Expect to see more of these five Michigan football players on offense this week
Twenty nine Michigan Wolverines football players saw the field on offense in Saturday’s 30-3 season-opening victory over East Carolina. Head coach Jim Harbaugh said there were a “lot of positives” from the game, which he missed as part of his three-game school-imposed suspension stemming from an alleged NCAA violation. There are a few players who he feels can contribute more to the cause this coming week against UNLV, however.
Senior right tackle Myles Hinton self-admittedly struggled in his Michigan debut after transferring in from Stanford. While he was the first man in at his position to begin the season, senior Trente Jones is also in the mix, and he may get more time Saturday. Jones served as Michigan’s extra lineman in jumbo packages and got some time at right tackle later in the game. The same goes for graduate LaDarius Henderson, an Arizona State transfer who saw backup snaps. He may get more opportunity versus the Runnin’ Rebels.
“It played out much like I thought it would,” Harbaugh said on the ‘Inside Michigan Football’ radio show. “Trente also had a very good ball game, and so did LaDarius. Excited for him. [Excited for] LaDarius and Trente to both get more snaps this week and get in there and play and show what they can do. It’s probably going to play out that they’re really good, too.”
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Harbaugh hasn’t decided if Henderson and Jones will start, saying “we’ll make that decision as we go this week, what we think is best. We know we want those guys playing, because we know they’re gonna play good.”
The Michigan coach was particularly impressed with Jones’ play as the extra lineman, a role he’s played at times over the last two seasons.
“He’s just so athletic,” Harbaugh said. “He’s been that guy for us — run or pass. Couple times we ran, and then we had a big pass play off of that extra O-lineman set, as well.”
Asked if Jones could get the ball when eligible on the end of the line: “Yeah, everything is possible in football. Everything’s possible! It’ll be good to let our opponents know that that’s possible.”
Two Michigan wide receivers, one tight end to watch
Michigan sophomore wide receiver Darrius Clemons saw 13 snaps on offense — on a pitch count while still working to get back to 100 percent after a minor injury suffered in the preseason — and hauled in 1 catch for 4 yards. Junior Cristian Dixon didn’t see the field but was praised during fall camp for “being there every day,” earning a ‘TED’ helmet sticker, and his overall improvement.
“Really good,” Harbaugh said of Michigan’s passing game, which accumulated 280 yards and scored 3 touchdowns. “Hopefully, we’ll come back this week, reset and try to build that again. Darrius Clemons is still here, and so is Cristian Dixon. Want to get them playing more this week. Darrius got in for about 14 plays in the game. [We have a] lot of talented guys.”
Michigan senior tight end AJ Barner, an Indiana transfer, played quite a bit — 38 offensive snaps — but was targeted only once in the pass game, per PFF. Harbaugh expects his role to increase as the season goes along.
“AJ Barner is going to come to the fore, as well, as we start getting into the ball games and he gets comfortable into the rhythm of the passing game — [already] a really good run blocker,” Harbaugh said.
Michigan’s next opportunity comes Saturday against UNLV (3:30 p.m. ET at The Big House).
