Michigan Monday: Spring Game Not So Deep Thoughts

I recorded the Spring Game and got to fast forward the commercials.  It was nice being able to watch a game in a short amount of time.   That is if you could call Saturday's afternoon scrimmage a game.  The first quarter highlighted Bryce and Marshall but no tackling.  The rest of the game was full contact unless you are a QB. 

Many Michigan fans thought Bryce had a poor to bad freshman year leading the team at the QB position.  I was a little more warm about his first year as Michigan's QB.  Going from High School to playing on the road at Oklahoma, is a Grand Canyon jump in competition.  No, he didn't light the world on fire, but all that experience goes into his memory bank.  If you remember, JJ was not really even allowed to throw the ball his Freshman year. 

Now Bryce has a new staff, a QB coach, and his even hired his own QB coach.  On Saturday we expected to see a guy that is better with his fundamentals to match his immense talent.  What we saw, was some of the same troubles he had last year.  Bad footwork, bad decisions, and inaccurate throws.  As many of you know, guys with incredible arm talent, sometimes lack the proper QB fundamentals as they can just rely on their powerful arm.  This is what I see with Bryce, his fundamentals go out the door when he gets pressure. 

Now the offense line looked terrible in the first quarter as Bryce had zero time to pass the ball.  The protection seemed to get better as the game went on.  

To make the pressure even worse on the former 5 star, his true freshman backup Carr had a very nice day and looked like the more competent QB.  If Bryce is going to become a better QB, he has to do it when no one is watching.  The time is now and the time is this summer.  I watched Justin Fields at Ohio State's first Spring Game, he was awful and couldn't complete a pass.  He got a ton better in that summer.  It's time for Bryce to do the same. 

• I was very concerned about the offense line in the first quarter.  They still have a ton of work to do and getting guys back from injury. 

• The defense line looked pretty good but was that them stepping up or the offensive line being bad?

• Hiter is going to be special, he did not look like a true freshman.  Brown also looked very good.  The RB room is in great shape! 

• Carr was incredible and like I said above, was the best QB on the field.  He threw accurately and even has some speed to get outside and first downs.  MVP of the Day. 

• In a 7-6 game, the defense is way ahead of the offense, which is not uncommon at this stage.  Nothing to worry about. 

• There was a couple drops at WR, but I do like the talent in that room and Michigan looks like they are good shape with all the transfer coming in.  Moa could be special but needs the summer in the weight room and the nutrition program.

• Bobby Kanka local kid, made a huge hit on 4th down on the goal line.  

• It was hard trying to watch the secondary on BTN, but they looked like they were fundamentally in the right places and were breaking up passes.

• Didn't love the Pitt kicker missing a makeable field goal.  There was no punting or kick returns. 

The Spring Game is meant to show like 10% of the offense and defense.  Bryce has a lot of work to do and Michigan needs to take many more steps forward to be playoff worthy next season.  I'm going to trust Coach Whitt that the team is together and got better during this period.  That is all you can ask for.  During the summer, they need to take another big step forward.