Press Conference -- Coach Lloyd Carr on Spring Practice
4/12/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
Press Conference Comments from
Michigan Head Football Coach Lloyd Carr
Following Final 2003 Spring Practice
Opening statement ... "I told you guys last week that I would have some announcement on Jeff Zuttah; I do not. I will give that to you as soon as I can. I have named Fred Jackson associate head coach and Erik Campbell assistant head coach. I am very pleased with our spring practice. As a coach I look at it from the perspective of 15 practices. I always understand that we have some guys that will miss some practices and if you were out there today you would have saw that we had three freshmen and a number of other guys who did not practice but that's all part of bumps and bruises. We come out of this thing very healthy with the exception that Steve Breaston has some time here to heal that hamstring. I was very disappointed that he was unable to be healthy this spring but I expect him to play an important role in our football team this fall. Leo Henige is going to have his shoulder scoped on Monday but we have every expectation that he'll be fine and he'll be ready to go when training camp starts. We made a lot of progress but we're not where we need to be, but I think we had a lot of young guys who really developed. I like the attitude and the effort and I like the progress that we made on both sides of the football. I think that in the last week and a half our defense really has come together and I think we are going to be okay there. The only negative thing about this spring is that we got outside only three times. If you were there early today you saw a lot of punts that dropped. A lot of kickoffs that were misjudged because of the wind. We haven't been out there so and that first time you're out there you're just not going to be very proficient at catching the ball in the wind. That is always a disappointment here in terms of the kicking game but other than that I thought we made some progress."
Is Braylon Edwards a possibility as a punt returner ... "Well, we will look at a lot of guys there. Markus Curry has a lot of experience. Jermaine Gonzales really wants to be back there. Braylon has a tendency ... he wants to get the ball and go. Sometimes he leaves the ball before he goes. He wants to be back there but we'll just have to see how things go. As a guy who is going to play such an important role in our offense that is something I would have to make a decision on. It's not something that he's done since he's been here so we'll look at that."
Where is there going to be some hard competition heading into the fall ... "I think at linebacker. David Harris has had an absolutely outstanding spring. I think that Lawrence Reid has played the best football this spring since he's been at Michigan. You've got competition because (Scott) McClintock played a lot a year ago and Carl Diggs is coming back as is Zach Kaufman. I think we are going to have really good competition at linebacker. We'll rotate some guys because I think we built some real depth this spring in the defensive line. The real competition this year will be in the secondary. We played Marlin Jackson some this past week at safety because we are thin there and we do have three what I consider potentially outstanding cornerbacks. We have a lot of competition at safety. I thought Willis Barringer had an excellent spring. He's going to be a very good football player and at the other safety position we have competition with (Jacob) Stewart and (Ernest) Shazor so we'll just have to let it play itself out in the fall."
Is the defense's improvement of late because you have so many young players ... "I think it is. A lot of times when we start spring practice the defense is ahead of the offense. When we started practice this spring the offense was ahead but I really like the intensity that our defense showed in the last week and a half. I think we're athletic. We're not a real particularly big defensive team unless you put (Larry) Harrison and Gabe (Watson) in there. There's a couple of 300-pounders. Its kind of unusual to see two guys like that but both guys made real significant progress and improvement. Larry needs to learn to stay down but he is athletic and gets off blocks. Gabe is a powerful guy that is learning every day."
What competitions do you have on the offensive side of the ball ... "At wide receiver, we use a lot of three-wide receiver sets and some four-wide receiver sets in the two-minute offense so you need to have depth. Your wide receivers need to rotate if you're going to have the ability to have any freshness at the end of a game. You've got to play a lot of guys there. We have some real competition there. We have a lot of guys as well as three young freshmen all of whom are going to push for playing time. We will have the type of competition there that will make every guy better. Competition either makes you better or makes you back off and I don't think any of them are going to back off. We do have some veteran guys who are going to be pushed however by some of these young guys. The tight end position is really tight. Andy Mignery has had an excellent spring and Tim Massaquoi is a guy who has all the ability and continues to get better all the time. Of course we do have some other guys in there and Tyler Eccker will be back. We won't have a lot of experience but I do expect us to be good. There will be a lot of competition there and guys that I like. David Underwood proved to me this spring that he has what it takes. He has hung in there. He's done a real nice job and has a much improved grasp of what we're doing. He is one of those kids that just keeps coming back and fighting. Normally those are the type of guys that end up being successful."
Can Chris Perry have a breakout year this season from what you've seen this spring ... "What about a breakout year I'd say he had a breakout year last season. I expect Chris Perry to have an outstanding season. He has proven that he is a quality football player and with a year under his belt he understands the length of a season and knows how physical it is. He knows he needs to go into the year with great endurance built this summer through conditioning. He is much more physical than he was and yet his weight is down a little bit. He has had a very good spring because he practiced every day and has worked hard. He knows the offense and has really improved as a pass receiver. Great backs can do everything and Perry has turned into a very good pass protector, can catch the football and can run with power."
Are you getting a sense for the chemistry on this team ... "From my standpoint, if you have a great work ethic it shows up in practice. It shows up if a team does not like to practice or guys don't want to practice you won't have much chemistry. If you have guys that have competitive spirits and want to practice hard that is where it begins. What happens when you practice hard and those practices are physical every day it toughens you and makes you learn how to fight through things when you're tired or hurt or banged up or not playing well. You need to keep going, keep fighting and eventually that molds esprit de corps that allows you to be better than the sum of your parts and that is really what you're trying to get done. I like what I've seen but proof comes in September, October, November, August. We're starting the seasons now in August. I can't forget that."
On Matt Gutierrez ... "For a true freshman, he has a long ways to go but I think he showed some (things). He is a real bright guy who knows what to do with the football. For a freshman I think he is on his way."
On the progress of the offensive line ... "We are going to have great competition at right guard. I think the rest of that line is real solid if we were to start today. Andy Christopfel, I thought the move to guard was a positive one. Mark Bihl, I felt came on late in the spring. He's a tough guy with a lot of intangibles that you like for a center. A center needs to be smart, tough and competitive because he's got to snap the ball between his legs before he does anything and that is a hard deal. He has to make a lot of calls. I think that Rueben Riley and Mike Kolodziej are going to be very good tackles before it's over. We should have a good line if they don't change."
How has Pierre Woods progressed from the start of spring practice until now ... "Every day is a new day for him from the standpoint that every day is an opportunity for him to learn something. He has always been on the edge rushing but I think he has good instincts as a linebacker and he has wonderful ability. We will try to do some things to utilize his abilities."
On Gate Watson's development this spring and are you disappointed you didn't redshirt him last year ... "I don't look back for four or five years. There will be a point where every senior that we have that's a four-year guy that you say I wish we would have redshirted him. The truth is every situation is a little bit different because of the way they're recruited. I think you don't worry about what happened last month or last year you just go with today. Gabe got better every day this spring. He plays with great leverage. I will tell you one thing, there won't be many people who can knock him off the ball. He plays low for a guy his size. He has wonderful power. He has some things that he needs to learn. As a three technique in there playing over the guard you are involved in a lot of stunts where you line up over the guard and the nose guard is going to loop into your gap and you have to come into his gap. Well, those are things that take time to learn how to do with quickness and speed. Those are all new things in there for him but he made good progress."
How much progress has Jermaine Gonzales made at wide receiver ... "Jermaine is a guy that can make you miss. He is athletic and has wonderful hands. He has played all spring with a bad ankle, which I like because he just kept coming to practice. Some guys wouldn't have practiced. When you learn to do that it toughens you. He has wonderful hands and has a knack for body control and can make you miss. If you realize he just moved to wide receiver a year ago at this time after spring practice, I think he is in position to play an important role in our team."
How much has Marlin Jackson practiced at safety ... "We looked at our whole defense. He can be a great safety. He is an outstanding cornerback but a safety is an opportunity to make more of impact on a lot of games. We simply want to put him in a position where if we have to or need him it won't be a move that if we waited until the fall to make. It gives us more options. I don't know if anyone talked with him but I think he kind of likes it. I'll talk with him this week about it. I think it helps him as a football player."
Did you make the move more for depth ... "I look at it more like (Jeremy) LeSueur and (Markus) Curry are two outstanding corners and when you add Marlin you have three which means if you're playing a traditional two-back team one of those guys is standing over there next to me while the game is going on. I think it would be a nice idea to have one of them in the game. We'll just have to see how that goes."
On the three young wide receivers who missed practiced today ... "(Carl) Tabb has been fighting an ankle injury the last two weeks. Jason (Avant) fell on his shoulder Tuesday. We've had a lot of guys who practiced or limited their snaps today but that's all part of the spring. Everybody should be back."
On Willis Barringer's progress at safety ... "Willis Barringer had an excellent spring. He is going to play an important role. He is a good tackler. He is very instinctive. He has a chance to be a very good player. He is tough and competitive and has a lot of fight in him. I like Baringer a lot."
On Zach Kaufman and Carl Diggs ... "They'll be back. Diggs is running and felt very good on Thursday. Zach is not quite that far along because they have different injuries. We expect them both back."
On the new surface (FieldTurf) at Michigan Stadium ... "I think that surface is going to be beneficial. Our players are going to like it because this is what happens on grass, even good grass fields: as the season goes on you get divots. Every kicker that puts the ball down in the stadium will be happy with that surface. I think if you take statistics, since 1990 when we went to grass, I think we'd have the lowest field goal percentage (of any stadium) in the nation. I think that is going to be a big advantage for all of those guys kicking. All of our players when you think about what we have played on will be very excited to play on that surface."
Is it an advantage to have Curry, LeSueur, Jackson and Barringer -- all current or former cornerbacks -- on the field at once ... "Absolutely. You play many different types of teams each season. For instance, Purdue has four or five wide receivers on the field with no backs or tight ends. It gives you more flexibility in what you can do. Normally, against two-back sets the only person a safety has to cover is a tight end or a back. When you have safeties that can cover who've had the experience of covering wide receivers it gives you a lot more flexibility when you get into a game where you're playing four- and five-wide receivers teams."
Contact: David Ablauf, Jim Schneider (734) 763-4423
