The Michigan Wolverines are set to face Maryland this weekend. Ahead of this weekend’s game, we asked you for your questions on The Feed. Thanks to everyone who’s taking the time to ask some questions each week.
VictorsV2317: For this year’s game against OSU, if you could choose one former player to play offense and one on defense, who do you choose?
This is such a great and creative question. For the defense, I’d go with Mike Sainristil. I just love the leadership and maturity he brought to the defense and think
it’d come in handy with this team. On offense, I’d have to go with Jake Long. If Michigan had him and Max Bredeson helping with protection, maybe Bryce Underwood would have a little more time and confidence.
SonicsAaron: Jordan Marshall, yay or nay?
As Von wrote earlier this week, Jordan Marshall is a “day-by-day” situation due to the injury last week against Northwestern. If you’re asking for my personal opinion, Marshall seems like a guy who’s going to want to play even if he’s in some pain. However, I can see the team going ahead and starting Bryson Kuzdzal and getting Jasper Parker some snaps, too. My guess is we won’t see him on the field much, if at all, against the Terrapins. Again, that’s just my guess. I hope I’m wrong and we see him play most of the game looking healthy.
MiddlewestAverage: What can the coaches offer to this young (but now, functionally veteran) team to build on for next season?
This is part one of a two-part question. For me, the coaching staff can keep giving the young guys opportunities. They’ve been able to win games so far this season, and if you can win with young talent now, imagine what it’ll be like when they’re older and more things “click.” That will help with momentum going into the next year. There are also still a few games left this season, so it’s not over until it’s over.
MiddlewestAverage: What can the players do over the next two weeks (aside from stay healthy) to improve a team that looks so inconsistent despite the rankings?
The team is getting better, even if the overall product on the field doesn’t look perfect. The way Underwood made some of those reads against Northwestern was extremely encouraging. The offensive line has a lot of fight in it, and the defense really put together a solid game against the Wildcats, holding them to 2-of-12 on third down and only giving up nine points off the offense’s five total turnovers. If the offense can clean up its mistakes, we might feel more confident ahead of The Game.
JAZZYCMK: Could you maybe address how the coaching staff tries to teach/condition guys to avoid and limit injuries?
This question is in relation to the injuries we’ve seen since Michigan won its national championship. With the departure of Ben Herbert to work with Jim Harbaugh and the Los Angeles Chargers, there’s been some speculation online that strength and conditioning may not be doing enough to help keep these guys healthy.
While I don’t have first-hand knowledge of the program, I can refer you to the announcement of the hiring of Justin Tress as the strength and conditioning coach, where Herbert gave a major vote of confidence for Tress. Herbert didn’t have to do that considering he had already left for the NFL, so that really goes to show how much faith he had in Tress to take over for him.
I can definitely understand seeing a correlation between injuries and the departure of Herbert, but there’s so much more that goes into injuries. For much of the 2023 season, for instance, the starters had time to rest during the first several games of the season. Their talent disparity and the easy schedule meant those guys were resting each week for at least a full quarter, if not more. It’s hard for starters to get injured if they’re not even playing in games. Just some food for thought.
