4B — Monday, September 17, 2018
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
The arrival of Donovan Peoples-Jones
Fairly or not, much as has been
expected of Donovan Peoples-
Jones in his short time with the
Michigan football team. The
sophomore wide receiver came to
Ann Arbor nearly two years ago
as a five-star prospect and the
highest-ranked member of the
Wolverines’ 2017 recruiting class.
Despite
ample
playing
opportunity, however, Peoples-
Jones hadn’t played like it. He
was Michigan’s fourth-leading
receiver last season and averaged
just 6.9 yards-per-catch to start
2018. Though it’s nothing to balk
at, those numbers don’t exactly
jump off the page.
But
Peoples-Jones’
performance Saturday did: He
made four catches for 90 yards
and found the endzone on all
three of the Wolverines’ passing
touchdowns.
“He’s always been a super
athletic guy, a freak athlete,”
said redshirt junior tight end
Zach Gentry. “Credit to him
taking the next step to learning
the playbook inside and out and
perfecting his craft coming out
of breaks and running his routes.
He looks comfortable, and he’s
doing a good job.”
Peoples-Jones
joined
Jehu
Chesson,
Braylon
Edwards,
Devin Funchess, Jeremy Gallon,
Mario Manningham and David
Terrell as the only Michigan
players with three or more
touchdown receptions in a game
since 2000.
His first touchdown was a
gift of the perfect play call. The
Wolverines
went
double-play
action — first faking to sophomore
Ambry Thomas on a jet sweep,
then to junior running back Tru
Wilson — before Patterson saw
that SMU had blown its coverage.
Running a post route, Peoples-
Jones was wide open and made
no mistake finishing the play,
racing to find the pylon for a
35-yard score.
“The post that Donovan ran
from the slot (was) a terrific
route,” Harbaugh said. “About
as much separation you can get,
really good (throw) by Shea right
on the money, good protection on
that one. Just like you drew it up.”
Though he was a decoy,
Thomas was instrumental in
the play’s development. After
receiving his first career carry in
the opening quarter, Michigan
ran the same jet sweep action
to get the Mustangs’ defense
moving opposite People-Jones.
“(We ran) at least two maybe
three runs earlier in the game to
set that play up,” Harbaugh said.
“It was a well-designed play and
well executed.”
Peoples-Jones’
second
touchdown, meanwhile, required
much more skill. From the
Mustangs’
seven
yard-line,
Patterson lofted an arching fade
to Peoples-Jones, who adjusted
in textbook fashion to corral the
back-shoulder pass.
“That was a beautiful route,
great catch and terrific throw,”
Harbaugh said.
It’s the type of play that shows
just how talented Patterson is.
Though he wasn’t as sharp as last
week — he threw a pick at the
goal line and should have been
intercepted earlier in the first
half — he again made high-level
throws
consistently,
finishing
14-of-18 for 237 yards.
The longest of those attempts
naturally went to Peoples-Jones.
From the Mustangs’ 43-yard line,
Peoples-Jones ran a go-route and
simply burned SMU’s safety over
the top to catch a perfect deep
ball from Patterson.
“(Donovan’s) a freak athlete,”
Patterson said. “He’s very smart,
very fast, great football size to
him. I know if I throw it up,
there’s a lot of trust in him (to
make the catch).”
Developing chemistry in the
passing game is the epitome of a
welcome sign for the Wolverines.
Their receivers combined for just
three touchdowns all last season
— the mark Peoples-Jones met
Saturday.
Last week, sophomore Nico
Collins broke Michigan’s 364-day
stretch without a wide receiver
touchdown before Peoples-Jones
caught his first-career score. And
with Gentry — who made four
catches for 95 yards Saturday
— as well as sophomore Oliver
Martin and fifth-year senior
Grant Perry also contributing,
the Wolverines’ passing attack is
continuing to take shape.
“(Our rapport with Patterson)
has grown a lot,” Gentry said. “It
feels good to just spread the ball
around, make plays in the passing
game and have some statistics
there. It’s improved every week
since camp started.”
Peoples-Jones was nonetheless
the
clear
redzone
priority
Saturday. He hasn’t lived up to
his high school hype just yet,
but Saturday was a reminder of
Peoples-Jones’ talent and the
time he still has to realize his
potential.
“People forget he’s young,”
Gentry said. “I remember coming
in as a freshman, and there’s just
no way (you can be really good).
It’s just a whirlwind. I think him
being so young, you see a big leap
from the first year to the second
year and so on.
“Three touchdowns in a day
isn’t too bad.”
Metellus finds redemption in pick six
Josh Metellus has had more
than a fair share of ups and down
already in the 2018 season.
Less than six minutes into
the season opener against Notre
Dame, the junior safety was
ejected for a targeting call. His
replacement,
Brad
Hawkins,
allowed a touchdown on the same
drive.
But against Western Michigan
the following week, Metellus
quietly led the defense with seven
tackles and 1.5 tackles-for-loss.
If history had a say, Metellus
was poised for a dip in Saturday’s
game
against
Southern
Methodist.
And for a moment, with the
Wolverines leading just 14-7, it
looked to be the case. On the
Mustangs’ final drive of the
second quarter, wide receiver
James Proche — who finished
with 11 catches for 166 yard
and two scores — ran past the
Michigan
defense,
Metellus
included, for 32 yards to the
Wolverines’ 24-yard line. Two
plays later, with his back turned
away
from
the
quarterback,
Metellus was called for an ill-
advised pass interference. SMU’s
drive had the makings of a
potential game-tying score with
17 seconds left on the clock.
“I don’t think I held them or
pass interference or whatever
they called,” Metellus said. “...
I was mad for like two seconds
because I feel like I didn’t do pass
interference. I just knew I had to
brush that play off and play the
next play.”
And in the blink of an eye,
Metellus’ penalty — one of 13
on the day for Michigan — was
forgotten the next play. Metellus
said he recognized the formation
from a play run earlier on the
drive, so he anticipated his
coverage. Metellus blanketed his
man along the left sideline, and
telegraphed
quarterback
Ben
Hicks’ throw, catching it right on
the numbers.
Memories of Metellus’ Florida
high school football days — times
he shared with then-teammates
Devin Bush and Devin Gil —
emerged.
“Me, Bush and Gil — we all had
picks and we all blocked for each
other,” Metellus said. “Seeing
(Gil) right in front of me when
I caught the ball brought back a
memory of me catching the pick
and him blocking for me. I see
him and he’s like ‘come on’ and
he turned, and I was like ‘I’ve
gotta score.’ I knew there was
no time left on the clock because
before the play I looked up, and it
said 17 seconds. I knew had to put
some points on the board.”
Metellus had nothing but
green and those four blockers in
front of him. But a straight-line
sprint looked more like a rabbit
chase. Hicks’ legs were twisted
in his downhill pursuit, and with
Mustang running back Xavier
Jones catching up, Metellus
changed course and cut to the
middle. As he slowed down,
Metellus made a second inside
cut past two Mustangs and finally
lunged towards the end zone just
before being taken down.
“I liked the route that I took,”
Metellus said through a smile. “I
just tried to get in the end zone in
any way possible.”
Instead of a one-possession
game against a subpar SMU
team,
Michigan
headed
to
the locker room with a two-
possession cushion and every
ounce of momentum as it headed
towards a 45-20 victory.
“Our strength coach is big on
boxing,” Proche said. “He says if
you take punches in the mouth,
you bounce right back. We got
punched
and
didn’t
bounce
back.”
Metellus’
interception
—
alongside his five tackles — was
a bright spot on an otherwise
unimpressive
defensive
performance.
The
defense
collected seven penalties for
72 yards — 37 of which came
on one drive that ended in an
SMU touchdown. It was both
a testament to the errors the
defense still must eradicate as
well as how well the Wolverines
respond to mistakes.
Metellus is less an exception
and more of a figurehead to that
testament. The nature of Don
Brown’s defense often leaves
Metellus in isolation, leaving
it up to him to win one-on-one
coverage or to spy on a potential
run or short throw. Some may
call the role thankless, but it’s
a give-and-take that Metellus
acknowledges.
“I feel like I could play at a
higher level,” Metellus said. “I’ve
made some good plays so far
throughout the season. I’ve had
some plays that I wish I could
have back. So far, I feel like I
could take another step to help
the team out more. Not that I’m
playing bad, I just feel like I’ve
got more in me that I could help
the team win.”
The score was lopsided against
the Mustangs, but even the 20
points Michigan allowed seemed
excessive. The indifference in
Metellus’ words — “not that I’m
playing bad” — is recognition of
the room for improvement. One
defensive touchdown can’t erase
the seven defensive penalties.
“You address each of them,”
said
coach
Jim
Harbaugh.
“I know some of them were
penalties. Penalties are hurting
us, we have to clean up and get
better at it. … I don’t want 13
penalties in a game.”
If
you’re
Metellus,
you
recognize the need to change,
but admire his unit’s short-term
memory and resiliency.
It’s
something
the
junior
safety has refined each season,
and his pick six is living proof of
that.
There’s room
to improve
F
ootball players
and coaches love
to remind people
that there’s always room for
improve-
ment. The
Michigan
football
team is no
different,
and Satur-
day’s game
was not an
exception.
“Really
look
forward to a great week of
practice for the football
team,” Michigan coach Jim
Harbaugh said after the Wol-
verines beat SMU, 45-20, on
Saturday. “We’re getting clos-
er to being good, really good,
but we’re still not quite there
yet. See improvements can
be made. And really looking
forward to a great week this
week in preparation.”
In most cases, the senti-
ment of
Harbaugh’s
quote is sim-
ply coach
speak, because
of course
every team
can always
improve. It
still probably
qualifies as
coach speak
here, given
that the question Harbaugh
was asked was whether or
not he expects running backs
Karan Higdon and Chris
Evans to play next week
against Nebraska.
But even despite that, and
despite the Wolverines’ lop-
sided victory, there were mis-
takes, sometimes glaring ones,
on which Michigan will have
to improve.
Take, for example, the
Mustangs’ first touchdown of
the game. Wolverines safety
Brad Hawkins and corner-
back David Long had some
kind of miscommunication,
and, whatever it was, it left
SMU receiver James Proche
running wide
open up the
sideline.
Proche caught
the pass from
quarterback
Ben Hicks and
scampered 50
yards to the
house. Just
like that, a
game Michi-
gan should
have run away with was tied,
7-7.
And based on the final
score, you could argue Michi-
gan did run away with it. But
it was still a game that saw the
Wolverines commit 13 penal-
ties for 137 yards, including a
targeting call on junior VIPER
Khaleke Hudson which will
hold him out of the first half
of next week’s game against
Nebraska.
“You address each of them,”
Harbaugh said. “… And pen-
alties are hurting us. That’s
something we have to clean up
and get better at. We address
each one — technique, what
we’re using, the discipline
that we have. Get them cor-
rected, get them coached, get
improved. Don’t want 13 pen-
alties in a game. Don’t think
anybody does.”
And of course, there were
some mistakes along the
offensive line throughout the
night, but hashing through
those feels like overkill at this
point.
The thing about all of this
is that the mistakes, this time,
didn’t matter, because the
Wolverines ultimately played
well enough to win comfort-
ably.
Junior safety Josh Metellus
prevented the Mustangs
from scoring before half and
flipped the whole feel of the
game on its head with his
73-yard interception return
for a touchdown. Junior
quarterback Shea Patterson
continued to show exactly
why his arrival
was so coveted
this offseason,
and sophomore
wideout Dono-
van Peoples-
Jones proved
he belongs on
this stage with
his three touch-
downs.
The talent
on Michigan’s
roster is eye-popping, espe-
cially against the SMUs of the
world. Perhaps that’s what
makes the Wolverines’ mental
mistakes so mind-boggling.
Michigan has time to fix
many of these errors before
it gets to the meaty part of
its schedule, and if it wants
to reach its preseason goals,
it needs to. Wisconsin, even
with its loss to BYU is still a
team that will gladly make
them pay for 137 penalty
yards and blown assignments.
Michigan State and Penn State
will too.
Heck, if Nebraska quarter-
back Adrian Martinez returns
next week, the Cornhuskers
aren’t a team
to play around
with.
The point is
this: the Wol-
verines got by
on Saturday
with some mis-
takes because
they were
always going to
beat the Mus-
tangs. The tal-
ent gap was far too wide.
But there are teams coming
soon against whom that kind
of thing won’t fly, and, since
those games are the ones that
will define the Wolverines’
season, ignoring the gaffes
would be disingenuous.
Maybe it feels like nit-
picking, but in this case, it’s
about more than just room to
improve.
Persak can be reached at
mdpers@umich.edu or on
Twitter @MikeDPersak or
Venmo @Mike-Persak
FOOTBALL
MIKE
PERSAK
EVAN AARON/Daily
Junior quarterback Shea Patterson threw for three touchdowns on Saturday.
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Sophomore wide receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones made four catches for 90 yards on Saturday afternoon against SMU.
MARK CALCAGNO
Daily Sports Editor
“Don’t want
thirteen
penalties in a
game.”
“Get them
corrected, get
them coached,
get improved.”
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Junior safety Josh Metellus returned a tide-turning pick six seconds after being called for pass interference on Saturday.
ETHAN WOLFE
Daily Sports Writer