Takeaways from Michigan Football’s Spring Game

Michigan’s spring game unfolded on Saturday afternoon, a game in which the Blue team beat the Maize team 20-12. Here are takeaways from the game.

Cade didn’t do much, but it’s practice

It’s important to note the spring game is a glorified scrimmage. McNamara took part in four drives, going 3-of-7 for 16 yards. McNamara has plenty of film out there and a lights out spring game performance wasn’t necessary to figure out the type of player he is.

Warren shows potential, Bowman throws for two touchdowns

Redshirt freshman walk-on Davis Warren was able to get more playing time during the spring game because J.J. McCarthy is still recovering from arm soreness — Warren made the most of his time, going 12-of-23 for 175 yards and connecting on multiple deep balls.

Bowman started off slow but picked it up in the second half, where he threw a really nice 35-yard touchdown to Darrius Clemons. In all, Bowman was 9-of-19 for 100 yards and two touchdowns.

Michigan’s offense has a lot of speed

Receiver Darrius Clemons’ was targeted ten times, and although that resulted in just 3 receptions for 52 yards and a score it’s clear he has top tier speed at 6-foot-3. Amorion Walker showcased his speed on a 39-yard reception, Running back Donovan Edwards did the same on another 39-yard grab. And A.J. Henning, who aims to be versatile like Deebo Samuel, had 5 receptions for 32 yard, displayed that he is one of Michigan’s fastest players.

They were battling in the trenches

Some spring games feel a little more like an NFL Pro Bowl when it comes to the offensive and defensive line squaring off, where running lanes are easy to come by — that wasn’t the case this year, the lines were battling.

Michigan lineman Kris Jenkins had a sack, defensive lineman T.J. Guy had six tackles. And on the offensive line we had our first glimpse of Olu Oluwatimi, a Virginia transfer who has impressed his new teammates early on. The effort in the trenches was solid today, and it’s clear these units are going at it like this consistently in practice.

A first glimpse of Sainristil on defense

Mike Sainristil isn’t just a receiver these days, he’s also playing nickel cornerback, and early in the spring game he showed why he’s a natural fit to make the transition to the other side of the ball. Sainristil had a pass breakup deep down the field and showed solid catch up speed.

Michigan kept things basic, and that was the plan

Once again, this was a glorified scrimmage, Michigan kept things as vanilla as possible, not tipping their hand in regards to any new schematics or wrinkles on offense or defense.

The main thing the spring game represented was the introduction of the 2022 Michigan Football team, a group that’s far from a finished product on April 2nd. The day represented a reason for fans to come to Michigan Stadium (for free) and cheer on their team with family and friends.