Good news everybody: Ace will have a post about the future of Michigan basketball later this afternoon.

In football news, spring practice is wrapping up. They have a spring game tomorrow that’s going back to the draft-and-play format of the early Harbaugh years, but nobody’s invited to it. We covered the offense earlier this week. Sam added some really nice bits about the running backs($), Balas posted a free article on things they’ve learned about the offense, and Isaiah Hole nicely organized everything Gattis said on this week’s In the Trenches appearance since. You should go enjoy those, because if you’re watching this from a defensive point of view,

The future of Michigan Football is bright with #9 pic.twitter.com/ZT0OtKGboc

— Showti〽️e (@ShowtimeInAA) April 8, 2021

Oh, buddy.

This Play

What we don’t want to hear: The Cowboy Speaks.

What else happened: This video of backups* tells us a lot more about the defense than the offense. No, not just that Eamonn Dennis got burned crispy by Cristian Dixon, or that FS Jordan Morant got caught in no-man’s land, or that JJ McCarthy threw the best ball by a Michigan quarterback since Shea’s rainbow over Sparta. Michigan is in a 2-4-5, which is the same thing as a 4-2-5 except you’re calling the ends linebackers because they’re standing up. This is how a lot of 3-4 teams do nickel, since their OLBs are basically pass-rushing ends.

The interesting part is how they fit the run. Or don’t.

I’m used to Don Brown, where the jobs are pretty simple. In Brown world, when that TE inserts, the MLB (left, might be Mullings) turns into a fullback. Go and pop that guy on the inside shoulder, and the safety should be coming down to clean up. The WLB (right, Joey Velazquez) has the backside B gap. This feels more like a Kirby Smart fit, where the second level is playing off what happens to the first level. When the nose gets a double, the WLB can read and make a play, trusting the back can’t go between the double and the nose can squeeze the B gap closed. The MLB in turn should have a safety rotating down to make him right.

*The OTs are Karsen Barnhart and Trente Jones; nobody else on the field except J.J. is projected to make the two-deep.

What it means: Either Michigan is complicating its fronts and the backups at least don’t seem to be very good at it, or Michigan is keeping their old fronts and the backups are still really bad at it.

Baseball movie it’s like: Bang the Drum Slowly (1973). Some superb acting from a young Robert De Niro carries this story that pretends to be a baseball movie—I mean it has baseball in it—but is really a deep drama about male bonding, labor, economics, the American health system, and the the will of a terminally ill man to deny or face his impending death.

[After THE JUMP: It’s not like Mattison]

Defense Overall

Complicating matters. [Patrick Barron]

What we want to hear: The guys are loving the new system, feel like they have an identity again. Some of the guys aren’t fits anymore, but most are more confident in their roles.

What we’re hearing: The offense is “way ahead of the defense”($) and “these things don’t happen overnight.” As I said yesterday, people can’t even seem to praise the running game or the receivers or the OL without the caveat that the defense is still learning on the job. Balas:

If that worries you a bit after everything you just read about the quarterbacks, the offensive line in flux, etc. … well, we get it. The defense has had trouble stopping the run, and that’s the big area in which the offense has done the job this spring — moving people up front.

At the same time, this is to be expected. New coordinator Mike Macdonald’s system is completely different than Don Brown’s — there’s no viper, and it’s going to be much more flexible in coverage (zone vs. man) — and they’ve only had a dozen or so practices to implement what they want to do.

Why is it so hard? The players, as well as some of the scouts who stuck around for practice after Michigan’s Pro Day*, said Macdonald is doing a lot more NFL stuff. Brad Hawkins on the Jansen pod:

"It's something that's really, really good for us, helping us learning it now, so when we get to the next level, we'll be very comfortable doing it," Hawkins said. "We just want to continue to learn from them, continue to grow from them, and hopefully, in the future, we all see each other at the next level."

Right now it seems to be a mix of old and new. This was what Richard Johnson, one of our favorite college football writers, got out of Mo Linguist in the article Brian linked on 538 yesterday.

“The easiest thing to do when you walk into a new job situation is to say OK, everything you guys did was wrong and everything I tell you is right and we need to blow up everything that you did,” he said. “I think that’s not the most efficient approach sometimes.”

…

Linguist, whose most recent stop was in Dallas as the Cowboys’ defensive backs coach, said all he did to his PowerPoints was change the logo. The language and terminology remains the same.

On the upside, it’s been more fun, says Taylor Upshaw:

"I can speak for the whole team, practice is 100% more fun, there's more juice, we have music now, a lot of competitive periods, it's a lot more entertaining," defensive end Taylor Upshaw said.

"To the younger culture, music just really gets us going. It just brings you to your comfort zone, you just go out there and be energized the whole time," wide receiver Mike Sainristil added.

* [One of the nice things about being Michigan is even when we’re down there are NFL scouts at practice, which is a much bigger deal for the players than I think most fans realize. NFL scouts rarely do any non-targeted scouting.]

What it means: We’re in a transition to something more complex, and it’s not going smoothly. I even checked back on some of the things we wrote around the 2011 spring game as Mattison was dragging us out of the Rich Rod hole, but things then were mostly positive, particularly when it came to stopping the run. Of course the offense was running under center with Denard in that one. Also Linguist and Macdonald’s philosophy is not Mattison’s. This was 2011 Mattison:

Mattison will run a 4-3 with some nickel as a primary defense*. He was adamant about four things.

1. Martin (or any NT) will never play right over the center, zero tech, that he will be shaded into the A gap, even if slightly**.
2. He always wants four guys down. Always. He said “If I have to limp in there we are playing 4 guys on the line.” (A couple of times in the spring game it looked like we had three guys down. Reviewed this. On play one he had Big WC at NT and Mike Martin standing up on the edge. Denard breaks the play for 55 yards. Of course, we did have 4 DL in the game so he didn’t violate his abstract principle. Also, as noted, against spread looks he went with three DL. [Ed: my impression was that these sorts of games were reserved for passing downs, when run soundness goes out the window and you're just trying to hassle the QB.])
3. GM prefers (strongly) that the defense generally have the same look. He stated that his defense will not “stem” into different looks. That said, he wants the defense to have variations out of the singular defensive formation.
4. As every coach on the planet says and means, he wants the D to pressure the QB.

Macdonald has a 404 Tite formation that puts the nose right over the center. He will vary how many guys are down. And most of all they’re going to stem into different looks. And while I’m sure this isn’t the plan, in the one clip we have the QB doesn’t seem to be feeling much pressure.

Baseball movie it is like: Rhubarb (1951), which is the story of a cat who owns a baseball team. Now don’t take this to mean there aren’t stars—the titular role is played by Orangey, the same cat from Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), and at least in the conversation for greatest cat actor of its time. A 20-year-old Leonard Nimoy is there too so it’s not just the cat. But how far will a great cat take you? Does the premise even work? Has anyone ever tried it? Does that make it genius? Nobody knows, except there might be a reason nobody’s tried it.

Either way owning a baseball team is not the hardest thing in the world but it is probably too complicated for a cat, and if you find yourself in the position where you are relying on a cat to make executive decisions something has probably gone holistically wrong. Also if it doesn't go well it's not really the fault of the cat.

Defensive Tackle

The defense came to Mazi, and Mazi’s liking the defense. [Patrick Barron]

What we want to hear: Mazi and Hinton are really coming on. One or both even got to be the designated media availability person because he’s taking on a leadership role. Jeter’s made huge strides and the three are going to be a powerful group who are really taking advantage of the new scheme that lets them shine.

What we’re hearing: Well, Mazi Smith seems to be getting there, and is a few more mistake-free practices away from taking a starting job. Zak Zinter mentioned Smith first as a guy who’s most improved on the defensive line:

“Someone that has stood out I’d say is Mazi Smith. He has a bright future ahead of him. He’s a very good player … strong, physical, knows the game really well. He’s got very high potential. He’s going to be a great player.”

Chris Hinton however hasn’t been able to take that next step. Guy Who Emails Me said Hinton gets caught with bad pad level, and has been getting some run with the twos.

On the upside, Carlo Kemp told WolverineWire he considered coming back for a 6th year to save us but didn’t because the guys he left behind are fine.

Jeter has always been a great player for us, and him having a whole another year again to go out there, compete and play, I’m excited to see him get to play.

Chris Hinton has always been a great player for us, even when he was young as a freshman. And now, coming into his third year, I think for him, he demands and expects a lot out of his play. And I think we all do too, because that’s the type of caliber he is and the type of player we all think he can be. And we know he can be. He’s shown it ever since his freshman year. It’s a big accomplishment, something a lot of people have gotta remember, to come in and play D-line at any school as a freshman at any school is a huge thing. And we all got to see Chris do that and had a great sophomore year. Now going into his third year, it’s gonna be great to see him building off that. I’ve got to see Mazi, too, and the way Mazi looks – he looks awesome. I’m just excited to see him play this year.

Kemp had nice things to say about Gabe Newburg and a lot of DEs (we’ll get to that) as well.

What it means: Clearly it’s not good. The offense bits were clear that Zinter has been the best lineman, and you can extrapolate that to mean whomever the right guard is facing is not performing very well. But we’re not hearing the same thing about the left guard competition, nor center for that matter, so maybe the DTs are actually okay and the problem is the line is routinely making it to the second level. The new fronts are supposed to be simplifying things for the tackles but it does put more on them physically. Mazi doing better is great news, the other guys doing worse, clearly, is not.

Baseball move it’s like: The Natural (1984), where in the end…JUST KIDDING it’s Mr. Destiny (1990), which is a cliché story about a guy who gets an angel to change the result of one at-bat when he was 15 and changes his life, except in his new life he learns he just wants to go back to his old one. Like, I dunno, what if one day you’re having a lonely beer at the bar muttering “JT was short” as one does, and Michael Caine, who plays himself, is like “Actually, I’m an angel a magical manifestation of your subconscious desires, want me to change that?” and he makes us a drink that changes that, and suddenly we’re surrounded by 300-pound five-stars.

But we also realize we’re assholes now, so we track down Carlo Kemp, who’s like a 6th year senior at Air Force, and we’re like “Hey, here’s the song that was playing on the radio the day you got a speeding ticket when you were 16,” but it’s too late man. Then the movie ends predictably and it’s not very good, and honestly it’s a total waste of Caine, and Linda Hamilton, and Rene Russo and Courtney Cox, and Jon Lovitz. But you know what? Being middle class is alright because it’s genuine. This is just who we are now. Cue “Only You.”

Defensive End/Edge LBs

What we want to hear: Aidan Hutchinson is going to be an All-American and they’re building around that. There are one or several edge terrors developing among the outside linebackers between tweeners like Ojabo, McGregor, and Harrell.

What we’re hearing: The outside linebackers have given themselves a nickname.

Per Taylor Upshaw, he, Aidan Hutchinson, David Ojabo, Jaylen Harrell, Braiden McGregor are playing primarily stand-up EDGE. The group is calling themselves "the reapers."

"We're going to be the reapers, we're going to be wreaking havoc."

— Zach Shaw (@_ZachShaw) April 5, 2021

The full quote is actually far more interesting to those trying to grasp what the system will be like:

“This is a really important defense. The position we play allows us to make a lot of plays. I think it’s gonna come down to a lot of games. We’re gonna have to affect the game a lot.”

“That’s what we call ourselves (‘The Reapers’), but we’re outside linebackers. It’s mainly a stand-up edge position. For me, I’m mainly gonna be rushing. But there’s also dropping, too. It’s like a pass rush, but I still get into my 3-point stance. I still mix it up. But it’s a stand-up edge position.”

Upshaw says he, Aidan Hutchinson, David Ojabo, and Mike Morris are the best pass rushers on the team, though Jaylen Harrell and Braiden McGregor are “coming along.”

As with the OL, a new analyst is making an impact. Michigan hired UT Martin DL coach Ryan Osborn, recently an assistant with Todd Grantham’s Florida defenses, over the offseason, and Upshaw said the DEs are working with the new guy:

“The reality is Nua is more like a D-tackles coach right now,” Upshaw said. “Coach Osborn is really our main guy. But I’m happy (Nua) is back and I’m happy with the defensive coordinator and my coach – the younger guys. They understand what it’s like being in the position we’re in. It’s a blessing.”

Kemp had praise for Upshaw and Hutchinson, clearly your starters, but also David Ojabo:

One guy I didn’t even mention is David Ojabo who we’ve all seen here develop for two years and not really get to be on the field yet, going into his third year. I know his mindset is he just wants to go and he just wants to play. And we’ve seen some things that he can do that’s like, ‘Man, the world’s gotta see this stuff!’

What it means: For one it’s interesting that Upshaw and Hutchinson are playing standing up, especially since Aidan was taking B gaps a ton last year. Morris was mentioned as a pass rusher but not one of the reapers, which presumably puts him with Gabe Newburg and any still-growing DTs who are still DE-sized (Kris Jenkins?) as full-down linemen.

I presume Hutchinson isn’t going to be a complete OLB—at most they’ll play him the way Winovich was used at weakside end. Either way the fact that this is a playmaker’s position is more evidence that they’re going with the modern Ravens approach, which is a modern adaptation of Bo’s 5-2 slant defense.

Anyway it’s clear they’re transitioning the work of the DEs to be the X positions, where those guys could do DT, DE, or OLB things on any given down.

Baseball movie it’s like: Sugar (2008), about a Dominican pitcher whose family and everybody around him are counting on him to become this one thing, but he’s also a kid being thrown into a completely new and complex world where there are a lot of people who don’t want to see him succeed. He gets injured, and attention shifts to other big things, and our guy ends up in New York City with a bunch of other rejects, and he’s not a star, this is home. This is just who we are now. Cue “Hallelujah.”

Inside Linebacker

Ross is the only LB we have a photo of because we couldn’t take them last year. [Patrick Barron]

What we want to hear: A linebacker other than Josh Ross is very good.

What we’re hearing: Captain Josh Ross represented his group and the defense as a whole in a recent media availability. The most interesting thing from that was Angelique Chengelis sharing that the pro day scouts believed the new defense is better preparation for the NFL. Ross says the biggest difference is the new staff is more fun.

Via ITF the young linebacker really showing out is the true freshman Junior Colson($) This has apparently led to issues with veterans who don’t like that they’ve been passed by a guy in his first few weeks of playing. Josh Ross said Hill-Green is pretty good.

What it means: That a guy who should be in high school is better than all but one of the linebackers on the roster. Also this is the position with the highest transition cost, which lost its position coach the day before spring practice started.

Baseball movie that it’s like: Major League 3, Back to the Minors (1998).

Safety

What we want to hear: Dax is a superstar, Hawkins is healthy and going to make a run at all-conference.

What we’re hearing: Sam said on WTKA yesterday that the safeties are the one position Michigan feels pretty confident they’re going to get strong play. Senior Brad Hawkins made an appearance on Jansen’s podcast, and admitted he’s got to work on his range to improve his draft stock:

"Mainly just my speed, range, playing in the middle of the field, getting sideline to sideline, on top of fade balls. My techniques with footwork, hand placement, trying to do a better job and more of a job of pressing defenders and just getting my feet right up underneath me, playing off-coverage and things like that when we play man coverage. Those are mainly the important things that I’ve been working on—speed and range from the middle of the field and getting better at those things to succeed and be prepared for the next level."

There’s nothing about guys after the starters, but Bellamy is one of the newest guys on staff so we haven’t heard directly from him yet. UPDATE: Gemon Green is meeting with the media right now and included RJ Moten among the guys competing at the top.

What it means: I don’t read much into last year’s primary backup transferring, since Hunter Reynolds wasn’t certain to get a scholarship. If anything it suggests he didn’t think he’s getting on the field much, which says the kids are coming along.

Baseball movie it’s like: 61* (2001), which is Billy Crystal’s love letter to his favorite team growing up. Also it’s the story of Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris competing for the home run record against a fanbase and media that won’t admit either of them is worthy of being mentioned with the gods of 30-40 years ago.

Cornerback

Gemon is probably Michigan’s best corner. [Patrick Barron]

What we want to hear: Someone we haven’t seen is going to be adequate. And fast.

What we’re hearing: Gemon Green and Vincent Gray are far and away the best players. Josh Ross did praise DJ Turner which maybe would have meant more last year, but if Green can kinda pop in Year 3 so can Turner. ITF says the problem isn’t in the secondary:

The secondary has been really, really solid with Vince Gray and Gemon Green at the corners and Brad Hawkins and Dax Hill behind them at safety. DJ Turner and Jalen Perry are the backup corners at present, and they are coming on. It will be interesting to see if the guys behind them are willing to continue to compete.

What it means: 2020.

Baseball movie it’s like: The Bad News Bears Go to Japan (1978). People talk about the original comedy like it’s an underappreciated gem about a team that’s bad but turns it around by being unconventional. Then you go and watch it, and realize it really was a product of its time, and any context it had then certainly doesn’t work today, but it’s got its charm and you can see why it was successful as a misfits win story.

Then they made a sequel, which key moment is shouting “Let them play!” in the Astrodome, but never really answers the key question on your mind the whole time, which is “Why the hell did they make this?” It’s not fun. It doesn’t go anywhere really. In fact it’s a boring disaster.

Then they made a third one, whose premise is some hustler brings back half of the team—not the best half—and takes them to Japan. Said The Washington Post:

Every aspect of the premise that might supply a source of comic and melodramatic renewal—the conflicts that arise between kids and parents, the conflicts between kids and other kids, the culture shock of American Little League Baseball confronting its Japanese counterpart—is neglected or shortchanged in favor of lazy self-imitation

But hey, the remake has a really good cast.