obi ezeh

Note: "player" has never been deployed for the defense; I tried it this week and the results are kinda weird. It's the player most responsible for the result of the play, if that makes any sense.

Also Note: if you want the swanky video popups, you’ll have to click through to the post page itself. Click the title of the post. Update: hey, it works. Nevermind.

I’m going to try to come up with a better solution for this next week.

Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
O25	1	10	Shotgun 3-wide	Base 4-3	Pass	PA Flare	Panter	8
Utah starts off with a perfect example of why I hate the 4-3 against the spread, running a zone read play action that freezes Panter. The slot runs a little bubble screen route as the outside WR runs off the coverage and Panter's on an island with the slot. He misses a tackle(-1), turning five yards into eight. (Cover –1)
O33	2	1	Shotgun 2-back	Base 4-3	Run	Zone read handoff	Evans	3
M walks Ezeh and Evans right up to the center and blitzes them; poorly timed. Evans(-1) gets stood up and single blocked. Taylor gets a hand to slow down and the D converges but after the first down.
O36	1	10	Shotgun Trips	Base 4-3	Pass	Stop	Trent	14
Trent is giving an eight yard cushion and by the time this guy runs a four-yards stop route he's probably 15 yards downfield. This was a zone blitz with Ezeh and Evans coming, Evans from the slot, and Graham dropping off on the backside of the play. (Cover -2)
50	1	10	Shotgun Trips Bunch	Base 4-3	Pass	Stop	Jamison	4 (Pen -10)
Tim Jamison(+2) beats the defensive end to the outside and is put in a headlock, drawing a holding flag. This allows a short checkdown for a few yards that comes back. (Pressure +1)
O40	1	20	Shotgun 3-wide	Base 4-3	Pass	Flag	Harrison	Inc
Decent coverage from Harrison but not great; Johnson has a small window to lay this ball in and can't do it. Not much pressure (-1), as Michigan went with a straight four-man rush.
O40	2	20	Shotgun Trips	Okie	Run	Zone read keeper	Chambers	1
Our first taste of Okie action, with a 3-4 alignment and four guys in an umbrella behind it. Ezeh and Chambers blitz from the short side of the field; they're into the backfield immediately as the OL slants away from them on the zone read. Ezeh(+1) closes and tackles the RB immediately, leaving the QB to Chambers(+1), who closes and tackles for a minimal gain.
O41	3	19	Shotgun 4-wide	Okie	Pass	Post	Brown	55
Warren is clearly expecting safety help over the middle and funnels the receiver there on his post route; Brown(-3) is late arriving and overruns the guy, opening up a ton of running room. Worth noting that Jamison is really beating up on this LT. (Cover -2)
M3	1	G	Shotgun 3-wide tight	Base 4-3	Pass	Sack	Johnson	-5
Excellent coverage(+2) gives Will Johnson(+1) enough time to shuck a defender, then pursue Johnson up into a pocket designed to contain him. (Pressure +1)
M8	2	G	Shotgun 3-wide	Okie	Run	QB Sweep	Chambers	8
Our rock, their paper, as they bring in the running quarterback—or something—to run a sort of zone read sweep. Play action to the running back except the backside guys here aren't unblocked. Utah allows them to run upfield as they sort of orbit around them and by the time it's clear the QB has the ball they're sealed. Chambers(-1) is engaged by a tackle and roughly escorted to the endzone; Trent(-1) reacts slowly and can't do anything to deal with the QB. Cool play.
Drive Notes: Touchdown, 7-6, 7:45 1st Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
O23	1	10	Shotgun Trips	Base 4-3	Run	Zone read dive	Johnson	2
Supposed to chunk Michigan right up the middle as both DTs absorb double teams. Taylor(+1) sloughs an OL off, he stumbles and can't block Ezeh; Johnson(+1) spins to the playside of his double. The result is a fouled hole with an unblocked Ezeh, an off-balance cutback, and a small gain.
O25	2	8	Shotgun Empty	Nickel	Pass	Circle	Panter	5
Stewart comes in as a safety in the nickel package and Harrison slides down to his familiar spot over the slot. No pressure(-1) allows Johnson to find a short receiver on a circle route that beat Panter(-1). Warren comes up an tackles well.
O30	3	3	Shotgun Empty	Base 4-3	Pass	In	Evans	3
They throw a slant just as Evans is getting his bump on the slot receiver. Evans(-1) doesn't let go and gets a deserved PI flag.
O33	1	10	Shotgun 4-wide	Base 4-3	Run	Jet sweep	Ezeh	0
Hey, wow, Ezeh(+1) looks like David Harris on this play, instantly reading the handoff to the motioning slot man and shooting off in pursuit; he tackles for no gain. Graham(+1) and Panter(+1) helped string it out.
O33	2	10	Shotgun 4-wide	Okie	Pass	TE Post	Ezeh	19
Slick pitch and catch from Johnson and the TE there as Johnson lays it right between Ezeh and Stewart, in at safety. He was only open for a moment; credit to Utah on this one. (Cover -1)
M48	1	10	Shotgun 4-wide	Base 4-3	Run	Zone read handoff	Taylor	4
Looks like we're misaligned here as we're in the 5-3-1-7 split we broke out against the zone read last year, but we're flipped the wrong way. (This is the 5-3-1-7 split last year; this year we’re shifted over the running back.) As a result Taylor has to fight a double team that has position on him and Ezeh must deal with a lineman moving to the second level pretty easily. Four yards is a good result given the screwup, IMO, and that was because Taylor(+1) did an admirable job of fighting through an adverse situation.
M44	2	6	Shotgun 4-wide	Nickel	Pass	Throwaway	Jamison	Inc
Jamison(+1) bursts into the LT, then swims inside, coming clean on Johnson. Johnson rolls away from the pressure, avoiding the sack, and throws it away as Panter comes charging up for cleanup. (Pressure +2)
M44	3	6	Shotgun Trips	Okie	Pass	Zag(?)	Panter	6
Bleur. Michigan shows the mondo blitz as per usual, then backs out early, notifying Johnson he's not going to be under pressure. Panter(-1) again gets beaten by a double move from a slow white guy, giving up an out and in for first down yardage. (Cover -1)
M38	1	10	Shotgun 4-wide	Base 4-3	Pass	Flag	Harrison	23
This is the opposite of the 14 yard completion on the first drive, with Warren up tight on the guy running the stop and Evans in a short zone on the inside guy until the receiver breaks into the deep zone and heads to the corner. Harrison reads the coverage and throws a perfect pass Harrison has no chance on. (Pressure -1)
M15	1	10	Shotgun 4-wide	Okie	Pass	Cross	Ezeh	9
Second team DL in the game now—may have been in the last few plays but I haven't noticed—and they get nowhere on a five-man rush(pressure -1). Panter(-1) and Ezeh(-1) victimized underneath (cover -1) as an easy four-yard completion is open enough to turn into nine.
M6	2	1	Unbalanced I-Form	Base 4-3	Penalty	False Start	--	-5
oops.
M11	2	6	Shotgun 3-wide	Base 4-3	Pass	Wheel	Harrison	11 (Pen -10)
Attempted pick here as the two outside receivers cross with the outside guy running a wheel that Harrison(+1, cover +1) jumps on. With Warren(+1, cover +1) blanketing his guy and Evans lighting out that way, the left side of the field is a no-go zone. At this point Graham(+1) is held after fighting inside his guy; Johnson rolls out and finds a receiver crossing the endzone for a touchdown that won't count. Illegal formation, too.
M21	2	16	Shotgun Empty	3-3-5 Nickel	Pass	Stop	Ezeh	18
This must be a bust by Ezeh(-2), as his zone drop heads to the other side of the field from a slot receiver who has no one anywhere near him. (Cover -2)
M3	1	G	Unbalanced I-Form	Base 4-3	Run	Dive	Taylor	1
Jet sweep fake couple with a charge up the middle; Taylor(+1) stands up to a double team. When the linebackers come up to fill the holes and the running back cuts into him, he's there for the tackle. He doesn't get any help until it's too late, though, and the RB falls forward.
M2	2	G	Goal line	Goal line	Pass	Sack	Evans	-7
Play action coupled with two options for Johnson to the near side of the field; Evans(+1, cover +2) sits on the back on long enough for Warren to come over, then attacks the short one just as he begins looking for the ball. Penetration from Graham(+1) and Jamison(+1) combines to yield a Jamison sack.
M9	3	G	Shotgun Trips	3-3-5 Stack	Pass	Sack	Van Bergen	-2
Three man line with Graham the NT and Van Bergen and Jamison the ends. Utah rolls the pocket, cutting off one side of the field and cramming a lot of defenders into a small space; Johnson can't find anyone. (Cover +1) Van Bergen(+1) shoves his defender off balance once the pocket completes its roll and has a lane to the quarterback; a wild goose chase ensues and ends with Ezeh shoving Johnson OOB for a sack. Van Bergen is still running. His vaunted motor on display.
Drive Notes: FG(28), 10-9, 14 min 2nd Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
O26	1	10	Shotgun 4-wide	Base 4-3	Pass	Comeback	Warren	9
Pocket is collapsing around Johnson and he just has enough time to get it into a well-covered receiver; five yards turns into nine with poor tackling from Warren(-1)
O35	2	1	Shotgun 4-wide	Base 4-3	Pass	Jailbreak screen	--	Inc
Thrown too far in front of the receiver, and that's fortunate because this was set up for a big gainer.
O35	3	1	Pistol Trips	Base 4-3	Penalty	False Start	--	-5
Looks like this was going to be a speed option or a pitch or something.
O30	3	6	Shotgun Trips	Base 4-3	Pass	Flare	Evans	39
Where is Marell Evans' first step going here? He takes one fatal step upfield before backing out and getting to his man, the tailback leaking out of the backfield. He then compounds his error by taking an upfield angle instead of heading straight to the sideline. Result: completion, long run, first down, swearin'. (Cover -1, Evans -3)
M31	1	10	Shotgun Trips Bunch	Base 4-3	Pass	Fly	Brown	Inc
Poor decision from Johnson, throwing a ball to a bracketed wide receiver (Cover +1). Brown(+1) has a better shot at this than the wideout, but can't reel it in. The pocket keeps collapsing around Johnson and forcing him to throw the ball, but it hasn't gotten irresponsible to the point where he breaks contain.
M31	2	10	Shotgun 2-back	Nickel	Run	Triple option dive	Panter	5
Mike Martin gets doubled and eventually shoved out of the hole a little bit; it's just a crease but it's enough. Ezeh doesn't quite make this play but he impressively reads it, attacks a guard, gets to the correct side of him, and almost makes a spectacular diving tackle for no gain. By this point I'm pretty sure Panter is tasked with spying the QB on most plays, so his initial steps away from the dive aren't surprising; wonder if a more experienced player fills more quickly here.
M26	3	5	Shotgun Trips	3-3-5 Nickel	Pass	Curl	Harrison	Inc
Think this is a straight drop by the wide receiver, but Harrison made it difficult by impacting him as the play arrived. Pressure decent, coverage decent, not great, no plus/minus.
Drive Notes: FG(43), 10-12, 9 min 2nd Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
O18	1	10	Shotgun Empty	Base 4-3	Pass	Curl	Ezeh	10
Plenty of time (pressure -1) and Ezeh(-1) is beaten in the zone.
O28	1	10	Shotgun Trips	Base 4-3	Run	Zone read dive	Martin	11
Okay, when I theorized Michigan was misaligned earlier I was wrong. This is the third time this has happened where they line up inviting the zone read handoff by lining up shifted away from it, then ask the DT to that site to stand up a double. Mike Martin(-2) doesn't do this, getting bashed to the ground by the second guy's impact and opening up a gaping hole. Ezeh(-1) gets plowed by the same guy who crushed Martin, hell of a play from the Utah LG.
O39	1	10	Shotgun 3-wide	Base 4-3	Run	ISQD	Ezeh	9
On each of the next three plays, Utah's lumbering power back lines up as the QB, fakes an end-around, and runs upfield. This is terrible, terrible from Ezeh(-2), who gets wholly sucked in by the end around fake and vacates the center of the field, allowing the RB-as-QB to shoot up into the hole. Martin(-1) turns in another play where he's blown out; Panter gets run over.
O48	2	1	Shotgun 3-wide	Base 4-3	Run	ISQD	Evans	18
Low snap removes any threat of the end around and Michigan should have this contained; Ezeh reads it right this time and shoots into the hole; I think he's tripped to the ground by an OL and should draw a flag; he does not. Evans(-2) sits back, gets too close to an unblocked Graham, gets blasted by the FB, and opens up another gaping hole up the middle. Brown(-1) messes up a tackle and yields another ten yards.
M34	1	10	Shotgun 3-wide	Base 4-3	Run	ISQD	Johnson	2
Johnson(+1) returns to the field and becomes the white knight, standing up to a double, shucking a guy, and making contact at the LOS. Panter(+1) takes on the fullback effectively, discarding him to finish the job.
M32	2	8	Shotgun 3-wide	Base 4-3	Pass	Slant	Trent	Inc
This is open, thrown on a three step drop but just behind the receiver. ( cover -1)
M32	3	8	Shotgun 4-wide	3-3-5 Nickel	Pass	Scramble	--	6
Three man rush; Taylor and Jamison get enough of a push, I guess, to convince Johnson it's time to tuck and run. He didn't have to; mental error. Ezeh and Chambers manage to tackle before the sticks. (Cover +1)
Drive Notes: FG(41), 10-15, 3 min 2nd Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
O11	1	10	Shotgun 4-wide	Nickel	Pass	Flat	Graham	Inc
Slant coupled with a flat on one side functions as a pick and gets Harrison out of position (cover -1). However, Graham(+1) has beaten the RT and I believe he brushes or grabs or hits Johnson's arm as he throws. End result: turfed ball. (Pressure +1).
O11	2	10	Shotgun 4-wide	Base 4-3	Run	Zone read dive	Taylor	-3
Maybe this is the intent on these seemingly flipped plays: Taylor(+2) goes around the center away from the double team, blasting him back and penetrating into the path of the run. Graham(+1) has slanted inside, too, disconnecting and finishing the play.
O8	3	13	Shotgun 4-wide	Okie	Pass	Post	Warren	Inc
Five guys come with Panter sitting in a pretty useless spy/robber zone on third and thirteen; no one gets to Johnson(pressure -2). Fortunately, Warren(+2) has this post blanketed, breaking in front of the receiver and getting the PBU, nearly intercepting. (Cover +2) Brown also in good position; his bump of Warren may have caused the drop.
Drive Notes: Punt, 10-15, 1:48 2nd Q. Finally a punt.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
M37	1	10	Shotgun 4-wide tight	Base 4-3	Pass	Scramble	Jamison	5
Jamison(+1, pressure +1) fights his way around the corner again, causing Johnson to flush up into the pocket. Unfortunately, there's a crease and Panter isn't playing spy so Johnson can roll up a decent number of yards.
M32	2	5	Shotgun Trips	Okie	Pass	Improv	Stewart	Inc (Pen -5
Five guys come; Johnson comes off his first read because it's covered(+1). After rolling out he finds a guy shooting to the sideline; Charles Stewart(+1, cover +1) is in great position and breaks it up. Illegal formation gives Utah another down; I think you turn this down, actually.
M37	2	10	Shotgun 4-wide	Okie	Pass	Jailbreak Screen	Graham	8
Five rushers again and Utah has a good playcall for it, so good they can spend two blockers taking out Ezeh. Graham(+1) pursues from behind quicker than you'd think he could and manages to hold this down.
M29	3	2	Shotgun 2TE	Base 4-3	Pass	Out	--	10
Six blitzers this time; Utah rolls the pocket a bit and finds a wide open (cover -2) receiver for the first down.
M19	1	10	Shotgun 4-wide	Okie	Pass	Post	Stewart(?)	19
Aw, come on. This guy is wide open between four Michigan defenders. I don't know who to blame but wow Charles Stewart(-1) is way away from this guy on a post. (Cover -2) Force even a tiny delay and Johnson's getting sacked here, too.
Drive Notes: Touchdown, 10-22, EOH. And now for something completely different.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
O37	1	10	Shotgun Empty	Base 4-3	Pass	In	Ezeh	11
Maybe not completely different: this Utah guy gets Ezeh(-1) to step the wrong way and comes open (cover -1) underneath for a nice gain.
O48	1	10	Shotgun 2-back	Base 4-3	Run	Triple option pitch		4
Evans is blitzing and forces a quick pitch; there's no outside contain. Brown(+1) comes up, though, and gets to the outside of the blocker. When the runner decides to take it outside he disengages and tackles, holding this down.
M48	2	6	Shotgun Empty	3-3-5 Nickel	Pass	Jailbreak Screen	Van Bergen	-11
RVB(+1) reads the tackles intent to cut him and avoids it, leaping in the path of the screen and forcing Johnson to hold the ball. As the unblocked defenders converge Johnson flings it into a defender, drawing a grounding penalty. (cover +1)
O41	3	17	Shotgun Empty	3-2-6 Dime	Pass	Out	Stewart	10
Five rushers, one of whom is Chambers as an OLB. Johnson doesn't get immediate pressure but doesn't have all day either; he dumps it down to a guy on an out for what should be two yards. Stewart(-1) misses the tackle and turns it into ten. Cover +1 for not letting Johnson go downfield.
Drive Notes: Punt, 10-22, 13 min 3rd Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
M9	1	G	Shotgun 4-wide tight	Base 4-3	Pass	Sack	Johnson	-9
Johnson(+2) and Taylor stunt, which the center has a hard time reading. Johnson explodes into him, knocking him off balance, and roars upfield into the pocket. Johnson rolls out but... uh... Johnson tracks him down. Barwis! (Pressure +2) Illegal substitution follows.
M23	2	G	Shotgun Trips	Base 4-3	Pass	Curl	Trent	10
Trent playing in the parking lot on second and forever; Utah half-rolls his way and hits a guy underneath the coverage. I guess this makes sense in this down and distance. (Cover -1)
M13	3	G	Shotgun 4-wide	Okie	Pass	Post	Brown	Int
Hey, credit where due: Brown's had a couple howlers so far but on this play he breaks on the route and breaks up the pass, knocking the ball into the air where Ezeh can pick it off. (+2 Brown, cover +2)
Drive Notes: Interception, 10-22, 11 min 3rd Q
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
M40	1	10	Shotgun 4-wide	3-3-5 Nickel	Pass	Sack	Jamison	-5
Note that Chambers is the WLB in this package. Much better zone drop from Ezeh—HD is cool, I can see 20 yards downfield—provides coverage on the post (+1, cover +1) and time for Jamison(+1, pressure +1) to come around the corner and do a sack/strip job; Johnson falls on his own fumble.
M45	2	15	Shotgun 4-wide	3-3-5 Nickel	Run	Zone read stretch	Ezeh	8
Only six in the box on this play so Michigan is playing short. Jamison(+1) shucks the LT and Graham (the NT here) holds his ground pretty well; Ezeh(-1) fights to one side of a blocker, leaving a cutback lane behind him because Chambers(-1) has sat and passively accepted a block. Stewart comes up and makes a decent tackle. Take these +/- numbers somewhat lightly; I'm not sure exactly what's wrong on this play. This play is actually a great example of what I was talking about in HTTV about the backside DE, because without the threat of the QB here he would be closing this down for little gain.
M37	3	8	Shotgun Trips	3-3-5 Nickel	Pass	Scramble	Van Bergen	1
Stewart's sitting in a robber zone(cover +1), which makes Johnson's first read, a slant, inadvisable. Meanwhile, confusion on the Utah OL has gotten Van Bergen in unblocked. (Pressure +1) Johnson scrambles out and tackled after a one-yard gain.
Drive Notes: FG(54), 10-25, 7 min 3rd Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
M44	1	10	Shotgun 3-wide	Base 4-3	Run	ISQD	Panter	6
Mouton replaces Evans. Same thing as in the first half. This one isn't that poorly defended, as the “QB” just manages to hop through a hole that forms momentarily between Panter and Sagesse. I think Panter gets a -1 for getting cranked by the FB and falling uselessly. If he stays on his feet this hole doesn't develop.
M38	2	4	Shotgun 3-wide	Base 4-3	Run	ISQD	Banks	3
Banks(+1) beats his man to the inside, forcing the pulling guard to block him and leaving Ezeh a free shot at the RB. Harris would have clubbed this guy dead; Ezeh loses the battle of momentum and allows the RB to fall forward.
M35	3	1	Shotgun 3-wide	Base 4-3	Run	ISQD	--	2
Camerawork lingers too long on a close shot so it's hard to tell what happens on this play. Panter and Ezeh combine to take the “QB” down after a first down.
M33	1	10	Shotgun 3-wide	Base 4-3	Run	ISQD	Taylor	5
Taylor(-1) attempts to spin his single blocker and gets caught. He ends up shoved downfield, his back to the play. Ezeh(-1) reads this wrong despite it being the same play they've run four times in a row.
M28	2	5	Ace Twins	Base 4-3	Run	Off tackle	Jamison	3
Jamison(+1) shoots inside his blocker and dives at the feet of the RB, tripping him a couple yards in the backfield. He starts falling forward, managing to keep his feet for a decent gain.
M25	3	2	Shotgun 2-TE	Base 4-3	Pass	Sack	Ezeh	-12
Rollout to the side with two wide receivers; Trent(+1) and Warren(+1) blanket their two guys in man; no safety help. Those are the only guys in the pattern. Johnson continues the roll until Ezeh(+1) shoots up impressively and sacks—or almost sacks and forces an intentional grounding. Whatever. (Cover +1)
Drive Notes: Punt, 10-25, 3 min 3rd Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
O30	1	10	Shotgun Trips	3-3-5 Nickel	Run	Zone read dive	Thompson	5
Thompson in for Ezeh. He does a pretty decent job of engaging the blocker, then pushing him away and attacking the ball carrier, but it looks like he gets his arm hooked by the OL and falls because of it—after the play he does the “throw a flag” motion. Banks peels back to tackle.
O35	2	5	Shotgun 3-wide	Base 4-3	Pass	Post	Stewart	Inc
Pass is well overthrown; Johnson(+1) impacts... er... Johnson just as he throws. Didn't affect the throw but he was out of time right then. (pressure +1)
O35	3	5	Shotgun 2-back	Base 4-3	Pass	Sack	Jamison	-9
Well timed blitz from Mouton gets him in and he absorbs the fullback; Jamison(+1), meanwhile, has beaten his guy again and forces Johnson to flush out of the pocket, where Graham(+1) sacks. (Pressure +2)
Drive Notes: Punt, 10-25, 14 min 4th Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
O26	1	10	Shotgun 2-TE	Base 4-3	Run	Zone read dive	Thompson	2
Blocking is basically the same as the ISQDs earlier but Johnson is the quarterback and he hands off up the gut. Good play by Thompson(+1) to avoid a downfield block and explode to the edge, catching Asiata as he cuts up.
O28	2	8	Shotgun Empty	Base 4-3	Pass	Sack	Panter	-6
Well timed blitz from Panter(+1) gets him in unblocked; with an empty backfield there's no one to take him. Snap is low; Johnson has no chance to avoid the pressure and goes down. (Pressure +1)
O22	3	14	Shotgun Empty	3-3-5 Nickel	Pass	Jailbreak Screen	--	6
Pretty much a give-up-and-punt; ball is a little in front of the receiver and starts a stumbling chain reaction that ends with him falling to the ground untouched.
Drive Notes: Punt(blocked!), 10-25, 9 min 4th Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
O33	1	10	Shotgun 3-wide	Base 4-3	Run	Triple option dive	Taylor	1
Taylor(+1) stands up to a double; no peeling LBs. Mouton attacks the intended POA, forcing the RB outside where Warren(+1) is unblocked and tackles. Utah picks up an unsportsmanlike after the play.
O19	2	24	Shotgun Trips	Base 4-3	Pass	Out	Brown	9
Rolling pocket and a quick throw to the sidelines; its open and a decent gain; Brown tackles immediately. Perfectly fine in this D&D.
O28	3	15	Shotgun 4-wide	3-3-5 Nickel	Pass	Sack	Patterson	-3
Six guys come; Johnson's first read is covered(+1) and he decides to bug out, scrambling forward in the pocket. Adam Patterson(+1) spins off a block and strips from behind. Panter recovers.
Drive Notes: Fumble, 17-25, 8 min 4th Q.
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
O25	1	10	Shotgun 4-wide	Base 4-3	Pass	Flare	Trent	Inc
Probably fortunate for Utah that this is dropped, as Trent read the eff out of this and was preparing to TFL if caught. (Cover +1, Trent +1)
O25	2	10	Shotgun 4-wide	3-3-5 Nickel	Run	Zone read dive	Ezeh	1
Graham(+1), the NT, holds up and disengages just as Ezeh(+1) shoots into the hole and tackles; great anticipation by Ezeh.
O26	3	9	Shotgun 4-wide	Okie	Pass	Dumpoff	Trent	Inc
This Okie backs out early and massively, ending up with just two rushers and Graham a spy in the middle of the field. Johnson decides to dump it off to the TB; it's incomplete anyway (cover +1).
Drive Notes: Punt, 23-25, 5 min 4th Q
Ln	Dn	Ds	O Form	D Form	Type	Play	Player	Yards
O30	1	10	Shotgun Trips	Base 4-3	Pass	Stop	Trent	7
Johnson does a good job of finding the open guy against a four-man rush; Trent lowers the boom immediately.
O37	2	3	Shotgun Empty	Base 4-3	Pass	Sack	--	0
Good coverage (+1) causes Johnson to head out after a first read; Mouton(+1) comes up rapidly to cut off any possible advancement; help from Jamison.
O37	3	3	Pistol 2TE	Okie(?)	Run	Broken play	Warren	2
Miscommunication results in Johnson with the ball wondering WTF to do; he plows ahead and almost has the first down before Warren cuts him down.
Drive Notes: Punt, 23-25, 2 min 4th Q. Utah's last drive is academic and not charted.

So what changed at halftime?

My initial theory was they junked the 4-3 zone that Johnson was shredding in the first half in favor of more 3-3-5 and more man, but as you can see above, not really. Any increased prevalence of three-man lines has more to do with the preposterous down and distance situations Utah found themselves in than any schematic adjustment. When it was first and ten in the second half, Michigan was in a 3-3-5 twice and a 4-3 all other times.

My new theory: the second half performance is close to baseline unless someone on Michigan makes a huge error. First half drives in capsule form:

Jamison draws a holding penalty and Utah finds itself in third and nineteen; Brown screws up badly, allowing a 55 yards pass and first and goal. (TD)
Johnson makes two NFL-quality throws that pick up 40-some yards; Ezeh busts a coverage and allows a second and sixteen to become a first down. (FG)
Evans blows a simple flare route in every way you can and turns a checkoff into a 40 yard play. (FG)
Utah completes a pass against Ezeh in zone and pounds down the field, exploiting freshman Mike Martin and getting some poor play from Evans and Ezeh. (FG)
Three-and-out.
Short field touchdown helped by poor coverage. (TD)

On each of the first three drives, simple errors from Michigan players turn long yardage down and distance situations into enormous plays; on the last Sheridan’s interception reduces the margin for error.

None of this happened in the second half, and while Utah managed the occasional first down with a number of runs up the middle or pass against the linebackers, their offensive line couldn’t handle the Michigan DL consistently enough to keep Utah out of third and long.

This is kind of the opposite of what’s going on with the offense. The offense has severe physical limitations and execution issues, so it can get better but will always have a low ceiling. The defense looks like a physically dominant monster with occasional execution issues.

Execution issues don’t just go away, of course, but they do go down as the weeks progress.

Chart?

Wow, like. Wow, man. I don’t know if I want to show you this thing.

For newcomers: the defense chart attempts to quantify positive and negative contributions from defensive players. Routine things like being the guy to clean up and tackle after someone else disrupted the play don’t show up. This does a pretty decent job in the run game but is inadequate for the pass game, so there are two metrics—“pressure” and “coverage”—devoted to that. In general, DL get the highest scores, LBs are in between, and DBs try to stay around zero.

Usually, this thing aligns pretty closely with the opinions I had watching the game live and on tape. This one is weird.

Anyway, chart.

Player	+	-	T	Notes
Jamison	9	-	9	IMO, Michigan’s best player on the day. Totally dominant, picked up TFLs and sacks, caused others.
Johnson	6	-	6	Also thought he was excellent, night and day from his meh junior season. Barwisized.
Taylor	6	1	5	Stood up to Utah double teams consistently, only blown back once.
B. Graham	8	-	8	Wha?
Patterson	1	-	1	Forced a critical fumble, but that was after someone else had forced a rollout.
Banks	1	-	1
VanBergen	2	-	2	Legendary motor was on display on a couple plays; promising debut.
Martin	-	3	-3	Had a couple bad plays where he couldn’t hold up against interior runs, but he cycled in quite a bit and had a number of other plays where he was adequate.
Ezeh	5	10	-5	So… right. I gave the Big Ten DPOW a –5 after a 15 tackle performance. More later.
Thompson	1	-	1	Will probably get more time this week.
Panter	3	7	-4	Bad.
Evans	2	5	-3	Critical failure on that 40-yard flare.
Mouton	1	-	1	Will see more time next week.
Trent	2	1	1	Couple completions on him were due to zone, IMO.
Harrison	1	-	1
Warren	5	1	4	Better tackling, rarely challenged.
Stewart	1	2	-1
Brown	4	4	0	One big play for, one against.
Chambers	1	2	-1	Minus was because he was playing linebacker.
"Pressure"	14	7	7	Monster day.
"Coverage"	25	18	7	This is a really good number, actually.

Okay, my issues with my own damn chart:

I thought Graham had a disappointing day, as he only got to the quarterback every once in a while. All the mentions above are from nice plays in run defense.
Jamison and Johnson were great, IMO, and I have no problems with their numbers. Taylor checks out, too.
The linebackers were obviously a problem, and the outside linebackers especially.
Ezeh… well. Something like –6 was on pass coverage, where I think you’ll agree Michigan linebackers had serious issues. There were another couple plays in the run game where he just flipped out and went completely the wrong direction, and that’s how you get to –5.

I still don’t agree with the Ezeh thing, but when Johnson is tearing up the linebackers underneath and Utah racks up a billion yards in the first half because of it, someone has to suffer.

Barwis SMASH?

Well, he couldn’t do much with the patchwork offensive line but holy crap this DL looks like it’s from another planet this year. Tim Jamison was crushing a guy who was second-team All Mountain West last year; this is not conclusive but it's certainly encouraging. Will Johnson turned in more plays in that game than he did in half of last year. And Johnson got run down from behind more than once on plays we’ve all seen end in tragedy before.

All hail.

What’s with the linebackers and the suck?

They’re clearly scrambling for answers here, with Evans and Panter scheduled to sit for Mouton and Thompson next week. This should not be particularly surprising. Panter became Michigan’s first JUCO recruit in ten years for a reason, and it wasn’t “boy we’re so deep at linebacker.”

Thompson, of course, had that wowza Iowa game in 2005, then disappeared to the bench until the early stages of last year, when he started for a bit then lost his job to injuries and Ezeh. Maybe he’s not good against the pass, but if he turns out to be good against the run he’s got something on Panter. Mouton made a play or two last game, but he’s been AWOL behind players who are bad for the duration of his career. I’m not expecting miracles.

As for Ezeh, live I thought he was awesome; on tape I thought he was pretty good; in the harsh number-thing above he checked in about as ugly as it gets. He’s clearly still working towards the lofty standard set by David Harris. He’s obviously much closer this year and I think he might approach it as a junior. There will still be growing pains this fall.

Heroes?

Defensive line, Barwis, Warren.

Goats?

Linebackers, somewhat Steve Brown.

What does it mean for next week and the season?

I was more encouraged by the defense after review, since a lot of the plays Johnson made had little margin for error—little holes in a zone or a defensive lineman just about to put a facemask in his chest—and some others seemed first game jitters from young players. Iron out the n00bs to the point where they’re the defensive equivalent of Wisconsin quarterbacks—just don’t lose the game for us, kid—and let the defensive line go to work and this defense should just about live up to its hype.

Watch out for: veteran quarterbacks who operate out of a spread or have excellent underneath options. Tight ends could be problematic all year.

Year	Total	Scoring	Rush	Pass	Sacks	TO (Raw)
2006	97	108	117	23	111	15
2007	107	65	77	107	11	26

A note before we start: this preview relies heavily on the defensive UFRs of last year, even more so than the offense did, because 1) there are actual returning players and 2) there’s a convenient numerical system that does a decent job of summing up a defensive player’s contributions. One caveat: the system is generous to defensive linemen and harsh to defensive backs, especially cornerbacks. A +4 for a defensive end is just okay; for a cornerback it’s outstanding.

Defensive Line

Rating: 5.

Depth Chart
WDE	Yr.	NT	Yr.	DT	Yr.	SDE	Yr.
Tim Jamison	Sr.*	Terrance Taylor	Sr.	Will Johnson	Sr.*	Brandon Graham	Jr.
Adam Patterson	Jr.	Renaldo Sagesse	So.	Mike Martin	Fr.	Ryan Van Bergen	Fr.*
Andre Criswell	Jr*	--	--	Jason Kates	So.*	Greg Banks	So.*

With four starters returning, three of them seniors, defensive line should be the team's strong point. All are converts to the Church of Barwis. Terrance Taylor and Brandon Graham each dropped 30-some pounds; Will Johnson is lifting small cars for fun; Tim Jamison is noticeably less pudgy. They could be dominant. Let’s hope.

Defensive Tackle

Terrance Taylor
2006
Plowing Central
Penetration
Shooting the gap
More penetration
2007
Holds up to double
PSU pressure
Unassisted TFL
Cut to the ground
Making plays

Much was expected from fireplug nose tackle Terrance Taylor last year, but Taylor was just okay. He was bad against Appalachian State’s spread ‘n shred and ineffective against Oregon’s spread ‘n shred ‘n impossibly-easy long touchdown, a weakness that recurred later in the season against Illinois:

Taylor and Johnson weren't much more effective against the zone read than they were in the first week of the season. Taylor did make a couple plays, but +2 is a weak day for a DT playing against a lot of interior run plays.

There was also an ignominious –2 against Eastern Michigan.

On the other hand, when teams lined up and attempted to grind down Michigan all traditional-like, Taylor was pretty dang good.

A compilation:

Team	+	-	Tot	Comments
Penn State	5	1	4	Probably thinking "hallelujah, someone who will run straight at me."
Michigan State	8	3	5	A couple diving tackles that really helped out the befuddled linebackers.
Wisconsin	11	3	8	I thought he was great, but grant you that you might be skeptical. Nine tackles is a hell of a number for a DT, though.
Ohio State	6	4	2	Positive day, but a disappointing one nonetheless. Given his status as Michigan's most consistently disruptive DT and the steady diet of iso plays, he should have had a bigger impact.

That’s three of four performances that were at least good; there were also big days against spread teams Purdue and Northwestern.

Michigan fans are banking on Taylor improving after his midseason conversion to the Church of Barwis. The gregarious fat man is now more gregarious and less fat after dropping 25 pounds over the summer. He claims his conditioning has improved:

"I'm going to be lean," he said, laughing, knowing what his 6-foot frame can handle. "I know doing that, being more flexible, doing the things they want and improving in the areas I can improve in, all working together, it's a blessing I stayed here and we got (strength coach) Mike Barwis."

Taylor’s ability to stay effective late in games will be extremely important with the loss of Marques Slocum and position switch of John Ferrara: the top backups are a freshman and a Canadian.

Will Johnson
2006
ND third and one dies
Snuffing a draw
2007
Causing a sack
Third down vs Illini
Slowing the zone read
Forcing INT
Crushed by UW

If Taylor was a bit disappointing, Will Johnson was more so. After battling through a severe knee injury that forced a redshirt and lingered on, Johnson debuted as a redshirt sophomore backup to unholy terror Alan Branch in 2006. In that role, he was good. Sometimes they’d lift Branch on third and short in favor of Johnson and, remarkably, that turned out pretty well.

Unfortunately, when Johnson was pressed into full-time duty the results were meh. Stats don’t always tell the tale at defensive tackle, but 2.5 TFLs and half a sack does not indicate an impact player. UFRs indicate a strong game against Penn State, a rollercoaster performance against Wisconsin, a good day against Minnesota (BFD, maybe), a clunker against Ohio State, and unremarkable days otherwise.

Johnson also has tales of Barwis:

"I think I'm stronger and more explosive than I've been in a while," senior defensive tackle Will Johnson said. "(Barwis') staff is really good. They're really on top of everything. They know what you need to do and how to get you there.

"I love (Barwis) to death so far. He's a good guy. He really gets after you and wants you to do your best."

He owns many of the weightlifting records for the current team and is a fifth year senior; now is the time. He should be better, but probably not All Big Ten level.

Freshman Mike Martin is the top backup at defensive tackle. Out of high school he’s a smaller version of Terrance Taylor, a shortish but stocky NT sort who was a state champion wrestler and powerlifter. A true freshman at DT would normally be cause for concern but Martin is reputed to be a gym rat much better prepared for the rigors of a college weight program than most. His highlight film is pretty impressive, as he shoots through the line and drags down ballcarriers like he’s a middle linebacker.

No one knew what to expect from Renaldo Sagesse, as he is from Quebec and played mostly against 150 pound guys who got much, much sorrier they didn’t make the hockey team as soon as he wandered on the field. He saw sporadic snaps last year, but they were too few to glean any impression from. Jason Kates stuck around and stuck it out under Barwis a year after dropping from a listed 358 pounds to 318; he will probably start rotating in this year.

Defensive End

Brandon Graham

2007

Snuffing a draw

Sacking Painter

Hates Gophers

Brandon Graham was injured or suspended or something for Michigan’s first two games of 2007. You probably don’t remember this because it’s not like it’s been brought up every 15 seconds since, but Michigan gave up a lot of points in those games. When Graham returned against Notre Dame, he racked up 3.5 sacks and Michigan gave up no points. From then on the defense dragged itself from dead last to 24th nationally, finishing second in the Big Ten. This looks like an important player.

In truth, Graham wasn’t the all-crushing destroyer of worlds the events of last year may have made him out to be. He did pick up 8.5 sacks and would likely have cracked double digits without the missed time, but in marked contrast to Lamarr Woodley, Graham added just one non-sack TFL and 15 non-sack regular tackles. Tim Jamison, in contrast, had about triple those numbers. Woodley was on another level yet.

Michigan State turned its run game around by attacking a tired Graham, and he came in for some clucking:

He's got a -2 up there, by far his worst total of his career, and it was largely because he got booted out of the line by double teams frequently.

Michigan needs Graham to take the next step forward in the pass game and start wreaking similar havoc against the run.

I tentatively suggest this will happen. Barwis broke Brandon Graham into his component molecules, examined every one individually, and reassembled Graham into a 16-foot-tall fire-breathing dinosaur robot. Or something like that:

…at 287 pounds, Brandon Graham did 315 pounds on the bench press. We cut him all the way down to 250 and then brought him back up to 269. At 269 today, he did 475 for two (repetitions) on the bench.

This quote is amazing for obvious reasons—Graham can now lift Charlie Weis twice—and more subtle ones: we had a 290-pound defensive end last year? Jebus.

We have a player who was already one of the better defensive ends in the league whilst carrying around 20 pounds of Cottage Inn one year more experienced and several times better conditioned. Also there is the cockpit-mounted flamethrower. Survey says: really, really good.

After three years of nonstop hype and the occasional flash of brilliance in a backup role, Tim Jamison debuted as a starting defensive end and was… eh… a little better than okay. Late in the season he was wildly inconsistent. Against Wisconsin he was a measly +1 as the DL as a whole turned in a –8 in the important “pressure” metric, but against Ohio State he turned in a +7 and was the best player on the defense.

Other than that though, Jamison’s porridge was boringly average. Earlier it was meh-plus—+4, +4, +5, that kind of thing—as the pressure metric wandered around the acceptable range. His stats were similarly unremarkable: 5.5 sacks, 52 tackles, ten TFLs. A point in his favor: that’s a lot of tackles and a decent number behind the line; he wasn’t really the issue in the run game.

Jamison enters his final year an established starter who should take another step forward this year. How much depends on how realistic the Barwis hype is, how crazy Scott Shafer is, and how much potential is yet untapped. Jamison’s entering his fifth year in college instead of his third and is thus less likely than Graham to blow up, but he was a slightly plus player a year ago and will probably be an honorable mention All Big Ten sort, maybe second team.

Tim Jamison
2006
ND sack
Easy PSU sack
Indiana sack
2007
He owns Penn State
Thumping a FB
Sacking EMU

Behind the starters it’s thin. Ryan Van Bergen was a moderately shirtless recruit reputed to have a nonstop motor; he redshirted a year ago and appears to be the top option behind Graham on the strongside. At 6’5” he’s a bit taller than optimal height for a defensive end. Greg Banks was a meh recruit; he’s seen some time here and there but hasn’t done anything of note. Adam Patterson was a major recruit but has done less than Banks so far, as a junior he’s rapidly running out of time.

Linebackers

Rating: 2.

Depth Chart
WLB	Yr.	MLB	Yr.	SLB	Yr.
Marell Evans	So.	Obi Ezeh	So.*	Austin Panter	Sr.
Jonas Mouton	So.*	Johnny Thompson	Sr.*	JB Fitzgerald	Fr.*
Kenny Demens	Fr.	Brandon Logan	Fr.	Brandon Herron	Fr.*

Obi Ezeh returns; Chris Graham and Shawn Crable do not. Crable will be missed. Unfortunately, available options here are few.

Middle Linebacker

Obi Ezeh

2007

Hesitant early

More decisive

Still decisive

Sophomore middle linebacker Obi Ezeh was the Steve Schilling of the defense in 2007: a redshirt freshman pressed into the starting lineup before his time, he was unprepared and often bad. Now he’s the “veteran” anchor of a shaky unit, counted upon to improve massively.

Though Ezeh doesn’t have the same plague of injuries to excuse his play, he was switched from strongside linebacker to the middle midway through fall camp and was significantly less touted as a recruit. There’s plenty of reason to believe he’ll get better.

He’ll have to. Michigan Sports Center put this video up to highlight Morgan Trent’s wicked speed but when I look at it all I see is horrible linebacker play:

This is a simple zone read handoff on which Ezeh is unblocked. Not only does Ezeh not read the play and the hole fast enough to make a tackle, he commits the cardinal sin of losing “leverage” on the ball by letting Harvin outside of him. The result is a big gainer.

This happened quite frequently last year, as Colin Johnston detailed in his piece on the differences between David Harris and Obi Ezeh for Hail To The Victors 2008. Ezeh was a freshman and he played like it, especially against Wisconsin when he turned in a –7.

That’s not to say there wasn’t good stuff mixed in there. Ezeh usually managed to stay on the positive side of the UFR ledger, which was more than Chris Graham could say. Ezeh is getting a lot of positive buzz, too. Here’s hoping it’s accurate.

Johnny Thompson

2007

He slices up well

Johnny Thompson backs up Ezeh. He’s a player damned by the shifting tides of football, a guy who could have been a starter back when second and eight was a running down. Our one glimpse of Thompson’s promise came during the 2005 Iowa game, when the ineptness of Chris Graham became too much to bear and he was inserted at weakside linebacker. I wrote this last year and it still holds true:

The first half was full of indecision and error; the second half he made a significant contribution to the win... in the run game. When he was asked to defend the pass, he overran plays and got clunkily out of position.

Though he did intercept Jimmah Clausen last year—raise your hand if you didn’t—put your hand down, Todd Howard—that limitation remains. He’s an outmoded player.

Thompson should see the field as a situation run-stopper on short yardage and goalline sets. If there’s a non-spread team on the schedule that really can’t throw you might see a lot of him in that particular game… maybe Wisconsin?

Outside Linebacker

On the outside things are tetchy. Marell Evans has won the weakside job from presumed heir apparent Jonas Mouton. Neither has seen the field much so we’re reduced to recruiting rankings, extrapolation, and practice whispers.

Evans first: he was a legit nobody (to the recruiting sites, at least) out of Varina High in Virginia a couple years back. Varina also happens to be the school that produced Brandon Minor, and Michigan internet legend has it that a primary reason Evans got his offer was Minor’s recommendation. Minor told the staff “this guy works harder than I do,” and this was suitably impressive. At the time of his commitment, Evans’ other offers were from Buffalo, Temple, and Middle Tennessee. Now he’s a true sophomore slated to start at Michigan. Dude.

Mouton, on the other hand, was a mondo recruit out of California, ranked in or around the top 50 by both sites. He moved down from safety and redshirted his first year; last year an ankle injury lingered into the season, limiting his time early. Nothing limited his time late, however, and Chris Graham was still tres ineffective as the starting WLB. Like Mark Ortmann’s struggles behind an unprepared Schilling, this is a disturbing indicator for his future.

Evans doesn’t exactly have the profile of a future star what with that recruiting story—even if you don’t believe in star ratings, that offer list is less than ideal—but at least he’s beaten out a touted guy and has an encouraging career path to date. I won’t venture a guess as to how it will work out. Mouton remains the better athlete and may see some time as a madman blitzer in Scott Shafer’s madman blitzing schemes.

On the strongside, Austin Panter is the most unexpected starter on the defense, and that’s saying something given the science that was just dropped on Evans. Michigan’s first JUCO transfer since Russell Shaw, Panter arrived with a JUCO Defensive Player of the Year award and was immediately considered a total bust. He saw just enough time to rob him of a redshirt—yay—and seemed poised to languish in obscurity his final year. Exit Crable and enter Rodriguez and he’s a starter.

I have no idea what this portends. The only thing I’ve seen from Panter was a couple good plays in the 2007 spring game. Michigan never uses JUCOs so I don’t know if this is a reasonable thing to have happen. It seems like it might be since there’s a huge leap from some community college in Kansas to Michigan, but it also seems a little desperate. It’s not like this JUCO DPOY award has been a great predictor of I-A success: most of the guys who got it faded away into Bolivia without so much as a start.

This may work out; I lean towards not so good. It might not matter that much because Michigan will be in a nickel so often.

Brandon Logan exists but isn’t going to see time outside of special teams. A fleet of freshmen will probably rotate in at points. JB Fitzgerald has been the only freshman linebacker drawing direct praise from Rodriguez so far. He’s a middle linebacker by trade, though, so may get buried this year. Kenny Demens, Taylor Hill, and Brandon Herron have not drawn any mentions. Hill was the highest rated but was also a 210 pound DE. Marcus Witherspoon would probably have seen the field this year but a clearinghouse issue has him lingering around home. He certainly thinks he’s going to arrive; at this point a redshirt seems like a foregone conclusion.

Defensive Backs

Rating: 4.

Depth Chart
CB	Yr.	FS	Yr.	SS	Yr.	CB	Yr.
Morgan Trent	Sr.*	Steve Brown	Jr.	Brandon Harrison	Sr.	Donovan Warren	So.
Troy Woolfolk	So.	Charles Stewart	Sr.*	Artis Chambers	So.	Boubacar Cissoko	Fr.
JT Floyd	Fr.	Brandon Smith	Fr.	Michael Williams	Fr.*	Doug Dutch	Sr.*

The one unit that was a pleasant surprise on last year’s team, the secondary returns about three starters depending on how you classify oft-deployed nickelback and new starting safety Brandon Harrison. The starting corners return and are backed up by some promising young talent; Steve Brown… well, he’s going to play and God willing last year’s contribution to the Horror was an anomaly.

Morgan Trent

2007

Jumping a slant

Senior cornerback Morgan Trent underwent a remarkable transformation last year. He was torched time and again in the Football Armageddon ‘06 Ohio State game and was #1 on the fan whipping boy charts until Appalachian State’s first drive. He proceeded to turn in an excellent year, emerging into one of the better corners in the Big Ten. Defenses avoided him in favor of Johnny Sears and, later, Donovan Warren. That might not say much when those two guys are baked out of their gourd and freshman, respectively, but this does:

PASS DEF EFFICIENCY      G   Att  Cmp  Int  Pct.  Yds TD Effic
--------------------------------------------------------------
1. Michigan............  8   252  134    8  53.2 1382  4  98.1
2. Ohio State..........  8   276  145    6  52.5 1355  8  99.0
3. Purdue..............  8   288  166    9  57.6 1783 10 114.9
4. Iowa................  8   290  167   10  57.6 1933 10 118.1

Michigan missed Jake Christensen's unconvincing impersonation of a man with arms and was still the top pass efficiency D in the conference. Morgan Trent was the best player in that secondary.

This year, NFL scouts are saying Trent is the most draftable prospect on the team, even ahead of the defensive linemen. I could only turn up one highlight for Trent because teams avoided him so much—there was also a “look what I found” interception or two, but those weren’t exactly testaments to his ability. He’s headed for an excellent senior season and some postseason award consideration.

Donovan Warren

2007

Jumping a hitch

Too hesitant tackling

Batting it away

And the whiff

Meanwhile, Donovan Warren is on the same stardom track followed by Jackson, Hall, and Woodson (praised be his name) before him: come in a highly touted recruit, start about half the year as a freshman, and blow up your sophomore year en route to the first round of the NFL draft. Warren actually has more recruiting accolades than anyone on that list—only Jackson was even close—and was a starter by the second half of The Horror.

As you might expect, Warren started off a little shaky. Though he was one of the few Wolverines to escape the Post Apocalyptic Oregon Game without a tongue-lashing, he was one of the “goats” against Penn State. (“Goats” is probably the wrong term when you give up nine points, but whatever.) He was also responsible for a coverage bust against Illinois that led to a touchdown. But as I review the UFRs he’s always at 0 or –1 or +1, which is pretty good for a freshman in a system that has a hard time crediting secondary players for the times they don’t screw up. Most of Warren’s mentions go like this:

Warren(+1) reacts to this quickly and just manages to not screw up the tackle. I'm still pretty leery about his tackling ability, and frankly, this play, but we are a results-based charting service. (Cover +1)

Tackling was his main issue a year ago. And indecision. Tackling and indecision and etc Spanish Inquisition, except that tackling and indecision were about it. Those things should melt away with more experience; the expectation here is that Warren will be very good.

Top backups at corner are true freshman Boubacar Cissoko, a highly-rated player from Cass Tech in Detroit, and Michigan legacy Troy Woolfolk. Cissoko was well regarded by the recruiting services despite the fact he can’t get on any of the rides at Cedar Point, and this hilariously-scored highlight package gives an indication as to why:

There’s only one Black Jesus and he’s Steve Breaston.

Anyway, Cissoko’s short but he’ll get in your grill and jam your ass to the ground. My go-to comparison for him is former Arkansas corner Chris Houston, who spent his college career lined up six inches from his man and rode them all the way downfield. Sometimes this worked out great; sometimes it did not it was spectacular to watch either way.

Woolfolk, meanwhile, was a high school track star and is the son of Michigan legend Butch Woolfolk. He’s physically reminiscent of Trent, a long, lanky guy who can go fast in a straight line but doesn’t have the change of direction a dwarf like Cissoko does.

Safety

Steve Brown

2007

The Horror Begins

In a way, I blame myself. Mostly I blame other people with a direct hand in it, but in a way I am culpable. There’s the “Functional DNP” thing and then Angry Michigan Safety Hating God saw this arrogance re: Steve Brown in last year’s preview and struck us all down:

It's usually silly to expect a new starter to outperform a departed one, but in this case it would be nearly impossible for Brown not to. Ryan Mundy was the worst safety I have ever seen in a Michigan uniform.

Mundy, of course, transmogrified into a safety decent enough to actually get drafted by an actual NFL team in the actual NFL draft. Meanwhile, Brown’s first start caused in mass chaos, tragedy, and this:

our safeties remain way downfield holding their penises, or, in Stevie Brown's case, trying very hard to grab his penis but falling down and watching it score a touchdown.

I was a little cranky.

Brown (right) was yanked halfway through The Horror and blameless Brandent Englemon occupied the starting job for the remainder of the year. Brown emerged from time to time when injury demanded it or just to spot a tired starter; in this time he made no big plays but neither did he give any up.

So now he’s the man, man, at free safety, and there are few other options available. (Maybe Artis Chambers is ready. Maybe not.) Brown’s still racking up the hype that caused such a sunny prediction in last year’s preview. He has full guru approval. He’s a junior now. He still scares the living daylights out of me.

This probably isn’t fair; I’m no doubt overrating two very bad plays from an inexperienced player in his first real action. If Brown had just sat behind a highly reliable Brandent Englemon, everyone would be terribly excited about him.

But, yeah, he didn’t.

Brandon Harrison

2007

Blowing up screen

Taking down Benn

Mighty mite Brandon Harrison has claimed the strong safety job. Though he’s technically not a returning starter, Harrison saw a ton of time last year as Michigan’s nickelback. From that spot he strung out options and attempted outside runs, provided underneath coverage, and blitzed quarterbacks. His proficiency at these things: excellent, average, and why don’t you run AT him instead of PAST him?

I’m a little disappointed Harrison will be giving up that spot as a quasi-linebacker, because he really was excellent at crushing outside runs last year. Three plays expound on a season:

Harrison(+2) jets in, fending of a blocker to chop this down in the backfield. Thompson(+1) also out there to help after a quick read. … Harrison(+2) reads and shoots into the backfield, making a huge TFL just as the ball arrives. … Harrison(-1) in unblocked but overruns the QB.

Those instincts will serve him well, though, and I expect he’ll be in that familiar spot over the slot receiver with frequency as Shafer brings another guy up to blitz.

Harrison’s coverage was been decent to good last year, though he missed an occasional tackle underneath; he should be acceptable to good in his final year.

Fifth-year senior Charles Stewart is the main backup at safety. His most extensive time on the field to date was as Morgan Trent’s ineffective replacement during the 2006 Minnesota game. After getting torched in a variety of ways there, he was buried on the bench and moved to safety. He’s been getting sporadic praise from the new regime and may see some time in nickel and time packages.

Artis Chambers was getting some time on special teams when the Big Ten dinged him for some eligibility snafu and forced him out for the remainder of the year. There are reports he’s playing some outside linebacker in a weird pass-down dime package. Whether that signals disaffection with the linebackers or a desire to get Chambers on the field is yet to be determined.

Brandon Smith is a high-rated true freshman who will see some time as he’s groomed to step in Harrison next year. He’s got wicked dreads.

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Upon Further Review: Defense vs Utah

Defense 2008: Five Questions and Five Answers

What does this defense have to do to drive Michigan to wins?

Can the interior run defense rebound?

What can we expect from Scott Shafer?

Steve Brown ack.

Add it up and you get?

Stupid Predictions

Unit By Unit, Defense 2008

Defensive Line

Linebackers

Defensive Backs