8 — Friday, September 13, 2019
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
C O M M E M O R AT I N G
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2019
University of Michigan Law School, 1225 Jeffries Hall
4:10–5:30 p.m.
Sponsored by U-M Office of the Provost
A CONVERSATION WITH
U.S. REPRESENTATIVE
JUSTIN AMASH
Glasgow making impact at WILL
Don Brown knows you’ll think
he’s crazy, but he doesn’t much
care.
After all, he’s been around
the block a time or two. In over
40 years in the profession, he’s
coached
All-Americans
and
future professionals. He’s spent
his life living and breathing
defensive football — and he’s one
of the best around.
That gives him the license to
make a determination that strays
from conventional wisdom a
time or two. On Monday, that
particular claim came in regard
to
senior
linebacker
Jordan
Glasgow.
“I’ll say this, and I might be
criticized: This guy might be one
of the best players in the Big Ten,”
Brown said. “Watch him run and
hit people. Just watch him play.”
Coming
into
the
season,
the
fifth-year
senior was seen
as
valuable
versatility — a
depth piece to
shore
up
the
linebacking
corps. He wasn’t
the
starter
at
VIPER, the spot
belonging
to
senior
Khaleke
Hudson.
He
wasn’t the heir apparent to Devin
Bush at the MIKE linebacker
spot, either. That position, the
general consensus held, was
going to be Josh Ross’. He wasn’t
slated to be the WILL linebacker
either, but he won that job
anyway.
And in a personnel group
defined in the early season by
volatility, Glasgow remains a
steadying presence. In the early
weeks of the season, he’s taken
that play up a notch.
In a week one win over Middle
Tennessee
State,
Glasgow
secured two sacks, matching
his career total to that point.
Against Army the next week, he
seamlessly slotted into one of the
inside linebacker spots, helping
hold the Black Knights to their
lowest yards-per-rush average
since 2015 and their lowest total
yardage since 2017.
Asked to dissect why Glasgow
was accepting of a move inside,
from his more
natural
VIPER
spot,
Brown
initially scoffed.
“Are
you
serious? He had
no choice, ‘You’re
moving
inside,’
” Brown joked.
“(Glasgow)
was
willing (to make
the move). He’s a
great dude.”
Glasgow came to Michigan
a walk-on — and brother of
Graham, who then manned the
Wolverines’ offensive line and
now plays for the Detroit Lions.
His career at Michigan has
been a coach’s dream — steady
ascension, gradual increase in
role, sudden blossom, invaluable
veteran contributor. In many
ways, though, he still carries the
stereotypes that hang around his
path. Asked after his standout
opening-week
performance
about newfound speed, Glasgow
instead shrugs it off.
“It’s difficult to say. I don’t
consider myself very fast relative
to the other people on the team,
people that are my size,” Glasgow
said. “I think that you may be
exaggerating how fast I am.”
Turn
to
Brown,
though,
and he’ll entertain no such
degradation.
“I mean, he’s a junkie,” Brown
said. “He might be one of the
funnest guys in the world to
coach, because he loves it. He eats
it. He drinks it and he backs it up,
because he smashes everybody
that moves.”
Brown then offered a quick
anecdote to illustrate that point,
recalling a phone call he received
one night.
Coach,
I’ll
be
available
tomorrow morning at 7:20. I’d like
to go over my plays.
OK, I’ll see you tomorrow to go
over your plays.
I specifically want to go over my
(naked bootlegs).
OK, we’ll go over the (naked
bootlegs).
If anything, Glasgow’s path
lends more credence to his merit,
not less. He is no longer a walk-
on. He is no longer just Graham’s
brother. He’s shed nearly every
hindrance in his path, and he’s
done so on his own terms. Two
weeks into his final collegiate
season, Glasgow is a steadying
force for a group once seen as a
possible liability.
And
if
Don
Brown
has
anything to say about it, one of
the best players in the Big Ten.
MAX MARCOVITCH
Managing Sports Editor
NATALIE STEPHENS/Daily
Senior linebacker Jordan Glasgow has impressed Don Brown this year.
This guy might
be one of the
best players in
the Big Ten.
OL looking to clean up penalties
As Cesar Ruiz assessed the
state of Michigan’s offensive line
earlier this week, he was careful
not to label any struggles as
“growing pains.”
The implication accompanying
that term is that the Wolverines’
inconsistency on the offensive
line is a result of Josh Gattis’ new
offense. The junior center knows
that isn’t the case.
“We
all
understand
the
offense,
we
all
understand
everything,” Ruiz said. “It’s just,
once you get in the game, you’ve
got to understand everything’s
fast-paced and there’s no re-dos.”
But
the
truth
remains
inescapable.
Two
weeks
into
Michigan’s
season,
the
Wolverines’ offense hasn’t lived
up to expectations.
So what gives?
“When you look at it over the
past few games, we’ve got seven
turnovers, we have 10 penalties,
but then we also have seven
drops,” Gattis said. “So you go
back and look at all those plays in
critical situations, they’re killers.”
Turnovers have led to every
regulation touchdown given up by
the first-team defense and drops
have held the offense to nine self-
described “explosive” plays so
far. But as Michigan’s offensive
linemen spoke this week, it
became clear that penalties are
at the crux of the Wolverines’ bye
week focuses.
At first glance, 58 penalty yards
doesn’t seem comparable to three
turnovers on the list of reasons
that Michigan went to overtime
in a game it entered as a 23-point
favorite. But when four of those
penalties came in a seven-point
first half on an offensive line
returning three starters, it’s cause
for alarm.
“We had some penalties that
shouldn’t happen,” said senior
guard Ben Bredeson. “Procedure
penalties that we’re better than
that, we know better than that.
And obviously just (frustrated)
with myself for that one. But it’s
just focus time and something
that we need to correct going
forward.”
So
as
Ruiz
watched
his
offensive line struggle against a
defensive line with no player over
300 pounds, he had a message for
the unit.
“My thing was, we can’t lose,”
Ruiz said. “We can’t lose to this
team. We can’t keep shooting
ourselves in the foot. That was my
main message. We had a few false
start penalties — I had one. ... You
don’t get too many chances with
the football against this team
so we’ve got to maximize every
opportunity we have.”
Against
Wisconsin
next
Saturday, the Wolverines will be
confronted with one of the Big
Ten’s premier defensive units,
further limiting their margin for
error. It’s why Bredeson called
the bye week “not the worst
(timing) in the world.” Now, the
challenge is taking advantage of
these two weeks.
While eliminating unfocused
penalties will be a point of
emphasis during the bye week,
Michigan will also be focusing
on spotting blitzes and picking
up assignments — two things the
Wolverines practice every day,
according to Ruiz.
Now, the challenge is turning
them into live reps.
“Every game’s not going to be
perfect,” Ruiz said. “But it’s up to
us to minimize every single one
of those mistakes. It’s great we
have a bye week to focus on a lot
of those things and to be extra
focused on those.”
Back at Yost Ice Arena, Winnipeg’s Kyle Connor makes his presence felt
A sea of players took to the
rink in Yost Ice Arena.
Some
wore
blue
practice
jerseys, others white. One even
wore purple — a signal for
exemption from physical contact.
But the one thing all the players
of the Michigan hockey team
shared was the navy helmet they
wore, crowning them a member
of the Wolverines.
But as practice began this
week, and even before that, a
different colored helmet could
be spotted — a player donning a
white helmet in a white jersey
— shooting pucks hours after
practice had concluded and all
the players had trickled off the
ice to the locker room.
It was Kyle Connor.
The former Michigan forward
recorded
35
goals
and
36
assists in his lone year with the
Wolverines, placing runner-up
for the Hobey Baker Award in
2015-16. Connor got drafted into
the National Hockey League
with the Winnipeg Jets where he
continued his success, recording
two
back-to-back,
30-goal
seasons.
And lately, Connor’s presence,
as an elite player and friend, has
been felt at Yost.
“Kyle’s been around,” said
Michigan coach Mel Pearson.
“He’s been around the last few
summers since he’s turned pro.
He always comes back to Ann
Arbor. He enjoys it here.”
Swinging by, summer after
summer. A standstill in contract
talks has extended his annual
summer visit into September
this year. When he comes to Yost,
Connor arrives with a wealth of
knowledge and experience. With
three years as a professional, on
top of a storied college career,
Connor has insights on what
it takes to be successful at all
levels.
“As a coach, I want to ask him
questions,” Pearson said. “Just
about little things, whether it’s
about analytics at the next level
or practice at the next level, or
how hard they work or what
it might be. Or
different drills.
You’re
always
trying to steal
ideas and steal
thoughts
and
whatnot.”
Connor’s time
at
Michigan
didn’t
overlap
with
Pearson,
who
was
the
then-head coach
of Michigan Tech before taking
over for Red Berenson before
the 2017-18 season. But the lack
of familiarity didn’t stop the two
from conversing and learning
more about each other’s path to
success. And it wasn’t a one-way
affair.
“As a young kid coming in,”
Connor told The Daily, “you just
want to pick his brain and talk,
kind of similar to Red.”
The trading of information
wasn’t limited to just coach and
pro, though. Pearson thought his
players would be
“well-served”
to ask for a few
pointers
from
“one of the best
at what he does.”
But the players
didn’t
need
the push from
Pearson to act —
they had already
approached
the
NHL
star
themselves.
Though Connor was gone
by the time the current seniors
stepped foot on campus as
freshmen, they had seen him
plenty, whether for summer skate
or a drop-by during practice.
“I’ve talked to a lot of the guys,
just kind of the upperclassmen,”
Connor said. “I know them a
little bit, just being familiar and
talking to them. They’re a great
group of guys. And they work
hard. I mean, that’s the biggest
thing.”
His
pointers
to the seniors,
including
forwards
Will
Lockwood
and
Jake
Slaker,
were
centered
around Connor’s
specialties:
shooting
and
passing.
“We were out
there
doing
a
shooting drill, and he was talking
about what it takes to score at the
next level,” Lockwood said. “And
just some things to work on,
which obviously, coming from
him, is a pretty big deal — he
scores 30 goals a year.”
Puck
release,
speed
of
shot, shooting on net. Connor
emphasized the importance of
getting the puck off quickly,
regardless of the power behind
the stroke.
“You just got to hit the net and
get it off quickly, especially when
the puck’s going
from side to side,
Lockwood said.
“So some good
advice
from
him.”
But
just
as
important
as
Connor’s
words
are his everyday
actions at Yost.
As he practices,
skating
or
shooting, eyes wander in his
direction, looking to him to lead
by example.
“It’s not even him talking. Just
kind of watching him you know,
of course as an elite player in
the NHL,” Slaker said. “So just
watching him you just learn. It’s
fun having him there.”
THEO MACKIE
Daily Sports Editor
ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily
Junior center Cesar Ruiz is among the offensive linemen who committed avoidable penalties against Army.
TIEN LE
Daily Sports Editor
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Former Michigan forward Kyle Connor has been practicing at Yost Ice Arena and giving advice to Michigan players as he waits for a contract standoff to end.
You just want to
pick (Pearson’s)
brain and talk ...
similar to Red.
Just kind of
watching
(Connor) ... as
an elite player.