{"id":15892,"date":"2023-09-06T17:35:56","date_gmt":"2023-09-06T22:35:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/?p=15892"},"modified":"2023-09-06T17:35:56","modified_gmt":"2023-09-06T22:35:56","slug":"michigan-dbs-will-johnson-rod-moore-getting-closer-and-closer-to-returning-from-injury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/michigan-dbs-will-johnson-rod-moore-getting-closer-and-closer-to-returning-from-injury\/","title":{"rendered":"Michigan DBs Will Johnson, Rod Moore \u2018getting closer and closer\u2019 to returning from injury"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michigan Wolverines football<\/a> <\/strong>was without two of its best defenders in a 30-3 season-opening win over East Carolina. Both junior safety Rod Moore<\/a> <\/strong>and sophomore cornerback Will Johnson<\/a> <\/strong>were listed as \u2018questionable,\u2019 warmed up but did not play in the blowout win. Co-defensive coordinator and secondary coach Steve Clinkscale<\/a> <\/strong>provided an injury update Wednesday ahead of the team\u2019s game against UNLV.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re getting closer and closer every day,\u201d Clinkscale noted. \u201cI kinda stay out of the training room with them, so when they\u2019re out there on the field, I coach them. Yesterday, they were both practicing, so that was awesome. I think they\u2019re getting closer and closer every day.<\/p>\n

\u201cA big thing with those guys having the issues that they had is not to rush them back, make sure they\u2019re comfortable, especially when you\u2019re a DB and you\u2019re out on an island. If you rush a guy back, it can really set him back. So I think [Michigan head] Coach [Jim Harbaugh<\/a><\/strong>] has done a great job and our training staff has done a great job of bringing those guys back the way they need to be, right on time \u2014\u00a0not too fast, not too slow. I\u2019m excited about seeing them out there this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Graduate cornerback Josh Wallace<\/a><\/strong>, a UMass transfer, made his Michigan debut by starting on the outside, opposite graduate Keshaun Harris<\/strong>, a walk-on. Michigan sophomore Keon Sabb<\/a><\/strong>, meanwhile, started in Moore\u2019s place at safety. Sabb finished with 5 tackles, including a team-high 3 solo stops, and 2 pass breakups, while Wallace had a pass breakup of his own. Clinkscale liked how both played.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow did you guys think they did?\u201d Clinkscale said. \u201cI thought they did pretty good. They defended the deep ball pretty well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wallace\u2019s pass breakup was initially ruled an interception but was overturned because the ECU receiver touched the ball out of bounds before the Michigan defensive back secured it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a heck of a play Josh made,\u201d Clinkscale said. \u201cThat rule is a little different \u2014\u00a0that guy was out of bounds when he touched it \u2014\u00a0but that was great reaction. We haven\u2019t seen that for a couple of years, other than DJ Turner<\/a><\/strong> and Will Johnson, guys turning around and finding the ball, so that was really good to see. Really pleased with that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWant to continue to build on some things with both of those guys, and just the more exposure they get against top-end receivers will really be the test. That was a good start. This week with a quarterback who\u2019s got a strong arm, and they\u2019ve got really fast receivers, will be more of a test for us outside at the corner spot. They\u2019ll be isolated a lot, so they\u2019re gonna have to win their one-on-one quite a bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michigan junior safety Makari Paige<\/a> <\/strong>was limited, playing 10 snaps early in the game, and he\u2019s still working to be back full-go. His presence was felt, though, Clinkscale pointed out.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving Makari for a few plays last week made a big difference,\u201d the Michigan assistant said. \u201cIt helped some of those younger guys get their feet wet, with an older guy, a veteran out there on the field, with a physical player on the field. He kind of set the tone, and then I let the rest of the guys play the rest of the game. Getting those guys closer and closer, helping us get them a few plays here and there, until they\u2019re 100-percent ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amorion Walker still out with injury<\/h2>\n

Michigan sophomore cornerback Amorion Walker<\/a><\/strong>, a converted wide receiver who switched over to defense before spring ball, has been out with a lower-body injury since the middle of fall camp. It doesn\u2019t seem like he\u2019s all that close to returning at this point, given that he hasn\u2019t been practicing. He\u2019s still taking mental reps, though, and has impressed Clinkscale.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmorion is a special talent \u2014\u00a0we all know that,\u201d Clinkscale said. \u201cThe spring doesn\u2019t matter, the summer doesn\u2019t matter. What I see from him now is he\u2019s locked in. He\u2019s in here \u2014\u00a0he\u2019s not able to practice \u2014\u00a0but he\u2019s watching film, he\u2019s taking notes. You should see his notes. I take his notes and show them to everybody. He\u2019s taking notes \u2014\u00a0everything. If I burp, he\u2019ll write down, \u2018burp.\u2019 He\u2019s taking notes, he\u2019s listening to everything.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s being a sponge, and that\u2019s what you want from your players. If they\u2019re not able to do it physically, do it mentally. And that way, now when the younger guy wants to talk to him, he can give him the right answer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added the Michigan coach: \u201cSo, I\u2019ve been proud of him about how he\u2019s handled this. It hasn\u2019t been an emotional deal where he disappears and you don\u2019t see him while he\u2019s injured. He\u2019s here every day, all the time. We text and communicate every day, so I think that when he does come back, it\u2019ll help him catapult to where he was and maybe even surpass it. So looking forward to big things from all those guys. I think they\u2019ve done a great job.\u201d<\/p>\n

The post Michigan DBs Will Johnson, Rod Moore \u2018getting closer and closer\u2019 to returning from injury<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michigan Wolverines football was without two of its best defenders in a 30-3 season-opening win…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15892\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}