in found herself particularly in awe particular - an opportunity only of perennial powerhouses Argen- the top athletes in the sport get to tina and the Netherlands. experience - stood out the most "Playing them was very eye- to McCallister: the feeling of put- opening," McCallister said. "They ting on the red, white and blue and just play at another level that is so playing for her home country. fast and so skilled. It was very cool "It was one of the coolest feel- to see a completely different style ings of my life," McCallister and try to adjust to their level." said. "When we did the national McCallister carried a smile anthem for the first time and during the opening week of prac- we were all lined up, I got chills tice in Ann Arbor, just happy to through my spine. It's such a great be back on the field once again. nation and very great to play for She joins a Wolverine team whose them." expectations are already very Following her Michigan team- high,since they graduated just one mates' first-round exit in the senior in the offseason. McCal- NCAA Tournament during her lister's return will undoubtedly absence - she missed all but contribute to fulfilling those two games of last season with an expectations, and the experience injury - McCallister was forced of competing internationally only to set her eyes on tryouts for the adds to what she brings to the national team. Competing among field. the nation's best gave her little "My eyes have been opened time to shake off any rust caused even more to how much I have by her months off. to learn and how much I can "I came in with no expecta- improve," McCallister said. tions," McCallister said. "I have McCallister will carry memo- faith in my ability to play, and I ries of the experience with her for love the game. But every time I a lifetime. Michigan coach John Beilein is in the 38th year of doing what he dreamed of doing his whole life. heavy tan and an ear-to-ear grin. And lucky for him, it just so happens to be the time of the year for his stated favorite part of his job. With the players coming back for the school year, he's busy conducting individual workouts - with no more than four players allowed per session two hours a week - before official team prac- tices start up Sept.15. The individual sessions, Beilein said, would be used to emphasize individual defense before team defense becomes the focus when full-team prac- tices begin. Aside from that, the offseason has been about assess- ing the freshmen, developing the sophomores and fine-tuning the two other players on the roster - fifth-year senior Jordan Morgan and redshirt junior Jon Horford. "It continues to amaze me. We have Jon and Jordan and then we have the sophomores," Beilein said of the returning play- ers. "I look at them and the one thing that differentiates these sophomores is they're prep- school guys. Spike (Albrecht) has already turned 21 years old. He's the only 21-year old alter boy still out there. Mitch McGary is 21 years old, so they're a little bit older and I feel that from them, that they have maturity about them that we trust." As for when the new Wolver- ines' place in the rotation might become more clear to Beilein, that might take a few weeks. "We had that opportunity this summer to just look a little bit at (the freshmen). We call (those looks) the blinks, 'what if' this and that. But I think in time it will tell. But having those young men out there, I think we have some real versatility again. I think there's some great possibil- ities out there given the makeup of this team in regards to how we play and who plays." There was some light shed on certain players' development. McGary looks to be "in really good shape." Indications are that freshman point guard Der- rick Walton can pick concepts up quickly. Sophomore guards Nik Stauskas and Caris LeVert both look stronger, though LeVert had some minor injuries over the summer But there are no glaring causes for concern for Beilein at the moment. In fact, he's doing pretty well for himself. "Thirty-eighth year of doing what I have dreamed of doing my whole life - teach and coach. Thirty-eight straight.... I do love, love this environment that the Beilein family is in right now." i Green cements spot as No. 2 By LIZ VUKELICH Daily Sports Editor In the span of about a week, freshman Derrick Green has gone from being a question mark to the No.2 ball carrier behind fifth-year senior running back Fitzgerald NOTEBOOK Toussaint. On Wednesday, Michigan coach Brady Hoke didn't hesitate to name Green the No. 2 running back for Saturday's game against Notre Dame in the wake of red- shirt freshman Drake Johnson's season-ending anterior cruciate ligament injury. "He's a pretty intelligent kid, he picked it up really well," Hoke said, praising not just Green's running ability, but pass protec- tion as well. There were some concerns with Green's weight heading into the season opener, but it evident- ly didn't pose a problem in the season opener against Central *Michigan. Offensive coordinator Al Borges said that running backs coach Fred Jackson is directly monitoring Green's weight for the remainder of the season. Five different running backs saw playing time against the Chippewas, but Green's 58 yards and touchdown made him the strongest candidate to back up Toussaint. "He carried the ball and didn't fumble it, number one, that's huge," Borges said. "Didn't fum- ble it, didn't make a lot of bad run- ning decisions. Ran the ball pretty much where we wanted him to. He grew a little bit with those carries. "He's a pounding-type back. He's a big strong kid that, I'm sure they feel him when they tackle him." Even with Johnson out, Michi- gan still has enough depth in the backfield - enough so that Borges is considering the idea of having the backs take on specialty posi- tions as the season progresses. It would only be situational, though. "We'll feature different backs in different situations based on what they do best (but) it could change week to week," Borges running back of the day and a film session. Let them rest, let them watch foot- ball. Once you get past 1 o'clock, it moves pretty quick." NOTES: Senior safety Court- ney Avery has recovered from his knee surgery last week and worked out with trainers this week. Hoke said he expects him to be available to play Saturday, and that he'll probably split time with sophomore Jarrod Wilson. ... Hoke said the fact that the Wol- verines have never lost a home game under his tenure has never been a point of discussion. ... Hoke confirmed that senior wide receiver Joe Reynolds will play against Notre Dame. Reynolds was injured last Saturday against Central Michigan. ... Defensive coordinator Greg Mattison said that he doesn't anticipate the increased noise in Michigan Sta- dium on Saturday night will cause communication problems for the Freshman running back Derrick Green ran for 58 yards and one touchdown last week and was named the No. 2 tailback by Michigan coach Brady Hoke yesterday. said. "I like a feature back, a guy that's going to carry the ball more than the rest of the guys. You'll see, they're interchangeable in certain situations." THE CAMPUS THAT ROSS BUILT: Hoke met with Stephen M. Ross on Wednesday morning as part of an event honoring Ross for his $200-million donation to the University, half of which will go to the Athletic Department. The money for the Athlet- ic Department will be geared toward student-athlete programs, resources for the athletic aca- demic center and construction projects. Last fall, the Athletic Department announced a renova- tion of South Campus that is now expected to reach $341 million. It will take seven to 10 years to com- plete. As a thank you to Ross, the Athletic Department will rename it the Stephen M. Ross Athletic Campus. "I think it means a whole lot to the University as a whole when you look at the $100 million for the academics and $100 million for athletics," Hoke said. "It's pretty significant." But when the two met, there was little discussion about how the money would benefit the football program. Hoke said the only thing that Ross wanted to talk about was former Michigan safety Jordan Kovacs, a practice- squad player for the Miami Dol- phins - the NFL team Ross owns. A LATE DINNER: Despite the hype surroundingthe nightgame, an 8 p.m. kickoff has never been Hoke's preference - he'd rather get the game over with earlier in the day. But he sees more night games as an inevitable part of college football's future due to television programming. "I don't know if it's the best thing for student-athletes because they are students," Hoke said. "Especially when you're the away team and you get home at 3:30 or 4 in the morning, there's a lot of stress on the guys who physically, and mentally, they've got to per- form." Another less-than-ideal side effect of playing in prime time? The players will spend most of their day playing the waiting game. Hokes tries to organize some structured activities to alleviatej time spent just sitting around. "We'll let them sleep in a little bit," he said. "We'll have two walk-throughs during the course www.ceaStudyAbroad.com p: 1.800.266.4441 "Please mention thisadwhenyou speak with your CEA rep.