Tag: Trevor Keegan

‘The mutant’ hopes to showcase athleticism in Michigan football season opener

He’s going to be a fan favorite this year. #GoBlue

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan football’s offense is quite confident in what you’ll see this year, not only on that side of the ball, but also on defense. Of course, there are many new faces on the defense, given that multiple starters headed to the NFL during the offseason. But one name (of many) getting a great deal of hype is third-year player and first-year starter Kris Jenkins.

When asked if there’s a player on defense he hates lining up against, fourth-year guard Trevor Keegan immediately offered Jenkins, while noting an internal nickname the team has been using for him.

“Kris Jenkins, man — there’s something about him,” Keegan said. “We call him ‘the mutant.’ He’s just a freak.”

How did that nickname come about? Jenkins says that the Wolverines’ strength and conditioning coach gave it to him because he’s deceptive in pretty much every metric — he may appear unassuming as a defensive tackle, but there’s more than meets the eye.

“That came from, I want to say about a year ago, going into fall camp last year,” Jenkins said. “Coach Herb, he was talking about each player individually, how they did in a weight session and he just gave me the nickname, ‘the mutant,’ and it kind of stuck ever since then. We’ve just been keeping it up.

“They say it’s because — for my size you wouldn’t think that I’m a strong or I can move as fast as I can, or as strong as I am. So, that’s the meaning behind that. So, I really liked it because it kind of pressures me to live up to it.”

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Jenkins isn’t the only one with a nickname. Perhaps to his teammates’ chagrin, he rattled off some of the other players’ terms of endearment. One has been widely known, but others we didn’t know are sure to be popular among fans.

“We got ‘the sheriff,’ Carter Selzer, ‘the sheriff,” Jenkins said. “Actually, he’s now an official sheriff if I’m not mistaken after our community service trip to the Flint, Michigan, jail center, but yeah.

“Mazi, ‘the freak,’ without a doubt. We got Dominic Giudice, his nickname’s ‘dominator.’ We got other guys. Rashaun Benny, ‘radiator.’
George — George ‘choo choo’ Rooks — his name’s pretty tough in my opinion!”

As for his deceptive ability on the field, Jenkins remains humble, though he embraces the nickname. He says fans will be able to see for themselves when Michigan opens the season on Saturday against Colorado State.

“I mean, I don’t want to toot my own horn too much, but I’m pretty fast,” Jenkins said. “I’m pretty fast. Pretty, pretty strong. I want to say I’ll let game day do the talking for me. If there’s a there’s a screen to the outside, you know, like a quick shuffle pass to the outside, you’ll see me running, y’all can decide!”

Keegan agrees with his assessment, noting he’s a really difficult matchup for anyone who goes up against him.

“He’s definitely worked on his pass rush moves,” Keegan said. “He’s got a lot more to the table there. He plays with really good leverage in the run game, which is sometimes it’s hard to move him. So he’s just become an all-around defensive lineman, he’s playing really good.”

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Michigan heard Washington say it’d stop the run, made it pay

‘We’re in the business of not talking, we’re in the business of actually doing it.’ 👏

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ANN ARBOR, Mich. — There’s a continued notion in college football that it’s unwise to poke the bear. After Michigan ran all over Western Michigan in Week 1, it turned out that Washington hadn’t learned that lesson.

Though the Wolverines had a focus on running the ball entering the 2021 season, the Huskies weren’t just determined to stop it, they told the world that they would stop it in the week leading up to the game.

“We’re going to stop the run,” Washington linebacker Jackson Sirmon said. “They want to run the ball, and we’re going to stop the run. We’re excited to do that, they have some talented guys running the ball. It’s one of those things that one guy, one guy is going to get on the tackle and everyone is going to flock to them. We need to limit yards after contact.”

Bold move, Cotton. How did it pay off for them?

It didn’t. Michigan accumulated 343 yards on 56 carries, scoring all four touchdowns on the ground.

An Instagram story posted by Wolverines director of development Chris Bryant showed many of the offensive linemen gloating — with good cause — at the end of the game as they were walking off the field. Among them was fifth-year right tackle Andrew Stueber who yelled, ‘It’s a long plane ride back to Washington!’ Several players shared Sirmon’s quote on their own Instagram stories after the game, including third-year left guard Trevor Keegan.

So did he and the other linemen hear Sirmon’s proclamation earlier in the week? Turns out, yes — and it was unwise to poke the bear.

“Coach Moore definitely made a huge, huge deal about it,” Stueber said. “I think one of the linebackers said that, that they are gonna run the ball and we are gonna stop it. Coach Moore said that and took it upon us as words of action to take it. We’re in the business of not talking, we’re in the business of actually doing it.”

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It became not just a point of emphasis but such a point of pride for an offense that certainly has carved out a niche, running the ball for more than 300 yards for two consecutive weeks. Despite Sirmon’s insistence, the Husky front wore down, and Steuber and company began to feel their will break as Michigan ran the ball with impunity.

“We went out there, started running the ball every play. I think that drive where we only ran the ball coming out, just producing, getting yards, driving off the ball, they started to give up hope midway through the third, early fourth quarter,” Stueber said. “They just were getting physically beat down. We take huge pride in that. It’s something we practice everyday in the Beat Ohio drills, like I mentioned before. That’s Big Ten football so we’re gonna keep doing that.

“When we get to Big Ten league play, whoever rushes for more yards is usually the victor. That’s something we take huge pride in and we hope to continue doing it.”

“We’re confident in our playbook, we know our schemes,” Keegan said. “We prepared all week and we were pretty confident about it.”

It’s not like Washington didn’t try to stop it, either.

As Jim Harbaugh said after the game, they ran a lot of different defensive looks in order to try and stifle the Wolverines ground attack. But it proved futile. Keegan says that Michigan was prepared for everything that the Husky defense threw at them.

“We’ll do whatever it takes to help the team win. We loved it. We imposed our will on them,” Keegan said. “They did a lot of things to try to stop the run: try to blitz off the edges, ruin our run lanes. But we had answers for it.”

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Why Michigan football’s culture change goes beyond hopes and smiles

Some really good practical examples of why current players have bought in. #GoBlue

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ANN ARBOR, Mich. — If you talk to a Michigan football player, they will tell you that the culture has completely changed inside Schembechler Hall. Given the moribund aura around 2020, that’s the least you could hope for.

That’s been the talk of the team since spring ball, with just about every Wolverine noting how much different things are compared to before.

“Oh yeah. The culture is amazing. When I wake up, I look forward to coming in, getting treatment, watching film, because everybody’s here,” junior tight end Erick All said. “Everybody has a smile on their face, everybody’s ready to have a better season.”

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“Oh, I feel it. Everybody feels it,” junior defensive tackle Chris Hinton said. “Everyone just has an extra pep in their step when it comes to practice, meetings. You feel the culture change around this building.

“We have a lot of trust in Coach Mac and the new staff. Like I said, the new staff is young – really young – so they relate to us a lot. Just do football, do life, what you’re going through – things of that sort. When you trust somebody, you’re gonna give your all.”

While both players above expounded a bit on what it means, it goes deeper than just liking the coaches or having smiles on their faces.

Junior left guard Trevor Keegan notes that a big part of the change includes players who wouldn’t have consorted with each other now getting to know their counterparts on the team they might not have been quite as familiar with.

“100%, yeah. Players, the coaches, the team camaraderie,” Keegan said. “We got dudes talking to dudes that wouldn’t even talk to each other two years ago. Now, spirit’s up, hopes are high and we’re determined this year.”

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Hinton confirms what Keegan says, noting that a big part of the change is the fact that last year, players couldn’t hang out together in the building, especially during meal times. With the pandemic raging, many meetings were virtual, and if players were getting food, it was a grab-and-go situation.

However, now it’s all quite different, but not just because new friendships are being forged. It all started back in January when Jim Harbaugh let many of his longtime staff members go in favor of bringing in younger coaches. Himself eager to right a sinking ship, Harbaugh gave a speech to the team that encouraged the downtrodden to bound together.

“Honestly, I think the first team meeting we had after the season,” Keegan said is when he first noticed the culture change. “Coach Harbaugh said, ‘If you’re gonna hop on the train, don’t miss it. Just stay on it and keep going.’ First spring practice, it’s been rolling.”

That was true for Keegan, but for Hinton, it was more forged when new defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald arrived, encouraging more participation in what the players wanted to see happen on that side of the ball. The inclusive nature of having a younger, yet storied NFL-level coach coming in and relating to the players certainly helped someone like Hinton — who had been recruited by and played under Don Brown — buy in.

“(I) probably first noticed the culture change the first meeting he had with us in January,” Hinton said. “(Macdonald) came in, we had a defensive meeting. Laid down what he envisioned and he said, ‘What do y’all envision this to be? Because it’s y’alls defense at the end of the day.’ And the guys really soaked that up and really appreciated that he was really giving us the keys to the defense – I mean, we all know that he’s the coach though! But having us put a blueprint in the defense.”

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RECAP: Vincent Gray, Chris Hinton, Trevor Keegan, Erick All (8/31)

Michigan football players share their thoughts on the culture changes, the new defense and more in a 5-minute highlight video.

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August 31, 2021:

• Vincent Gray
• Christopher Hinton
• Trevor Keegan
• Erick All

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In accordance with Michigan football policy, the media isn’t allowed to upload more than 5 minutes of footage from any press conference. But we found our way around that. Giving you the best of every press conference, we cut out the questions to give you the straight answers, with the most interesting parts of each media availability taking center stage. WolverinesWire presents our new series: RECAP in five minutes or less.

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Topics include:

• Defensive changes in the secondary
• What Vincent Gray has seen from Daylen Baldwin
• Why Gray is happy about the scheme changes
• Culture changes on the team
• How previous personal struggles are helping current players
• Impressions of Mike Macdonald
• How practice should help in games

And MORE!

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Michigan football veterans confident in emerging youth

How Michigan football bounces back against Indiana and what some younger players could look like if they’re forced into action vs. Indiana.

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After sacking redshirt junior Tanner Morgan five times in their season-opening victory on Oct. 24, the Michigan defense failed to register one sack of Michigan State’s Rocky Lombardi — another redshirt junior — in the upset loss on Halloween.

Responsible for one of the sacks against Minnesota, redshirt senior defensive tackle Carlo Kemp still turned in a solid individual performance in the home-opener, registering five tackles, tied with redshirt sophomore VIPER Michael Barrett for the seventh-best mark on defensive coordinator Don Brown’s unit.

Meeting with the media remotely on Monday, Kemp offered his thoughts on the defensive line’s showing in the battle for the Paul Bunyan Trophy.

“That was a good unit we were facing, and they did some good things schematically to slow us down,” Kemp said. “Watching that tape, you really got to be (critical) of your performance, because it didn’t end up producing an outcome at the end of the game that you wanted.

“So, the things that you did, weren’t as impactful as you wanted them to be. Now, as you watch that tape and go forward, you got to be prepared to see looks like that again, and, when you get in those situations where it’s a look that you’ve seen, you got to do something that you’ve been practicing differently to get to the quarterback and cause some disruption.”

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Kemp, along with bookends Aidan Hutchinson and Kwity Paye, a junior and senior, respectively, all received at least third-team All-Big Ten recognition in 2019. Despite Michigan State holding this potent group in check, the Boulder, Colorado native was not caught off guard by the looks the Spartans presented.

“No, that’s something they had (done) in their previous game against Rutgers,” Kemp said. “Going into it, we were confident about what we were going to see and what we ended up seeing on Saturday.”

But what’s going on with the other side of the ball?

Given that Kemp goes up against the offensive line in practice, he has some insight on two young offensive linemen, redshirt freshman Trevor Keegan and freshman Zak Zinter, both 247Sports Composite four-star prospects in their classes.

“A big thing this year is just always trying to be ready,” Kemp said. “One thing we talked about is this year is definitely unlike any other year before where, at any moment, at any time, you got to be ready to play.

“Keegan, going into his second year here, has definitely developed into a player that is ready to go if his moment comes, if his time comes.

“Zinter, being at the young age he is, coming in as a freshman, kid’s just got better and better since he’s been here. He’s strong enough and he’s a very athletic interior guy, and I’m sure, if his number’s called, he’ll definitely be ready to step on the field and help us.”

Speaking to Kemp’s point of always being ready, redshirt freshman Karsen Barnhart was thrust into action when redshirt sophomore right tackle Jalen Mayfield was forced to leave the Michigan State game after being rolled up on in the fourth quarter.

Based on the praise from their elder teammate, it sounds like, if something were to happen to redshirt junior left guard Chuck Filiaga or right guard Andrew Stueber, another redshirt junior, Keegan and Zinter would be up to the task.

The Wolverines, who dropped ten spots to No. 23 in the latest AP Top 25, will look to return to the win column on Saturday when they battle the No. 13 Indiana Hoosiers at Bloomington’s Memorial Stadium at 12 p.m. EST on FS1.

Owning a 59-9 edge in the all-time series, Michigan has won 24-straight over the Hoosiers, with the last loss coming in Bloomington on Oct. 24, 1987.

Why Michigan’s OL is poised to be better than pundits believe

Many think the Michigan football OL could be taking a major step back in 2020, but the U-M OC explains why it’s a pretty experienced group.

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ANN ARBOR, Mich. — We’re heard the same thing all offseason long: Michigan’s not only replacing its starting quarterback in 2020, but the bulk of its offensive line in the fall.

While that’s true from a literal standpoint, that doesn’t automatically mean a step back.

For quite some time, we’ve been pointing out that three of Michigan’s likely five starters have starting experience. Right tackle Jalen Mayfield started last year, left tackle Ryan Hayes started the first two games, while right guard Andrew Stueber started the last two games of 2018 at right tackle. But the Wolverines also like the pieces they have at left guard and center.

While we don’t know the starting lineup for sure, as fall competition is still underway and padded practices don’t begin for another week, there’s a lot to like about the position group, offensive coordinator Josh Gattis says. And it starts with the team’s presumed center, who only started being on scholarship one year ago.

“That group has started to come together in my eyes,” Gattis said. “And though a lot of people assume that it’s new faces, but a lot of old heads. A lot of guys have been in the building, that have been around – veteran-type players. First and foremost, the guy I think has done an exceptional job of leading our offensive line unit is Andrew Vastardis. He’s a fifth-year player who started as a walk-on. And I can’t say enough great things about – he’s the guy that gets it going at the center position for us. From a communication standpoint, making sure everybody’s on the same page. But then I would see his approach. And he showed flashes at the end of games last year when we were able to get him in with some leads. First, Michigan State, he got in for a few plays when Cesar went down. But being able to replace your center is always an important piece. And we feel like we’ve got an important piece with Andrew Vastardis there as our centerpiece. He’s back up to having some competition by (Zach) Carpenter, and we want to keep developing that room with Reece (Atteberry).”

Of course, it’s not just Vastardis or the aforementioned returning trio who can provide a lot for the OL. A lot also has to do with offensive line coach Ed Warinner, who has a long, long track record of producing NFL-caliber offensive lines.

Beyond coaching, however, the group has more experience than many recognize. Some of it isn’t game experience, but for those, they’ve been in the building for some time, as it were. But the most important thing, Gattis notes, isn’t necessarily experience, nor is it individual skill or effort.

No, it’s the chemistry between the five actually on the field. And that’s what Gattis is starting to see build.

“These guys are going into their third and fourth year into the program, so they’re not your typical freshmen or first-year players that you’re looking to replace a lot of your offensive linemen with,” Gattis said. “Obviously getting the great news that Jalen’s coming back. For Jalen, being around the team is so important. There was a number of different key components that really led to his decision: being around the team, getting his degree, but more importantly, he loves football. He wants to be an elite talent, he wants to be a first-rounder.

“So we feel really, really good about where we are as well as building depth. Seeing guys like Chuck Filiaga step up right now. Karsen Barnhart, Trevor Keegan – just to name a few. We feel very strong – Trente Jones has had a great camp. We feel very strong about the depth that we have, obviously now having Jalen back. But the pieces are coming together and you can see chemistry, the camaraderie really show itself. And that’s the key piece whenever you’re replacing a whole line. It’s not about how one individual can play, it’s about how all five can play together. So that’s the biggest thing we’ve been trying to create is an atmosphere where they’re playing closely together and being able to be all on the same page.”

However, it’s still a long way until the season opener on Oct. 24 at Minnesota, and Gattis wants to make sure the offensive line is ready to play.

That doesn’t mean he wants them to know the playbook or what defenses are doing, per se — though, of course, they should know that. But they need to be physically prepared to take the field.

What does that mean? Well, you perhaps saw the rash of injuries that plagued the NFL in Week Two, as several notable names were lost for the season. Nick Bosa and Saquon Barkley were among the casualties, and Gattis wants to ensure that his offense, particularly the offensive line and running backs, don’t suffer similar fates, as they’re the ones who take on the brunt of the physical toll on that side of the ball.

“I think that’s gonna be the emphasis once Sept. 30 hits and they allow us to get physical contact,” Gattis said. “It will be about how physical we can become as a football team and I think right now, I think there’s concerns overall in football because of all the time that we’ve missed. You’ve seen throughout the NFL this past week, there was a rash of some pretty bad injuries, because a lot of people missed all this contact. Initially, I think we all thought as coaches that we didn’t need the training camp, we didn’t need the spring football, but that’s starting to be proven wrong, that you need that physicality early on to provide that callous on the body to be able to withstand some of the physicality that’s in this game.

“When Sept. 30 hits, that’s gonna be a major emphasis. Up until this point, it’s been about the mental edge, it’s about the footwork, it’s about the hand placement, about the fine details. But when we can get the pads on, we’ve gotta make sure we get our guys ready for game one.

“And that’s not just our offensive line, that’s even our running backs. When you look at one of the key issues we experienced last year offensively was fumbling the football. So we’ve gotta make sure our backs are getting hit in practice, they’re getting thudded up, they’re getting taken to the ground so the first time we get touched in a game, we don’t respond in a negative way, that we could respond in a positive way, with power, and be able to play with a physical presence.”

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