The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/111015
it look like you���re pressuring and then rush four guys.��� The class of 2013 contains much more than linemen and big backs. The Wolverines added six lanky, leaping defensive backs, a pair of rugged Ohio-raised linebackers to complement last year���s larger haul, tall wideouts, tight ends restocking a needy cupboard, and a high-caliber quarterback in Shane Morris. But Hoke can���t stress it enough ��� games are won and lost up front. He doesn���t intend to lose that part of the battle. The rankings producers love this class. Hoke shrugs off those plaudits like he would a scarlet polo shirt. More importantly, he loves this class. ���This is all competition,��� he said. ���We live our lives in competition. We always want to get the leaders and the best. These are the kind of classes we want to have on a year-to-year basis.��� *** Michigan sports a very good basketball team in 2013, the best in Ann Arbor under John Beilein. Nobody gets to No. 7 in the nation (and No. 1 at one point) without serious ammo. Very good isn���t good enough. Beilein knows it, his coaches know it, his players know it. They all want more, starting with another Big Ten championship and extending into long Big Ten and NCAA Tournament runs. To make all that happen, the Wolverines have to toughen up. They got punched in the face in East Lansing, for all the world to see. Say what you want about schedules, the emotional letdown after the Wisconsin game, and the unlikeliness of losing because of a half-court bomb in Madison. Michigan looks vulnerable, and the schoolyard bullies have taken notice. The Wolverines don���t plan to avoid the schoolyard. ���This is big-boy basketball,��� Beilein stressed. ���You���re going to get hit. You���re going to get shoved a little bit. People are going to wall you up, and you have to play through it.��� Michigan���s players themselves are tired of hearing about their youth and inexperience. They���re not hearing it from Beilein, who has gotten into several while walking the line between infusing confidence and kicking posteriors. ���It���s the sweet spot that we really have to be very careful with,��� Beilein said. ���You say, ���This is the 80th practice, and you���re still not talking on defense.��� Then you have to get after them. ���We pride ourselves on being teachers, but there were some moments these last couple of weeks where we just said, ���Enough is enough. We���re going to do this because you won���t do that.��� You don���t want them to lose their confidence, but getting tougher through all these things is important for us.��� Getting that way immediately is crucial ��� and Beilein knows it. ��� Editor John Borton has been with The Wolverine since 1991. Contact him at jborton@thewolverine.com and follow him on Twitter @JB_Wolverine.