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Opening remarks:

“Hello, everybody. I almost didn’t make it today. I was kind of busy over there trying to get ready for this next one. Somebody had to tell me to come but it’s good to see everybody. Go ahead.”

Greg, the run defense remains a strength. I know that the secondary needs some work, though. Overall, what’s your assessment of your defense through four games?

“I don’t look at four games. I always look at the last game. We didn’t win. There’s a point when you become- and that’s our goal, to become a great defense, is you do whatever you have to to win. You do whatever you have to. And that in a lot of places means don’t even let them get in the end zone in any way. Am I proud of these guys? I’ve told you from day one I really like these guys. I mean, I like how they work. I like what they bring to the meeting room every day. I like what they bring to the practice field. I like how they compete. Do we do it perfect all the time [and] have we? No. And do we have to keep working to do that? Yes. Until we do whatever we possibly have to do to get the win then we haven’t totally reached the mark.”

Coach, I’ll have you comment on a couple of things. One, the breakthrough on producing a score on defense, but then the drive that they had coming out of the second half.

“Getting the score, that’s a guy playing hard in practice every day. That’s a guy doing the things [he needs to]. That’s a guy improving, Willie Henry. That was a guy making a play that he had to make a play and we’ve talked about him, too, [and] what he’s done since the day he got here. His improvement. Becoming mature, practice habits, all that and that’s great to see that happen for him. Same thing for Frank [Clark]. That sack he got was a big league sack. Those things happen because you work hard and you practice hard.

“Coming out in the second half at half time…they got us on two plays that were corrected immediately after that happened. It’s a shame that I didn’t see it quicker. It’s a shame that I didn’t do something after the first time to eliminate- it was the exact same play that scored a touchdown on it and that’s where maybe I need to see that quicker from what happened and stop that one touchdown and, again, that’s my job. But they adjusted then and that’s how they got there. That’s what happened after [the] half.”

Jake Ryan had a career-high 13 tackles. He has an unorthodox way of doing things sometimes but gets the job done. Talk about the essence of Jake Ryan as a defensive force.

“Well, Jake and Joe [Bolden]. I’ll put them together. Your linebackers in this defense have got to make a lot of plays because you’re getting very good play out of the front in front of them. When the front demands double teams and when the front does what they’ve been doing then there are so many times when a linebacker, if he does what he’s supposed to do with his footwork, with his keys, with his recognition, is there with nobody blocking him. Now make the tackle. And their effort, Joe and Jake, their effort, their toughness, their playing what I consider linebacker, that’s been good and we’ve got to keep getting better.”

But Jake in particular. I touched on his unorthodox manner sometimes in getting the job done. Can you talk about him in particular?

“I don’t know what unorthodox is. To me, it’s when the ball carrier has the football and you tackle him, you’re playing linebacker. Sometimes they’re not picture-perfect tackles. Sometimes you may not be perfect with your footwork, stepping down and all of a sudden coming back. Jake’s been unorthodox since the day he got here. You know, that’s Jake and that’s why I love him but I can’t say it enough: Joe being in there with him, Joe doing what he’s doing- I mean, I don’t know what you had him for tackles but I had him the same way with pretty close. And we’ve just got to keep them both doing what they’re doing and it’s the front that’s helping them do that.”

[After THE JUMP: playing euchre, wrestling Hoke, and other tales of a 30-year friendship]

Greg, is it hard to get- you know these kids are young kids. Is it hard to get them to not get frustrated about things they can’t control? If the offense isn’t scoring or you guys are being put in rough spots.

“Not until you’re perfect. Not until you’re perfect. Not until you’re perfect. And I don’t buy anything about this offense. This offense is going to be good. Doug does a great job. The guys on offense come in every day to do their job and to improve. That is going to happen. And until- there will never be any of that on our side of the ball until you can show me our film and you can show me a defense that plays perfect on every single play there is nothing to talk about. This is a team. It’s a team all the way, and it’ll always be that way. I love these guys. Offense- I’ll tell you, our offense has tried [and] they’re going at it as hard as they can. I see them come off the field- heck, we’re in it together now. And we’re going to get it done together and that’s what I’m excited about.”

Greg, I have two questions…

“I know what one of them’s going to be. I’ve been with you too long. Go ahead.”

You and Brady seemed to have a nice little talk on the sidelines-

“We were!”

Can you talk a little bit about what was going on there?

“Yeah. It’s the heat of a ball game. He and I are two of the most competitive people in the world. I’m out there in the middle of the field during a timeout. I’ve got an official telling me to get back and I want to go after him and strangle him, and then I’ve got the head coach being a head coach. And let me just say this: I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t Brady Hoke. So anybody can say anything they want; that man is why I’m here. And when he- you should see us play euchre. You ought to see us when we first knew each other and we used to wrestle each other or we’d play basketball against each other. There’s no more competitiveness in him or me than there is anywhere and so when he said something to me I should have never said a word. He’s the head football coach, but at that moment I was upset because I wanted our guys to do well. He was being a head football coach, which he does a phenomenal job of, and so I snapped at him. Good thing it was him. Maybe somebody else would have fired me right there, but that was what happened. I knew you were going to ask that question. We’ve been together too long. Now are you happy?”

I am happy.

“You ought to see us play euchre. But you should have seen us when we used to wrestle each other. It was ugly, okay?”

When did that happen?

“When we were at Western Michigan together. During noon hours we’d go down and wrestle each other and it was like- you’d think we were crazy. So a little of that came out in the middle of that game.”

My other question: you’ve talked a lot in the last couple of years about the quarterbacks [like] Denard, Devin. Can you give us your perspective on what you see from Devin Gardner and Shane Morris in practices?

“They both work their butts off. If you could see them- nobody prepares harder. Nobody comes in to meetings and does- you know, I’ve been places where everybody doesn’t work as hard. You know, in a long coaching career you have that. I’m not seeing that here now. Nuh-uh. I see Devin. I see Shane. I see anybody that works with the offense and our defense works with, they come to work every day as hard as they can. And the job that Doug’s doing…I mean, I’m not judging anybody. He’s tremendous. Just wait and see. Wait and see. I got my own problems. Until we get goose eggs on the board and until we play perfect ask me about our guys. Don’t ask me about the others.”

Coach, Bump Elliott’s 1964 team is going to be honored this week at the game. It’s their 50th anniversary of their championship. I was curious if you’d spent any time with Bump Elliot over the years?

“No, I just respect him. I know he’s another one of the great ones that’s been here but no. I can honestly say I haven’t.”

I’ve heard he’s going to try to make it up for the game. Any plans to maybe sit with him?

“I don’t know. Honestly, like I said I ran out of the office. We’re so busy trying to get ready for this game that I haven’t even thought about any of that.”

Two questions: first, who won between you and Brady-

“I won. I won. I was an All-American heavyweight wrestler. He never wrestled anywhere but high school. I don’t want to hear another word about his wrestling. He wasn’t very good.”

As far as the defense goes, preparing now it’s conference play. Is there a different level of intensity in the sense of urgency or is it just same kind of mood as always?

“I hope not. I hope not. I think our players…no. They want to be really, really good and they hear from our coaches every day what is good. What is acceptable. What has been the case here in the great years. What do you do as a defensive player at Michigan. We’ve got to improve. We’ve got to come out to practice tomorrow- we’ve got to come out and say, ‘Okay, we’re going to get better.’ And anything we didn’t do we’ve got to do and every day we’ve got to get better.”

Another question kind of looking historically: this week is the anniversary of the hail mary pass, Michigan v. Colorado, Kordell Stewart. You were a defensive line coach at the time. What do you remember about the game and why is that kind of a watershed moment in college football, modern college football?

“I can remember that as if I were standing there ten minutes ago. I’ll never forget that as long as I live. The thing that people don’t realize is that exact play happened at halftime. It happened at halftime, and what you always talk about is in that situation the defensive backs have got to make sure they disrupt the routes and don’t let guys go completely down the field unscathed. The second thing you always talk about is you’ve got to get a three-man rush. You have to make the quarterback throw. At halftime we hit the quarterback. At halftime we knocked one of the receivers almost out of bounds. The last play of the game when that happened we didn’t get pressure on the quarterback and we didn’t really touch anybody and it was like everybody was kind of like, ‘Okay, let’s get this one over with.’ That one will be something you remember as long as you live, and every time I’d see that on one of those replays I’d go, ‘Oh my, that hurts.’ I’ll always remember that play. Is that right? It is the anniversary? Ew. Ew.”

When you look at Minnesota, without their quarterback this week they almost ran an old school wishbone or some variation of it. Does that make it difficult preparing for this game not really knowing if they’ll have their quarterback or the different styles you might have to face?

“No. We have to assume they’ll have their quarterback and we have to prepare for their best, which we know we’re going to get. And they’re a very well-coached football team and it’ll be a definite challenge for our defense. We’ll prepare knowing that he’s going to be there.”

You’ve known Brady for 30 years. When pressure starts to mount around him and the state of the football team how does he react to it? How does he handle it?

“I haven’t seen any pressure around him. You know, one thing our head football coach is is he is a tough, hard-nosed son of a gun and when a guy works as hard as he does and prepares the way he does then there’s not pressure. Pressure- to me, pressure is when you haven’t done your job or you’re not doing your job. Pressure is when you don’t prepare. When I come in, doesn’t matter what time I’m in in the morning, his car is sitting there and he’s working. I leave at night, his car’s there and he’s working. Pressure to me is when, ‘Oh boy, I’m not quite doing what I should be doing or can be doing.’ I don’t see that in our head coach. And I’ll say it again, there’s one reason why I’m here and it’s because of our head football coach and I still think it was the best decision and every day I come in to work I’m excited about being with that man.”

In the few losses this year he seems to actively put it on himself. Says ‘it starts here’ and things like that. How do you, I guess, think he has handled all of the outside noise and all of those things in terms of not [inaudible]?

“I don’t hear the outside noise. I’ve got time to run to my car to come here to see you people. I’ve got time to get a tip sheet done so that our linebackers are prepared. I’ve got time to meet with our guys, our coaches so that we all are on the same page. This other…I don’t know. There’s outside noise when I drive to work in the morning. I don’t worry about it one bit. That doesn’t- I’m here and we’re here, our staff’s here and that’s what’s so great about this staff. We’re here every day to do the best job we can to get this program to where it has to be and sometimes it takes longer. Sometimes you don’t realize what it was like when you got here, okay? Sometimes there’s- you’ve got good guys now and they’re working hard and I’m excited about them. That’s all I can talk about is I’m exited every day to work with this staff and these football players. That’s coming as truth and [as] from the heart as I can say it.”

The Jourdan Lewis touchdown-saving play. Does that kind of become a highlight for not giving up regardless of the situation?

“That is Michigan defense. And we show clips from 1992 or 1994 against Ohio State running all the way from the far corner, making a hit. We talked about that with him since the day he got here, and when that came on and we showed the entire defense we said, ‘This is Michigan defense.’ For a guy to go as hard and as fast as he can go and run all the way from the far, far, far corner- and we all talk about it. Give me a place to stand. Give our defense a chance to keep them out of the end zone, and guess what? [We] kept them out of the end zone. That’s what we strive for. That’s one of those things where you say, ‘That didn’t happen the last couple of years.’ But it’s happening now, and it’s going to continue to happen. Now, I hope we don’t have that kind of a play coming from the four-yard line again but sometimes that happens.”

You got a little emotion talking about whatever- the discussion with Brady Hoke on the field. Do you feel like you need to defend a coach-

“No.”

-who is facing some scrutiny-

“No.”

-or where do the emotions come from?

“The emotions came from…he and I, he and I have- think of yourself. Who do you know for 30 years? Who did you make a career decision for? Whose families are like brothers and sisters? There aren’t many of those in your life. And who that you are close to do you respect as being a great coach, a great person, a great father; the things your parents taught you to be. Well, there aren’t many guys like that so when you bring his name up if I got emotional it’s because I feel that way. I’ve got a couple other guys that are the same way. I’m fortunate I’ve got guys in my life that are like that. He’s one of them because we’ve gone through things together. You know, you all have friends like that where there’s only a few of them but you’ve gone through things together but if somebody said, ‘You going to war?’ There’s a few in your life that you’d say yes to, okay? And that’s what I’m saying because of how he treats people. Because of how he runs a program. You know, and I’m not trying to back him. It’s just [that] this is the first time anybody’s every asked me about him. I would have said that 10 years ago when we were together or whenever that was. It isn’t any different today. It just happens to be all the things I knew are coming true. That’s who he is. The other guys are that way too.”

“Okay, thank you, guys. Now I can go back. Want to come back with me? [Ed. MGoYeahSoundsGoodWaitWhyAreYouLeavingTheRoom] Got to get ready for this one.”