The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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love for the game, my enthusiasm and my excitement is still the same. That isn't going anywhere." Peppers could wind up playing at several spots again, Partridge pointed out. "He's with me, he's with the safe- ties coaches, he's kind of every- where," Partridge said. "He's a smart football player that can take on a lot and we're going to ask him to take on a lot, so I think the sky's the limit on what positions he can play. We might even line him up at nose tackle this year if we can." The new linebackers coach smiled over that hyperbole, but Peppers could give him — not to mention the defensive coordinator — plenty of reason to smile in the months to come. "We've been there," Peppers said. "We were 5-7 the year before, and last year we bought in. We put the work in. We've seen that if you put the work in, you can bring that [suc- cessful season] back out. "That was definitely an eye-opener for a lot of guys, who were kind of questioning the regimen. If you just buy in and put the work in, things will work themselves out." When No. 5 isn't putting the work in at outside linebacker, Michigan is prepping others for the job. The most mentioned name among the return- ing linebackers by the Wolverines is that of redshirt junior linebacker Redshirt junior Mike McCray did not post any statistics last year, but he is one of the line- backers expected to step up following the graduation of the unit's key players. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN