23Gene Hankerson's Wed/Thu Big 33 Reports

Eugene "23Gene" Hankerson, GBW's PA correspondent, is ensconced at the Big 33 practices this week. Gene's 1st report was done in Mon. night's weekly GBW chat. Here's his 2nd *and 3rd* reports, on U-M signees Michael Shaw, Roy Roundtree and Taylor Hill. Thurs. was the last full day of practice for the Ohio Team, and Michael Shaw made it his best day of practice, drawing compliments from his peers.

To read the Gene's 2nd report, on Wednesday, and to add to the commentary yourself, go to the GBW Premium Message Board, The Big House, for: 23Gene Hankerson's Wed. Big 33 Report

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Report #3: Thursday:

With Friday morning scheduled to be nothing more than a light walk thru, Thursday was the last full day of practice for the Ohio Team.  Future Wolverine Michael Shaw made it his best day of practice, drawing compliments from his peers.

Shaw was simply dazzling during this mornings practice, showing skills that fit perfectly into Rich Rodriquez's scheme in Ann Arbor.  The kid from Trotwood lit up the first team defense for big gains between the tackles, and used his speed to turn the corner several times.  Shaw's vision and burst is greatly underrated, and he used both to make defenders look silly when trying to tackle him.  In one play in particular, future Michigan State Spartan line backer Steve Gardiner broke through the interior line and into the backfield for what was suppose to be a big loss.  Unfortunately for Gardiner, he could not make the tackle as Shaw put on move that left Gardiner standing still.

The attack continued when the offense went to the air out of their four wide receiver set.  With the defense in a dime package playing man coverage, it leaves Shaw with some 1 on 1 matchups to exploit.  It didn't take the offense to long to realize this, as they took advantage of safety DJ Brown who was covering Shaw out of the backfield on a deep route.  The result would be Shaw running past Brown for a 45 yard pass completion.

Roy Roundtree, the other half of the Trotwood duo did not have a good day.  He dropped several balls that should have been caught, and struggled at times getting off press coverage.  His concentration level just didn't seem to be there today.  Roundtree did show better speed than initially thought, and did a good job of blocking down field.

Taylor Hill had a pretty decent day.  Quick off the edge, and held up surprisingly well in the run game, which resulted in him meeting Michael Shaw in the hole a couple times.  Hill has very good strength for a  linebacker his size.  He loves to get his hands into the upper chest of the opponent, usually lifting or pushing them backwards.  He in the backfield an awful lot.

Lastly, even though Elliot Mealer will not be playing in the game Saturday, he's been busy helping out in the drills.  Mealer's moving around very comfortably, and has not felt any pain while in Hershey.