The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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back to what it was two years ago, only from an outside position rather than a slot position." Roundtree caught 19 passes for "Now you'll see Roy's role going 355 yards after hauling in 932 yards' worth in 2010. More will be expected of redshirt junior Jeremy Gallon, who emerged as the Wolverines' second-leading receiver last year with 31 catches for 453 yards. Gallon proved dependable and is expected to see an increased role. I think he can take the next step," Borges said. "Rather than split time with Roy like last year, assuming he can stay healthy, he'll be out there a lot and he'll catch a lot of passes." Sophomore Jeremy Jackson, a "He had a good year last year, and "good player when he's healthy and a nice, 6-4 target," according to Borges, moves to the slot and should expand on his three catches for 36 yards from last year. Redshirt sopho- more Jerald Robinson is another one to watch, having torn up the scout team a year ago. Two others — 5-10 junior Drew Dileo (nine catches, 121 yards and two touchdowns in 2011) and fifth- year senior Terrence Robinson — will also be in the mix. Dileo came up with some huge plays in the Ohio State win, and the coaches love his progress. Robinson is also improving. "Terrence was a really a good spe- cial teams player last year, but he is going to show what he can do out there," Borges said. "He has quick- ness, speed and can get in and out of cuts quickly. He makes some really nice catches." The bottom line: "We're not de- pleted," Borges said. "We lost some guys, but we do have some answers out there." mostly depend on senior quarterback Denard Robinson. The Heisman Tro- phy candidate's rushing numbers went down by design in 2011 (from 1,702 yards to 1,176), with running back Fitzgerald Toussaint helping shoulder the load (and keep Robin- son healthy) with his own 1,000-yard season. Borges, though, would like to see the passing efficiency improve in But how the offense goes will still DENARD ROBINSON IS STILL THE KEY 28 THE WOLVERINE APRIL 2012 Offensive coordinator Al Borges said that reducing interceptions is priority No. 1 this year for quarterback Denard Robinson. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL tions. That's No. 1," Borges said. "We drastically improved in the area of fumbles, and that saved our turn- over ratio. Hopefully that will iron itself out a little bit just because of Denard's being in the offense his sec- ond year. We want to improve our passing game overall, completion percentage being one of the things." Robinson completed 55 percent of 2012. Robinson threw for 20 touch- downs but also tossed 15 intercep- tions, a number that has to improve. "We've got to reduce our intercep- his passes last season, down from 62.5 the year before. If he had it to do again, Borges admitted, he'd have started Robinson with more spread — an offense in which he thrived in 2010 — and weaned him into more pro-style. Regardless, he expects Robinson to improve as a thrower. "Generally, in my experience, that tends to get a little bit better the sec- ond year," he said. "We should con- tinue to be able to run the football also knowing that people, because of the weapons we possess, are go- ing to crowd the line of scrimmage much like they did in the bowl game. We're going to have to be efficient throwing. "Everybody thinks about the last two games [against Nebraska and Ohio State] because Denard played well beginning to end, but he was playing pretty good at Illinois, too. He's progressed … he understands what our goals and objectives are with regard to progress, and he's set to have a good season if he can stay healthy." In Borges' perfect world, he'd have Robinson run the football about 15 to 17 times a game and throw about 25 times, let the tailback pick up the slack and occasionally get it to the fullback. There will be games in which Robinson runs more depend- ing on how he's being played, and others in which he might run less. The former are usually "battlefield decisions," Borges noted, adjusted