David Moosman will start at center and more Wednesday practice notes from Michigan football
David Moosman is back practicing after missing last week's win over Eastern Michigan with a shoulder injury, and Michigan football coach Rich Rodriguez said he'll start at center in Saturday's Big Ten opener.
“He had a good practice" Tuesday, Rodriguez said. "He’ll be ready to go."
John Ferrara started at Moosman's natural right guard spot against the Eagles, but Rodriguez said he hasn't decided who'll play there against Indiana (3-0).
Right tackle Mark Huyge took first-team practice reps at guard Wednesday, while Perry Dorrestein played tackle.
Starting center David Molk is out four to six weeks with a broken foot.
Safety Mike Williams was limited in practice Wednesday with a sprained ankle, and Rodriguez said running back Brandon Minor continues to be hobbled by his high-ankle sprain. Carlos Brown will start at running back again Saturday.
"We're really limiting what (Minor) can do during the week," Rodriguez said. "You got to be able to practice some to be able to play on Saturday, so we had him out (Tuesday) for the most part. Today, he'll do a little bit more. For him, it's going to be a game-time decision again, see how it feels in warm-ups."
• Though Indiana's pistol offense is based on some of the same principles as Michigan's spread option, Rodriguez said the running games are entirely different. The pistol, Rodrigez said, is more of a downhill running game, "like the I-formation yet using a shotgun."
"They seem to have taken to it pretty well," Rodriguez said. "They’ve got a big offensive line and physical running game. There’s some deception with it as well."
• With a 40-percent chance of rain Saturday according to weather.com, Rodriguez said he's hoping for some inclement weather to practice in this week.
"We had a little bit of that last week, and it was really wet," Rodriguez said. "I wouldn’t mind having one day this week where we get used to wet balls in case we have it Saturday."
• After linebacker Jonas Mouton was suspended last week for striking a Notre Dame player, Rodriguez said he hoped the Big Ten would hand out similar punishments for all non-football acts. He even pointed to a play at the end of the Purdue-Northern Illinois game, saying "a guy jumped on someone on the last play of the game and (gave him a forearm)." Apparently, the league was listening.
The Big Ten suspended Purdue's Zach Reckman one game for violating the conference's sportsmanship conduct agreement on Wednesday. Like Mouton, Reckman also was publicly reprimanded for his actions.
On Monday, Rodriguez backed down from his promise to monitor all Big Ten games and send non-football acts into the league office, but he encouraged fans to do so on their own.
"Everything’s so transparent, so everybody can be interactive and help out the cause," he said.
AnnArbor.com