The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/111015
play, that was important. ���Defensively, a year ago we took six guys up front. A couple of them contributed during the course of the year, but we added three more guys ��� three quality football players that really fit in how we want to play on the line of scrimmage.��� Hoke also places a heavy emphasis on running the football. Landing the back whom some consider the No. 1 prep performer in the nation at that position ��� 5-11, 220-pound Derrick Green out of Richmond, Va. ��� doesn���t hurt the cause. ���The running backs, with the three big backs we brought in, that was an important piece for how we want to play ��� vertically, downhill. It���s how we want to run the offense that we are gradually getting to,��� Hoke said. Here���s a position-by-position breakdown of how the Wolverines helped themselves in a consensus top-10 recruiting haul. Offensive Line This position absorbed the most incoming beef, in both numbers and dimensions. The dirty half-dozen new Wolverines shape up as follows: 6-5, 280-pound Patrick Kugler from Wexford, Pa.; 6-5, 311-pound Kyle Bosch from Wheaton, Ill.; 6-7, 307-pound Logan Tuley-Tillman out of Peoria, Ill.; 6-4, 282-pound David Dawson from Detroit; 6-6, 297-pound Chris Fox from Parker, Colo.; and 6-5, 275-pound Dan Samuelson from Plymouth, Ind. This crew features Rivals.com four-star performers almost across the board, but that���s not what U-M offensive coordinator Al Borges likes about it. He���s seeking maulers with a nasty streak. ���Those are good words,��� Borges acknowledged. ���We had a couple guys like that in 2012, but we���re trying to get to a sic-���em mentality. We want to come off the ball and attack, with our run game in particular and the things that you play off of that. You have to recruit to that, and that includes a good strong fullback and a moving tight end, a physical tailback. That���s the approach we went with. ���We wanted offensive linemen with a defensive mentality that are willing to mix it up in there and play through the whistle.��� Quarterback Shane Morris (6-3, 183) obviously intends to lead this group, the big lefthander becoming the first commitment to the class, a year earlier. Although he struggled his senior season at Warren (Mich.) De La Salle with mononucleosis, it hasn���t dampened his enthusiasm to start making strides in a winged helmet. In fact, Morris made sure he led the way on signing day as well. ���He did a tremendous job of being a big part of the recruitment of the guys in this class,��� Hoke said. ���He also was the first guy to have his letter in today. That���s the competitive side of what he���s all about.��� Borges likes the raw materials with which he���ll be working come August. He noted he���s looking for a passer first, which is unlike the Denard Robison dynamic. At the same time, Borges insists