6A — Thursday, September 14, 2017
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Drevno emphasizing correctable details ahead of Air Force contest
Tim Drevno gets a rush out
of the light-bulb moments.
Luckily for him, with this
inexperienced
Wolverine
squad,
there’s
plenty
of
opportunity for those.
“They’re
young,
which
is great, and they’re very
talented,” Drevno said. “But
every day is a new day. It
doesn’t matter if you’re a
fifth-year guy, a fourth-year
guy or a first-year guy. You’ve
got to teach it to them like
they’ve never heard it before
and
be
dynamic
the
way
you’re teaching it so they do
understand it.
“And then have them ask
questions back to you and then
you ask them questions to make
sure they fully understand.
That excites me, as a coach,
is being able to teach and
then
getting
it
and
then
understanding it, executing it.”
That dialogue may be more
rampant
than
ever
right
now.
Wednesday
afternoon,
when
Michigan’s
offensive
coordinator
addressed
the
media,
he
was
quick
to
emphasize that
practice
has
been
focused
on
the
easily
correctable
details
that
plagued
the
Wolverines
against
Cincinnati.
The
two
fumbles against
the
Bearcats
may be the most
obvious of those
details, but the issues stretch
beyond that.
“The fly sweeps, the motions,
not fumbling the ball, not
giving up a sack — I mean those
are all correctable things,”
Drevno said. “... Just being
really
detailed
orientated.
Those are the things we’re
really focused on and we focus
on them every week. When it
happens in a game, it magnifies
like everything magnifies, and
you
put
your
eyes on it like,
‘Hey, how can
we do it better
as
coaches
so
they understand
it?’ ”
Drevno
emphasized that
players have to
be comfortable
with
making
adjustments,
adding
that
he is doing his
part by “crossing every T and
dotting every I” to ensure the
game plan is sound.
One
adjustment
came
against Cincinnati when two
defensive
linemen
twisted
on Nolan Ulizio and Michael
Onwenu twice. Both times,
Michigan’s
inexperienced
offensive
line
duo
were
beat,
and
redshirt
junior
quarterback Wilton Speight
faced pressure.
The
third
time,
though,
the
Bearcats
weren’t
so
successful.
Ulizio
and
Onwenu
each
picked up on
it, and Speight
had the pocket
to himself. Call
it a light-bulb
moment.
“That’s
exciting,” Drevno said of the
in-game adjustment. “When a
guy fixes a problem that you’ve
talked to him about — they fix
it and they do it — and it’s like
‘Hey, right on, we’re getting
one step closer to (being)
really good.’ ”
Onwenu
and
Ulizio’s
correction
was
only
one
example of a larger trend that
Drevno
has
followed
with
this
developing
group. As he put
it,
Michigan’s
offense
is
one
with
every
player’s
fingerprints
on
it.
According
to
Drevno, a process
such
as
that
happens
almost
universally — in
practice,
games
and the meeting
rooms alike.
And while that strategy is
already working well, there is
a certain sense of urgency to
correcting the mistakes. After
all, Air Force is the only team
standing between Michigan
and its Big Ten opener.
The
Falcons
aren’t
a
cakewalk, either. As Drevno
explained,
Michigan
will face a fast and well-
disciplined defense with an
unconventional scheme that
isn’t afraid to blitz. They are
technically sound — capable of
making the tackles they need
to and reading routes in the
secondary.
Against that defense, Drevno
could use a few more light-bulb
moments.
“A mistake happens — bam,
you put it down and it’s done,”
Drevno said. “You don’t want
to ever see it again. Is it gonna
happen again? It might. You
don’t want (it) to, but at least
you’ve addressed it, you’ve
coached it and they understand
the
adjustments
off
that
mistake and what needs to
happen.”
Michigan’s offensive coordinator has pushed his developing linemen toward a steady pattern of growth over time
KEVIN SANTO
Managing Sports Editor
“ ‘Hey, right on,
we’re getting
one step closer
to (being) really
good.’ ”
“You’ve got to
teach it to them
like they’ve
never heard it
before.”
SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily
Redshirt sophomore right tackle Nolan Ulizio provided a good example of what Drevno considers a light-bulb moment.
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Michigan offensive coordinator Tim Drevno teaches the Wolverines to clean up their mistakes as soon as possible.
Notable Quotable
“I thought he had
some spectacular plays.
Avoiding the tackle for a
loss, free runner on the
edge, that was significant.
His long run on the
sweep on a corner who
was unblocked, thought
that was outstanding. He
had one called back due
to a penalty and missed
assignment. He had two or
three opportunities called
back or taken away because
of execution. So, he’s taking
his opportunity this year.
It’s very important for
him.”
-Coach Jim Harbaugh on
Running back Ty Isaac
‘M’ impresses in draw at No. 1 Indiana
Robbie Mertz lept, whipped
his head toward the ball, and
scored one of the biggest goals
the Michigan men’s soccer
team has had this decade.
The Wolverines went to
Bloomington and played No.
1 Indiana to a 1-1 stalemate
on Wednesday night. After a
4-0-1 start to the season – its
best since 2008 – this game
was No. 18 Michigan’s chance
to prove itself a contender.
Consider it done.
Mertz’s
goal
came
50
minutes
into
the
game.
Freshman midfielder Umar
Farouk Osman set it up with
a run down the right wing
and a well-placed cross. Trey
Muse,
Indiana’s
freshman
goalkeeper, had a chance to
punch it out. Mertz got there
first.
The Hoosiers scored the
game’s opening goal just 11
minutes into play. A Wolverine
turnover in their own half
gave Indiana a 3-on-2 chance.
For a fleeting second it looked
like
sophomore
goalkeeper
Andrew
Verdi
might
play
the hero, as he saved two
consecutive shots from two
different
Hoosier
players.
On the third – from junior
defender Andrew Gutman –
Verdi was helpless.
For the rest of the first half,
Indiana put on a defensive
clinic.
Michigan didn’t record its
first shot on goal until the
40th minute. Osman found
himself on the right side of
the box with space – a rarity
against
a
team
with
the
Hoosiers’ defensive caliber –
but his shot was easily stopped
by Muse. When the whistle
blew signaling the end of the
first half, it looked like an
impending beatdown.
“I think we were fortunate
to only concede one (in the
first half),” said Michigan
head coach Chaka Daley after
the game. “You could tell by
the shots and stats that (in)
the first 15 minutes, they kind
of had us on the ropes.”
After halftime, everything
changed.
“We just asked them to
step up slightly and focus
more on some minor details
defensively,” Daley said. “And
it
certainly
proved
fruitful.”
Indiana
freshman
forward Griffin
Dorsey forced a
diving save out
of Verdi in the
58th
minute.
His
shot
was
directed at the
far
post,
but
not far enough. That ended
up being the best chance the
Hoosiers had for the rest of
regulation.
The closest the Wolverines
came to taking a lead was
in the 73rd minute. After
Muse saved senior midfielder
Tristan
Jacob’s
shot,
the
ensuing rebound looked like
a goal-in-waiting. Michigan
had a numbers advantage in
Indiana’s box, but couldn’t
take the upper hand.
“I think guys were trying
to find out who could get to
it first and who could get a
toe
poke
to
it,” Daley said.
“I think guys
were
kind
of
in the way and
someone
just
needed to kind
of knock it or
toe poke it.”
Pouring
rain
over
Bloomington
went
on
as
long as the game. In college
soccer, a tie game goes to
two
10-minute
overtimes
before it gets called. For the
Wolverines, those 20 minutes
were as stressful as you might
expect.
The
first
overtime
was
largely
devoid
of
scoring
chances for both teams. Verdi’s
only save came off a Hoosier
free kick, and that didn’t
come until the 99th minute.
Redshirt
junior
defender
Timmy Mehl’s header was on
goal, but Verdi swallowed it up
easily.
Indiana was able to lay
claim to the best chance of
the second overtime as well.
In the 107th minute, a cross
found its way into Michigan’s
box and looked dangerous,
but redshirt junior midfielder
Cory Thomas couldn’t put it
away.
When
the
game
finally
ended, the Wolverines came
away with perhaps their most
important result in years. But
Daley isn’t celebrating just yet.
“Two
games
in,
people
are going to put rankings
on people. They’re number
one, we’re eighteen – it’s not
relevant,” Daley said. “We
just continue to keep our
head up and keep things in
perspective.”
ETHAN SEARS
For the Daily
KATELYN MULCAHY /Daily
Junior midfielder Robbie Mertz scored the game-tying goal in the 50th minute in Bloomington to earn a draw.
“We just
continue to
keep our head
up.”