So this is what it feels like.
For 2017’s Week 1 at least, Michigan looked like a re-loaded OSU or Alabama.
SEC and B1G fans know the drill: Watch a dozen Alabama or Ohio State players get drafted — usually after their junior seasons—and the lick your chops at how young and inexperienced the team will be next year. Then opening day rolls around the following September and neither seems to have missed a beat. The size, speed and athleticism are still there. Only the names have changed.
Since the Moeller-Carr decade ended, Michigan fans have found themselves in that “watching and waiting” camp. Rich Rodriguez and Brady Hoke recruited well, but not at an elite level year-after-year. Hoke assembled enough talent over his tenure—highlighted by all-world, all-purpose weapon Jabril Peppers—to allow current coach Jim Harbaugh to put a talented, experienced, senior-laden team on the field. Harbaugh unsurprisingly got results, and the 2016 Wolverines enjoyed a second straight 10–3 season and a trip to a New Year’s Six bowl. The team was three injuries away (Grant Newsome much of season, Wilton Speight at season’s end, and Peppers in the Orange Bowl) from even more success.
Those aforementioned juniors, redshirt juniors and seniors who declared for the draft were swept up into the NFL and many have already begun to shine in the preseason. At the same time, Michigan fans are left to wonder: “Is this a rebuilding year? Or could this be one of those ‘reloading’ years we’ve been hoping for since the day Coach Harbaugh donned the ‘skinny-M’ hat?
There’s one way to find out right away: Play an SEC team, on opening day, on a neutral field.
Another kind of Maize Rage
It didn’t hurt that the opponent was Florida, in Dallas’ AT&T Stadium. The last time U of M faced the Gators in “Jerryworld,” it was a 2013 basketball game and it was the NCAA South Regional Final that sent Trey Burke and the Wolverines to the Final Four. It also helped that last weekend’s football Wolverines pulled off the “alternate” uniform trend with style … More on that later, but to this fan they looked fantastic, and I may have been one of the only ones to enjoy the resemblance between the ultra-rate all-maize football look, and the very common all-maize basketball look. Hey, look! Same color scheme, venue, and opponent:
But back to the game, a worthy test of Michigan’s ability to fill in seasoned talent and experience with raw talent and inexperience: A ranked SEC opponent, stocked with blue-chip recruits themselves, in the weekend’s perhaps second-most featured matchup after that evening’s Alabama-FSU #1 vs. #3 tilt. Despite some “bad Speight” moments in the first half that resulted in defensive touchdowns and practically all of Florida’s points for the day, Michigan thoroughly dominated the Gators. Give Michigan the first touchdown that was negated on a questionable call, and the offense outscored Florida’s 26–3 … and that score doesn’t fully reflect how lopsided the play on the field was.
The 2017 model of the Michigan Wolverines appears to be fast, and fearsome. They are relentless on both sides of the ball, especially defense. The Florida offense couldn’t get anything going, seemingly smothered in maize at every snap. And this was all done with mostly sophomores, redshirt freshmen, and true freshmen. Senior defenders Maurice Hurst and Mike McCray, and upperclass offensive linemen Mason Cole and Patrick Kugler will provide outstanding play, leadership and stability, but this is the underclassmen’s team—Harbaugh and Brown’s guys. Most have 2–3 years of eligibility left and the future looks bright. Reassuringly, this scenario includes quarterback. So, at least for today, this is what skip-the-rebuild-let’s-reload feels like.
Five takeaways
- The most impressive player of the game was linebacker Devin Bush. He is a bona fide heat-seeking missile and was ever-present on my TV screen every time Florida had the ball. His speed and killer dreads remind me of a Denard-on-defense. In addition to quickness, he also has great instincts for the ball, which puts him on top of the ballcarrier just about every snap. If there was ever a player that reminded me of an actual wolverine, it’s him. Pencil Bush in for All-B1G.
- We suspected that despite their youth, the skill position groups would be a team strength. We were not wrong. Look for Tarik Black (who caught a 70-plus-yard TD strike from Speight in the first quarter) and Donovan Peoples-Jones are your deep threats, Kekoa Crawford and Eddie McDoom your mid-range guys and Grant Perry is back as your first-down machine in the slot. Nick Eubanks also emerged as a deep threat at tight end, which is an embarrassment of riches for Harbaugh an Pep Hamilton. And with all that depth you still an entire second-tier of those guys in Nico Collins, Oliver Martin and Zach Gentry.
- Running back is stacked, too. The balanced carries for Chris Evans, Ty Isaac and Karan Higdon give the offense something a little different with each guy. One of them is going to provide some key plays and yards in the passing game as well.
- Wilton Speight is going to be fine (stated while rubbing forehead nervously, suppressing thoughts of high throws and overthrows). At this point the top-of-mind thing for me with Speight is whether he has a good enough season to declare for the draft or if he returns for his senior season with loads of experience—but pushing forward the Brandon Peters era one more year. Again, another embarrassment of riches for Michigan fans.
- Finally, the defense. In addition to the aforementioned Devin Bush, super-recruit sophomore Rashan Gary and Jabril Peppers’ replacement at Viper, Khaleke Hudson, looked outstanding—north, south, sideline to sideline. All fast, and fierce, and unrelenting. Michigan hasn’t had this kind of speed as a group since … since when has Michigan ever been accused of having “speed?” While Peppers was a once-in-a-generation talent, the skilled, high-motor Hudson is as darn good as you could ask for in a replacement. From a pure defensive-play standpoint, I didn’t see much fall-off.
Conclusion: Michigan just steamrolled a blue-blood program from Florida by featuring their own array of talent from Florida (Devin Bush, Devin Gil, Josh Metellus). This is how you re-load with recruiting.
Bonus takeaways: The maize unis
As a follower of Paul Lukas’ Uni Watch, I’m an “athletics aesthetics” nerd. Couple that with my Michigan fandom, and you would think that I am a strict traditionalist when it comes to U of M’s iconic helmets and classic attire. I am, 100% … and I loved the all-maize. I thought the team looked amazing on television, and friends who were at the game said they were the genuine article in person as well. Some thoughts:
- For the record, I mostly didn’t like most of what Adidas did for UM alternates in recent years. The silly UTL (Under The Lights) I vs. ND “throwbacks,” the satanic bumblebees at MSU and the ho-hum Sugar Bowl whites in 2011 were all affronts to the sanctity of Michigan’s traditional look. The 2013 Outback Bowl unis with the unreadable maize numerals were also downright dumbfounding. I will say that I liked the all-blues for the 2014 Penn State “UTL III” game, in theory, but as per usual Adidas — like the ND block “M,” the MSU candystriped shoulders and the Outback maize numbers—over-designed them with the gimmicky numeral stripes. A refresher:
- Viewing all of these alternates together … They’re awful. This ghastly portfolio simply isn’t reflective of what Michigan should look like. Adidas didn’t get it, starting with the highlighter yellow and ending with the nonsensical hodgepodge of striping, piping and color blocks. But Nike … Nike and Air Jordan kept it simple with no striping and minimal collar and arm piping. When you hear “all-maize football uniforms,” your imagination goes to dark places. But seeing them, draped onto the Wolverine’s swarming defense, they were amazing.
- The Air Jordan all-maizes basically take the traditional Michigan home blue jersey tops and reverse out the colors, leaving the collar and arm piping blue. That’s it. The amount of maize balanced fine with the amount of maize and blue in the iconic helmet. This is actually almost perfect.
- As mentioned above, the all-maize uniform look is actually the more common set for the basketball team. And, the hockey team has a prominently maize set—paired with a winged helmet—as well.
- Finally, look at the block ‘M’ and the end zones: The all-maize football unis carry the same balance of maize vs. blue. The team looked like a running, blocking and tackling endzone wordmark.
In conclusion: An alternate uniforms proposal
Now that we’ve seen an alternate uni break out in the Harbaugh era, here are some proposed guidelines to keep all of us traditionalists and neo-traditionalists happy and sane.
- All daytime, home, conference or non-conference games: The traditional blue tops and maize bottoms. This is non-negotiable because obviously…
- All conference road games and non-conference road games at the opponents’ campus: The standard all-whites that Harbaugh has implemented since arriving, that ape the 1973 Orange Bowl unis.
- For an “Under The Lights” night home game, go with either the all-maize, or add blue pants to the traditional blue jersey and go all-blue. Either would look awesome for a night game. As discussed, replace the silly Adidas-striped-numerals on the 2014 “UTL III” jerseys with the new Air Jordan blue home jersey, and you’ve got something.
- Any bowl game that is not a playoff semifinal, I’m ok with either the all-blue or all-maize option. However, if Michigan makes the college football playoff, the traditional home or away set must be worn.
- I’m not a fan of neutral site regular season games, and since there are none scheduled on the horizon, let’s assume that the Advocare Classic was the last of its kind for a long while. Should there ever be another one, all options are on the table.
Now, if Michigan had lost to Florida in those all-maize uniforms? How would I feel then?
I guess we’ll never know.
