dia day: 'No excuses' for not winning at Michigan

Michigan football coach Brady Hoke will not give an inch.

Even though there is an overhaul of the offense and defense and a new coaching staff, he has embraced U-M’s tradition and won’t let it go.

At today’s U-M media day, he was asked how long a turnaround will take.

"This is Michigan; there aren’t going to be any excuses,” he said. “If we don't win the Big Ten championship, we failed these kids as coaches."

A week into fall camp, Hoke is ready to see which players are ready for that level, calling the upcoming week “huge” for the team.

He’ll put players through three days of two-a-day practices, capped by a Saturday scrimmage.

“We’re going to see adversity,” Hoke said. “Every team has adversity during the course of a season, during the course of a game. We’re going to have some adversity because we’re demanding and there’s an expectation how you show up in this building and we’re going to see if they can handle that. It’s just a struggle, part of fall camp. It’s got to be hard.

“We’re going to scrimmage pretty good there in six days, on Saturday, put them in a lot of different situations and see how we respond.”

The majority of his time has focused on the defense, which is his specialty.

That might not be a positive for the players at this point.

“I don’t think we’ve played to the standard that’s going to be acceptable to this point,” he said. “We need to be more physical at the point of attack, we need to have an urgency … We have to have a mentality of how we want to attack the football. It’s coming, but it’s not where you want to have it.”

That urgency can be coached and he has no expectation to accept anything less than he wants.

If not, he said there will be a price.

“If we accept them not to get to the football, if we’re not chasing them, if we’re not doing what we need as coaches, you accept a lack of urgency,” Hoke said. “We’re not accepting that. That’s not how we’re going to play defense. It’s a culture you’ve got to always stay on top of. If guys don’t play that way, don’t practice that way, we’re not going to play them. We’ll take (only) 23 kids on defense and go play games.”

Keselowski sprints to win in Poconos

Brad Keselowski raced all 500 miles of Sunday's Sprint Cup stop at Pocono Raceway with a broken left ankle.

As if that wasn't enough, he somehow managed to win.

Competing with a brace on his ankle, Keselowski sped off on the final restart late in the race to pick up his second victory Cheap Custom Jerseys of the season. He gingerly climbed out of his car to celebrate with his crew in Victory Lane.

"It doesn't feel good, but I'll be all right," he said.

Keselowski was an unlikely winner after he crashed head-on into a wall on Wednesday during a test session at Road Atlanta. He slammed a section of wall at 100 mph and was forced out of the Nationwide Series race.

He insisted during practice this weekend he wouldn't leave the No. 2 Dodge, no matter how much pain he was in.

Wasn't necessary. Keselowski had some rest during a 1 hour, 40-minute rain delay.

"I was amazed he raced the full race," third-place finisher Kurt Busch said.

Keselowski's victory thrust him into prime position to claim one of two wild-card spots available for the Chase for the championship. The top two drivers with the most victories in 11th to 20th place earn a wild-card spot for the playoffs.

Keselowski, in 18th place, is the only one of the wild-card contenders with two victories. Only five races remain until the field is set. The top 10 drivers in the points standings automatically qualify.

Kyle Busch was second, Jimmie Johnson fourth and Ryan Newman fifth.

Kurt Busch and Johnson had a heated exchange after the race because of some last-lap contact and had to be separated by their crews. The star drivers took turns bumping into each other on the final lap. Busch said it was simply hard racing and Johnson, the five-time defending Cup champion, overreacted.

"You want to race, let's race," Busch said. "I raced him smart, raced him clean, and he wants to come back here and (complain) about it. Why can't we race each other like this and put on a show for the fans?"

There was a racing tripleheader after rain halted the Trucks Series race on Saturday and wiped out the ARCA race. Kevin Harvick won the Trucks race, Ty Dillon took ARCA and Keselowski capped it all with his gutsy performance.

"There are moments in our sport that need to be documented as an `Iron Man' type of day," Kurt Busch said. "It's amazing what the body can do."

Rain hit Pocono hard the last two days and when the red flag came on lap 125, Joey Logano had the lead. He took a break in soccer jerseys the ESPN broadcast booth where he was asked if he wanted the rain to stop or keep coming.

"I think it's a dumb question," he said.

Logano faded hard and finished 26th. Points leader Carl Edwards, who signed a multiyear extension with Roush Fenway Racing, was seventh.

Once the rain stopped, Kyle Busch build a sizable lead until it was wiped out on a final caution.

49ers, WR Edwards agree to 1-year deal

Wide receiver Braylon Edwards agreed Thursday to a one-year, $3.5 million US contract with the San Francisco 49ers.
Edwards' agent, Ben Dogra, confirmed the deal to The Associated Press, less than an hour before San Francisco's free agents could take the field for the first time under new coach Jim Harbaugh — who, like Edwards, is a former Michigan man.

The Niners made an announcement about getting Edwards shortly after practice started.
Yet Edwards also tweeted that he agreed to a deal with the 49ers, who will certainly count on the playmaking wideout to make an immediate contribution for a franchise that hasn't had a winning record or reached the playoffs since 2002.
Michael Crabtree is sidelined at the start of training camp for the third straight year, nursing a left foot injury sustained during offseason workouts that has him sporting a walking boot.
"It's official," Edwards said. "We have moved to Dallas Cowboys the bay. I'm a proud member of the San Francisco 49ers."
Dogra was hopeful his client would be on the field alongside quarterback Alex Smith and the rest of the Niners' offence for the first workout Thursday if everything was finalized in time.
The 28-year-old Edwards had 53 receptions for 904 yards and seven touchdowns last season in his second year with the New York Jets. He spent his first five NFL seasons with Cleveland.
"He's really excited about the offence with Jim Harbaugh," Dogra said. "He has a legitimate chance to play early and often. He's looking for a fresh start and felt good about his conversations with Coach Harbaugh and [general manager] Trent Baalke. That's what made the biggest difference for him. If he does well, hopefully there's an opportunity to prolong his career there."
Safety Donte Whitner  also said on Twitter that he has joined San Francisco, then sent a tweet to Edwards.
"Bray I signed there today also...let's get a RING!"
The 26-year-old Whitner, the eighth overall pick out of Ohio State in 2006, ranked fifth in the NFL with 140 tackles last season for Buffalo and also had one forced fumble, an interception and half a sack. He apparently had been close to signing with the Cincinnati Bengals.
With the addition of Edwards, the Niners now have the No. 1 (Smith), No. 3 (Edwards) and No. 9 (cornerback Carlos Rogers) overall picks from the '05 draft.