The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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michigan football football Notebook Game Time Announced • The Michigan spring game, scheduled for April 13 at The Big House, will commence at 12:30 p.m. Gates will open at 10 a.m. with the alumni flag football game slated to start at 11 a.m. The U-M men's lacrosse team is tentatively scheduled to host rival Ohio State at 3:30 p.m. following the conclusion of the spring game. With 92 players on the spring roster, head coach Brady Hoke is optimistic that Michigan will play an actual game. "I'd love to be able to do it," he said. "We'll see how it goes. I'd like the seniors to draft and have some fun with it, and to have a lot of competitiveness. But you never know. We're getting more depth and more quality. If we can get there, I want to do it." On The Move • Sophomore Dennis Norfleet is moving back to running back after a short dalliance with cornerback during Michigan's bowl preparation and matchup with South Carolina, his former seven-on-seven coach told TheWolverine.com, and Hoke confirmed. "They will use him in the slot and in the return game, and some as a running back," Maximum Exposure seven-on-seven coach Curtis Blackwell said. "Coach [Greg] Mattison is saying he can still use him on defense and is making an argument to keep him there, but Dennis' passion is for the offense. That's where he wants to play. "In the bowl, it was basically a situation where he wanted the chance to earn more playing time, the numbers were down, and they let him compete there, but it was never supposed to be a permanent move." Norfleet had appeared in all 12 games during the 2012 regular season, but in only two on offense, rushing twice for 13 yards, when he approached Hoke in December. "Dennis will do whatever it takes to contribute, so he asked Coach Hoke what he could do for the bowl game to play a bigger role," Blackwell said. "Hoke said there was an opportunity at cornerback, and Dennis jumped at the chance to compete for playing time there." Norfleet saw a few late-game snaps defensively in the Outback Bowl and continued to return kicks, bringing one back 32 yards. For the year, he averaged 23.6 yards on 35 kickoff returns. He also had two punt returns for 53 yards. Battling Back • The 2012 season was not an easy one for quarterback Russell Bellomy. In his career debut, Bellomy saw his first pass tipped and land in the hands of an Alabama