Comments from Michigan's 2007 Tri-Captains
8/21/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
Comments from U-M Football Tri-Captains
Shawn Crable, Mike Hart and Jake Long
Senior Tailback Mike Hart
On how badly he wanted to be captain ... "It was obviously something I looked forward to. I thought I could make a great captain. I've been a leader my whole life, something I look forward to. If it didn't happen, I probably would have been upset. But it isn't something that would have made me stop leading or something like that. I think it's one of the greatest honors you can receive. A group of your peers, 80 or 90 people, elect you to lead them, that's a pretty big honor."
On if the chance at being captain played a role in his return ... "I definitely thought about it. It was something I wanted and it played a part in me coming back (to Michigan)."
On whether he is a vocal leader ... "Yeah, I probably talk a little bit."
On whether Shawn Crable will have a tougher leadership role with the defense's inexperience ... "He might have a little tougher time, but I also think he has a lot of great leaders around him on defense. He has guys like Tim Jamison with great experience, Terrance Taylor, Jamar Adams, Morgan Trent. He's got a lot of guys like that who know what they're doing. I think he'll be fine, because he's got a lot of good people around him."
On the likelihood that he will score early ... "I think a lot of it is up to play calling, but we just have to make it happen. When they call those plays, we need to get it into the end zone. So, hopefully, we'll be able to come out and put a lot of points on the board. We can score quickly in the passing game, especially with a guy like Mario (Manningham) when it only takes one throw to score. I think when you run the ball a lot, it helps that receiving threat."
On sophomore tailback Carlos Brown ... "I hosted Carlos on his visit and we are really close. He's a patient guy. He's not really too worried about anything. He's definitely going to play this year. He's going to get some carries and some looks at different things this season."
On senior quarterback Chad Henne not being voted captain ... "It's still Chad's offense. Everyone knows that Chad is a more laid-back guy. He gets the job done, and he leads when he needs to lead. I haven't seen him upset at all that he wasn't voted captain. He knows what he has to do. He knows it's his offense. I know it's his offense. Jake (Long) knows it's his offense. So, we're going to let Chad lead when it's his turn. When we're in that huddle, it's his offense, and I'm not going to say anything."
On his initial impression to earning a captain's role ... "It's just amazing. There are only so many faces on the walls of this building (Schembechler Hall). You have the All-Americans and the captains. When you go back over 100 years of history and see those faces ... when my great-great-great-grandkids come here in 100 years, they're going to see my face on that wall. I think that's just a great honor, especially since it's voted on by your teammates."
On whether captaincy will changes his role ... "Being named captain is obviously a great honor, because I know my peers voted for me. But it's just a title. It's a title that the media can play with -- that I was a captain of this offense. It doesn't change anything about what I'm going to do and how I'm going to it. I feel that I've been a leader since my sophomore year. I'm always going to speak and say what needs to be said."
On impressions of camp ... "I just think the younger guys have been doing very well, and I guess I didn't really expect as much. The younger offensive linemen, who didn't really play great in spring ball, have gotten a lot better during this camp. Coach (Andy) Moeller has done a great job getting them experience in there, and I'm not worried about them at all. I think they got in better shape over the off-season and got a lot stronger. I think if someone goes down, they are definitely going to be there to step up."
On his weight gain ... "I haven't noticed a difference. I think I'm at a good weight. I'm not running any different, but I'm a lot stronger. I'm running quicker right now than I was last year."
On Shawn Crable's leadership abilities ... "I think Shawn is just a great leader. He's a hard worker. He's a playmaker. I think to be a captain, you need to be somebody who's going to get the job done and everyone knows you're going to get the job done. You know what other people need to be doing and you're not afraid to tell them. You say what's on your mind. Shawn is all of those things."
Fifth-Year Senior Left Tackle Jake Long
On being elected team captain ... "It's an amazing honor. I could never have dreamt of this happening -- not only once but twice. To have that respect is just amazing."
On whether he will do anything different this time ... "You learn every year, you grow older every year and there are little things I'll probably change and do better at. It's just new experiences, another year older."
On the offense ... "I think we're hungry. We're ready to roll this year. We've got a lot of expectations. We put those expectations on ourselves. We're hungry. We want to come out and win games and score points -- just put away teams early."
Will Shawn Crable have a tougher time leading the defense because the unit is so young ... "A lot of people think our defense is so young, but we have a good core group of seniors and starters coming back that have game experience. I don't think it's going to be as tough as people think. There are a lot of great leaders on that side of the ball who will help out and lead the younger guys."
Do you expect the offense to be more aggressive this season ... "We have the potential to have a great offense that will be able to score points. If we have the chance, we're going to come out and score as many points as we can."
On this year's mindset on offense compared to last season ... "Last year we had a new offensive scheme, so we were fresh to it. We still made some mistakes, having some new guys in there. This year we have our core offense back and another year under the system, so we don't make those little mistakes. I think we have the capability of coming out and scoring points."
On sophomore offensive lineman Stephen Schilling ... "He's had a great camp so far. He got a lot stronger in the off-season, and he's got quick feet. I think he's really impressed the coaches. He's been pushing guys around and his footwork has gotten better. He's only been here two weeks and he's been able to pick things up right away. He's a smart guy. He's powerful. I'm really impressed with how smart he is. He's picking everything up real well and improving the offense."
On what he believes he needs to improve on ... "One thing I need to improve on is my hands. Sometimes I get my hands outside and not punch like I could. I also need to stay a little lower on run blocking and pass blocking. I just need to do some fine-tuning on some things."
On whether he expected to be named a captain ... "I didn't fully expect it. I was thinking that I might get it, but I didn't want to get my hopes up. Last year was last year, there's a clean slate now. I wasn't expecting anything. I was hoping I would be (captain), but there was never a full expectation that I should be. If it wouldn't have happened, I still would have been a leader and still would have done the same things."
On what his captain "style" is ... "Sometimes when someone's not finishing a play or taking a play off, you've got to go up and get in their face and tell them to work harder. If they're making a mistake technique-wise, you've got to pull them aside and tell them what to do."
On his demeanor in practice and during games ... "When you're out on the field, you've got to be a different person. You've got to flip that switch from being a happy-go-lucky guy. You want to go out there and get that mindset to destroy the guy across from you. During practice, I always like to have a good time and laugh with my teammates. But when we line up, it's a different mindset."
Has anything surprised you in camp so far ... "I think everyone has been doing their job. We have such high expectations. I really had high expectations for this offense in the off-season. Everyone is living up to those high expectations right now. We still need to get better. We're not where we need to be yet. We're knocking off the rust and really starting to come together."
On the younger players on the offensive line ... "They've really stepped up. You can really tell that Stephen (Schilling) worked hard in the off-season. You can tell he got a lot stronger; his footwork and technique has gotten a lot better. He has a great work ethic, and you can tell he really wants the job. David (Molk), for being here just over two weeks, he's really picked up the offense. He's a smart guy, and he's so strong and powerful. He's really been impressive in his blocking and picking up everything he needs to."
On Alex Mitchell being out with an injury ... "It's tough. He's just a great player. He was getting a lot better with his technique. It's going to be tough for him being out. I think he's going to work just as hard in treatment. Once he gets back it will probably be a little tough, but I have faith that he'll work hard and help us out."
On Justin Boren moving to center ... "He's been doing good. He was a bit rusty at it during the spring. We put in some new protections for him to learn. He's really been getting better at knowing the defenses and every play inside and out during camp. His technique is getting better. His shotgun snaps have been great and right on the money."
On what the goals of the offense are ... "We have high goals; I'll just leave it at that. We have high expectations for this team. We want to do well and we want to play hard. The goals are for the team to focus on."
On playing in the rain yesterday ... "I think we did well. It was our first time out in the rain in a long time, so there were some balls on the ground. There were a couple quarterback-center exchange problems and a couple dropped balls, but overall we did well. We came out in the rain later in the afternoon and you could already see the improvement."
Fifth-Year Senior Outside Linebacker Shawn Crable
On being elected team captain ... "I didn't know it was going to be me. When they said it, I was just as surprised as everybody else. I knew it was something that could happen. I talked to a couple of people and they liked the way I played. A lot of the young guys followed me and stuff like that. It was something I thought could happen but I really didn't think it would."
On what has changed for him ... "I don't know. I just kind of play and compete and talk stuff with Mike (Hart). I guess they just like the way I move (laughing)."
On which defensive captains have done a good job in the past ... "I think there are a lot of people that did a good job. I look a lot at what LaMarr (Woodley) did last year. I think about LaMarr last year, he didn't have to do everything by himself. He had folks like David Harris and Leon (Hall), they made his job a lot easier just by buying into what the defense was teaching. But he led when he needed to lead."
On what he'll have to do differently with a young defense ..."I think I will have to be a little more vocal. I've got to really lead by example when it comes to the things that the coaches are asking. We've got a highly motivated defense, but it will take a lot of assurance for them to understand that and what it's supposed to look like."
On what type of personality he has ... "I think I'm more laid back, but I can be in your face if I need to. I'm not afraid to attack anybody or fight anybody if I need to in order to get them to do what they are supposed to. Our coaches do a lot to get things going and I'm the guy who goes behind (players) and says it's not that bad but you could do it better."
On how he played when he was a freshman ... "I had no concept of what we needed to do on defense at all. I was just running around and going off athleticism, trying to make plays. Then you realize it has a lot to do with mental (preparedness) and remembering what to do before the snap."
On the progression of this season's defensive unit ... "In the spring we had a lot of guys injured or who were taking care of injuries from the previous season and a lot of the leaders didn't really have the opportunity to get out there. I think spring ball was a lot of the young guys getting the opportunity to get out there and study and get the coaching that they wouldn't have likely had if a senior was there in front of them playing. Coming into two-a-days, our defense has really stepped it up and our coaches have stepped it up as far as a learning tempo to enforce that we have to understand things on defenses. I think we do a lot of things well on defense. We have a fast defense. I think we will be just as good as we were last year but it comes down to the entire defense buying in and doing it on a consistent basis."
Why does coach Lloyd Carr call the defense the surprise of the fall ... "We have a lot of flashes of greatness. We have a lot of guys who love football and who love competing. We have a lot of guys who aren't starting that love competing. I don't think they understand the mental part, compared to just competing and running around, but once they get the mental part down, we will be even more successful. I think guys are starting to understand it and starting to know their roles and accept their roles on the defense."
On limiting big plays ... "We don't really talk about big plays. We figure that if we run to the ball and do the things we are supposed to then we eliminate them all together. So we don't really talk about it, but we do run to the ball and we do run a lot."
On his evolution into a leader ... "When I came in, I was a more vocal guy in our group but I don't know where the whole leadership came in. I think last year was kind of easy for me to just sit back and just play and worry about me and competing. We have had Dave (Harris) and we had Prescott (Burgess) and LaMarr (Woodley) and Alan (Branch) and Leon (Hall), so it was just easy for me to sit back and fly under the radar. But this year there is more of a demand on me to be vocal, show leadership and do the things the coaches ask, by example and by talking to guys. The coaches this year have emphasized that I can't talk as much as want, I have to show it in actions. I can't really say we are going to run to the ball if I'm not running to the ball. It's been a difficult process."
Media Contact: David Ablauf (734) 763-4423
