The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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the game-winner with two seconds left against Notre Dame. Spreading the ball around simply reveals what is most important, Hecklinski reiterated. "The first thing when Coach came here, the words went back up: 'The Team, The Team, The Team,'" Heck- linski said. "This is a program. Michi- gan is a team." He insisted there is no plan to build individual numbers — just the ones on the left-hand column of the won- loss record. "In this system, the ball can go anywhere," Hecklinski opined. "An example of that is, the ball that Tay Odoms caught for a touchdown against Nebraska, he's the fourth read in that progression. In practice, that ball has never been thrown to him, and he catches the touchdown. "The ball was actually supposed to Senior Martavious Odoms overcame injury to provide a huge lift down the stretch this year, including clutch touchdown catches in wins over Nebraska and Ohio State. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN in order to be successful on Saturday. There was a lot of that. I want to make sure I use what they know, and what they're able to do. Part of being a coach is not fitting a square peg into a round hole, and that includes me not saying 'Okay, this is the way it has to be done. This is black and white. It's either my way or the highway.' "There were a lot of conversations, and a lot of dialogue back and forth, so we can work together. That's part of developing the trust between a player and the coach. That's when they play at their best — when they trust you and we trust them." SPREADING THE WEALTH Plenty of offensive coordinators say nobody knows where the football is going on pass plays in their offense. Borges' first season in Ann Arbor backs that notion with numbers. Fifth-year senior wideout Junior Hemingway led the Wolverines in the regular season, with 32 catches for 636 yards (19.9 –yard average) and two touchdowns. Gallon — who caught just four passes a year ago, as a red- shirt freshman — made 30 grabs for 38 THE WOLVERINE DECEMBER 2011 450 yards and three scores during the regular season. Michigan used the tight end in the passing game more this season than in recent ones. Senior Kevin Ko- ger snagged 21 passes for 235 yards and a team-leading four touchdown catches, including a clutch, fourth- quarter TD reception against Ohio State. The most precipitous individual decline involved redshirt junior re- ceiver Roy Roundtree, who led the go to Roy, who is the No. 1 [option], coming across the field. So it's just different. The credit goes to the kids in understanding that it's not about how many times I get the ball. It's about, first off, do we win? Second of all, do I do the job I'm asked to do, because there are going to be games where I'm asked to get the ball, and games where I'm not. "A lot of that has to do with the de- fense, the flow, and what Denard and the quarterbacks are seeing. To their credit, they've really fit in well to that system. If anything, everybody here has bought into the team." Plus, Hecklinski noted, more play- ers are doing the jobs at limited posi- tions, and asked to go all out on ev- ery single play. When the numbers of close friends Roundtree and Gallon are combined, they total 795 yards and five touchdowns. "You don't say, 'You're going to get U-M wide receivers coach Jeff Hecklinski "I think if you were to talk to other teams that play against us, they're going to tell you, it's going to be a 60-minute game, because [U-M's wide receivers are] going to hit you physi- cally, and they're going to come after you for 60 minutes." Wolverines with 72 catches for 935 yards and seven touchdowns a year ago. Roundtree started all 12 regu- lar-season games for the Wolverines in 2011 and made 18 catches for 345 yards (19.2-yard average) and two touchdowns. Of course, he pulled in one of the most memorable catches of the year, the ball.' That's not going to happen," Hecklinski stressed. "They've got to go play each play as hard as they can, and do what's best for the team. "Each guy has done a great job of that. For those people out there who say, 'Well, Roy's not featured,' under- stand something. We play two guys at that position, and because the way