By John Raffel

Ann Arbor, MI

He might be considered by many the most dangerous player in Big Ten football. But yet Denard Robinson still has displayed some glaring weaknesses that first-year Michigan coach Brady Hoke is hoping his junior quarterback can fix in a hurry.

Robinson rushed for 198 yards on 26 carries in powering the Wolverines to a 31-3 victory over Eastern Michigan Saturday. Michigan is 3-0.

But while Robinson seemed unstoppable whenever he had the ball in his hands, including once for a 52-yard run, he struggled in the air.

Robinson was 7-of-18 for 95 yards and two TD. In the first half, with Michigan holding a 14-3 lead over Eastern, Robinson was 2-of-8 for 21 yards.

Robinson did engineer a 97-yard TD drive in the second quarter despite a lackluster first half.

"We came out a little flat. On the 97-yard drive, we picked up some momentum, and that made us keep going the whole game," he said. "We want to come out fast. We've been focusing on every day, talking about coming out fast and trying to get off to a good start."

It was suggested to Hoke that Robinson, because of his tendency to run with the ball, was having problems planting his feet on a pass play.

"That really is what it comes down to with all quarterbacks, your feet, your hips. We took a couple shots, and they were just a little long. He stepped up in the pocket nicely a couple times, scrambled a little bit and got some yardage," Hoke said. " There are a couple of those shots where he stepped up a week ago and hit that were just out of the guy's reach a little bit."

Following last week's emotional 35-31 victory over Notre Dame, Robinson tried to motivate his team to pick up a key non-league win. Robinson totaled 446 of the team's 452 yards in the win over Notre Dame.

"Everybody was just getting ready for the game," Robinson said. "We were just ready to go. We get another chance to play football, and that's what we've been working on all summer."

It's still not the type of one-man show that Hoke wants to hang his hat on.

"Offensively, we ran Denard a little more than we'd like to because we'd like to keep him healthy for the year," Hoke said. "I think we've got work to do out of the 'I' formation still. We've got to block a little better at the point of attack, and they were not going to let us."

Robinson's 108 rushing yards against Notre Dame put his career total to 2,207 yards to be ranked third among the Big Ten Conference's career leaders in rushing yards by a quarterback.

Tight end Kevin Koger caught two passes from Robinson, including one for a touchdown, but said Robinson's lackluster game from the air was no reason for concern.

"It's a tempo thing — just execution. It's not just him. It might be a receiver not running the routes, the right dip, but he gets the blame for the incomplete pass but it might be on the receiver. Maybe [the receiver] didn't run the right route, or run it deep enough or short enough. It's not all on him," Koger said.

Regardless of Robinson's ups and downs, many coaches still consider him the most dangerous player in the Michigan attack.

"I think we had a lot of guys there, but I don't think we tackled him. I just think as much as you say to a player, 'He's going to make plays,' I think it can be demoralizing. I think some of that happened today," said Eastern Michigan coach Ron English, who focused on trying to stop Robinson on the run option play.

"It's a one-on-one deal, and I've said all along Denard Robinson is something special in my opinion," English said. "I think any team is going to have a hard time tackling him one on one. The backs made a couple nice plays today. We struggled against the red zone structure today, and we have to get better at it for what we'll see in the league."

 

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Michigan QB Shows Weaknesses Despite Being Dangerous With the Ball