Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Tuesday, September 13, 2016 — 7
Once chewed out on
HBO, signal caller
has built rapport
with Harbaugh
By MAX BULTMAN
Managing Sports Editor
Who
knows
how
many
people saw it? Those with an
HBO subscription, at least.
In a 2015 episode of HBO’s
“Real
Sports
with
Bryant
Gumbel,”
then-newly
hired
Michigan
football
coach
Jim Harbaugh hollered at a
quarterback,
whose
number
was blurred out, “I’m just telling
you the right way to do it. If you
wanna look at me, like, with that
look, go f---ing somewhere else.”
The
quarterback
towered
over
Harbaugh,
making
it
logical to conclude it was 6-foot-
6 Wilton Speight. Monday,
Speight confirmed he was the
blurred quarterback in the
video, and assured reporters
he and his coach are on much
firmer ground now.
“Obviously it’s come a long
way since that HBO special,
telling me to, I think it was
transfer somewhere else or
go somewhere else,” Speight
said. “All my buddies joked,
they said, ‘Yeah, they blurred
out the number, but you’re
the only 8-foot quarterback in
the country.’ So it was easily
identifiable as me.”
And according to Speight, he
wasn’t the only one getting that
treatment.
“He was kind of taking shots
at everybody, just trying to get
all the softer guys out, because
he was new and he needed to
come in and make a statement,”
Speight said.
“Obviously
I
didn’t
like
hearing it or having it on HBO
for the whole country to see.”
Now, of course, Speight hasn’t
given Harbaugh much reason to
curse. After starting the 2016
season with an interception
against Hawaii, the redshirt
sophomore has completed 35
of his last 49 passes, throwing
seven touchdowns with no
more interceptions.
He was named the Big Ten
Offensive Player of the Week on
Monday, after a 312-yard, four-
touchdown
showing
against
Central Florida, and he hasn’t
showed signs of slowing down.
It’s a far cry from where he was
at the time of the HBO special.
“That
whole
spring
was
rough,” Speight said. “I had
torn my groin. Wasn’t really
able to perform like I wanted
to. But still practiced every
practice, and came out really
low on the depth chart. There
was some hard self-evaluation
after that spring with talking
to Coach Fisch as well, and
Coach Harbaugh, and they just
said, ‘Hey, if you want this,
you’ve just gotta work a little bit
harder.’ And that’s what I did.”
At the time, Speight said he
probably needed to be coached
hard like that. Coming off a
redshirt season in which he
didn’t need to know the game
plan, Speight admits his maturity
and preparation weren’t where
they needed to be.
To
some
degree,
he
acknowledged, he was checked
out.
“(Harbaugh’s)
just
trying
to wake you up and get your
attention, and sometimes the
best way to do that is verbally
and very loud,” Speight said. “It
worked for me. Obviously it’s
worked for a lot of players on
the team.”
That version of Harbaugh is
in stark contrast with the one
who Speight said laughed and
told him to brush off that early-
season interception. By now,
it seems, Harbaugh has cooled
from the hard coaching.
Speight said Monday that
Harbaugh knows better than
to chew out his quarterback
mid-game. And the redshirt
sophomore
shares
that
approach in the huddle.
“I kind of like to read each
situation separately,” Speight
said. “If I need to be vocal, I
will, but I truthfully like to
just be kind of calm. I think
there was a couple times where
I would be laughing during a
play call or something this past
Saturday, and that’s just kind of
how I like to live every day. Not
lackadaisical, but just chill, and
go with the flow.
“There was one UCF player
who was trying to talk smack
at me, and I just started dying
laughing, because we heard
him from the huddle. And there
were other times that we’d be
up on the line of scrimmage and
I’d think something was funny.”
If it seems strange Speight
laughs off trash talk, remember
that all of HBO has seen him
chewed out by his own coach on
national TV. Clearly, he came
out of that just fine.
T E A M S T A T S
MICH
OPP
Points/Game
57.0
8.5
First Downs/Game
24.5
15.5
Rush Yards/Game
212.5
178.0
Yards/Rush
5.3
4.3
Rushing TDs
6
2
Passing Yards/Game
267.0
103.5
Completion %
72.1
40.0
Yards/Pass
8.8
4.6
Passing TDs
7
0
Interceptions
1
2
Offensive Plays/Game
70.5
64.0
Total Offense
479.5
281.5
3rd-down Conversions
60.0%
12.0%
4th-down Conversions
75.0%
42.9%
Sacks/Game
3.5
1.0
Kick return average
8.2
17.2
Punt return average
18.5
12.0
Punting average
45.7
38.6
Field Goals-Attempts
3-3
1-3
Fumbles/Lost
2/0
5/2
Penalty Yards/Game
26.5
68.0
Time of Poss
31:10
28:50
I N D I V I D U A L S
PASSING
Player
Cmp
Att
Yds
TD
INT
Speight
35
50
457
7
1
O’Korn
5
7
32
0
0
Morris
4
4
45
0
0
TOTALS
44
61
534
7
1
RUSHING
Player
Att
Yds
Avg
Lg
TD
C. Evans
17
147
8.6
43
2
Smith, D.
16
65
4.1
17
0
Isaac
12
58
4.8
12
0
Higdon
12
56
4.7
19
1
McDoom
3
50
16.7
19
0
Davis
2
17
8.5
10
0
Morris
1
14
14.0
14
0
Hill
6
13
2.2
4
3
Crawford
1
11
11.0
11
0
Chesson
2
11
5.5
15
0
O’Korn
2
4
2.0
2
0
Hirsch
1
2
2.0
2
0
Beneducci
1
1
1.0
1
0
Hewlett
1
-1
-1.0
0
0
Allen
1
-11
-11.0
0
0
Speight
2
-12
-6.0
0
0
TOTALS
80
425
5.3
43
6
RECEIVING
Player
No.
Yds
Avg
Lg
TD
Darboh
8
153
19.1
45
3
Chesson
7
127
18.1
35
0
Butt
8
105
13.1
25
3
Ways
1
22
22.0
22
0
McDoom
3
20
6.7
8
0
Crawford
1
18
18.0
18
0
Hill
3
16
5.3
7
0
Hirsch
1
15
15.0
15
0
Poggi
3
13
4.3
8
0
Jocz
1
12
12.0
12
0
Perry
1
12
12.0
12
1
McKeon
2
10
5.0
5
0
Bunting
2
6
3.0
4
0
Smith, D.
2
3
1.5
8
0
Evans
1
2
2.0
2
0
TOTALS
44
534
12.1
45
7
PUNT RETURNS
Player
No.
Yds
Avg. Long
TD
Peppers
4
74
18.5
35
0
TOTALS
4
74
18.5
35
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
2
28
14.0
15
0
Hill, K.
2
5
2.5
5
0
TOTALS
4
33
8.3
15
0
KICKOFFS
Player
No.
Yds
Avg.
TB
Allen
13
840
64.6
8
Foug
7
403
57.6
2
TOTALS
20
1243
62.2
10
PUNTING
Player
No.
Yds
Avg.
Lg
Allen
3
137
45.7
55
TOTALS
3
137
45.7
55
FIELD GOALS
Player
FG
Pct.
1-19 20-29 30-3940-49 50+ Lg
Allen
3-3 100% 0-0
1-1
2-2 0-0 0-0 37
DEFENSE
Player
Solo Ast
Tot
TFL
SK
PBU
Peppers
13
3
16
4.0
1.0
-
McCray
9
6
15
5.0
2.0
2
Winovich
4
7
11
1.0
1.0
-
Gedeon
3
7
10
3.0
1.5
-
Gary
4
5
9
2.5
0.5
-
Glasgow, R.
4
3
7
1.0
-
-
Thomas
5
2
7
-
-
-
Godin
3
3
6
-
-
-
Wormley
3
3
6
1.5
1.0
-
Kinnel
4
1
5
-
-
-
Watson
3
2
5
-
-
-
Clark
4
-
4
-
-
2
Stribling
3
1
4
-
-
-
Hill, D.
2
2
4
1.0
-
1
Bush
2
1
3
-
-
-
Wroblewski
-
3
3
-
-
-
Marshall
1
2
3
-
-
-
Glasgow, J.
3
-
3
-
-
-
Dwumfour
2
-
2
1.0
-
-
Hudson
2
-
2
-
-
-
Hurst
1
1
2
-
-
-
Allen
-
1
1
-
-
-
Smith, D.
1
-
1
-
-
-
Charlton
-
1
1
-
-
-
Pearson
1
-
1
-
-
-
Miller
1
-
1
-
-
-
Hill, L.
-
-
-
-
-
1
TOTALS
78
54
132 20.0 7.0
6
A P T O P 2 5 P O L L
1. Alabama (2-0)
14. Oklahoma (1-1)
2. Florida State (2-0)
15. Tennessee (2-0)
3. Ohio State (2-0)
16. Georgia (2-0)
4. Michigan (2-0)
17. Texas A&M (2-0)
5. Clemson (2-0)
18. Notre Dame (1-1)
6. Houston (2-0)
19. Ole Miss (1-1)
7. Stanford (1-0)
20. LSU (1-1)
8. Washington (2-0)
21. Baylor (2-0)
9. Wisconsin (2-0)
22. Oregon (2-0)
10. Louisville (2-0)
23. Florida (2-0)
11. Texas (2-0)
24. Arkansas (2-0)
12. Michigan St. (1-0)
25. Miami (2-0)
13. Iowa (2-0)
GRANT HARDY/Daily
Redshirt sophomore quarterback Wilton Speight has become the leader of Michigan’s offense, earning Jim Harbaugh’s trust since the two got off to a rocky start.
Speight secure at quarterback
Harbaugh: Don’t listen to Freddy P. Soft
By JACOB GASE
Daily Sports Editor
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh
has brought a lot of friendly faces
with him from his past coaching
stops,
including
offensive
coordinator Tim Drevno and
former
defensive
coordinator
D.J. Durkin.
He also apparently brought
along one not-so-friendly face: a
4-inch tall man named Freddy
P. Soft. Allegedly, while wearing
“a cape and a hat with a plume
in it,” Freddy stands on players’
shoulders and speaks directly
into their ears, advising them to
relax, take reps off and not put in
full effort.
According
to
redshirt
sophomore quarterback Wilton
Speight, the coaches are well aware
when Freddy makes appearances
in practice — especially during fall
camp, when Drevno will literally
yell at his own shoulder to tell
Freddy to go away.
This imaginary and unusual
figure may sound like nothing
more
than
a
humorous
motivational tool, but he might
be the Wolverines’ worst enemy
after two games this season.
Fresh off wins over Hawaii and
Central Florida by a combined
score of 114-17, Michigan sits at
No. 4 in the rankings and has
barely been tested.
But even with the dominance
on the scoreboard, Harbaugh
refuses to allow his team to be
complacent, and he’s happy to
see that the Wolverines still have
plenty of room to improve.
“I’m very excited, as a coach,
that when you win a game 51-14
and then you still have things to go
in and coach and feel like you can
improve your play on,” Harbaugh
said. “Probably no better feeling as
a coach than to start the week that
way. It makes me very optimistic
that there’s ways that we can
improve, there’s things that we
can fix. I’m very confident with
the coaches and players that we
have that we’ll do that.”
Michigan was never in any
real trouble in the win over the
Knights on Saturday, but a few
cracks in the armor did emerge.
Thanks to a few quarterback
scrambles
and
an
87-yard
touchdown run, UCF finished
the game with an eye-popping
275 rushing yards against the
Wolverines,
a
number
that
certainly won’t cut it against
more
talented
opponents.
Michigan’s defensive line feels
the problem is fixable, though,
especially given that it was just
a few big plays that inflated the
Knights’ numbers.
“I think it’s just (a matter of)
all of us working together on the
D-line,” said fifth-year senior
defensive lineman Matt Godin.
“A lot of times, our rush lanes get
a little hectic. Different guys doing
different moves, one guy goes
inside, one guy goes outside. I think
if we just get the communication
better in the coming weeks, we’ll
definitely improve.”
Redshirt
sophomore
defensive end Chase Winovich,
a player who appears to play
every down at a hundred miles
an hour, agreed with that
sentiment.
When
defensive
players are making full-speed
decisions, he said, sometimes
all a ball carrier needs is a few
feet of space to get loose.
The Wolverines experienced
similar communication issues on
the other side of the ball, where
some well-timed UCF blitzes
and a stacked run defense held
Michigan running backs to just
2.9 yards per carry.
Harbaugh
said
Michigan’s
offensive linemen occasionally
struggled to communicate, slide
their feet and have their eyes in
the right place, but all are fixable
issues that will be points of
emphasis going forward.
Even
as
the
Wolverines
struggled
with
the
running
game, though, Harbaugh noted
that they were able to take
advantage of opportunities in
the play-action passing game,
with Speight finding receivers in
single coverage and throwing for
312 yards.
Michigan’s few flaws haven’t
come back to hurt it so far,
and there’s plenty of time to
figure them out — as long as the
Wolverines continue to put in
the work and shake off Freddy P.
Soft, that is.
“We’re gonna embrace the
adversity that comes with this
game, and we’re gonna address
it,” Winovich said. “And if it
comes in the form of Freddy P.
Soft, we’re gonna try our best to
spell him.”
2016 SCHEDULE
HAWAII (1-2)
W, 63-3 (1-0)
UCF (1-1)
COLORADO (2-0)
3:30 p.m., Michigan Stadium, BTN
PENN ST. (1-1)
Michigan Stadium
WISCONSIN (2-0)
Michigan Stadium
at RUTGERS (1-1)
7 or 8 p.m., Piscataway, N.J.
ILLINOIS (1-1)
3:30 p.m., Michigan Stadium
at MICH. ST. (1-0)
East Lansing, Mich.
MARYLAND (2-0)
Michigan Stadium
at IOWA (2-0)
8 p.m., Iowa City, Iowa
INDIANA (2-0)
Michigan Stadium
at OHIO ST. (2-0)
Columbus, Ohio
9/3
9/10
9/17
9/24
10/1
10/8
10/22
10/29
11/5
11/12
11/19
11/26
W, 51-14 (2-0)
GRANT HARDY/Daily
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh tries to prevent his team from getting complacent by using the personification “Freddy P. Soft” as motivation.