The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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ciates toughness and fearlessness in a back. "We were talking about the glide theory of coming down the runway and taking off," Harbaugh said. "He's up and going. I'm really impressed. The way he accelerates into a tackler, the way he can drop his shoulder and feed that shoulder pad to the defender is really impressive. "I would think you'd want to tackle him maybe a couple of times a game, not too many more after that. He does a great job of accelerating through con- tact in a way that is explosive." Johnson admits he'd like the keep ascending Michigan's ladder of backs. He clearly recognizes he's got com- pany in that mindset. "Every running back strives to start," he said. "Nobody says, 'Oh, I want to be second place.' But whatever the coaches tell me to do, I'm going to do. Whatever role they ask me to play, I'm going to play. Everyone wants to be the guy." Whoever is the guy at the moment, Johnson vowed to be behind him. "Whoever they pick, I'm in total sup- port of," Johnson said. "You can't have the animosity. You can't have the, 'It should be me.' That's not supporting the team. It's very anti-team. You don't want to be an anti-team kind of guy. "Then you're not enjoying your friends. It's your friends. It's not like some person I hate, and we happen to be around each other. You've liter- ally bled and sweat … together, and it's yeah, dude, I'm close to this man. I want him to do well, too." Anyone who has seen Johnson on the long road back, twice, returns that sentiment. ❏ Wolverines' Running Back Situation Still In Flux Former Michigan running backs coach Fred Jackson used to say, "You can never have enough good backs." He witnessed the wear and tear a Big Ten season takes many times. One of his all-time best runners, Tyrone Wheatley, now selects Michigan's tailbacks. It's good for Wheatley he's got some options. Junior running back De'Veon Smith looks like the most durable U-M tailback, piling up 436 yards and four touchdowns in 96 carries through seven games. But even Smith, a rugged 5-11, 228-pounder, missed the Maryland game for precautionary reasons following an ankle injury against BYU. "I was physically in position to play," Smith assured. "Coach [Jim] Harbaugh told me, 'We need you next week, so just sit out and get healthy.' It definitely hurt, not being able to help my team." Harbaugh looked for a healthy Smith against Northwestern and Michigan State, and got solid results. Smith gave the Wolverines 59 yards on just eight carries before going on the shelf in U-M's 38-0 humbling of the Wildcats. He then received the bulk of the work against Michigan State — he was the