The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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credit to the 6-0, 211-pound Ann Arbor native that 12 months later he is once again gaining his coaches' confidence. "Really, when I got hurt, [I said to myself] 'I need to do whatever I can to get back to being 100 percent,'" he said. "I'm in a great situation, but I try to literally take it a day at a time, one rep at a time … Right now, I'm just focused on improving my game as a player and at the same time help- ing every other back to get them to a degree of excellence that we all expect from each other." Classmates, Green and Smith gar- nered 62 of the running backs' 76 car- ries in Michigan's final four games last season, and they were the favorites to form the one-two punch entering camp, but both have work to do to finish August ahead of Johnson on the depth chart. "The first thing you talk about when you talk about De'Veon is how physi- cal a player he is," Nussmeier said. "He's a tough, tough guy. Day in and day out, he's a guy who puts on his hard hat and brings his lunch pail. To me, that's the thing that has stood out the most. "Derrick has done an outstanding job. He's gotten his weight down. He looks really good as far as his work, his timing and those types of things. He's still learning the protections, but I'm re- ally happy with the growth he's made. He just needs to take that next step. "Derrick has done some really good things, and Justice has done some good things also. There's a group of guys, and we're really looking for somebody to separate." ❏