New faces shine in season debut
Scott BellSeptember 4th, 2006
You get just one chance to make a first impression. Luckily for a handful of Wolverines, Saturday's game against Vanderbilt proved to be a positive beginning.
True freshman Brandon Minor jogged onto the field for the first time at the start of the second quarter. For those who missed his entrance, Minor quickly made his presence known.
The Virginia native took his first career carry 24 yards after bursting through a hole behind the left side of the line.
Because of teammate Mike Hart's strong performance, Minor had just three carries for 30 yards for the game, but Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said fans should expect to see more of Minor in the future.
"Minor is a guy who's going to play an important role on this football team," Carr said. "He earned the opportunity to play a little bit more next week."
Another freshman back got in the books with his first rush, albeit in an unconventional manner. True freshman Carlos Brown lined up at the quarterback position in shotgun late in the first quarter. Though he gained just four yards on the run, he gave Michigan fans a glimpse at his possible role in the future. Many look at Brown as an option to fill the void left by sophomore Antonio Bass, who frequently lined up under center last season, but will likely miss the year due to a knee injury.
In all, five true freshmen saw time, with safety Stevie Brown, defensive end Brandon Graham and wide receiver Greg Mathews joining Brown and Minor.
For sophomore running back Kevin Grady, it wasn't a career debut, but he did use his first touch of the year to show off his new and improved self.
Grady, who lost 11 pounds in the offseason, capped off Michigan's opening drive with a 19-yard touchdown run. The Grand Rapids native took the third-and-three run to the right, then shifted left to find a hole and an open path to the goalline for the team's first touchdown of the season.
"The offensive line did a good job upfront pushing people, and our fullback, Obi Oluigbo, had a great block," said Grady, who also finished the game with 30 yards. "I mean, the hole was huge. . All I had to do was cutback and head to the endzone."
Nobody's perfect: The lone blemish on an otherwise stellar defensive performance came in the second quarter.
Sitting on the Michigan 30-yard line, Vanderbilt opened up its bag of tricks, using a wide receiver throwback pass to catch the Wolverines off guard.
But even though Earl Bennett's pass to a wide-open Marlon White following a lateral from quarterback Chris Nickson worked to perfection, junior cornerback Charles Stewart said the play didn't come out of nowhere.
"(Defensive coordinator Ron English) coached us up all week on the trick play," Stewart said. "I just made a bad play. I'll just have to rebound and come back next week.
Junior cornerback Morgan Trent started the next two series following Stewart's mishap on the touchdown pass, but after a couple series on the bench and a few earfuls from English, Stewart was back in the game.
"He had every right to (yell) because I was coached up on it," Stewart said of English. "I guess I just fell asleep for a second and made a bad play."
Stewart, who made his first career start at the cornerback spot opposite senior Leon Hall, ended the game with four solo tackles.
If you can't beat 'em, join 'em: The Achilles heel for the Michigan defense the last two seasons has been the mobile quarterback. The Wolverines couldn't stop quick quarterbacks on defense, but they also didn't have one of their own.
On Saturday, the defense stopped Nickson in his tracks, and Michigan's own quarterback, junior Chad Henne, made a few fleet of foot moves himself. Henne had three runs of six or more yards, and ended up totaling 20 yards on eight carries - a number that includes a nine-yard loss when he was sacked in the second quarter.
While he hasn't quite reached mobile quarterback status yet, Henne's newfound scrambling ability did catch the eye of his coach.
"Henne did a great job scrambling away from what a year ago would have been some sacks," Carr said. "He did a great job of getting out of trouble when things broke down."
Injury report: Three Wolverines did not see action because of ankle sprains. Defensive end Tim Jamison was dressed, but didn't play. Carr said following the game that he expects Jamison to play next week against Central Michigan. Senior running back Jerome Jackson and true freshman offensive lineman Justin Boren did not dress because of their respective ankle injuries.
Steve Schilling, another true freshman offensive lineman, also didn't play. Carr said Schilling would have seen time, but he found out Friday that the freshman had come down with mononucleosis.
Starting linebacker Chris Graham watched the second half in street clothes after pulling a muscle in the first half. Prescott Burgess replaced Graham, who hopes to be ready for next week.
Printed from www.michigandaily.com on Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:34:09 -0500