The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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"They rolled Devin Gardner out more, which made the defensive line have to run further to get to him, and threw the quick passes that got the quarterback and receivers in a rhythm and allowed the linemen to hold blocks for one, two, three seconds. If you watch, the moment Gardner was throwing, the linemen were still getting beat, but by then the ball had been released." Individually, fifth-year senior left tackle Taylor Lewan was named the Big Ten Offensive Lineman of the Year and seemed to elevate his game. Fifth-year senior right tackle Michael Schofield, too, had a solid year. The challenge now is to rebuild with two new starting tackles and to find an interior line that's the same at the end of the year as it was at the beginning. "Hopefully, next season they can pass protect for five seconds, and they can pull and play physical … you build into the game plan more and more as they prove they can handle it," Moosman said. PRODUCTION AT RUNNING BACK WAS INCONSISTENT ALL SEASON When Brady Hoke took over as Michigan's head coach before the 2011 season, he pledged to return the Wolverines to a power-running style, with lead backs eating up big chunks of yards. In his first season, Fitzgerald Toussaint, then a redshirt sophomore, gained 1,041 yards on the ground. Since then, the running backs have all but stalled. Toussaint, in his final year of eli- gibility, led the charge in 2013, but gained only 648 yards on a rather hefty 185 attempts (3.5 yards per carry), though he did score 13 touchdowns. Only one other running back in the country racked up 150 or more carries and averaged less than 4.0 yards per attempt this season — Western Michigan's Brian Field, who averaged 3.8 yards on 150 carries. "It was grating," said former Michigan running back Chris Perry (200003). "You're going out there, and you have a line that is not performing well. And to put something on top of that, you have a quarterback who throws the ball to the other team at times. They're not going to do double coverage. They're not going to have two safeties high. They're going to have one safety drop down and stop the run, and so now, everything is on you." Behind Toussaint, freshman Derrick Green took 83 carries for 270 yards (3.3 yards per rush) and two touchdowns, while freshman De'Veon Smith registered 26 carries for 117 yards (4.5 yards per attempt). No other backs notched significant yardage. Combined, the Wolverines managed only 1,062 rushing yards (3.6 yards per attempt) from the running back spot this season. Perry has a message for those returning, which won't include Toussaint, who is graduating and whom Perry believes "will have a nice career in the NFL" despite his struggles this season. "They need to realize that there is always room to improve," Perry said.