jake ryan is beautiful

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).

INTERIOR LINEBACKER: Devin Bush Jr. (2018)

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?]

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:

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]

Opening remarks: 

"Well, we're ready to go out for the next one, I guess. That was an exciting game. The thing I'd say is that I was very proud of how hard our kids played and how they were very resilient. The biggest thing -- we've talked about it all since we've been in it, is red zone defense is critical. If you can keep teams from scoring seven down there, you're going to win. There were so many opportunities down there, which is not always a great thing or a good thing, but that happens when you play a good football team, and I was really proud of our kids, the way they played down there."

How much do you take into account how good Notre Dame's offensive line is when you judge your defensive line?

"They're very good. They're strong, they're big, they're experienced. But I still believe that we should win the battles we're supposed to win. A couple times we gave up yardage that we shouldn't have given up because guys got out of their gaps. Guys didn't play the technique. When you're a young player, you have to play great technique. That's the only chance you have. I think a couple times we didn't do that. We weren't gap-sound a couple times as far as fitting our gaps. When you look at our tape, you're sitting there going, 'This should have been a hit.' I go back to the fact that they all stuck together, though, and they all played so hard during the game. Now it's time to move on to the next one."