Here's a look at the Michigan football team's secondary depth in the wake of Justin Turner's departure
Seven of the nine defensive backs listed on the Michigan football team’s depth chart will be back on the field again this fall.
That’s the good news from defensive coordinator Greg Robinson’s perspective.
The bad news is twofold: The group of returnees numbered eight until Tuesday, when cornerback Justin Turner received his release and left the Wolverines. Of the seven remaining returnees, only cornerback Troy Woolfolk and safeties Jordan Kovacs and Mike Williams have seen extensive playing time.
Michigan defensive coordinator Greg Robinson on his secondary: "We have a group of guys that, you know, are not a real experienced group."
File photo
Sorting through the secondary options is one of his principal duties as the Wolverines prepare for the 2010 season after finishing last year ranked seventh in the Big Ten in pass defense.
As a redshirt freshman, Kovacs started the final six games of the season at strong safety. Williams battled injuries throughout the year, but still started nine games at free safety.
They return. So do last year’s backups, Vlad Emilien and Jared Van Slyke. Coaches are enthusiastic about Cam Gordon, who switched to safety from wide receiver and true freshman Marvin Robinson.
“Cam is a young guy that, I think he’s very mature for his age and has worked very hard to adapt to this position,” Greg Robinson said. “But again, he hasn’t had the chance to play in a ballgame yet. So we’ll have to deal with that. I like where he’s going.”
Depth at cornerback is more of a concern, especially after Turner’s departure.
Rich Rodriguez and Greg Robinson have gushed with praise throughout the off-season for J.T. Floyd, who played as a backup last year. He’s expected to start opposite Woolfolk.
True freshmen Courtney Avery and Cullen Christian could see time as the backups. While Greg Robinson’s not thrilled at the prospect of playing multiple true freshmen, he also sees corner as a position where inexperienced players can make a faster transition.
“Yeah, there’s young people, especially at corner,” he said. “You’re more removed, you’re seeing the game from the side. Sometimes it can be a little quicker turnaround for a young player to get involved and perform.” Rich Rodriguez isn’t as convinced.
“True freshmen coming and playing, especially at corner, makes you nervous,” he said last week during Big Ten media days. “This is going to be a very important camp for Coach Robinson, Coach (Tony) Gibson to develop some guys at safety and corner that we can get ready to play with.”
LAST YEAR’S FINAL DEPTH CHART
Left cornerback: Donovan Warren, Teric Jones, Justin Turner Right cornerback: Troy Woolfolk, J.T. Floyd Strong safety: Jordan Kovacs, Jared Van Slyke Free safety: Mike Williams, Vladimir Emilien
Pete Bigelow covers Michigan football for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at 734-623-2556. Follow him on Twitter at @PeterCBigelow.
Comments
Jaxon5
Thu, Aug 12, 2010 : 7:09 p.m.
heartbreakM - thanks for that reminder of the greatest player I ever watched in a Michigan uniform. Let's hope there is another one like him among the current bunch.
umgoblue47
Thu, Aug 12, 2010 : 8:43 a.m.
it's good to know we have a wanna-be coach in the peanut-gallery that can break down all the finer points in college-football... (stay tuned) for as the bowl turns... lol...
heartbreakM
Thu, Aug 12, 2010 : 8:15 a.m.
whatever the truth about Turner's transfer and parental involvement, I will remind everybody of this: A small, undersized quick receiver from Florida a few years back quit during his first training camp and either flew home or was on his way to fly home. The coaches did not know, but found out. The parents got involved, and told this young receiver to get himself back to campus and practice, play hard, and perhaps, he will make a difference. Turns out they were right, and we are all thankful for that. Receiver's name? Anthony Carter. (Now you know the rest of the story, before you start throwing bricks at UM and Turner). As I said yesterday, his transfer is not great for UM, but players themselves have to take responsibility and while we can blame RR for a lot, this individual transfer does not pan out as blameworthy to me.
MetricSU
Thu, Aug 12, 2010 : 7:08 a.m.
So far, RR's ability to discover 5* recruits who are not "babies" is unimpressive.
tzgoblue
Thu, Aug 12, 2010 : 6:52 a.m.
Sounds like JT was upset that he was expected to earn a spot in the starting line up instead of just handing him a spot since he was a 5 star. I'll take a hard working 3 or 4 star any day over some of these arogant 5 star babies. I was at the spring game and it from my view, JT was not impressive at all. Apparently he didn't work on his game during the summer and now he has decided to quit instead of battle for a major playing roll on this team. Hopefully, the three outstanding freshmen that we have in camp will step up and fill the dept needed in the d-backfield.
Sean T.
Thu, Aug 12, 2010 : 6:50 a.m.
He should transfer to a MAC school because many of Michigan's former players do well there.
truebluefan
Thu, Aug 12, 2010 : 12:13 a.m.
metricSU - if Turner commits to getting in shape, then yes, who wouldn't want a borderline 5-star roaming the secondary? If not, then it's best for him to play in the MAC or D-IAA. He was getting burned badly in the spring game and practices. Call it like it is. Right now, the kid is not ready to take the field in D-IA.
amaizenblueballs
Wed, Aug 11, 2010 : 10:42 p.m.
Saginaw - agree, these posts can pull you down. JT will be a loss simply because he did not work out when we need him. If you want good news to sauve the wounds, go to Rivals. They report Tony Posada, a big offensive lineman, has committed. Hopefully in a few years one of these guys will be All American. Miss the pedigree.
saginaw
Wed, Aug 11, 2010 : 10:23 p.m.
These posts are getting out of hand. We are losing reason and perspective. What's next; Coach Tressel telling the OSU Bucks to intentially "throw" the 2010 game to Michigan to keep the RR circus running in Ann Arbor?
MetricSU
Wed, Aug 11, 2010 : 9:45 p.m.
Interesting change of tone now that the parents are on their way to AA. I saw numerous posts about how he's not a great loss -- if he's any loss at all -- because he wouldn't have played much, anyway. It will be interesting to watch this play out. If the claims that Turner is overweight, out of shape, and not able to keep up with receivers is true, then I doubt he will every contribute to UM's football team. It also makes me wonder who was keeping tabs on him. Did his parents ask what he'd been doing all summer? Maybe they don't understand the commitment required to play D-I football, either.
GoblueinNE_PA
Wed, Aug 11, 2010 : 9:05 p.m.
Red It pains me to agree with you on anything, but I got the same impression WRT Robinson and Gibson. It certainly looked like RichRod was laying the ground work for a little finger pointing. Look, this defense is going to be awful. The best players from last year are all gone. The secondary will be as green as the field turf in Michigan stadium. God forbid Kovacks starts. The linebackers will either be inexperienced or the underperformers from last season. Only the D-Line has any hope of being decent and what does RichRod do? Converts to a 3-3-5, deemphasizing the one area of strength and putting pressure on the weakest unit. Hope I'm wrong and we have a good season, but I ain't seeing it.
Lemansblue
Wed, Aug 11, 2010 : 7:46 p.m.
Tell me those are just practice jersey's with them goofy looking stripes up the sides and not what we went to. The road jersey's are looking like WV...UGH. Quit changing the uniforms we are looking like a week WV...Stop About the transfer anyone see a pattern developing in this program now. Time to admit we made the wrong hire and fix it.
MG
Wed, Aug 11, 2010 : 6:57 p.m.
3 And Out... I first thought the same, but then I realized that #44 is Mark Moundros, listed as 6-1 233. That's a decent sized guy.
Jaxon5
Wed, Aug 11, 2010 : 6:38 p.m.
Pete, thanks for leading the story with the "good news" - there is precious little of it these days. Please continue to search out the tiny bits of good news and the few shreds of evidence of good news as we go forward this season. Maybe they'll be easier to find as the season progresses.
NoBowl4Blue
Wed, Aug 11, 2010 : 6:31 p.m.
Defensive secondary.............oh hell the whole defense especially the secondary lacks depth and decent experience. Iowa, Wisc, MSU Conn, ND and OSU will be testing them early and often this year. Additionally with a 3-3-5 the running game will open the passing lanes up even more. I don't care how many points you score you have to be able to stop the other team........
3 And Out
Wed, Aug 11, 2010 : 6:12 p.m.
you know its gonna be a tough year when your 60 year old defensive coordinator without pads is much bigger than one of his players with the pads on...see pic
Kubrick66
Wed, Aug 11, 2010 : 5:37 p.m.
Yelmonian... I think you may be jumping the gun with the whole who knew what and when. The problem with any of these stories is that we are left to fill in the blanks ourselves... so erring on the side of caution is probably the best stance at this point.
RobbiesBoyfriend
Wed, Aug 11, 2010 : 5:35 p.m.
This is really gonna hurt!!!!
Mick52
Wed, Aug 11, 2010 : 5:27 p.m.
We'll just have to see how the guys who stayed will work out, the guys who want to play MICHIGAN football. I have good story and I hope some of the players are reading these posts. In 2004 my wife and I were in Detroit for a concert and went early to get dinner in Greektown. We parked at Joe Louis arena and took the People Mover. There was a convention at Cobo and there were two guys on the train from Purdue (per nametags) from the convention. I overheard them talking football and one said that you could see how afraid Purdue receivers were of the Michigan secondary because they hit so hard. That was when Markus Curry and Marlin Jackson were playing. The one guy said the receivers were so afraid they couldn't catch the ball. I was so proud of Michigan football. Sure would like to see that again. Defense wins ballgames.
Yelmonian
Wed, Aug 11, 2010 : 5:21 p.m.
Nope... Great that the parents take an interest. I would have thought the parents would have been apprised of this prior to the kid getting his release. Having watched Chris Allen/Tom Izzo, the parents were kept in the loop throughout the process. And yes I know this, because Allen's mom was frequently quoted in the papers throughout the summer. I just didn't realize that RR/UM athletic department would actually give a release to a 19 (or so) year old kid... without actually discussing it with his family. After all, Boren complained about the lack of family feel...and all the UM fans went beserk, claiming that wasn't true. My bad. Just figured that RR would have actually dealt with the family prior to just letting the kid go.
Kubrick66
Wed, Aug 11, 2010 : 5:13 p.m.
Yelmonian... An actual set of parents interested in what's best for their child. How dare they! I think you need to take a little break from Michigan Football... You are quickly losing all perspective.
Yelmonian
Wed, Aug 11, 2010 : 5:02 p.m.
So let's see... you now have the parents coming in to make the kid go back to school... The leaders and the best...
marineblue
Wed, Aug 11, 2010 : 4:57 p.m.
according to sam webb, this might not be a done deal. jt's parents will definitely have some input in this situation. they are on their way to AA right now. due to the fact that jt didn't even consult them before making his decision, i bet another story w/ a different message comes out in the next couple of days... hey peter, you'd better get back to work, if you know what i mean...