Photo Credit: Freep
The Jordan brand uniforms made their debut on Saturday when the 7th ranked Michigan Wolverines took the field against the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors. There were quarterback questions, and many were speculating about how often we would get to see some of the new freshman Jim Harbaugh acquired from offseason recruiting. All were answered in a strong week 1 performance.
Offense: It’s always a struggle as a football fan to not know who the quarterback of your favorite team will be before the season opener. Michigan fans had to wait to see what the outcome of the quarterback competition between Houston transfer John O’Korn and Wilton Speight was. It was a mixed reaction from the crowd as Spieght took the field, and they definitely seemed uneasy after the first pass of the season was intercepted. However, after the interception, the way Speight and Jim Harbaugh handled one another on the sideline was rather impressive. You could tell that the quarterback wasn’t going to be rattled by his early mistake, and you could see that Jim Harbaugh was encouraging him throughout the process. Harbaugh stuck with him and talked during the postgame press conference about how it was a test to see how Speight would react after his mistake going forward into the came. Speight delivered. Michigan started on their own 2 yard line on the following possession and went on a 98 yard drive and scored a touchdown to take a 7-0 lead. After a 35-0 halftime lead, we were able to see two other Michigan quarterbacks, John O’Korn and Shane Morris, get to play in the game. All quarterbacks played up to par, and the 63-3 victory by the Wolverines was their largest margin of victory since 1975. Freshman running back Chris Evans had a big game in his first ever college football game, finishing the day with 112 yards, marking only the second time in school history a freshman ran for 100 yards in his first game.
Defense: When the final score of a game is 63-3 and you win, your defense had to have played really well. Michigan’s defense on Saturday was simply too fast for Hawaii. The linebackers were flying around the field hitting people, and it was amazing to watch. Two interceptions returned for touchdowns in the game helped the scoring total. The Wolverines only gave up 3 points on a field goal late in the game once Harbaugh removed the team’s starters. Jabrill Peppers played a good game on defense. He filled gaps to stop the run and also dropped back in coverage from his new flex linebacker position. True freshman defensive end Rashad Gary, who was the number 1 overall recruit last year, also got some playing time. He moved quickly to the ball and was able to get in on a few tackles. Linebacker Mike McCray was awarded Big Ten defender of the week. However, defensive end Taco Charlton did get hurt and is looking doubtful for Saturday’s game against Central Florida.
All-American cornerback Jordan Lewis did not play on Saturday. Jim Harbaugh said that it was due to an injury he was going through, but he is expected to play this Saturday against the Central Florida Knights.
Michigan is now ranked 5th on the updated AP poll and is tied for first place in the Eastern division of the Big Ten conference.
Michigan is at home once again next week to take on Central Florida Knights at 12 o’clock eastern time on ABC.
SportsPress 