Michigan football coach Rich Rodriguez said Friday, "We're ready to start getting going with more wins." (File photo)
“We think about it every day and I know a lot of our fans, our great fans do as well, but I’m obsessed and I think our staff and I certainly think our players are obsessed with it, too," Rodriguez told host Ryan Ermanni. "And we know the last two seasons haven’t gone the way any of us would like, but at the same time we’ve made some progress, we’ve kind of put the foundation down and now we’re ready to start getting going with more wins.
"And I think it’s more important for us to understand the process we’re going through. I don’t want our players just having a certain number of wins in their minds, I want them to go through the winning process of how they prepare every day, how they’re doing the things each and every day to make themselves successful, and as a coach we’ve got to give them the guidance and give them the tools to do that, and I think we have. But I think the better times are coming simply because our guys are growing up and understanding that process."
Rodriguez covered several other topics in the interview. The highlights:
• On how much Michigan can get accomplished this spring: “We think quite a bit, especially for the younger guys. Even the upperclassmen, I think there’s always things they can get better at. We gave our players five kind of main goals and one of them is improve their fundamentals, learn their position, that’s an important goal. And the other one probably from a player’s standpoint is prove that they can win, that we can win with them playing. I think that’s important for our young guys in that regard cause they were the guys that were redshirted or guys that were injured. This is going to be a very, very important spring for them."
• On what advantages there are for the seven true freshmen who enrolled early: “I think it’s certainly gonna be beneficial for them, not only from what they’re going to do spring practice but having the six or seven weeks prior to this in the strength and conditioning program I think has helped make some advances. They’re going to learn so much in these 15 practices. We tell them that, 'Listen, it’s a bonus for you to be here.' We don’t expect them to be ready to play or start after spring practice, but at the same time it’s going to be a great proving ground for them. I don’t put too much on them cause we got to remember they’re still true freshmen and they’re still supposed to be in high school, but we’re excited that they’re here and they’re going to have a great opportunity to show themselves this spring."
• On having more competition for starting jobs: "I think offensively last year we made some steps because we had some more competition, had some experience. Defensively, we did not make as many steps, but I think we’re going to have more competition and, certainly, I think we can play at a higher level defensively this fall because we’re going to have more numbers there. Now, we’re going to be young. Some of those freshmen and sophomores are going to have to play and play at a high level for us. But at the same time we’re going to have some bodies there that are competing and I think our guys are anxious to prove themselves."
• On how having Greg Robinson back for a second season should help the defense: “I certainly think the continuity makes a big difference and we’ve been fortunate enough to have it on our staff. It’s made a big difference offensively and it will defensively. Greg and the defensive staff have met quite extensively and come up with a good plan for the spring. I think last year, a lot of times we had to evaluate, 'OK, who are we going to be ready to play with?' And I think our guys have a great understanding of who we have right now on the roster. Now the guys that we have to evaluate closely are the freshmen, and that will start obviously in August after practice starts. But I think Greg and them have a good plan to be able to fit our guys in the right spot because we’re going to have to come out of the gate strong. We have a very good UConn team coming to the Big House for our first game. We got to be ready."
Dave Birkett covers University of Michigan football for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached by phone at 734-623-2552 or by e-mail at davidbirkett@annarbor.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.
Get the Ann Arbor RSS Feed
AnnArbor.com