ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The bye week couldn’t have come at a better time for Enow Etta.
A sophomore defensive lineman, Etta is majoring in earth and environmental science at Michigan, where he’s juggling football with a demanding class load of lectures, laboratories and even a three-hour-a-week course.
“Tired,” Etta sighed Tuesday as he met with reporters. “Balancing school and football, studying, you know how it is.”
Michigan is 3-1 as it dives in to the first bye week of the season, a time for players to recharge their batteries and sharpen their skills and coaches to reassess their roster and game plans.
Head coach Sherrone Moore, back from a two-game suspension that saw him miss Michigan’s wins over Central Michigan and Nebraska, called it an “opportunity week” for his team — allowing the beat-up players to heal while getting a closer look at some of the others further down the depth chart.
“Attack our fundamentals, attack our technique, attack our how — and keep everybody healthy and get guys back that are healthy,” Moore said. “We’re going to do a good job of how we’re attacking the week, of being smart with what we do in practice so we make sure we get the guys back.
“And also get the guys playing, get their legs back.”
That means a shorter practice load for a good chunk of the starters, who are still around the building but it taking it easy compared to a regular game week. Defensive tackle Rayshaun Benny, for example, said he’s looking forward to spending time with the chiropractor.
“It’ll be better once I can recover a little bit,” Benny said. “We just need this week to get our body back.”
Michigan’s physicality has been on display over the last two weeks. The Wolverines rushed for 381 yards and eight touchdowns in a 63-3 rout of Central Michigan, then cranked out another 286 yards and three TDs on the ground in a 30-27 win at Nebraska.
And they did it without their two starting guards, Giovanni El-Hadi and Brady Norton, who were sidelined for both games with injuries. A bye week gives both players an extra week to recover.
“Body is a little sore, but that’s how it is starting,” offensive lineman Nathan Efobi, elevated into a starting role recently, said. “ I had two big games. Against Oklahoma, got thrown into that one unexpectedly, but next man up on the road.”
Defensively, Michigan is coming off its most impressive game yet, a seven-sack performance against Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola, who still threw for 308 yards and three touchdowns. But the Wolverines were able to also force an interception and limit the Cornhuskers to 43 yards rushing on the ground, doing just enough to get the job done on the road.
And while safety Rod Moore made his long-awaited return from injury in the Big Ten opener, Michigan is still waiting on cornerback Zeke Berry to help complete the back end. Berry’s status for the next game, Oct. 4 vs. Wisconsin, remains in question.
Meanwhile, kicker Dominic Zvada is trying to maintain status quo after his three-for-three game against Nebraska, converting all three extra points and three field-goal attempts from 56, 46, 21, bouncing back from his early-season slump.
For him, the bye week doesn’t change much.
“We try and keep it as similar to a game week as possible,” Zvada said. “I kick Tuesday/Thursday. I kicked today and we did operations just like normal. We’ll kick again Thursday, and then Saturday we’ll have a pretend game, where I just go out there and hit some.
“Just kind of have to stay in that mode.”
With Saturday open, players will have the opportunity to watch more college football. They’ll also watch some film, of themselves and the Badgers.
“There’s some guys I know at USC, so I’m going to see if they have a game,” Etta said.