Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Tuesday, September 22, 2015 — 7
Harbaugh sticks up
for starter Rudock
By JAKE LOURIM
Managing Sports Editor
Five interceptions in three
games
for
fifth-year
senior
quarterback
Jake
Rudock
led fans to question Rudock’s
performance at the helm of the
Michigan football team’s offense.
But coach Jim Harbaugh isn’t
having it.
Asked Monday in his weekly
press conference what areas
Rudock can improve, Harbaugh
said simply, “There’s areas.”
When pressed to specify which
areas, he vigorously defended his
offense.
“The question, to me, just the
way you started the question
after the game, questions to
divide and compare, we’re all
working,” Harbaugh said. “We’re
all working to get better.
“I
sense
sometimes
the
questions to compare and be
divisive. I’m quick to turn those
off.”
He didn’t turn off the next
question — rather, he gave a vote
of confidence for Rudock.
“To be clear, Jake Rudock
is the best quarterback. Not by
a small margin, he’s our best
quarterback,” Harbaugh said.
“And when it comes to precision
of the passing game and the
timing, that’s something that
we’re all working together at.”
Still, the statistics show a need
for improvement.
While Rudock has proved a
capable game manager and his
receivers have made plays, the
passing game has yet to establish
a
rhythm.
The
Wolverines’
longest pass play of the season is
28 yards. Every Big Ten team has
one longer — even the struggling
offenses of Penn State, Rutgers
and Maryland.
Rudock has overthrown deep
balls in every game, but his
receivers are quick to share the
blame. They anticipate seeing an
improvement soon.
“It’s
getting
there,”
said
redshirt junior wide receiver
Jehu Chesson. “I don’t think I
can say we’ve completed a deep
pass, but his confidence is there.
In terms of getting us in the
right plays, checking, audibles,
that nature, he’s doing great.
The passing game will come. I’m
very confident that it will. He’s
very confident that it will. Coach
Harbaugh is very confident that
it will.”
Rudock, a fifth-year senior
with plenty of experience, has
other assets, too. He picks up the
play or a choice of plays from the
sidelines. Then, he decides the
one he thinks will be better, or
even calls an audible at the line.
On a more micro level, Chesson
also said he does a nice job of
enunciating the play calls in the
huddle. It might seem minor,
but with players fatigued and
the stadium contributing noise,
a couple of miscommunicated
words can switch the play.
All of these factors go into
Michigan’s
impression
of
Rudock, and all of them lower the
anxiety level inside the program
as compared to outside of it.
“At the end of the day, nobody
really sees the 90 percent that
goes into the game, only the
10 percent that we have to
execute that Saturday,” Chesson
said. “We’re judged by our
performance, and (that’s) how
it should be. But at the same
time, if we could understand
how hard this kid works leading
from Sunday after the game to
Saturday to get the whole team
prepared, it’s amazing.”
Rudock was not available to
the media Monday afternoon
or after the game Saturday, but
when he talked after the games
against Utah and Oregon State,
he took responsibility for his
mistakes.
He and the receivers will
shift their focus ahead toward
cleaning up the deep passing
game and making it a threat in
the coming weeks.
“It’s
definitely
something
that’s emphasized, because we
do need to do that,” Chesson
said. “We have the ability to do
that, so we’re only short-handing
ourselves if we don’t attempt to
do it and if we don’t execute it
either.”
The Wolverines know it’s
important for them to establish
timing sooner rather than later.
No. 22 Brigham Young comes
to town this weekend, and then
Big Ten play opens, with a home
game against No. 2 Michigan
State looming on Oct. 17.
The power running game has
gotten Michigan to 2-1, but it
might not always be enough.
“When the bullets start flying
and guys start thinking, you’re
just trained for that situation,”
Chesson said. “You do what
you’re trained to do.”
Perhaps an improvement in
that area will help Michigan
establish an offensive identity.
Harbaugh
said
Monday
he
doesn’t have a word for its
identity yet, and Chesson added
that the Wolverines get a chance
to prove it every week. They’ll
get another opportunity against
BYU, and a chance to solidify it
with consistency at Maryland
after that.
It’s up to the quarterback
and the receivers, but the onus
inevitably falls largely on Rudock
either way, fair or unfair.
“The nature of the position
is, you get too much glory when
you’re doing great, and you get
too much ridicule when you’re
doing bad,” Chesson said. “But
I think he has a very level head.
Things are going to click for us. I
really do believe it.”
Trips provide a learning
experience for Michigan
By ALEX KHALIFEH
Daily Sports Writer
The trips were far from
home, and the Michigan men’s
tennis team split up, heading to
different parts of the country
this past weekend. Such is
life
when
preseason
begins on the
road.
And
while
starting
with
two
out-of-state
tournaments
may
seem
like a hectic
road trip, for
Michigan,
it’s just what it wanted to
prepare its youthful group. The
Wolverines sent sophomores
Carter Lin and Davis Crocker to
California and freshmen Myles
Schalet and Gabe Tishman to
New Jersey.
The sophomores participated
in
the
Battle
of
the
Bay
Invitational, where they faced
California
and
San
Diego,
among
others,
and
played
in both singles and doubles
competition.
In doubles action, Lin’s and
Crocker’s strong performances
propelled
them
against
Southern California, 8-7. Yet
Saturday, the Wolverines fell to
San Francisco’s Nils Skajaa and
Thomas Takemoto in a tightly
contested 8-7 loss.
Lin
advanced
to
the
semifinals before falling to the
Golden Bears’ Flip Bergevi in
straight sets. Lin’s other two
singles opponents, California’s
Oskar Wikberg and San Diego’s
Slip Vittek, fell to Lin in two and
three sets, respectively.
Opposite Lin was Crocker,
who faced difficulty against
Wikberg, falling in straight
sets, 6-4 and 6-1. The loss put
Crocker into a consolation draw,
where he found success against
Pepperdine’s Stefan Menichella,
whom he defeated in straight
sets. Crocker, however, bowed
out in a three-set match to
the
Toreros’
James
Ponwith.
2,800 miles
across
the
country
was
the Princeton
Invitational,
which
held
the debut of
freshmen
Myles
Schalet
and
Gabe Tishman, both of whom
participated
in
their
first
tournaments as Wolverines.
Schalet
advanced
to
the
semifinal portion of singles
competition after two straight-
set victories over Darmouth’s
Max Schmidt and Wisconsin’s
Lamar Remy. Saturday in his
last matchup, a semifinal draw
against Cornell’s Colin Sinclair,
Schalet fell in three sets, 6-3,
5-7 and 6-3.
Rather than focus on the
results of each match, coaches
came away pleased by what they
saw out of their roster.
“They want to do great
things for Michigan, and that’s
awesome,”
said
Michigan
associate
head
coach
Sean
Maymi. “But we also want them
to focus on the right things. So
if they start thinking about the
result as opposed to the process
and how to get that result,
they’re gonna have trouble.
“It was good for me to
see some of (Schalet’s and
Tishman’s)
strengths
and
weaknesses. Both of them did
a great job of just competing
hard.”
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Carter Lin helped Michigan to a win against Southern California.
“Both of them
did a great job of
just competing
hard.”
Yurovsky represents ‘M’ in
new California tournament
By BEN KIM
Daily Sports Writer
It’s an uncommon sight to
see when someone competes for
Michigan with no other team
members around.
For 19th-ranked senior Ronit
Yurovsky, she had to do just that
in the inaugural Oracle/ITA
Masters tournament. She was the
lone Wolverine representing the
Michigan women’s tennis team
in Malibu, Calif., to start off the
season. Yurovsky was unable to
find success, losing in the first
round of the championship and
consolation bracket.
“Result-wise, I wish (this
weekend) went a little bit better,”
Yurovsky said. “Playing-wise, I
feel pretty good out on the court.
It was the first tournament back.
I think I struggled a bit with
confidence because I haven’t
played that many matches (over
the summer). Just looking ahead,
I think this weekend was good
just to get me back into competing
again.”
Yurovsky faced ninth-ranked
Hayley Carter of North Carolina
in the first round. Carter put the
pressure on early, jumping to a
4-0 lead. Yurovsky was able to
roar back, taking the next three
games to cut Carter’s lead to 4-3.
But her efforts weren’t enough, as
Carter was able to take two of the
next three games and the set, 6-4.
The next set was more evenly
played, but ultimately Carter
prevailed. The two split the first
eight games, 4-4. Yurovsky
would go on to win two of the
next three, putting her in position
to win the set. However, Carter
was able to force a tiebreaker
and eventually won the set and
match, 7-6.
In
the
consolation
round
on the second day of the
tournament, Yurovsky faced off
against Vanderbilt’s 14th-ranked
Astra Sharma. In the first set,
each player took turns winning
two games in a row until they had
four games apiece.
Yurovsky didn’t win another
game in that set as Sharma closed
out for a 6-4 win. In the second
set, Sharma won five of the first
six games. Yurovsky tried to
make up the deficit, but came up
short, losing 6-4 and ending her
stint in the tournament.
“Hayley (Carter) was tough.
She’s a really good player and
so is Astra (Sharma),” Yurovsky
said. “Everyone’s good there.
It’s the top 16 players, so you’re
not gonna get a bad match. I just
focused on having that belief,
that confidence that I could win
the match, but I just couldn’t pull
it out in the important points.”
This
tournament,
in
its
inaugural year, was uncharted
territory for the lone senior,
especially since she had no
teammates competing with her.
Yurovsky will have plenty of
time to regroup and prepare for
her next competition, but will
need to get used to being the
only Wolverine present when she
heads to the ITA All-American
tournament on October 8.
“I’m a little bummed this
weekend didn’t go as planned,
but I’m excited because I knew
I was playing well,” Yurovsky
said. “I’m glad I got two matches
under my belt, so going into All-
Americans, I’m back into the
swing of things.”
ROBERT DUNNE/Daily
Fifth-year senior quarterback Jake Rudock received a vote of confidence from Jim Harbaugh on Monday.
CONNOR BADE/Daily
Senior Ronit Yurovsky lost in the first round of the championship and consolation bracket in California.