Here's Michigan football's schedule for bye week: Practice, off days, coaches on the road
Michigan Wolverines football is coming off a 27-17 loss to Washington ahead of this week’s bye, the first of two on the season (Nov. 16 is the other free Saturday). The Maize and Blue will take on Illinois on the other side.
Michigan held an ‘opportunity practice’ Monday, giving players that don’t see as much action in games to scrimmage and get added attention from the coaches. The Wolverines will hit the field again Tuesday and Wednesday, giving athletes the opportunity to hone their skills but also continue to recover and refresh for the second half of the season.
“The players who played on Saturday, Sunday is their day off, Monday [we practiced] with the younger guys and let the older guys really rest, recover, get their bodies and blood flow going. We’ll practice Tuesday, Wednesday.
“Tuesday and Wednesday will be a mix of practice with those guys and still some recovery, soft tissue, flexibility stuff with some conditioning to get their bodies right. But still practicing and getting fundamentals in.”
Beginning Wednesday night, Michigan’s coaches will hit the recruiting trail, visiting prospects.
“It’s huge,” Moore said. “We’ll be out on the road. The coaches will go out on the road Wednesday night, Thursday, and we’ll hit it hard.”
Friday and Saturday are off days for the Michigan players, before preparation for Illinois begins Sunday.
“We’ll give them Friday and Saturday off,” Moore explained. “I’ll let them get some time to get their minds right and relax, because you need that mental clarity sometimes to get better. And we’ll come back Sunday ready to roll.”
Moore may even get a few minutes to spend with his family.
“I wish. I’ll probably be here, watching film,” Moore said. “I’ll probably get a little time at some point — maybe dinner, maybe lunch — but my mind will be locked in on Illinois.”
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Michigan freshman EDGE Dominic Nichols has been thrust into some early playing time due to injuries to players ahead of him on the depth chart, but also because the coaching staff has been impressed with his performances in practice.
Nichols has played defense in three games, against Arkansas State, Minnesota and Washington, totaling 20 snaps. The 6-foot-5, 261-pounder out of Frederick, Md., made his first career tackle versus Arkansas State.
“A guy like Dom Nichols, he’s a guy that’s definitely going to impact us in the future but is going to impact us here as we go,” Moore predicted. “Being here for seven years now, it’s usually about Week 6 of 7 that these freshmen start to impact games. He’s a guy that’s going to do it.”
Michigan doesn’t appear close to making any changes to its starting lineup on the offensive line (other than those that have occurred due to injuries), but freshman tackle Andrew Sprague is one who could be moving up the depth chart. It spoke volumes that the 6-foot-8, 305-pounder earned kneel-down snaps against Arkansas State and traveled to the first road game of the season at Washington.
“A guy on offense is Andrew Sprague, an O-lineman that I think has a bright, bright future,” Moore stated. “Excited to watch those two guys work in the opportunity practices but also in the games.”
The bye week will help them further their development, and we’ll see what kind of impact they have on the rest of Michigan’s season.
