Brady Hoke’s Blessing & Curse: Can Season 2 Match The Debut?

Season 1 of the Brady Hoke edition of Michigan football defied all preconceptions. Eight wins was a seemingly generous ceiling set for Hoke’s first Michigan team. That the Wolverines so greatly exceeded even the loftiest of expectations immediately carves a place for Hoke in Michigan lore. But, it also rockets future expectations on Hoke into the stratosphere.

Hoke must begin writing the script for Season 2 immediately. This is uncharted water for the Michigan Man. He left his aforementioned success stories, Ball State and San Diego State, in the off-seasons immediately following. To judge Hoke’s ability to sustain a program on those hits alone is to grade Aaron Sorkin for Sports Night and Studio 60 alone.

Michigan is Hoke’s shot at penning a West Wing.

Initial outlook is foggy as to just how Hoke will meet the high standard he’s set for himself. Ball State plummeted to 2-10 in its first season post-Hoke. San Diego State returned to the postseason, marking its first time reaching consecutive bowl games in program history. But the stars of the Aztecs’ 17-9 two-season stretch, Ryan Lindley and Ronnie Hillman, are both leaving Montezuma Mesa. And neither were Hoke recruits, rather inherited from Chuck Long’s tenure.

How Hoke recruits Walter Kazee and Adam Dingwell fare as the new backfield tandem at SDSU could provide a glimpse into Michigan’s future.

Like his time at SDSU, Hoke’s initial success in Ann Arbor has come with a previous staff’s players. The Sugar was a final ingredient added to the cake Rich Rodriguez helped bake, and there will be plenty of leftovers for the 2012 season.

Denard Robinson filed paperwork for this spring’s NFL Draft, but before he begins the process of converting to wide receiver a la Antwan Randel-El, he’ll most likely have another season at quarterback in Ann Arbor. The one-time Heisman frontrunner’s presence ensures Michigan remains a difficult team for which to game plan. Offensive coordinator Al Borges has long been a Pro Style coach, but Robinson’s gifts force some lenience for how the Wolverines enact play calls.

Michigan should also return running back Fitzgerald Toussaint. His emergence as a 1000-yard rusher gave the Wolverines variety lacking in recent campaigns, thus taking some of the defensive heat off Robinson. A redshirt sophomore, Toussaint is eligible for entry in the draft but thus far, there’s no indication he’ll leave just yet.

So that’s two 1000-yard rushers in all likelihood, back to the pace the offense, and All Big 10 selection Taylor Lewan returns for the line. But here’s where the Wolverines begin re-casting for the second broadcast.

The Wolverines’ line loses a gem in David Molk, the Rimington-Pace Award winner for the Big Ten’s Most Outstanding offensive lineman. His presence is a difficult one to replace. But none may be more so than wideout Junior Hemingway. Hemingway’s importance to the Wolverine offense was on full display in the Sugar Bowl, when he hauled in both Michigan touchdowns.

He caught 32 of Robinson and Devin Gardner’s 144 completions. Fellow big target Kevin Koger is also through his Michigan career. The 6-foot-4 tight end was a key target in red zone situations. The added passing facet of the Wolverine offense was critical to Michigan’s 34 point per game average.

The vastly improved defense returns several key players, including tackles leader Kenny Demens and excellent coverage man Jordan Kovacs. The youthful corps Rodriguez brought in is developing nicely under Greg Mattison’s tutelage. The Wolverines could feed off their defense in Hoke’s Season 2.

The head coach also tapped into his SDSU pipeline to seek recruits. The talent rich Orange and San Diego Counties recruiting pool provides Hoke one of his first major wins in offensive lineman Erik Magnuson of Carlsbad, Calif. La Costa Canyon. Establishing a pipeline along I-5 to Ann Arbor for an area that in recent years has produced Kenny Stills, Matt Barkley, Chase Rettig and many more could provide UM just the influx of freshness it needs to avoid becoming stale, as so many other others do in trying to replicate their initial success.