Michigan held its first practice of the season on Friday, just three days before its Rose Bowl matchup against Alabama.
The No. 1 Wolverines entered the field at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, Calif., home of the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer. Many of the major players and contributors were in uniform and active, at least for the 15-minute segment we were given to watch, confirming what we already knew: this team is relatively healthy for this stage of the season.
• Concerns about quarterback J.J. McCarthy and his lower-leg injury — he was spotted still limping Thursday night during the team’s trip to Lawry’s in Beverly Hills — appear to be dissipating. McCarthy insists he’s closer to full strength than he has been in weeks, and there’s no reason to believe otherwise. He was given a full week off after the Big Ten title game, and the Wolverines made a big deal about the lack of physicality early on during bowl prep.
• Offensive lineman Drake Nugent is back practicing after he sat out the first couple of weeks with a sprained ankle suffered in the Ohio State game. He re-aggravated it during the Big Ten championship game on Dec. 2 (you might recall him leaving to have it taped), but later returned.
“I knew I had four weeks coming into this game, which were huge for me,” Nugent told reporters on Friday. “Obviously it feels fine now.” Still, Nugent had his left ankle in a protective brace for precautionary reasons during practice.
• Speaking of quarterbacks, head coach Jim Harbaugh and quarterbacks coach Kirk Campbell spent a good chunk of time during the open session with newly signed quarterback Jadyn Davis. Harbaugh was working with the four-star recruit’s footwork and even demonstrated some dropbacks and rollouts.
Davis, Michigan’s highest-ranked quarterback recruit since McCarthy (No. 93 overall), is one of the eight early enrollees practicing with the team in California. He mixed in with McCarthy, Jack Tuttle, Jayden Denegal, Davis Warren and Alex Orji during quarterback drills.
• Michigan had a special guest show up for practice on Friday: Los Angeles Chargers defensive tackle Christopher Hinton, who played for the Wolverines from 2019 to ‘21. Hinton is the older brother of Michigan offensive tackle Myles Hinton.
