Michigan’s starting

QB has been a

‘different Wilton’
from last summer

By KELLY HALL

Daily Sports Editor

When
explaining

the
competition
to
his

quarterbacks,
passing
game

coordinator Jedd Fisch used a
racing analogy.

“Wilton
had
the
pole

position after spring,” Fisch
said. “He kind of had a little bit
of an edge. The race started,
and the green flag was waved,
and people were trying to
pass people, but he just kind
of never got passed. He just
continued to play better. Coach
Harbaugh always says, ‘Iron
sharpens iron,’ and I think
what happened was John and
Shane started playing better
and so did Wilton.

“It was just one of those deals

where nobody lost a job, it was
that Wilton, going into the
opening day, had won the job.”

And after seeing Speight

start
for
the
first
time

Saturday, Fisch is happy with
his decision, saying he couldn’t
have asked for too much better.

As far as Fisch is concerned,

Speight’s biggest mistakes were
his three missed passes. On one
incompletion, he threw up a
deep ball for fifth-year senior
wide receiver Amara Darboh,
but it was underthrown. On
another, Fisch says, Speight got
turned around on a flat route.

The first mistake, the one

that kicked off Speight’s career
as a starting quarterback, was
an interception. Speight was
rushed, and Fisch says that
even though senior tight end
Jake Butt didn’t run a great
route, the ball should have
never left Speight’s hands.

When
it
came
time
to

talk to his quarterback on
the sidelines following the
interception,
Fisch
never

considered disciplining him.

“The school that I was from

is you coach ’em as hard as
you
want

on
Sunday

through
Friday,
and

then
on

Saturday
— I mean,
you
gotta

be
their

advocate on
game
day,”

Fisch
said.

“Because
they’re the only ones who are
really going through the war

on that game day situation.
To second guess and question
things on game day and to be
overly critical on game day, I
don’t know where the value is.”

After the game, Speight

said that he laughed off the

interception
with
Harbaugh. He
went 10-for-12
following
the

pick,
looking

settled
and

confident,
checking out of
the game in the
third
quarter

to get some rest
after throwing

for three touchdowns.

The leap in his level of play

from a year ago has shown,
especially compared to where
he was in last year’s camp.

“He’s had a big jump, there’s

no question about that,” Fisch
said. “From this point in time,
going into the game one of last
year, between that and about
75 reps in all of camp, then to
where he’s at at this point in
time, yeah, it’s a huge jump,
and I give him a lot of credit
for it.”

Part of his growth, Fisch

said, can be attritubuted to
playing behind Jake Rudock and
knowing he was only one play
away from entering the game.

“We expect certain things

from every one of our players,”
Fisch said. “We expect them to
call the play in the huddle the

same way whether they’re the
first quarterback or the fifth
quarterback.
Their
cadence

should sound the same way if
they’re the first quarterback
or the fifth quarterback. And
I think that what (Speight)
realized is that’s the standard
we’re going to have here and
because of that, hopefully your
only option is to improve.”

After
that
realization,

Speight did progress — at
least slightly faster than his
competitors — and ended up
with the starting job. Now,
Michigan fans will wait to see
what he does with it.

“It’s
a
different
Wilton

nowadays,” Fisch said. “It’s
definitely a more confident
guy.”

6A — Thursday, September 8, 2016
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

T E A M S T A T S



MICH
OPP

Points/Game
63.0
3.0

First Downs/Game
26.0
16.0

Rush Yards/Game
306
81

Yards/Rush
7.8
2.2

Rushing TDs
4
0

Passing Yards/Game
206
151

Completion %
85.0
52.2

Yards/Pass
10.3
6.6

Passing TDs
3
0

Interceptions
1
2

Offensive Plays/Game
59
60

Total Offense
512
232

3rd-down Conversions
100.0%
9.1%

4th-down Conversions
0-0
1-2

Sacks/Game
4.0
0.0

Kick return average
10.0
20.5

Punt return average
14.0
0.0

Punting average
0.0
42.7

Field Goals-Attempts
0-0
1-1

Fumbles/Lost
0/0
2/0

Penalty Yards/Game
33.0
60.0

Time of Poss
27:55
32:05

I N D I V I D U A L S

PASSING

Player
Cmp
Att
Yds
TD
INT

Speight
10
13
145
3
1

Morris
4
4
45
0
0

O’Korn
3
3
16
0
0

TOTALS
17
20
206
3
1

RUSHING

Player
Att
Yds
Avg
Lg
TD

C. Evans
8
112
14.0
43
2

Isaac
9
52
5.8
12
0

Higdon
6
35
5.8
19
1

McDoom
2
34
17.0
19
0

Smith, D.
6
27
4.5
14
0

Davis
2
17
8.5
10
0

Morris
1
14
14.0
14
0

Chesson
2
11
5.5
15
0

Hill
1
4
4.0
4
1

Beneducci
1
1
1.0
1
0

Hewlett
1
-1
-1.0
0
0

TOTALS
39
306
7.8
43
4

RECEIVING

Player
No.
Yds
Avg
Lg
TD

Chesson
3
43
14.3
21
0

Darboh
3
42
14.0
31
1

McDoom
2
15
7.5
8
0

McKeon
2
10
5.0
5
0

Ways
1
22
22.0
22
0

Butt
1
19
19.0
19
1

Crawford
1
18
18.0
18
0

Hirsch
1
15
15.0
15
0

Perry
1
12
12.0
12
1

Hill
1
7
7.0
7
0

Poggi
1
3
3.0
3
0

TOTALS
17
206
12.1
31
3



PUNT RETURNS

Player
No.
Yds
Avg. Long
TD

Peppers
2
28
14.0
14
0

TOTALS
2
28
14.0
14
0

INTERCEPTIONS

Player
No.
Yds
Avg. Long
TD

Stribling
1
51
51.0
51
1

Hill, D.
1
27
27.0
27
1

TOTALS
2
78
39.0
51
2

KICKOFF RETURNS

Player
No.
Yds
Avg. Long
TD

Henderson
1
15
15.0
15
0

Hill, K.
1
5
5.0
5
0

TOTALS
2
20
10.0
15
0

KICKOFFS

Player
No.
Yds
Avg.
TB

Allen
6
388
64.7
3

Foug
4
250
62.5
1

TOTALS
10
638
63.8
4

DEFENSE

Player
Solo Ast
Tot
TFL
SK
PBU

McCray
6
3
9
3.5
2.0
-

Peppers
7
1
8
2.0
1.0
-

Gedeon
3
4
7
2.5
1.0
-

Winovich
2
4
6
-
-
-

Thomas
3
2
5
-
-
-

Watson
2
2
4
-
-
-

Kinnel
2
1
3
-
-
-

Gary
1
2
3
-
-
-

Wroblewski
-
3
3
-
-
-

Dwumfour
2
-
2
1.0
-
-

Glasgow, J.
2
-
2
-
-
-

Marshall
1
1
2
-
-
-

Glasgow, R.
1
1
2
-
-
-

Bush
1
1
2
-
-
-

Stribling
2
-
2
-
-
-

Miller
1
-
1
-
-
-

Hill, D.
1
-
1
1.0
-
1

Godin
-
1
1
-
-
-

Smith, D.
1
-
1
-
-
-

Charlton
-
1
1
-
-
-

Clark
1
-
1
-
-
1

Allen
-
1
1
-
-
-

Hudson
1
-
1
-
-
-

Hill, L.
-
-
-
-
-
1

TOTALS
40
28
68
10.0 4.0
3

A P T O P 2 5 P O L L

1. Alabama (1-0)
14. Oklahoma (0-1)

2. Clemson (1-0)
15. TCU (1-0)

3. Florida State (1-0)
16. Iowa (1-0)

4. Ohio State (1-0)
17. Tennessee (1-0)

5. Michigan (1-0)
18. Notre Dame (0-1)

6. Houston (1-0)
19. Ole Miss (0-1)

7. Stanford (1-0)
20. Texas A&M (1-0)

8. Washington (1-0)
21. LSU (0-1)

9. Georgia (1-0)
22. Oklahoma St. (1-0)

10. Wisconsin (1-0)
23. Baylor (1-0)

11. Texas (1-0)
24. Oregon (1-0)

12. Michigan State (1-0) 25. Miami (1-0)

13. Louisville (1-0)

2016 SCHEDULE

HAWAII (0-2)

9/10

9/17

9/24

10/1

10/8

10/22

10/29

11/5

11/12

11/19

11/26

W, 63-3 (1-0)

UCF (1-0)

12 p.m., Michigan Stadium, ABC

COLORADO (1-0)

3:30 p.m., Michigan Stadium, BTN

PENN ST. (1-0)

Michigan Stadium

WISCONSIN (1-0)

Michigan Stadium

at RUTGERS (0-1)

7 or 8 p.m., Piscataway, N.J.

ILLINOIS (1-0)

3:30 p.m., Michigan Stadium

at MICH. ST. (1-0)

East Lansing, Mich.

MARYLAND (1-0)

Michigan Stadium

at IOWA (1-0)

8 p.m., Iowa City, Iowa

INDIANA (1-0)

Michigan Stadium

at OHIO ST. (1-0)

Columbus, Ohio

9/3

GRANT HARDY/Daily

Redshirt sophomore quarterback Wilton Speight threw three touchdown passes after being intercepted on the Wolverines’ first possession against Hawaii.

Fisch pleased with Speight as starter

“It was one
of those deals
where nobody

lost a job.”

Seasoned secondary anchors ‘M’ defense

By JAKE LOURIM

Managing Sports Editor

The Michigan football team’s

defense made a first impression
Saturday befitting its hype. The
star-studded unit flew around
and came at Hawaii from every
angle, flustering the opposing
offense as they did last year.
They didn’t give up so much as
a positive play until the third
series.

But their defensive backs are

old enough to know that if they
hadn’t held up their end of the
deal, it could’ve been a much
different opener.

“If you get beat, that’s a

touchdown,”
said
fifth-year

senior cornerback Jeremy Clark
on Tuesday.

Clark himself broke up a pass

on the first series of the game,
forcing the first of many third-
and-long
situations for the

Rainbow Warriors, who didn’t
convert on any of them.

While Michigan’s secondary

was important in getting stops
in those situations, it was also
crucial for them to create them
in the first place. Coordinator
Don Brown’s defense features a
myriad of blitz packages, which
rely on the defensive backs to
hold their own.

“That was one of the things

we talked about the first day
when we came in — we gotta
be able to play man-to-man
coverage as a secondary, because
Coach Brown is going to bring
pressure,” said Brian Smith, one
of Michigan’s two secondary
coaches. “That’s the key to the
whole defense — you gotta be
able to hold up man to man.”

The
defensive
backs

understand that, along with
many other keys to being a
top-ranked defense, because
of
their
experience.
The

Wolverines boast six true or
fifth-year seniors, five of whom
are three-time lettermen —

most in the Big Ten. (Minnesota
and Ohio State have as many or
more seniors, but a handful are
redshirts or walk-ons.)

Michigan can run out a stable

of seasoned defensive backs:
Clark,
senior
cornerbacks

Channing
Stribling
and

Jourdan
Lewis
and
senior

safeties Dymonte Thomas and
Delano Hill. Fifth-year senior
safety AJ Pearson adds depth.
The Wolverines didn’t even use
Lewis, who is still recovering
from an injury, and still fielded
an all-senior defensive backfield
on Saturday.

It’s a good group to coach for

Smith, who is in his first year at
Michigan after leaving his post
as the assistant secondary coach
for the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys.
Though the senior defensive
backs already had plenty of
game experience before Smith
and
Brown
arrived,
they

have adapted well to the new
coaches.

“With a new system coming

in, that’s one of the things you
always worry about, especially
with an older group — are they
going to buy into the system?”
Smith
said.
“They’ve
been

receptive to everything we’ve
taught
them.
They
were

successful in the past, and
just their willingness to learn
the system and be open to it,
that was the best thing for me.
They’ve been a great group, an
easy group to coach, and it’s
been a lot of fun so far.”

Together, the defensive backs

have 63 career starts, and that
doesn’t even count redshirt
sophomore Jabrill Peppers, who
came to Michigan as a defensive
back but plays all over the field,
mostly at linebacker now.

Saturday, 12 of Hawaii’s 23

passes went to Hawaii receivers,
while two were intercepted and
returned for touchdowns and
three more were broken up.
The Wolverines gave opponents

similar headaches in many
games last season.

“They communicate really

well,” said sophomore wide
receiver Grant Perry. “They
messed
up
like
one
time

(when) I was in (during camp),
and after that, they really
didn’t
make
any
mistakes.

Great communicators, unreal
athletes. They’re good. They’re
going to be hard to deal with for
other teams, for sure.”

That effort Saturday was, of

course, without the services of
Lewis, the team’s best lockdown
cornerback. The All-American
should return this week, adding
important depth to the unit for
a game against Central Florida’s
up-tempo offense.

The defensive backs will be

out on their own islands again
for that game, but after four
years, there’s very little they
haven’t
seen
before,
which

makes it easier for them to learn.

“Just the little things that

they pick up on — a lot of
younger guys, they don’t get the
big picture, but these older guys,
having been in three different
systems, they kind of get the big
picture,” Smith said. “So little
things that you normally have
to spend more time on, they
just pick it up and they go, so it
makes it easier.”

Brown and the rest of the

defensive coaches will point out
those subtleties in meetings,
keeping the standard high.
After the unit delivered another
dominant
performance
in

allowing
just
three
points

against Hawaii, the Wolverines
were disappointed they gave up
even that many.

But even that is something

they have done before. Last
season, before they went on a
run of three straight shutouts,
they gave up single touchdowns
to UNLV and Brigham Young
and still saw it as room to
improve.

“To a newcomer, it’s probably

difficult,” Clark said. “But if
you’ve been here for a while,
we’ve been around the same
guys, so we’ve been holding
each other to a standard from
that point, from the get-go.”

AMANDA ALLEN/Daily

Fifth-year senior cornerback Jeremy Clark had a pass breakup on the first series of Michigan’s 63-3 win over Hawaii at Michigan Stadium on Saturday.