4B — Wednesday, January 3, 2018
SportsWednesday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Report says Frey set to
leave for Florida State
Greg Frey’s first stint in Ann
Arbor lasted three years.
His second? That could be
much shorter.
According to a report from
Josh Newberg of 247Sports.com,
Michigan’s
offensive
tackles
and tight ends coach didn’t
travel home with the team from
Tampa after Monday’s Outback
Bowl. Instead, Frey and his wife
drove up to Tallahassee to meet
with new Florida State head
coach Willie Taggart.
Frey may not have coached
alongside
Taggart before,
but
he
does
have significant
shared history
with
the
Seminoles,
having
played
for
Florida
State’s
1993
championship
team.
The
report
implies
Frey
has been in ongoing talks with
Taggart, who was officially
hired Dec. 5.
According
to
Newberg,
there’s a “good chance” Frey’s
departure is finalized in the
near future.
Such a move would represent
a second consecutive offseason
with a significant shake-up
in
the
offensive
coaching
staff. Following last season,
the Wolverines saw former
assistant coaches Jedd Fisch
and Tyrone Wheatley leave for
jobs elsewhere. Jim Harbaugh
brought in Frey as one of
the replacements along with
passing game coordinator Pep
Hamilton.
He was seen as a key cog in
the development of Michigan’s
offensive line, joining offensive
coordinator Tim Drevno, who
was responsible for interior
linemen.
Frey, an acclaimed coach who
has developed numerous NFL-
caliber linemen such as Taylor
Lewan, Jason Spriggs and Dan
Feeney throughout stops at four
different schools, also served
as the Wolverines’ run game
coordinator.
Known as a dogged recruiter,
Frey was responsible for signing
Jalen Mayfield and Ryan Hayes,
two four-star offensive tackles,
and
Luke
Schoonmaker,
a
three-star tight end, in the 2018
class.
In
his
one
year
on
staff,
Michigan
experienced
mixed
results
along
the
offensive
line.
The Wolverines
struggled
with
pass protection,
especially
on
the
right
side
of
the
line,
where Michigan
started three different players
at right tackle. The Wolverines
surrendered 36 total sacks,
ranking No. 114 in the nation.
The
rushing
attack
saw
more positive results, although
the Wolverines limped to the
finish. In their final three
games (all losses), they rushed
a combined 115 times for 232
yards, averaging 2.0 yards per
carry. On the year, Michigan
averaged 177.7 rushing yards
per game. According to the
S+P ratings, the Wolverines’
rushing attack ranked No. 14 in
the nation.
During
Frey’s
previous
tenure, Michigan’s offensive
line
play
improved
quickly
enough that he was able to see
the fruits of his labor. That
doesn’t appear to be the case
this time around.
Shea Patterson can’t fix Michigan on his own
T
AMPA, Fla. — A procla-
mation came from the
first row of Raymond
James Sta-
dium.
“It’s Pat-
terson sea-
son,” one fan
screamed
in Brandon
Peters’ direc-
tion.
And thus,
the prover-
bial cloud
hanging over
the redshirt freshman’s head
became very, very literal.
He stood on the sideline, hel-
met perched upon his head.
He was a lonely man, playing
one of football’s loneliest posi-
tions. He had just gone four-and-
out with four incompletions,
the Michigan football team’s
penultimate gasp in a 26-19 loss
to South Carolina in the Outback
Bowl.
Little did he know his world
was about to get a whole lot
lonelier. His defense gave him a
final chance at playing hero. He
would throw his second pick of
the game, on 4th-and-1, to seal
the win for the Gamecocks once
and for all. Then he would trot
off the field accompanied only by
Sean McKeon.
So yes, it well may be ‘Patter-
son season.’ The former Ole Miss
quarterback is officially in Ann
Arbor, set to enroll in classes
and begin offseason workouts
while he awaits the fate of his
eligibility.
But here’s the rub: Shea Pat-
terson can’t fix Michigan’s prob-
lems.
After the game, asked what
was necessary for the program
to get to the next level, Jim Har-
baugh offered little clarity and
no specificity.
“We’ll look at every aspect
of it,” he said, “and we’ll make
improvements.”
Not long after, Karan Higdon
was asked to summarize Michi-
gan’s 8-5 season.
“I think it’s definitely a learn-
ing season,” he said. “We learned
a lot about ourselves, a lot about
our program, a lot about our
coaches, our players, and I think
going into next year we’ve got to
put it all together. … We’ve gotta
capitalize on those things and fix
the little things as well.”
The problem is that Michigan
certainly has improvements to
make, but they’re not a matter of
the “little things,” as the issues
have been described all season.
And despite the Wolverines’
optimism with each passing
week that they were one step
away from a
breakthrough, the
fact remains that
they’re not.
That doesn’t
change that, in the
week leading up
Monday’s match-
up, the consensus
was rather simple.
A matchup with
the Gamecocks
was an opportu-
nity for progress, a springboard
for 2018.
But given a month to prepare,
it was anything but. And the
evidence was strung across four
quarters in Raymond James
Stadium.
Near the seven-minute mark
of the second quarter, freshman
Brad Robbins was replaced with
Will Hart after hitting three
of his first four punts under 35
yards, only to be reinstated on
the next fourth down when Hart
hit a line drive himself.
With just over nine minutes
left in the third quarter, Higdon
fumbled inside the five-yard line
with a chance to put the Wolver-
ines up by 19.
Then came the fumble on
Michigan’s
own 21-yard
line and
the 17-point
onslaught
that gave the
Gamecocks the
lead and the
two intercep-
tions.
All the
while, the
Wolverines
relied on their kicker to generate
points and watched as a make-
shift offensive line that is largely
indicative of the future was
manhandled.
If this all sounds familiar, it’s
probably because it happened in
Arlington against Florida, too.
As for the cherry on top?
Asked how long it took South
Carolina to figure out Michigan’s
offense, cornerback JaMarcus
King left things pretty plainly.
“Two drives.”
Taking that all into account, it
may be time for fans to prepare
for a tough reality.
Shea Patterson can beat a
defense with his legs. As things
stand, he isn’t fast enough to
make up for his offensive line.
He has a pretty arm, but won’t
produce 300-yard outings if his
offense is predictable.
He has a fanbase hungry for
him, hungry for a savior.
But they felt that way about
Peters, too, not so long ago. And
the same problems that undid
him remain, leaving Michigan
in a bit of a conundrum.
The Wolverines have a lot to
fix themselves. Shea Patterson
can’t do it for them.
Santo can be reached at
kmsanto@umich.edu or on
Twitter at @Kevin_M_Santo
KEVIN
SANTO
“We’ll look at
every aspect
of it and
we’ll make
improvements”
Freshmen perform
well in Greensboro
The Greensboro Aquatic
Center is a considerable 591
miles away from Ann Arbor.
It’s not a stretch to say that
most other visiting divers
would feel like a fish out of
water there.
However, two freshmen
divers for the No. 4 Michigan
women’s
swimming
and
diving team, Nikki Canale
and
Christy
Cutshaw,
had their own home-pool
advantage while competing at
the 2017 USA Diving Winter
National
Championships
in their home
state of North
Carolina.
Over
the
course of the
six-day
meet
from
Dec.
13-18,
Canale
and
Cutshaw
both
finaled.
Cutshaw
finished
second in the
synchronized
platform and sixth in the
platform,
while
Canale
placed eleventh in the three-
meter final. Diving coach
Mike Hilde attributed some
of the divers’ performance
to
being
in
familiar
territory, but was impressed
nonetheless.
“I know that they were
excited
that
friends
and
family were in town and
there
were
people
there
to
support
them,”
Hilde
said. “It was kind of a rare
occasion because there’s not
a lot of times where you’re in
a place that you’re from. But
it was a great experience. My
two freshmen divers were
competing at a high level …
both ended up in the finals
and both did pretty well.”
Hilde also highlighted the
freshmen’s toughness in the
face of adversity. Many of
the divers at the meet were
upperclassmen or divers who
were already out of college,
while this was Canale and
Cutshaw’s
first
collegiate
dive of such high stakes.
“They’re young girls and
are new to the college scene,”
Hilde said. “Not everybody in
this meet was a college diver
but a majority of them are
or were graduating divers,
so just to see their mental
toughness And the way they
handle themselves was the
main thing. They’re battling
with the best so it’s also a
very good positive motivator
going forward.”
The divers
will
return
home
to
Canham
Natatorium on
Jan. 13, where
both the men’s
and women’s
swimming
and
diving
programs will
host Indiana.
As the meet
will
mark
the women’s program’s first
home meet since Sept. 29,
Hilde is looking forward
to seeing the team rallying
around each other and the
Wolverine community.
“They
can
stay
home,
continue to train and study
without leaving their own
place and going back and
forth,”
Hilde
said.
“It
changes the way because we
don’t have too many meets
coming up, and you can really
get into the rhythm for what
we want to get done at the Big
Ten’s. You’re not away from
all your peers and fellow
athletes to rally around, so
it’s nice to have that chunk of
time back home.”
For Cutshaw and Canale
though, that chunk was just
a bit longer, and all the more
triumphant.
WOMEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING
RIAN RATNAVALE
Daily Sports Writer
“... It’s nice to
have that chunk
of time back
home.”
‘M’ falls to Iowa as Thome, Flaherty struggle
Michigan
had
all
the
momentum in the world.
The No. 21 Wolverines (1-1 Big
Ten, 12-3 overall) fought back
from a nine-point deficit with
five minutes to go in the game
to make it two with just under
four minutes left. The No. 23
Hawkeyes (2-0, 14-1), proceeded
to slam the door shut with more
force than the Incredible Hulk.
Iowa’s Chase Coley hit an
elbow jumper to make the lead
four. Kathleen Doyle put in a
transition layup to extend it to
six, then added another layup off
a backdoor cut to make it eight.
When Megan Gustafson beat the
shot clock to make it 10 with 1:21
to go, that was all she wrote.
The
Michigan
women’s
basketball team fell on Sunday,
82-72, at Carver-Hawkeye Arena
in Iowa City. The loss snaps an
eight-game winning streak and
keeps coach Kim Barnes Arico
from passing Sue Guevara for
first place on the program’s all-
time wins list.
Senior guard Katelynn Flaherty
managed to put up 24 points
on 8-of-19 shooting, spurring
Michigan’s fourth-quarter run
with six straight points. However,
she was the only Wolverine with
more than 11 points on the night.
“I
thought
we had a couple
opportunities
of some other
people to make
plays,
whether
that be getting
stops
on
the
defensive
end,
or even on the
offensive
end
with the defense
they
were
playing, denying Katelynn and
denying (Nicole) Munger a little
bit,” Barnes Arico told WTKA.
“But we really couldn’t get too
many other people going.
“I thought Kayla Robbins did a
decent job of giving us some real
good minutes as she’s done the
last couple of games. But other
than that, we really struggled to
get going.”
The Hawkeyes managed to
keep the Wolverines quiet with
a triangle-and-two defense that
flummoxed them.
“They
face-guarded
Katelynnn
and
face-guarded
Nicole and we really weren’t able
to get them any
open
looks
the
rest of the game,”
Barnes
Arico
said. “We really
struggled
with
that. And I would
imagine
that’s
how teams are
probably
gonna
defend us, so we
gotta
continue
working on that.”
The game was decided down
low. Gustafson, who averages
22.1 points and 12.6 rebounds
per game for Iowa, lived up to
her billing. She finished with 27
points and 11 rebounds on 8-of-9
shooting from the field, getting
junior center Hallie Thome into
foul trouble early and spending
the rest of the game scoring over
double-teams.
“I thought we did a great job in
the first half of really crowding
(Gustafson),” Barnes Arico said.
“I think some of their other role
players made a couple shots and
I think that made our kids a little
bit nervous, to come on out and to
guard some of them. When they
did, that really opened things up
for Gustafson.”
Thome herself was shut down
by Gustafson and the rest of
Iowa’s defense. Despite the foul
trouble, she played 31 minutes, but
managed just seven points, her
second-worst mark of the season.
Michigan has, for the most
part, spent the season feasting on
non-conference opponents, their
only two losses coming against
two top-three teams. On Sunday,
it learned the hard way that the
competition in the Big Ten, on
the road, is a good deal tougher.
“Welcome to the Big Ten,”
Barnes Arico said. “Where every
night, if you’re not focused, if
you’re not locked in, if you’re not
ready to go for 40 minutes, you
can be beat.”
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Junior guard Nicole Munger struggled with Iowa’s triangle-and-two defense, as No. 21 Michigan dropped a close road game to No. 23 Iowa.
ETHAN SEARS
Daily Sports Writer
“If you’re not
ready to go for
40 minutes, you
can be beat.”
ORION SANG
Managing Sports Editor
FOOTBALL
(Frey) didn’t
travel home
with the team
from Tampa.
AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
Transfer quarterback Shea Patterson will need help from the rest of the Michigan football team to fix its issues.