A few bumps early on

A few bumps early on
    Rich Rodriguez has faced a few bumps in his first spring as the football coach at Michigan.
    The latest was when starting guard Justin Boren decided to leave the program. That left Rodriguez with a woefully depleted offensive line which had already been hard hit by graduations and departures.
    Everything that has gone wrong has been mostly out of Rodriguez’s control.
   Quarterback Ryan Mallett left as did receivers Mario Manningham and Adrian Arrington. The offense has taken a huge hit.
   He recruited Pennsylvania quarterback Terrelle Pryor but lost him to Ohio State.
    It wouldn’t be such a big deal that Michigan Stadium is under construction. But along with construction on a new indoor football practice facility on the former outdoor fields Rodriguez has nowhere on campus where his Wolverines can practice outdoors. He’s hoping to cross the street and get in a few practice at Ann Arbor Pioneer so he can get some sense of what’s going on with special teams. The current indoor facility does not have a high enough roof. Kicks and punts bounce off the ceiling and back to the field. Of course Rodriguez said he needs Mother Nature to cooperate. They're not going to shovel the field so they can see the yard markings.
   Somehow through all the challenges Rodriguez is trying to maintain a positive demeanor.  Thursday’s practice was his fifth. He’s learning about  the team and they’re getting to know him and his staff.
 “We got a little bit better. We’ve still got a long way to go, and we’re certainly not comfortable as far as knowing exactly who the guys are we are going to be able to win with or what exactly we can feature, particularly offensively. But every practice is more and more informative to us,’’ he said after Thursday’s session.
 

Let;'s all move on

Let’s all move on

 As expected Pennsylvania quarterback Terrelle Pryor finally announced on Wednesday that he would attend Ohio State.
 New Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez recruited him until the final day.
 It’s likely — but not certain — that Pryor would have stepped into the starting quarterback role for the Wolverines although no one knows how his talent will transfer from high school to Columbus.
 For Michigan now it’s time to move on.
 Rodriguez and the Wolverines have work to do. They’ll have their third spring practice workout on Thursday, their first in pads.
 After Saturday’s opening practice, Rodriguez said it is usually easier to determine who is the better quarterback during practice than it is some of the other positions.
  Steven Threet, Nick Sheridan and David Cone are in the running so far.
  None is experienced, so they start on a level playing field. Literally.
 Threet should not be overlooked. An Adrian High School grad, the 6-6 quarterback was rated as one of the top 10 players in the state in his class. He signed a letter of intent with Georgia Tech and was an early enrollee before transferring to Michigan.
  Following Saturday’s opening practice Rodriguez said Threet and Sheridan are taking the bulk of the snaps and Cone will get opportunities too.
  Running back Carlos Brown, who was a high school quarterback, has not  practiced at quarterback yet. We think. Rodriguez said he had not so far, but if he did it would be a secret and he wouldn’t share it.

 

Academics an emphasis at Michigan

 Academics an emphasis at Michigan

  Four years ago I started covering football and basketball at the University of Michigan and got caught up on my higher education.
   It didn’t take long for it to hit home that coach Lloyd Carr,  a former high school teacher, put a huge value on the education of  his student-athletes.  His door was always open to them, but before they talked to him they had to go through a dictionary just outside his office door, pick a word and then discuss it with him. It’s a small thing, but not insignificant.
  If one of his athletes was not working hard enough on academics they would have a chat. It was the same if class attendance was an issue. If it was serious Carr would pull out transfer papers.
 Rich Rodriguez mentioned academics a number of times in his opening remarks when he was hired to replace Carr. Again he pointed out some outstanding grade point averages of recruits on National Signing Day. Currently Rodriguez has broken his team into small groups that compete against each other on a weekly basis receiving points in a number of disciplines including academics.
  Tommy Amaker, a Duke grad, was big on academics.
  And now John Beilein follows suit. Guard Jerret Smith, one of only two Wolverines with starting experience this season, was dismissed for academic reasons in December. Beilein regularly mentions academics. Skip class? Don’t play. It’s pretty basic.
  When he was told the freshman guards Manny Harris and Kelvin Grady, who also happen to be roommates, said they discuss basketball regularly in the evenings. He smiled, but added quickly he hoped those talks came after they did their homework.
   There is no mistaking that at Michigan an emphasis is placed on academics.
   This week the Ann Arbor News is running a series on student-athletes at Michigan. They found a psychology professor (John Hagen) who works with many student-athletes in an independent study situation. They seem to assume independent study is an easy class. And many people — including me — who took an independent study class in college know that not to always be the case.
  It’s not unusual for a group of students to spread the word about a certain professor if they like him. According to a Michigan study, completed after complaints from a disgruntled former employee,  Hagen runs a clean program and abides by all the university rules. Maybe it is an easier class, but name one college graduate who didn’t take at least one easy class.
   The report also tried to discredit the general studies curriculum for a bachelor’s degree. Many students with a bachelor of general studies degrees have gone on to complete master’s level work or even earn a law degree. It gives students, who are unsure of what avenue they want to pursue, a chance to study a variety of subjects. The degree meets all Michigan standards.  There is no asterisk. A future employer will respect it as he/she  would any degree from Michigan.
  Any study on academics at Michigan should consider the whole picture. Many student-athletes have time constraints due to training, practices, film work and games. They can only schedule classes at certain times. At least in football and basketball, being a student-athlete is a year-round commitment. 
   Scrutiny is always good, but so is fairness in reporting the whole story.

(Paula Pasche, who covers Michigan football and basketball for The Oakland Press, has a bachelor’s degree from Ferris State University.)