The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/213966
a sack for minus-seven — on three consecutive plays, taking them out of field goal range. The performance was not up to Michigan standards, by any means, and left fans seething, directing their anger at the current offensive coaches, demanding how a game like that could happen. The roots lie in the 2009, 2010 and 2011 recruiting classes. "You can only do so much with the horses you have, and if you don't have the horses, especially the veterans, you're stuck making the best with what you've got," Moosman said. "That's not letting the players or coaches off the hook because they're Redshirt freshman Kyle Kalis started the first six games this season at right guard, and he will be in the mix for a starting job at that spot going into the 2014 campaign. photo by Per Kjeldsen making the same mistakes, but I think when we step back and look at it objectively, there are reasons we're in this situation and it goes back to the lack of upperclassman linemen available." The Young Linemen Without an ample supply of veterans to work with, Michigan's staff faced a scenario in fall camp in which it had to develop three redshirt sophomores, four redshirt freshmen and six true freshmen quickly, counting on at least three of them to develop into bona fide starters that could combine with Lewan and Schofield to form a solid starting five. After winning the center job in fall camp, Miller was benched four games into the season after showing he was not physically capable of blocking the 300-pound nose tackles he faced. Bryant started two games at left guard and was replaced when he failed to provide adequate pass protection. Kalis started six games at right guard and also lost his job due to ineffectiveness. His plight was, perhaps, the most discouraging because he was a former five-star recruit, considered a can'tmiss prospect and was supposed to follow in the footsteps of Hutchinson, Long and Lewan to become the Wolverines' next All-American blocker. Despite Kalis' impressive accolades, he had a lot to learn, and week after week, with his mind suffering from information overload, he was regressing more and more, to the point U-M sat him. "I think assumptions are drawn based on the tradition of offensive