The list of awards that sophomore quarterback Denard Robinson has not won shrinks with each passing week. Accolades and national attention are expected for a player who amasses 885 yards of offense in two games and leads the nation in rushing yards — as a quarterback nonetheless.
He has won the Walter Camp Player of the Week and Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week for each of the first two weeks of the season. He’s the fourth FBS player ever to win the Walter Camp award twice in a season. The Wolverines have 10 more regular season games left.
But Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez said at Monday’s press conference that he isn’t worried about all of it going to Robinson’s head. Robinson said his family has been encouraging him to stay focused. Does he pay attention to the hype? He doesn’t even have cable television, he said, and he tries to stay off the web.
The Wolverines have no doubts that Robinson’s head is screwed on right.
“Denard’s probably the best person that could handle all of this fame,” redshirt junior center David Molk said. “He knows how to handle it. He understands it. He doesn’t search for it, which is probably the most impressive thing. He’s not the kind of guy who wants more of it. He actually doesn’t like it. … He’s not going to be taken by the storm. It’s not gonna fluster him, it’s not gonna take him off his game. And he’s handling it beautifully.”
Robinson carried the ball 57 times in Michigan’s first two games — 36 more times than any other teammate. With those 57 carries, Robinson amassed 455 yards, for an average of eight yards per carry. A natural question to ask is whether Robinson can withstand that kind of workload throughout a physical Big Ten slate of games.
“Listen, we have 500 yards rushing, if all 500 come from one guy, I don’t care,” Rodriguez said. “We’ve got to do what we have to do to win the game and score points. We’re going to make them defend all 11 (players). Everybody says, ‘Well, you can’t run your quarterback 20-some times a game.’ Um, well did they say that when they handed off to Barry Sanders — you can’t run Barry Sanders 20-some times a game? If he can handle it, he can handle it. Would you like to have more balance? Yeah if they give you that — great.
“I promise you, Denard wouldn’t have whatever he has rushing if he didn’t have some dudes blocking for him up front and guys catching the ball. He’d be the first one to tell you that.”
In Rodriguez’s spread, the quarterback is at the center of the offense — he’s the ringleader.
“Our quarterback in our offense is like a point guard that can shoot the three,” Rodriguez said. “He’s got to be able to distribute it sometimes. And sometimes he’s got to shoot the three. Denard’s been taking a lot of threes.”
Rodriguez said that in practice, Robinson doesn’t take any hits (none of the quarterbacks have since camp started in August).
Under (somewhat relieved) pressure: After defeating two teams, in Connecticut and Notre Dame, that were considered strong opponents before the season, Michigan finds itself ranked in the top-25 in both the AP and the Coaches polls this week.
The Wolverines are ranked No. 22 in the Coaches poll and No. 20 in the AP poll.
Senior cornerback James Rogers said Monday that half the team probably doesn’t even know they are ranked.
Before the season, Rodriguez, who was 8-16 in his first two seasons, was on the hot seat. The success the Wolverines have experienced the first two weeks of the season hasn’t changed Rodriguez or his team, he said. He isn’t worrying about how many people are jumping on the maize and blue bandwagon.
“Am I different guy now than I was two weeks ago — same guy,” Rodriguez said. “Same coaches, same players, same staff, same people. We’ve won two games. If somebody’s perception changed with that, if it changed for the better that’s good. If it changed for the worse, that’s not good. I worry about what I can control. And what I can’t control is what somebody else’s feelings are for whatever reason. I’m not going to worry about that.
“Everybody likes to be liked. I’ve said that before. … I will live in world where if you win, more people are happy. There’s probably some people who are still unhappy no matter what we do. And they’ll be unhappy the rest of their lives. What are you going to do?”
Kicking update: After redshirt freshman kicker Brendan Gibbons missed two second-half field goal attempts in Saturday’s game, Rodriguez decided to use redshirt freshman Seth Broekhuizen for the Wolverines’ last point-after attempt.
Rodriguez stressed on Monday that the kicker competition is wide open and that he’s not sure who will handle the duties Saturday against Massachusetts.
Injury update Sophomore linebacker Mike Jones broke his leg in the win over the Fighting Irish and will Rodriguez said that he is “doubtful” for the rest of the season.
Redshirt junior linebacker Brendon Herron sprained his ankle on Saturday. He will be day-to-day.