"How we doin'?"

Good. How are you?

"Myth, man, the legend, huh?"

I wrote that myself.

How's your wife to deal with now that she got a trophy? [Deb Brown won the best performance award at the recent ChadTough Dancing with the Michigan Stars event]

"Well, it was a nice affair. Raised a lot of money for an unbelievable cause, so life is good. You know, that's good stuff."

And she won.

"Yeah, we'll take that too. [Inaudible] the front of the Paul Bunyan trophy. She did it on purpose, but it's all good. How's everybody doin'? Haven't seen you guys in a while."

It has been a while.

"Yeah, it has been a while. Good, we're off to a good start five practices in. Got some new faces. Boy, it's nice to watch young guys grow up and really improve. I can single out so many that have just-- starting to take that next step and it's just fun to be around to watch them do that."

Anybody in particular?

"Want me to go front to back? Start with this Donovan Jeter. Think we got ourselves a real inside guy. More than that, though, like young Mazi Smith is a talent. Obviously he's been here for about two days so he's not ready to go, but he's a great kid, and a hard worker, and will do a great job for us and he's same position and he's bringing him along unbelievably long.

"Because the reality is when you have organization you got a little bit of a chance at success. When you have some success, then you've got a chance to be confident and when you're confident then you got a chance for real leadership. Now, real leadership is from within, not coach-driven. It's when you have a group of guys that have been through it all, not perfect, but care about one another, care about the young guys, and being a Michigan football player is important to them. That's really a great thing.

"Luiji Vilain has practiced all five practices and you know: arrows up. I don't have to tell you about Kwity Paye and Aidan Hutchinson and that kind of group.

"At linebacker, Josh Ross doing a good job. Devin Gil might be the most improved guy—body-wise, speed-wise. He's gotten through helping this football team by being a steady eddy, classic guy that knows what to do, and he's hard to knock out of there. Well now he's playing at a high level. He should walk in and give [strength and conditioning coach ] Ben Herbert a kiss on the lips because he's helped him a lot. I would say him, Cam McGrone, Jordan Anthony, and this Michael Barrett, who's a freshman, I'm seeing really good things out of all those guys.

"If you said to me, secondary-wise, where you thought you'd be and where you are it's two different places. I thought we'd be fighting for our lives at this time. Ambry Thomas has really taken the next step—leadership-wise, being a role model for young guys. Vincent Gray is going to be a real guy. Brad Hawkins, J'Marick Woods: both vastly improved and more confident. This Josh Metellus has turned himself into a real player.

"You know, I like to do this little task--you guys might think this is crazy--but who would you really trust to put in the game, and we have about 16 or 17 names right now I could write on, and I think by the end of this thing, spring and obviously preseason because it's just an extension of spring, it's nice if you can get-- the larger you can get the group, the better, and I think there's a bunch of guys that are sitting on the fringe.

"Jaylen Kelly-Powell I can think of off the top of my head. He's playing full-time corner and doing a really good job, so he's a guy. He's just got to keep doing what he's doing.

"I'm trying to think here. Viper--Michael I talked about. Oh, up front the other guy too, the swiss army knife is Uche. He's 253 pounds. He can play a lot of places, and he will. He's a fast, explosive guy, so, you know, those are things that I feel really good about. A number of guys."

[After THE JUMP: more on potential leaders and Dudes, BEN MASON SMASH, the most disappointing experience of Brown's life, and hoppy toads]

Another guy on the defensive line apparently is Ben Mason?

"That out there? Wow."

I didn't make it up.

"I didn't know that was out there. Yeah, he's an animal. Really excited the coaches let us have him, to some degree. I would say that it would be against my better judgement if this guy could play on the defensive line inside. Freak of nature. He comes off the ball exceptionally well. We can play him at tight end side/defensive end, we call it the anchor. Can’t play the open side, but he can play that three and there is a lot less learning there. It's 'on your mark, get set and [clap]' and they got to block you. We will see. He likes it. He’s a tough guy, and he can run.

"The one thing, and I can't really put my finger on it why, but we're playing much faster than we were. And I thought we were pretty fast last year. I think part of it, too, some people are probably unhappy about it but the bottom line is our guys are in the fourth year of the sam--similar defensive system, because obviously we've made some changes, but the nuts and bolts part of it is, you know, intact, so they can just kind of keep going and get better, get faster, understand the playbook better, and there's an older group of guys that sit above them that can help the younger guys, which is really a beautiful thing."

One of those guys would probably be Carlo Kemp. Can you talk about him a little bit and what he's doing?

"You know, when I first came here, do you know what position he was playing?"

Played linebacker for a while.

"Played Mike linebacker for a while with me. [Whistles] Obviously he was a little bit of a fish out of water, but we gave it a shot. He went to defensive end; that kind of worked. Played tight end-side defensive end; that kind of worked. Now he's over 290 pounds and he's one tough son of a gun. He's gone through the entire migration, the true migration of man. Boom! End, Anchor, tackle, boom! Nose. I found my home. So we're really-- he's a leader. Great human being. Go to war with that guy any day."

Realistically, how much can Josh Ross replicate what Devin Bush was able to do last year? Can you do different things with him?

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. We're gonna have to do some things a little differently, okay, but I'll tell you what he can do: he will knock the paint off the top of your helmet. You don't want to get into a physical confrontation with this guy. I don't care what he weighs, maybe 225, maybe 228, but he will-- he's mean as a rattlesnake. He's fast enough, so I'm really excited with not only his play, his command, now we've really had all winter to get him ready for this role, so I'm really happy with it. 

"But, you know, there's a couple other guys there, now. This McGrone--and I'm cross-training them all to make them learn it. You can't do this enough. You get into these practices and you guys don't care about our woes but all of a sudden this guy's down, that guy's down. If you can't play both in the spring: uh oh, you could be in a lot of trouble. It's nice to have guys cross-trained, that's for sure. I feel good about that."

Two new guys on the coaching staff. What's your early thoughts on having Shaun Nua and Anthony Campanile?

"Tremendous men. Have brought everything I expected them to bring in terms of energy, in terms of leadership, in terms of the way they treat people. You know, they're just outstanding in every sense of the word. I'm blessed.

"The environment in your room is a direct correlation to things that can go on on the game field and obviously I felt very good about our room here my whole experience here and that just continues today, but I'm really excited about those two guys. Their expertise, their energy. We've really emphasized running to the football and getting guys around the quarterback, which we do anyway, but it's just nice. We got good people around here and that's what you're searching for and life is good that way."

How have the players responded to Shaun Nua, especially with having Mattison here for so long and him departing?

"They've been great. They're different. Obviously I have tremendous respect for both men. One guy's different than the other. We're not here to make comparisons. I'm happy for one man's success and I'm happy for us with the role model that our players have. Life is good. We're just worried about getting ready for beautiful fall."

Another thing that Bush brought was that take charge attitude. What guys do you have now that have that potential?

"That guy who just walked by [Metellus] really I thought did a good job taking charge as we started practice today just getting the guys' minds right and their energy level right. He's been though it all. He's had great moments, he's been criticized in my opinion unfairly because the only guy that should get criticized is the old guy and I've been there, done that a lot, so life is good. I think he's done a tremendous job.

"You hit on-- we just had a long conversation about Carlo up front. Josh with the linebacker corps. This Khaleke Hudson has really... you know how some guys, you just wish they'd do things a little better in practice and this and that? For some reason he has gone to the next hemisphere in terms of that level. You know, motivation's a beautiful thing and I think he's highly motivated to have a very good year.

"And I think I probably didn't do him any favors early because I didn't prepare him for what was at hand and that was really I thought a crackdown early on on the targeting. Now, that went away about midyear. I'm just sayin'. There were hits that I saw in college football that I'm going [raises eyebrows, points] and it was okay. And I'm not here to be critical. It's just, you're trying to find how do you coach your guys, and I've never been one to teach them to tackle with the face. I'm not doin' that but we tackle. We do tackle, so..."

We talked to you at the bowl game about the Ohio State game. What are your takeaways when you look at those last two games?

"The most disappointing experience I've ever been through in my entire life."

Both games or the bowl game?

"The whole thing. I really think the Florida thing, you know, there's a lot of things that happened in the game itseld. You're down some guys and then all of a sudden on one play just before the half you lose two guys that were replacing other guys and now that changes that kind of deal. But, you know, it's all about preparing yourself and picking yourself up off the ground and making adjustments.

"I kind of chuckle because I know, I'm set in my ways. Well, look, can I get off the beaten-- can I make just one comment? This passing thing, right? We've given up, since I've been here, under 2,000 passing yards a year. I know, that's not a big deal. The last team to do it was Miami when they had 10 first-round draft picks, okay? So it's not the concept. What it is sometimes is 'My guys are better than their guys and I'm gonna just shove it.' Well, you know, sometimes you got to do a little better job. Trust me, it's being addressed. Our guys are totally into it and I'm just excited for the chance to redeem myself."

How do you address it?

"Well, first thing is I made a tremendous mistake. Game ended, next day I got on a plane on a Sunday and went and recruited for two and a half weeks. Think about that. Was that very smart? So, you know, guys are left lingering for two and a half weeks. I come back and I'm like, 'Holy shit, we've still got a little hangover here.' So, and that's just me, now. That's my perception. It's nobody else's. I'm just giving you my perceptions. It just leaves doubt in your mind as a coach 'did I do everything I could to prepare my guys,' you know? I take that stuff personal."

So do they, in talking to them. How much will that drive them, do you think, this year?

"I think it's... it drives us all. Yep. The thing I really sometimes feel a little is it's hard to win 10 games in a row in the Big Ten. I'm just sayin'. And I've only been in the league now for three years but it's hard to do that. In fact, nobody's gone 9-0 since they've gone East-West. Am I right on that? And It's hard. But you gotta do it, you gotta do it. That's the reality of it. Whatever you've got to do, you do.

"And we have tremendous leadership from the boss. He does everything he possibly humanly can to get us ready each and every weekend. Bad thing is when you let you him down you feel like you let the guy down. But hey, I'm not gonna cry about it. It's time to go. Hey! Let's go! And we're getting that kind of response. I think that's the positive."

In a similar light, how does the new-look offense help your guys as far speed in space and everything?

"The one thing is they've kind of gone to-- we play, what, 10 offenses that are primarily one-back now with the exception of Wisconsin, Michigan State... I think that's about it. I can't think of a third. So we're playing a lot of teams like that.

"And they're five practices in, but love Josh's [Gattis] energy, love the way he's got those guys moving around and of course we, by ourselves, had to get ready for tempo every week. We snap the ball somewhere around 16 to 18 seconds when we're in our own periods between plays, but it's nice when you're getting a constant or the threat of a constant hustle.

"It's really helped me in terms of we like to substitute freely and we're gonna do that, we're not gonna let anybody not, but you've got to build strategies for it so that's been a really good thing. I think he's doing a great job and I think those offensive guys have really bought in and they're working extremely hard."

Both Jim and Josh have said the offensive line appears to be the strength. Have you seen a difference?

"Um, I liked them last year, you know. I think we have a good-- it's the same core, so, again, a year more confident, Ed Warinner's still here. Consistency in college football now is such a difficult deal. I mean, it's like hoppy toads everywhere. I think you really benefit when you have a nucleus of coaches that are linked in."

Hoppy toes?

"Hoppy toad. You know, they hop around."

[Ed. A- Thank you to Seth for transcribing some of this and Isaiah Hole for posting the video]