Wolverines Geared Up for First Spring Practice Under Harbaugh
2/23/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
Feb. 23, 2015
ÂBy Steve Kornacki
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Jim Harbaugh will get his first chance to work on the field with his University of Michigan football team on Tuesday afternoon (Feb. 24), when spring practice begins at Al Glick Field House.
The Wolverines are excited about working with him and the rest of the coaching staff for 15 practices that culminate with the annual spring game on April 4.
"There's a new sense of urgency and we're ready to go where Coach Harbaugh takes us," said senior linebacker Desmond Morgan. "He's a great coach with a proven track record, and he's been doing a great job of really getting to know us."
Junior tailback Derrick Green said, "Coach Harbaugh is a great man, and is strictly business. But he's also very active with his players, and it's clear that he knows the game."
Harbaugh took over at his alma mater on Dec. 30 after leading the San Francisco 49ers to a Super Bowl and three NFC championship games in four seasons.
"Coach Harbaugh is competitive and focused," said senior linebacker Joe Bolden. "He knows what he wants and knows how to get it."
Harbaugh inherited a team coming off a 6-10 season in San Francisco, and went 13-3 in his first season as its head coach. Stanford was 1-11 the year before Harbaugh arrived, 4-8 in his first season and 8-5 with a bowl game in his third season there.
The Wolverines are coming off a 5-7 season that broke a streak of four consecutive bowl berths, but already ESPN's Brad Edwards has predicted Michigan playing Oregon in the next season's Rose Bowl.
Though, there is much work to be done before the Wolverines can return to Pasadena.
Michigan's defense was good enough to contend for the Big Ten championship last season, and ranked third in total defense (311.3 yards per game) and fifth in scoring defense (22.4 points per game) in the conference. However, the offense struggled and finished 14th in total offense (333.0 yards) and 13th in scoring (20.9).
Developing a quality starting quarterback and a dependable backup is an absolute necessity for Harbaugh, an All-American quarterback for the Wolverines in 1986.
He groomed No. 1 overall NFL draft pick Andrew Luck at Stanford, and now goes to work with Shane Morris, Wilton Speight, Alex Malzone and Zach Gentry. Morris has two starts at Michigan, but Speight redshirted last year as a freshman and Malzone and Gentry are incoming freshmen. Malzone is enrolled in classes this semester and will begin his college quarterback education at spring practice, while Gentry arrives on campus in the summer.
Having Green back will be a plus for the offense. He rushed for 471 yards in six games to lead the team with 78.5 yards per game, but was done for the season after breaking his collarbone at Rutgers.
"I was cleared to practice at Christmas time and I'm 100 percent now," Green said. "It's been so long for me being out. I have so much to prove and can't wait to put on the helmet and pads and play."
Derrick Green (L) and Desmond Morgan
Morgan was granted a medical redshirt after making six tackles in last season's opener and sitting out the rest of the way.
"That was a weight off my shoulders getting that fifth year cleared," said Morgan. "It was hard not practicing or playing last season."
Morgan likes what he's seen of new defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin and strength and conditioning coach Kevin Tolbert.
"A whole lot of guys are very happy with Kevin Tolbert," said Morgan. "He has a lot of charisma and really gets results.
"Coach Durkin is a very fiery guy and has really made an extra effort to get to know us."
Bolden, the leading returning tackler with 102 in 2014, added, "Coach Durkin is intense and really personable. He's easy to talk to and has a lot of the same characteristics and enthusiasm as Coach Harbaugh, and is very intelligent, too."
Durkin also will coach Bolden and Morgan as the linebackers coach.
Green will be working with new running backs coach Tyrone Wheatley, who coached the same position group for the Buffalo Bills in 2014 and rushed for 4,178 yards at Michigan before playing 10 years in the NFL.
"I like him a lot," said Green. "I like Coach Wheatley as a coach, as a person and as a man."
It's the start of a new era at Michigan that will be fueled by a couple of coaches who helped set the standard as Wolverine players, and a staff heavy on both NFL and major college coaching success.
