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Posted on Mon, Sep 21, 2009 : 12:52 p.m.

Notes from Rich Rodriguez's Monday morning press conference

By Pete Bigelow

During his hiatus between basketball and football," slot receiver Kelvin Grady said he worked third shift at an Amway factory in his hometown of Grand Rapids, putting tops onto bottles for hours at a time.

"Through my struggles, I've become a stronger person," he said. "I'm just so thankful."

And more from Grady, on the close relationship he's got with his father:

"He was there to help me, when I didn’t want to get out of bed, when I felt like I made a terrible decision," he said. ____________

Slot receiver Kelvin Grady is now at the podium, talking about his first catch for U-M and his transition from the basketball team to the football team:

"It's electrifying being out there in front of 100,000 people," he said. "I looked up in the stands and it's like 'Wow.'" It's electrifying. You're on a new path, and there's great guys around you and it's a great setting and opportunity.

"It's kind of funny. John Beilein got the basketball program turned around last year, and now Coach Rod is turning things around. I've been a part of both. It's great." ___________

Carlos Brown's 90-yard touchdown run Saturday was the third-longest in Michigan football history.

The longest, a 92-yarder, belongs to Butch Woolfolk, father of current Michigan safety Troy Woolfolk, who let Brown know he was still two yards short of his old man.

"Troy said, 'You know what? My dad's still got number one,'" Brown said. "And I told him, 'You know what? There's still nine games to go.'" __________

Don't think that Michigan's 3-0 record has gone to the players' heads. Cornerback Donovan Warren says there's no forgetting last year, and that the Wolverines are still fighting for recognition.

"Outsiders may look at it differently, but we still have a chip on our shoulder," Warren said. "We're trying to practice every day and earn some respect. We know teams will come after us and play hard against Michigan, but we have the same mindset that we're just trying to earn respect." ___________

Carlos Brown is thrilled with the success of the Michigan running game so far this year, which peaked Saturday when the ground attack rolled for 380 yards.

Part of the success, he says, is that defenses must now account for the running ability of Michigan's quarterbacks.

"Definitely," Brown said. "They've got to respect the quarterbacks' running ability as well as mine. It helps out a lot, actually." ____________

Rich Rodriguez on prized freshman William Campbell, one of his more high-profile recruits in the 2009 class, who saw his first extensive defensive action against Eastern Michigan:

"He got in there and made a couple plays," Rodriguez said. "He's got a lot of size and talent, and is learning some of the techniques and fundamentals that most freshmen have to learn. He's learning it. He wouldn't have even had a chance (to play) had he not enrolled early. But he has the type of size that we need." ____________

Here's Rich Rodriguez on d-lineman Ryan Van Bergen and the Michigan defensive line:

"He's been outstanding, one of the hardest workers on our team" Rodriguez said. "We haven't had a lot of sacks, but that's the other team getting rid of the ball quick and playing some max-protect.

"We've gotten a lot of pressure with some three-and-four-man rushes. But you can tell his passion in practice. He's on special teams. ... He's playing extensively for the first time -- he played as a redshirt freshman -- and he's pretty good for us." ___________

D-lineman Ryan Van Bergen now talking at the podium, describing how the Wolverines might play Indiana's pistol offense"

"We'll treat it like a zone read with the running back in a different position," Van Bergen said. "They can hit inside a little bit better, so we'll just have to take a look at shutting down some of the inside runs and playing some assignment football.

"We haven't seen a quarterback who can run all that well yet, but we will this weekend and we'll take it very seriously." _________

Just announced: Michigan-Michigan State game will be at noon and televised on the Big Ten Network. _________

Will Rich Rodriguez keep his promise to send incidents that resemble the one that got Jonas Mouton suspended to the league office?

Here's what he said Monday:

"Did I say that," he said. "I did see one this weekend that's making the rounds. If you see anything that's a non-football action that you think we should talk about, well, ... We all want the same thing as coaches and fans as administrators: Good clean football. They don't want any stuff that's not football related.

"But everybody wants it all to be consistent, just like everything else. Let's make sure it's all consistent to be fair to our players and everybody else. I thought I saw one this weekend, but if the league office didn't see it, I'm sure one of our fans did." __________

Two of the more subtle goals that Rich Rodriguez has set for the Wolverines:

For the offense: Score on six possessions each game. For the defense: Force six three-and-outs per game. __________

Quote of the week, perhaps, just came from Rich Rodriguez, while he was talking about recommending walk-on John Conover for law school:

"He's applying for law school, and I think he'll be terrific. I know enough about lawyers now," Rodriguez said chuckling, with a nod to his contract squabble with West Virginia. "I'll probably be employing him someday."

The line got a good laugh from everyone in the room. ___________

There will be no limitations on Tate Forcier in practice this week.

The freshman quarterback, who took a shot to his ribs against Eastern Michigan, is healthy.

"Tate, I don't know if he was feeling as healthy in the last ballgame," Rich Rodriguez said. "He didn't move around like he was moving around earlier. So I think he was a little bit sore. ... But he'll be fine. He shouldn't have any limits in practice."

__________

Three games into the season, there haven't been a lot of surprises for Rich Rodriguez and the Wolverines.

"What we're seeing in games is, in general, what we saw in August camp," he said. "There are moments that we played better in camp. We're sitting here 3-0 and gaining confidence, but trust me, we're still a work in progress. There are a lot of things we'll have to get better at."

_________

Center David Molk broke a bone in a foot during Saturday's game against Eastern Michigan, and will miss four to six weeks, Rich Rodriguez said Monday.

David Moosman and Rocco Khoury will take the majority of the snaps at center in his absence. The Wolverines also hope to get offensive lineman Tim McAvoy back this week for the first time this season.

Comments

Dave H

Mon, Sep 21, 2009 : 11:42 p.m.

81Wolverine, if Will Campbell is key to anything this year, we're in trouble. Yeah, he's enormous and pretty strong for a freshman, but right now he doesn't seem anywhere near contributing at a high level. The story being told about him is that his technique is really underdeveloped (not for a freshman but for someone expected to deal with D1 linemen), which is the kind of thing you'd expect from a guy who has always been able to manhandle opponents without needing to rely on staying low and getting leverage. It's great that he enrolled early, and hopefully he'll see some more snaps this weekend against Indiana, but I think it'll be another year or two before we have any idea what kind of player he'll be.

KeepingItReal

Mon, Sep 21, 2009 : 3:35 p.m.

For you folks who are one dimensional in your thinking about the QB position, Saturday incident involving Tater is a good reminder as to why RR needs to groom two QBs. Shoelace's passing ability will improve immensely with time and he will be one of the most dynamic plyaers in Michigan's history.

D

Mon, Sep 21, 2009 : 3:32 p.m.

hey Rrrrrodney Stuckey wouldn't an non true blue reporter be what you want so he could say what he saw wrong as as well as right and not be so affraid of upsetting the university of stuck up rich kids opps mean university of Michigan, I am just glad that forcier injury is not that bad

Theo212

Mon, Sep 21, 2009 : 1:12 p.m.

Jermaine Gonzalez was cheated out of 3 or 4 Heismans by Lloyd. If Lloyd would have used his talent properly all those years, we would have won 6 or 7 national titles and there never would have been the talent dropoff that we experienced last year. Presto, the bowl streak would STILL BE intact!! Thanks, Lloyd.

81wolverine

Mon, Sep 21, 2009 : 12:32 p.m.

I think the incident Coach Rodriguez was referring to was an EMU player hitting a Michigan player (with his fist in the head) at the end of one of the plays. Did anyone else see that, or just me? I thought there was going to be a penalty for sure, but none was called. Maybe someone at AA.com can review the game video again and find it.

81wolverine

Mon, Sep 21, 2009 : 12:29 p.m.

Getting Big Will in the lineup regularly is going to be a key down the stretch. We need more size and strength in the middle of the line to help stop the other team's running game. The last two games, Michigan has been very poor against the run. This will be a huge problem unless we fix it soon. Overall, I think the DB's are actually doing better than last year GIVEN the fact we've been putting very little consistent pressure on the other team's QB's. One problem is that Warren and Cissoko are relatively small, and when they go up against big, fast receivers, it's a bit of a mismatch. But, I do think Warren is covering people better this year compared to last year on the whole. Hopefully, we'll see some improvement this week on pass defense.

tulsatom

Mon, Sep 21, 2009 : 12:21 p.m.

Good point, dzuck. I think there are going to be lots of shootouts this year unless the defense improves greatly. On the bright side, Notre Dame is as good or better than most Big Ten teams so even though U-M will have to score lots of points to win, they just might be able to do that in most of their games if the ND game is any gauge.

dzuck

Mon, Sep 21, 2009 : 12:13 p.m.

What is Rich Rod saying about our DB's inability to cover anybody? We'll have to win games by outscoring teams if this continues. Not sure our offense will continue to put up big numbers in the big ten.

tulsatom

Mon, Sep 21, 2009 : 11:40 a.m.

Thanks for updating us on the status of Will Campbell. I had been wondering about his progress after not seeing him much in the Notre Dame game. The anoouncers that day was saying how small the defensive linemen were for U-M and how they were being pushed around by ND. I was thinking how big and heralded Will Campbell was and how he should be harder to push around once he learns the ropes.

Pete Bigelow

Mon, Sep 21, 2009 : 11:20 a.m.

InsideTheHall, I think you're missing the point. I didn't lead the story with that line. I'm updating this file as Rich speaks during his morning press conference. That must have been the most current thing when you read the story, but it's since been updated every 5-10 minutes. I hope you'll check back and read more.

InsideTheHall

Mon, Sep 21, 2009 : 10:50 a.m.

Pete "Will Rich Rodriguez keep his promise to send incidents that resemble the one that got Jonas Mouton suspended to the league office?" Michigan is 3-0, it's Monday morning, and that is your lead line????????? AnnArbor.com may not make the cut.