Tag: Mike Hart

Jim Harbaugh and Tom Allen address Mike Hart’s collapse during Michigan football vs. Indiana

This was a horrifying moment in Saturday’s game, but it sounds like he’s OK now. #GoBlue

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — It was a scary moment on the sidelines during what should have been a joyous occasion.

Michigan football running backs coach Mike Hart, who formerly held the same position at Indiana before coming to Ann Arbor in 2021, collapsed on the sidelines, having what was an apparent seizure in the first quarter. Once the band had stopped playing, the stadium fell silent, trying to understand what was happening as the cart came out onto the field, well away from the action of the game.

Moments later, Hart was carted off and gave a thumbs up, indicating he was OK. But it appears he’ll be held overnight in Bloomington for observation.

“Yeah, Mike had a medical emergency during the game,” head coach Jim Harbaugh said. “And he’s in stable condition. He’s going to stay overnight here in Bloomington for continuing observation. Mike’s a strong guy and just abundant prayers go his way and really put things in perspective.”

After that moment, play on the field seemed superfluous, and the Wolverines appeared to take it that way, to some degree. After having marched down the field for a touchdown, the air was taken out of all maize and blue units, and they didn’t appear to have re-galvanized until the second half.

Harbaugh said after the game that everyone’s mind shifted from the game to Hart’s health, which is obvious, given the circumstances.

“Everybody in the moment, everybody’s thoughts are with Mike — mine were, everybody around us was (looking) to get him to get the care that he needed,” Harbaugh said. “And I thought they knew he was able to, before they took him off, looked like he was back. Most important thing is just health at that point in time.”

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Of course, Tom Allen has some familiarity, especially since Hart was the assistant head coach near the end of his tenure with the Hoosiers. He had a few words for his former assistant after the game, noting that he also shared his thoughts with Harbaugh during the postgame handshake.

“Just prayers for Mike Hart,” Allen said. “I don’t know the situation. I did talk to coach Harbaugh at the end of the game. Very close with Mike. Talked to him even this week via text before we played him. It sounds like he is going to be OK, but obviously, a concern when he went down.

“Our hearts for him are heavy and his family. Prayers for them. Thoughts for them. We’re praying that he is going to have a full recovery.”

Michigan said it’s giving the game ball from Saturday’s contest to Hart once he returns to Ann Arbor.

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Michigan running backs coach Mike Hart carted off after collapsing on sidelines

Michigan RB coach Mike Hart collapsed on the sidelines and was taken to a hospital

A terrifying moment in the first half of the Michigan-Indiana game in Bloomington on Saturday. Wolverines running backs coach Mike Hart collapsed on the sidelines and was eventually carted off the field.

FOX Sports reported Hart was alert and with his wife as he was taken to a local hospital.

The running backs coach has connections to both schools.

Per Mlive.com:

Hart, the second-year running backs coach for Michigan, looked to be immobile during his ride off the field. His legs remained still, while he tried to move his head.

Saturday’s game marked the return of Hart to Indiana, where he coached from 2017 to 2020 under Tom Allen.

 

Michigan coach carted off the field against Indiana

Prayers for Hart!

There was a scary situation in Bloomington, Indiana during the first quarter of the Michigan-Indiana game.

Michigan running backs coach Mike Hart collapsed on the sideline and the medical cart had to take him to get medical attention. The team took a knee around its coach.

Hart appeared fully alert, moving his head around and speaking. He gave two thumbs up while being carted out.

The former Michigan running back standout is in his second season coaching in Ann Arbor. There have been no reported health issues for Hart.

We will keep you updated when we hear any updates.

Update: At halftime, the Fox set confirmed coach Hart had a seizure on the sideline. He was transported to the local hospital.

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Mike Hart believes Blake Corum will be talked about for two major awards this season

Coach Hart loves coaching Corum!

Michigan football is out to a 5-0 start to the year and similar to last season, the Wolverines have really relied on the running attack to keep the offense going. The maize and blue have the 13th-ranked run game that averages 221.8 yards-per-game.

Michigan is coming off of a nice win against Iowa at Kinnick Stadium. The Wolverines just gashed the Hawkeyes’ then-ranked No. 6 run defense that allowed less than 100 yards-per-game, for 172 yards.

Michigan has a few guys that can tote the rock like sophomore Donovan Edwards and we have even seen flashes from freshman C.J. Stokes, but the man that keeps the train rolling is Blake Corum.

Corum is the fourth-leading rusher in all of football with 611 yards. Corum also leads the nation with 10 touchdowns scored and 60 points scored.

After receiving a total of 34 carries in the first three games, the junior back carried the ball 30 times against Maryland and then 29 times last week against Iowa. Corum’s coach, and former Michigan legend, Mike Hart joked that Corum wouldn’t receive as many carries as he did during his college career at Michigan, but while he doesn’t want Corum taking the abuse of 30 carries a game, Hart acknowledges that Michigan will do whatever it takes to win.

“I told him he’s not gonna break my records,” said Hart. “But, I tell the kids, they know, we’ll do what we have to win. So, do I want to do 30? No, I want to get Donovan more carries, C.J. more carries. But we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do to get to the win. So just feel like sometimes it’s best.”

Corum bulked up this past offseason and put on 10-pounds of weight. Hart was asked if he thought that Corum could handle the extra workload due to him adding weight. Hart shrugged and said he wasn’t sure, but he believes that Corum could carry the ball 30 times every game.

“Maybe, maybe not? I don’t know,” said Hart. “You know, I think that 205, 210, 212 — what’s the difference? But I know he can carry about 30 times a game.”

There is a lot of comparisons between both Hart and Corum. Hart admits that Corum acts like what he did back in his playing day and that both of them have a special relationship. But, beyond that, both are smaller backs. Hart was 5-foot-9 and Corum is 5-foot-8, but both played much bigger than they are. Neither goes down after first contact and both would keep their feet moving. Coach Hart doesn’t believe there is any benefit to being a small running back in college, but instead, he says that if you’re good, you’re good. He believes that Corum should be talked about as the Doak Walker Award winner and should be in the Heisman conversation.

“I just think that whether you’re big, whether you’re small, if you’re good, you’re good,” said Hart. “And he’s good. He should be a guy that’s gonna be
talked about for the Doak Walker, for the Heisman. We move as Blake moves. He’s a special player. I just love that kid.”

Blake Corum and the Michigan Wolverines will be back in action on Saturday against Indiana at Noon EDT on FOX.

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What Mike Hart said about Michigan football running backs before Indiana

He’s simply the best. #GoBlue

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Everyone expected Michigan football to be a more pass-heavy team in 2022. Well, not so fast.

Thus far, the running game, led by junior Blake Corum, has carried the load, which has more to do with his talent than any struggle through the air. Considering his position coach, it’s really no surprise.

Mike Hart looks at Corum like a younger version of himself, saying that if anyone was to marry his daughters, he’d trust the young Wolverine. On Wednesday, he delved into the totality of the run game, his emotions about traveling back to Bloomington, and much more.

Here is everything he had to say.

Mike Hart shares his thoughts on freshman CJ Stokes and his possible role as the No. 3 back

Hart is great to listen to!

It’s very apparent who the top two options for Michigan football are in the backfield: Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards.

Corum did almost reach 1,000 yards lost season, but due to the injury bug and sharing reps with Hassan Haskins down the stretch, Corum was just shy of the 1,000-yard mark with 952. Now a sophomore, Edwards came into Michigan as one of the best running back recruits that the university has seen in quite a while, but being stuck behind both Hassan Haskins and Corum last year, his playtime was sporadic. But the former five-star recruit shined when his opportunity came his way.

Now in 2022, the Wolverines are set up with another fantastic one-two punch in the backfield. The big question coming into the year, was going to be who would be that No. 3 running back? Michigan tried its hand with linebacker Kalel Mullings in spring, but he has now settled in on the defense. The Wolverines still have Tavierre Dunlap who came in last season with Edwards, but it appears that true freshman CJ Stokes has received the first opportunity to take that role.

Against Colorado State, Stokes was the first back off the bench behind Corum and Edwards. He carried the ball six times for 35 yards in the game.

On Wednesday, running back coach Mike Hart met with the media and he received plenty of questions about the freshman from Columbia (SC).

Hart told the media that both Stokes and Dunlap had good camps. He said that Michigan needed to find that No. 3 guy. Hart says that it’s still not clear who is going to get more carries week-to-week between the two, but he says the bulk of the battle will between these next couple of weeks.

“I think that him and Tavi have had a good fall camp obviously,” said Hart. I think everyone knew this offseason, we had to find a guy that can get carries as a No. 3. And he runs hard. I think he has great burst. So, excited about him, still excited about Tavi. I think the bulk of battling throughout these first couple of weeks of who’s gonna get more touches, who’s gonna get more carries as that No. 3 guy.”

Coming out of high school, Stokes was a three-star recruit according to 247Sports composite. He was the 63rd-ranked running back and the 798th-ranked recruit in the entire country. Stokes had offers from South Carolina, Penn State, Missouri, West Virginia, among others. While he wasn’t some five-star recruit, Hart says that he doesn’t need that. Coach Hart says that wants to recruit “good players”. Hart called Stokes strong-minded and self motivated, Hart loves those type of players.

“I always tell you guys this — at the end of the day, I’m not — you guys know this, the recruiting guys know that I don’t recruit stars, if that makes sense,” said Hart. “I recruit good players or try to recruit good players. And he’s a kid that was under-recruited, who had great film, is fast, had track times, ran the ball hard, ran through people, could show he can catch the ball. And then at the end of the day, it’s just who he is as a person.”

“And you talk about a kid who has a strong mind, who’s confident in himself who’s not afraid of competition,” said Hart. “A kid that is gonna have success in the long run, he wants to be great. Like, you have to have kids that want to be great. Some kids like the recruiter, he wasn’t a kid that you had to call every day. He’s a kid that knew who he was, you know, and just that self-motivation. And those are the kids — the Blake Corums, the Donovan Edwards — those are kids who show up to work every day, you don’t have to worry about, Are going to go to class, we’re going to take care of those things. And those things are more important to me as a coach than kids were ranked five-stars because they go to a big school, that may not be that good.”

Running backs don’t just run the ball. In today’s day and age, you have to be able to run, catch, and pass block. Hart was asked how far along Stokes was with his pass protection. The former Michigan great said that Stokes is just like any freshman, something he has to work on. He said that Stokes can do, but they will continue to work on the consistency of doing it.

“Like any freshman,” said Stokes. “You come in it’s the number one thing any freshman recruit has to work on, is pass pro. Can they do it? Absolutely. Has he done it? Absolutely. You know what I mean? So we’ll move on and I mean, is he gonna be in on third-and-12 when I know they’re gonna bring zero blitz? Probably not. But he could be. No different than Donovan last year. No different than Blake before that. No different than any freshmen I’ve ever coached. Tavi was the same way last year. That’s the biggest jump to college football, is pass protection for any freshmen.”

You can check out CJ Stokes and the rest of the running backs this Saturday at 8 p.m. on Big Ten Network.

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Everything Mike Hart said about Michigan football running backs in Week 2

He’s still one of the best! #GoBlue

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan football managed 234 yards in the season opener, a good number to be sure, but Mike Hart would like to see more.

The Wolverines running backs coach and all-time rushing leader met with the media on Wednesday to discuss the state of his position group, and noted that there were a couple of runs that were a broken tackle away from going for 40 yards. But there was still a lot to like.

Now that it’s a new-look room without Hassan Haskins, Hart shared what he’s seen from his current players, why he’s not looking to replace Haskins, what he’s seen from freshman C.J. Stokes and more.

Here’s everything he had to say.

Two former Michigan running backs in ESPN top 100

Those two were fantastic for Michigan!

Michigan has had some great running backs thru the years, and two of them cracked ESPN’s top 100 rankings from the past 60 seasons.

Bill Connerly wrote a piece that you can see on ESPN+ that ranked his top-100 running backs from the past 60 years, and boy, there sure are some good ones on that list.

Two former Michigan running backs cracked the top 100.

Connerly ranked Mike Hart at No. 64 on the list. Connerly listed Hart under ‘four-year dynamo’ which meant that the players listed there were good as freshmen and even better as seniors. Hart ran for 5,040 yards on 1,015 carries and 41 rushing touchdowns during his four-year career as a starter at Michigan.

The other Wolverine that appeared on the list was Rob Lytle at No. 54. Here is what Connerly had to say about the former Michigan star.

54. Rob Lytle, Michigan

Years: 1974-76
Career stats: 3,311 rushing yards (6.0), 158 receiving yards (11.3), 29 TDs

Known for his toughness above all else, the three-year Wolverines star also boasted standout explosiveness. He averaged 6.6 yards per carry over more than 18 carries per game as a senior, famously posting 165 yards in a runaway win over rival Ohio State.

Barry Sanders was the top-ranked running back that appeared on the list from Connerly.

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Could another Michigan football assistant be on the move?

This one would really hurt.

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Now that Jim Harbaugh flirted with the NFL and subsequently reaffirmed his commitment to Michigan football, things are moving pretty quickly — perhaps in the wrong direction.

It’s of little surprise that Josh Gattis departed the program, though it being a lateral move to Miami does raise some eyebrows, but there have been persistent rumors that he won’t be the only Wolverines assistant to leave in the wake of Harbaugh’s flirtation with the Minnesota Vikings.

While the loss of Gattis stings, the hope has been that as much of the staff that coached the 2021 team would return intact, but The Detroit News’ Angelique Chengelis raises the possibility that one of the Wolverines’ most popular assistant coaches could also be on the move.

Mike Hart came aboard this past year after serving as the Indiana Hoosiers running backs coach, and he helped take the run game to the next level this past year. Chengelis shares that if NFL teams come calling, Hart could potentially leave his alma mater to join the professional ranks.

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Losing Gattis is a blow, to be sure, but with speculation that Matt Weiss will jump into that role, it certainly lessens the impact. The same cannot be said should Hart leave the program, as he’s both a favorite son as well as an excellent coach.

Of course, this is merely a ‘could’ rather than ‘will.’ Either way, we’ll assuredly have more answers about how everything will unfold in the coming week, whether it’s at this position, the offensive coordinator role, or even the vacant defensive coordinator position left open by Mike Macdonald.

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What Mike Hart said about Michigan football’s running backs before Penn State

It’ll be interesting to see who plays and how they do vs. Penn State on Saturday.

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ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The run game continues to be the strength for the Michigan football offense, but what will happen this week against Penn State?

At the moment, the status of both Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards remains unclear, as the latter was not dressed for the Indiana game while the former returned to the sideline in a walking boot after suffering an injury in an early series.

Michigan running backs coach Mike Hart spoke with the media on Wednesday to discuss the state of the tailbacks, what he’s seen from Hassan Haskins as well as the challenges posed by the Penn State defense. Here is everything he had to say.

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