Michigan Fiesta Bowl practice observations – injuries, early enrollees, more
Michigan practiced Tuesday at Tempe Diablo Stadium in preparation for Saturday’s VRBO Fiesta Bowl tilt with TCU, and a few things stood out …
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First off — we were only there for 15 minutes, so we’re not giving away any trade secrets here … just the basics. The Wolverines stretched and participated in drills (offense on one field, defense on another) before they led the media out with bags over their heads (not really).
Michigan sophomore running back Donovan Edwards kept his right hand in his pocket when he deplaned a few days ago, seemingly hiding it from reporters. He was doing everything Tuesday with a smaller cast on his hand, including catching … and not just lobs, like we saw in the Ohio State pregame. He was using both hands to grab some long balls during drills and looked comfortable and quick.
That was the overall impression of the team, in fact. Sometimes you’ll come to bowl games and see a lot of players have added 10 or 15 pounds. Not these guys. They appeared to be in great shape, so again, give strength coach Ben Herbert and his staff (and the nutritionists and players themselves, of course) credit for staying focused on the task at hand.
Some other good news on the injury front — senior defensive end Mike Morris was out there doing everything, not limited at all. He’s been recovering from a lower body injury since the Ohio State game, and he looked good. The only other players we saw in shorts were sophomore receiver Andrel Anthony and frosh Amorion Walker. There have been rumblings of a lower body injury for him, but he was in shorts and doing some of the drills, even if he wasn’t in pads. Junior A.J. Henning was in street clothes.
Grad student center Olu Oluwatimi told us he was feeling fine and ready to go this morning, and he was out there moving well.
Michigan grad student receiver Ronnie Bell called Walker an “alien” this morning and said he had extremely high hopes for him. He was in shorts, but he’s incredible lanky and “is more athletic than anyone in the room, by far” per Bell.
We’ll see if he continues to play both ways, but he’s a great athlete.
Several of the early enrollees were with the team. Running back Benjamin Hall was the first one we saw – he’s got huge thighs and is built like (but a bit taller than) former Michigan 5-star running back Kevin Grady. He’ll need some time with Herbert, for sure, to get in shape. He struggled a bit in some of the footwork drills — it was clear he wasn’t used to the ones U-M backs have been running all year (ropes, etc.).
Other Michigan freshman early enrollees in attendance: defensive backs Cameron Calhoun (wearing No. 16) and Jyaire Hill (20), wide receiver Semaj Morgan, receiver Fredrick Moore, tight end Zack Marshall, and running back Cole Cabana.
Keep it here for more coverage throughout the week …
