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