Vincent Smith Starting At Rb? Not Quite...

Over the past several days, I have witnessed the running back speculation from preseason reappear. However, instead of a battle between Michael Shaw and Fitz Toussaint, it has centered around #2, Vincent Smith.

In fact, in an article posted by the Michigan Daily, they claim that, "Smith emerges as lead back." Although Smith certainly impressed last Saturday with his 112 rushing yards and 13.1 average per attempt, nothing has ever confirmed him as the "lead back" for Michigan.

In fact, Brady Hoke himself simply stated that "Vince has earned [the] right" to be Michigan's lead back. NEVER did he state that Vincent Smith was starting. In fact, in the article by the Michigan Daily, they admitted that the depth chart still had Shaw or Toussaint listed as the starter.

To me, this is just overblown hype from the media attempting to get hits. A story stating that Vincent Smith is in the mix to be Michigan's lead back is much less exciting than a story claiming he is the starting running back. If speculation is correct, it is very likely that Fitz Toussaint will still walk out to start the game on Saturday.

The depth chart could still certainly change, but I think the media and fans are getting a little bit ahead of themselves at this point. Remember, the last game was against Eastern Michigan. Yes, the same Eastern Michigan that was ranked as one of the worst offenses and defenses in 2010. Putting up a lot of rushing yards on the Eastern Michigan defense isn't likely to change too many aspects of the team.

Although I think Vincent Smith has a lot of talent, and may end up as the #2 running back (he already is the featured 3rd down back), I can't see him passing Toussaint anytime soon. I expect Toussaint to have a reasonable game on Saturday and remain as the starter for the foreseeable future.

Let's hope that even if Smith is chosen as the starter, which has not been done at this point, the running backs pick it up over the next several weeks.

To Rest Or Not To Rest

With the recent announcements regarding injured players Fitz Toussaint, Troy Woolfolk, and Cam Gordon, I got to thinking about injuries in relation to game time played. All three of these players have encountered at least one injury (Troy Woolfolk has suffered 3 just this season, following his season ending injury from last year), but were recently reported to be fit to play this Saturday during Brady Hoke's press conference.

So the question becomes, if these players are "fit to play," should they still receive decent playing time in this weeks match-up with Eastern Michigan? Michigan was picked by Vegas as more than a 30 point favorite when it takes to the field on Saturday, but there seems to still be an incentive to place these recently injured players back into the line-up immediately.

Some point to momentum and consistently as the reason to throw these players straight back into the lineup. This is certainly a major issue for most teams. Does the coaching staff want to risk re-injuring, or injuring, a starter in a game against a mind-boggling underdog?

To me, I think Michigan needs to find a nice balance. Because of the team's schedule in the upcoming weeks (Eastern Michigan, San Diego State, Minnesota, and Northwestern), I think there is much less risk for trouble than typical of most teams. For instance, Michigan is a heavy favorite against Eastern Michigan, but the ratio is sure to decrease in the following weeks (although Michigan should still be a decent favorite over at least San Diego State and Minnesota).

With this in mind, Eastern Michigan is probably the only game where Michigan could probably sit a good portion of its starters for an extended period and still win by a decent margin. However, if any particular starter did happen to get injured against Eastern Michigan this Saturday, the loss would not be devestating because they would very likely return by the end of this four game stretch, or before the Michigan State match-up on October 15th.

So when the starters stay in for perhaps a big too long on Saturday, or Hoke rushes some of these recently injured players back into the lineup, don't stress out too much, the potential loss to the team is relatively low considering the schedule, since starters will probably have to play for extended periods during the following weeks, but the team still maintaining a great chance at victory.

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We Have A Starter....Maybe...

In the past few days, Brady Hoke and the Michigan staff have revealed almost all of the depth chart. Some of the positions had already been solidified weeks ago, but others remained a mystery, such as corner back (Troy Woolfolk already was confirmed as a starter), the defensive line, place-kicker and most notably, running back.

With Ann Arbor.com's newest depth chart, everyone thought that almost everything had been set. However, reports have surfaced today from both the Detroit Free Press and tweeter mspeedkills that Fitz Toussaint has been receiving the first snaps during practice. This comes as a surprise since just days ago Michael Shaw seemed to have the starting running back position locked up.

This seems to show that media predictions don't always show the real events of training camp and practice. Shaw may appear to be the most capable back, but Hoke and Borges have obviously not settled on one guy and Toussaint must be doing some impressive things for them to keep him in the running for the starting position.

The Detroit Free Press has also reported, much to the shock of the public, that J.T. Floyd may actually start at cornerback. Many from the media and other groups had made it seem as if Avery was a sure lock for the position, but obviously this has not been confirmed either.

The positions that do appear "locked up" at this point seem to be the defensive line and place-kicker. From the statements from the coaching staff and media reports, it appears that Roh, Black, Martin, and Van Bergen will be on the line. This is discouraging for Will Campbell, a former 5 star recruit who is a junior at Michigan.

Matt Wile appears to be locked in for punting and kickoff duties, but it looks like Brendan Gibbons will be attempting any place kicks. Though I am not excited for Gibbons to return as the starting kicker for Michigan, you can clearly see in our exclusive kicking practice video that Gibbons has become much better.