ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The positive energy in Ann Arbor on Saturday could be felt all the way from Exit 175 off of Interstate 94, where the final path to Michigan Stadium was preceded by a 30-minute delay.
But even with campus buzzing more than two hours prior to the start of Jim Harbaugh's first spring game as Michigan's head coach, the actual exhibition served as a reminder that the Wolverines are still very much a work in progress.
In some ways, Saturday's spring game marked a return to national relevance for Michigan, with a crowd of at least 50,000 filling The Big House for perhaps its most meaningful moment since the Wolverines beat Ohio State in Brady Hoke's first season in 2011.
But while Harbaugh taking the field in his trademark hat, pullover and khakis for the first time will be what's remembered most about Saturday, the ugliness of the game itself is what should be of the most immediate concern to the Maize and Blue faithful.
Aside from the very first play of the game—a 34-yard run by De'Veon Smith, wearing the same No. 4 jersey Harbaugh donned during his college career in Ann Arbor—there weren't many bright spots offensively in what was ultimately a 7-0 victory for the Blue Team. In fact, with Harbaugh's insistence on not wasting time kicking the ball, no two words may have been uttered more by the stadium P.A. announcer than "virtual punt."
With all eyes on the U-M quarterbacks, neither Shane Morris nor Alex Malzone stood out by doing anything special, although both were hampered by inconsistent play from their wide receivers. In a game that included 10-minute quarters with a running clock, both signal-callers threw interceptions that bounced off of the hands of their intended targets before the end of the first period.
"Shane had the one interception, but that was off a throw that was really on target and should have been caught," Harbaugh said. "I was pleased about the way he played. I think he'll come out of this feeling good about the way he played."
Morris had a slight edge on the day, throwing the game's lone touchdown and one interception. It's not promising, however, that as junior, the former 4-star prospect just barely outperformed the true freshman Malzone, who has only been on campus for just three months as an early enrollee.
MLive Media Group's Nick Baumgardner expressed concern about the similarity between the two:
In his unofficial Michigan Stadium debut, Malzone didn't do much to impress either, failing to lead his unit on a scoring drive and throwing two interceptions. While admitting Morris has a lead on Malzone and Wilton Speight heading into the summer, Harbaugh said he's ultimately been pleased with the freshman's performance this spring.
"Anything's good for him," Harbaugh said of Malzone. "He's so young. He should be in high school right now, and he's out there competing in 11-on-11 football in a game environment situation. That is valuable, valuable experience.
"Anything he gets right now, to play in an entire full spring game as a true freshman, that's money in the bank."
Nevertheless, the prettiest pass from the Maize team may have come from wide receiver Jehu Chesson, who hooked up with Maurice Ways for a 30-yard gain at the end of the third quarter. Harbaugh wasn't shy to run trick plays in his first game in charge of the Wolverines either, with no fewer than four reverse passes being attempted on the day.
"You're going to want to talk to [former Michigan coaches] Gary Moeller and Lloyd Carr about that," Harbaugh said. "They said there would be a rule of one trick play per quarter. My understanding is Coach Moeller and Coach Carr had a lot to do with that. They had their fingerprints on multiple of those type of plays."
It wasn't all bad for the Michigan passing game, though, with Morris engineering a nice 48-yard drive that resulted in a 14-yard touchdown pass to Jaron Dukes at the end of the first half. Morris, however, wasn't able to maintain that momentum after a five-minute halftime, and Malzone never seemed able to find it.
As for the Michigan rushing game, neither the Maize nor Blue did much to inspire on the ground either. Smith served as the game's leading rusher on the day, but the bulk of his yards came on the game's opening 34-yard carry.
After the game, Harbaugh admitted his rushing attack is still not where he'd like it to be.
"It's the thing that always takes the most time," Harbaugh said of his run game. "I know we've got good players, and that shows in the pass protection. In the run game, it takes a little bit more time."
It's just one glorified scrimmage, and the Wolverines' likely starting quarterback wasn't even on the field on Saturday with Iowa graduate transfer Jake Rudock set to join the program in the summer. Decimated depth on the offensive line also hampered Michigan's offensive effort, with neither team fielding what could be considered a complete unit.
Mark Snyder of the Detroit Free Press gave Michigan fans reason for hope with regard to Rudock:
Harbaugh hardly has his preferred personnel in place, and Friday's commitment of 2016 4-star quarterback Brandon Peters should quell any concern about a perceived slow start on the recruiting trail for the former San Francisco 49ers coach.
And despite the putrid offensive performance, the biggest takeaway from Saturday's spring game was still the atmosphere in Ann Arbor that signaled a return to relevance that hasn't been experienced by the Wolverines in almost eight years.
"I was pleased with the way the team competed. I was pleased with the way they worked," Harbaugh said of his spring takeaways. "It's starting to surface who the guys are that you can count on, who needs to do more to be counted on and who needs to do a lot more to be counted on. It's happening. It's a process that's well underway."
But if Saturday was any indication, from a pure football standpoint, Michigan may still be stuck in traffic.
Ben Axelrod is Bleacher Report's Big Ten Lead Writer. You can follow him on Twitter @BenAxelrod. Unless noted otherwise, all quotes were obtained firsthand. All statistics courtesy of CFBStats.com. Recruiting rankings courtesy of 247Sports.
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