ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Denard Robinson is getting ready

for Alabama on Sept. 1.

In the meantime, though, he has another target

in mind.

Usain Bolt.

“I’ve watched

him run, and I’m pretty sure I can beat him in a 40-yard dash,”

Robinson said at Michigan’s media day on Sunday. “I’d get a better start,

and I could take him.

“At 60 yards, I’d be in trouble,

and at 100 meters, he’d be gone, but I could get him in a

40.”

The idea for the race came from Devin Gardner,

Robinson’s backup and the Wolverines’ newest weapon at wide receiver.

Gardner was asked if the possibility existed of Robinson seeing some

snaps at receiver with him at quarterback.

“Denard

could do that in a heartbeat – he’s the fastest man in the world,”

Gardner said. “I know what Usain Bolt did in the Olympics, and Denard

probably couldn’t beat him at 100 meters, but when it comes to football

speed at 40 yards, I’d take Denard. He’s that

fast.”

The “experiment” of playing Gardner at wide

receiver took on a little more importance this week when the Wolverines’

number-one receiver, Roy Roundtree, injured his knee in a freak

accident.

“He had just run a route and was perfectly

fine,” receivers coach Jeff Hecklinski said. “He was walking back to the

huddle and something happened.”

The result was

arthroscopic surgery for Roundtree on Friday, and an expected two-week

recovery period. That puts Roundtree’s availabilty for the Alabama game in jeopardy, but Gardner isn’t worried about filling

that role.

“Roy’s going to be fine,” he said. “I’ve

seen him, and he’s going to be OK. No one worry about

Roy.”

There’s also a question mark hanging over

another of Michigan’s offensive stars. While running back Fitzgerald

Touissant will return to practice on Monday, coach Brady Hoke isn’t

willing to say that he’ll be allowed to play against the Crimson Tide.

Touissant and defensive end Frank Clark were both suspended for the

first week of fall practice due to offseason

arrests.

“They will be allowed to practice on

Monday,” Hoke said. “The next set of decisions will be made when I

decide to make them.”

If Touissant doesn’t play

against Alabama, much of the running duties will fall on Thomas Rawls, who is more of a power runner than Touissant..

“This is Michigan, and when one person goes down,

another one steps up,” Rawlssaid. “I’m a Michigan running back, just like

Fitz. That means I’m tough, I’m good and I’m ready to do the job. I

might be more of a downhill runner than some of our other guys, but this

is still Michigan. We step up.”

Of course, when it

comes to the Wolverines, the most dangerous runner is the man taking the

snaps from center. Robinson enters the season with a chance to finish

as the NCAA’s career rushing leader at quarterback, but hasn’t exactly

been keeping track of his place on the list.

“Is that

true? I had no idea until you just asked me that,” he said in a media

huddle Sunday. “I’ve never paid any attention to that. I just run the

ball when I need to run it and throw it when we need to do that. I’m

just trying to make plays to help us win games, I’m not worried about

the numbers.”

He does know one number, though –

9.63.

That was Bolt’s gold-medal time in the

100-meters in London.

And now Robinson wants a part of

him.