jake ryan the barbarian

devin bush jr khaleke hudson
ah squirrel [Bryan Fuller]

Our ongoing series covering Michigan's 2010s. Previously: Our Favorite Blocks, QBs, RBs, and WRs, TEs, FBs, and OL, Defensive Line, The 2000s.

Methodology: The staff decided these together and split the writeups. Considering individual years but a player can only be nominated once. Because of the various iterations of defense over the decade we decided on three types: two interior linebackers who could play MLB or WLB, a DE-ish rush specialist like a 3-3-5 Quick, 4-3 Under SAM, or Don Brown's Uche position, and a hybrid safety, considering the guys who played Spur (2010), Nickel (2014-'15), or Viper (2016-'19).

image

INTERIOR LINEBACKER: Devin Bush Jr. (2018)

Doom Squirrel Devin

Picking a year for Bush is difficult because he is one of those players who burst onto the scene fully formed. His first game as a starter came against Florida, which is a delightful team to debut against when you are a rabid squirrel man.

His numbers were actually better in 2017, his sophomore year, but a large portion of that dropoff was a shift in defensive scheme that forced him to drop into anti-slant zones. He did this with aplomb because he did everything with aplomb. Another chunk of it was the existence of Chase Winovich and Rashan Gary, particularly the former.

Bush got picked 10th overall after 2018 so we'll go with that season. He was the same guy both years he started.

That was the fastest linebacker in the country. You could occasionally get Bush to take a false step; often it didn't matter. Attempting to edge him was a recipe for second and eight…

…if you were lucky.

Bush rewrote the UFR record book for a linebacker because he was a true triple threat LB, able to blitz, play the run, and cover. Not bad for a guy whom Florida State offered a couple of weeks before his commitment.

-Brian

[After THE JUMP: This is MGoBlog, what did you think we were going to carp about?]

Upchurch - 8173043148_1c2001efcd_o

Say AAAAAAHHH! [Fuller]

Guess who's back? Back again. Jake is back. We hope he's back. Hope he's back. Hope he's back, hope he's back hope he's back hope he's back…

The Mix:

Upchurch -8646515968_c9243f645e_o
Look at these eyes, baby blue, baby just like yourself, if they were brown, Shady lose, Shady sits on the shelf, but Shady's cute, Shady knew, Shady's dimple's would help.
[Fuller]

Slim Shady: Ace Anbender

The Real Slim Shady: Coach Brown

Almost Famous: Brian Cook

Big Weenie: Seth Fisher

Gatman: Mathlete

Bad Meets Evil: Blue in South Bend

The Most Shady: Heiko Yang

The Question:

Let's talk the return of Jake M.F. Ryan. Does it get us a pass rush? Do we give him a few weeks to regain his edge? What happens to the not-Ryans?

Mathlete: I think when JMFR comes back, we should play him both ways, solves the pass rush and the interior line issues at the same time. He doesn't even have to be a freakish hybrid. This coaching stuff is easy.

The key question for his return is whether or not we are getting the old Jake Ryan back. It seems like there are fewer and fewer cases every year of players who are coming back at less than their previous player. If he comes back at or near his previous level, there is no doubt he will be a big boost for the defense. Right now the defense is really good at one thing, not allowing plays down field. Michigan is allowing an average of 95 yards beyond the sticks a game, which is 15th best in the country. What the defense has lacked to date is much of a legitimate play making threat, and that is exactly what made Jake Ryan into JMFR. If Ryan can even generate a portion of the game changing activity he previously did, it would be a huge surge to a defense that could use a little jolt.

[Jump]

Formation notes: Michigan actually spent most of this game in an over front, i.e. shifted their line towards the strength of the line and held Ryan over the slot. Like so:

f-4-3-over

Closeup:

f-4-3-over

Michigan would normally put Ryan over that TE to the top of the screen and shift the line the other way. Not sure why they went with the over this time.

Michigan did this once, too: an under shifted line with Demens on the LOS, Morgan in a more conventional ILB spot, and the SAM (in this case Cam Gordon) over the slot.

4-3 under slide

This was "4-3 under slide." Lingo as per usual is supposed to be consistent and descriptive.

And I clipped this for some reason so here's a reminder of what I mean by "okie":

f-okie-one

Seven guys on the LOS, with one deep safety off the screen and three DB type guys. This is of course zoneblitzapalooza.

Also here is Dooley creepin' on the jug:

dooley

hey baby wanna get painted?

Substitution notes: Secondary as usual. Wilson got a snap or two in a dime package. After a couple weeks of minimal substitution at linebacker, Bolden, Ross, and Cam Gordon got drives. Gordon left early with an injury of some sort and didn't return.

On the line, Clark and Beyer alternated at WDE with Beyer seeming to get slightly more snaps. Black and Campbell were at three-tech and split about evenly; Pipkins got a few snaps behind Washington; Roh actually got a breather or four as Keith Heitzman emerged to get more playing time than he had yet seen. Roh didn't get a lot of points, and that was a reason why. Seemed like Michigan was comfortable with where they were most of the second half and how Heitzman was playing so they let it ride.

[AFTER THE JUMP: the usual destruction of the enemies.]