Carr Press Conference Filtering

Point by point:

Captains are Woodley and Long. Mutter mutter should have made Mike Hart a supercaptain or something mutter.

Alex Mitchell is penciled in at right guard. That, of course, means that the oft-dreaded spectre of Rueben Riley, tackle, is all but official.

Weakside linebacker: advantage Burgess.

David Harris has had a good camp and Prescott Burgess has worked -- he and Chris Graham of course are competing for a linebacker position. Burgess came on strong at the end of last week so we'll just have to see how this week goes.

Job still up in the air; whoever loses will be the first OLB off the bench in case of an injury.

Jamar Adams is (probably) your strong safety. Free safety is being battled out between Brandent Engelmon and Ryan Mundy:

At safety, Jamar Adams has had an excellent fall and (Brandent) Engelman and Ryan Mundy are battling hard at the other position.

Brandon Graham is a defensive end and may play this year.

Skill position redshirts are to be scoffed at. Not only is Carlos Brown going to play but Carr says that Greg Mathews and Brandon Minor will see time in an effort to get their talents out of the program as irritatingly fast as possible. I suppose that's good since it indicates that both Mathews and Minor are talented players, but it's wasteful to hurl them out on the field as freshmen for a few meaningless plays. An argument can be made for getting players like Edwards or Avant time as true freshmen when they're going to be counted on to contribute as a sophomore, but Michigan graduates one wide receiver -- Breaston -- and no running backs this year. Their services will not be critical in '07.

Minor and Brown are the most puzzling. At best they're going to be third string. With Mister Simpson, Jerome Jackson, and Alijah Bradley around Michigan certainly has sufficient numbers to do without the freshmen. At least one should redshirt, especially since Mister Simpson did last year. If both play Michigan will have a knot of three running backs with the same eligibility. In summary: bleah.

Zoltan! Is pushing for starting duties:

"He's punted the ball really, really well and it'll be interesting. But he's really made a push."

Grady is better. Hopefully he won't cut away from the hole this year:

"Kevin has had a very good fall. I think he's in the best shape of his life. He's worked hard and obviously he's had a year under his belt where he got significant playing time. He's made a real investment and has had a really good training camp."

Breaston and Manningham sound like the nominal starters at WR; Adrian Arrington is the #3.

Carr's diplomatic answer to the following doesn't say much unless you read between the lines:

Chemistry with you and defensive meeting...I heard you haven't been there as much. Is that different this year? Are you leaving them alone a little bit? ... "I think I have, and have always had, great confidence in the guys that have coached here for me and I have always believed that you give a guy a job, you give him a responsibility and you can't be looking over his shoulder. You've got to allow him to do the job if you are going to make him accountable. That's what I try to do."

It doesn't say much even if you do read between the lines, on second thought, but he didn't deny it. Hurray seeking confirmation of what I desperately want to be true despite scant evidence suggesting such!

This was said about Henne:

"All the areas, before the ball is snapped, I think he's completely comfortable with. He's got a lot of responsibility before the ball snaps and he's had enough experience and I think he does a great job with those issues. I think he's developing everyday as a leader. Physically, he's in the best shape of his life. I think he's quicker than he was a year ago, because he's more mature. And I think he's throwing the ball very well, so I think he's much improved over the year."

Hopefully it is true.

The captains also spoke to the media.