Spring Stuff 2015: Defense Comment Count

Brian

Previously: the offense.

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hello [Patrick Barron]

This is the good part. There were a few folks trying to find the nearest available ledge after yesterday's post. I'm not sure if they're wildly optimistic about HARBAUGH and expect next year's team to be year four Stanford or if I came off too brutally negative. Either way, this post will be a lot sunnier.

It's not a 3-4. Unless Michigan was sandbagging in their spring game they are running a defense quite similar to last year's—at least as far as the front seven goes. We have great experience with paranoid coaches as Michigan fans and not once has a major structural shift in the defense been concealed in spring. Even last year under Sir Puntsalot Michigan went full man press and that was their defense until circumstances dictated otherwise.

So we'll run with the assumption that what Michigan put out there was about what they'll run. This game saw Michigan run a 4-3—actually more of a 4-4, but more about that later—almost all the time. They went so far as to deploy Royce Jenkins-Stone as a weakside end because they were all out of weakside ends outside of Lawrence Marshall.

They will mix fronts, as all teams do. It is not a radical departure from last year's approach. And that's a good thing.

There is a departure. That is…

17032765582_dbe45344a6_zA hybrid space player is here. The biggest difference between Mattison's defense and Durkin's is at safety. Under Hoke it was difficult to tell who was the strong safety and who was the free safety. That will not be the case this year, as Jabrill Peppers was operating as a lightning fast outside linebacker for big chunks of the game. He tattooed running backs in the backfield more than once.

Peppers barely left that location. When Michigan went to a nickel package they did so by bringing in an extra safety and leaving Peppers over the slot, where he nearly caused an interception by breaking on a quick slant to Bo Dever.

[@ right: Upchurch]

If you were worried that moving Peppers to safety would make him a peripheral player who mostly shows up when making a tackle ten yards downfield, don't be. The vision of Peppers provided on Saturday was one of Tennessee-era Eric Berry or Packers-era Charles Woodson: an all-purpose sower of havoc. Berry had 16 TFLs his final two years at Tennessee. Woodson evolved into an NFL Defensive Player Of The Year as something beyond traditional positional definitions:

“They’re playing a lot of nickel, you know the old split six, so an eight man front,” said Mornhinweg. “They’ve got a good cover man with [Charles Woodson] down there who’s a very, very good tackler, so they sort of invite you to run the football into that base type personnel group however they’re very good.”

While that would normally be a successful strategy, Woodson’s ability to defend the run as a slot cornerback gives the defense some teeth.

“They feel very comfortable with him playing in that, which really is like a WILL linebacker position, he’s a physical guy,” said Eagles head coach Andy Reid. “He has great speed. He’s a great blitzer, great blitzer. So that’s how they use him.”

Woodson acted as that triple threat: 

Woodson is fast enough to get to the quarterback in a hurry, but still strong enough to defend the run.  Most of all, he’s a highly talented cover cornerback.

That is Peppers's role. Michigan's "nickel" is a base package with a hyper-athletic WLB; its base set looks like an eight-man front with a guy in that front who can cover anyone on the field. The defense is designed around his uncommon abilities.

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Hurst was a regular annoyance to Morris [Bryan Fuller]

Activate DT depth. One of the striking things about the roster is that I had no idea who got struck first when drafting the defensive tackles. Glasgow and Henry were starters last year but both Mone and Hurst flashed ability as backups; a year later everyone's back and Maurice Hurst is in your base every play.

As a recruit Hurst was regarded as a lightning quick first step above all, with questions about whether he could hold up. That makes him an ideal three-technique. Three-techs get more one on one matchups if the nose tackle absorbs doubles, and Hurst is a good bet to shoot into the backfield. That was the case on Saturday. Hurst was a regular entrant into the land where TFLs are made.

He was going up against Ben Braden and David Dawson at guard, neither of whom is established as a starter-level player on the inside. But Braden did start all of last year and Dawson was a well-regarded recruit; neither is a walkon; both have been around a couple years. He was slicing through those guys with regularity.

Henry did well for himself after the first snap and should maintain the starting job. That two-deep looks set to be a high quality platoon.

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I am ready to respect your authoritah [Eric Upchurch]

Inside backers are ready to rip. With James Ross out and Royce Jenkins-Stone drafted at WDE, the third linebacker in most sets was an odd duck. It did not seem to matter much, because the ILBs were filling with abandon. I have long been a skeptic about Joe Bolden's ability to hit people hard, but I thought he looked great.

There has always been a hesitancy about his play that has caused things like third and two conversions when Bolden goes entirely unblocked; that feels like it's finally out the door. Bolden showed up in the backfield a ton and hit guys hard when he showed. If that is not a spring mirage that sets Michigan up excellently for fall. Desmond Morgan's return gives Michigan another hard-hitting, dead-stop-tackler with a ton of experience, and Ben "Inexplicably Not Redshirted" Gedeon is ready to be the guy who spots both starters so regularly that he is a virtual starter as well.

The third linebacker should be Ross if healthy. In this defense I wonder how much run he'll get. Michigan has gone from a team that resigns itself to a ton of 4-3 sets against spread personnel (remember Jake Ryan walking out over three WR sets?) to one downright eager to play nickel.

In any case, two senior linebackers is a luxury.

Questions. The pieces are there for an outstanding defense. In my mind there are four main questions:

  • Can anyone rush the quarterback?
  • Can they find a second man press cornerback?
  • Are the safeties reliable enough?
  • Will the offense sell them out too much?

The last question is beyond the scope of this post. Suffice it to say that the last two years the defense had a tendency to collapse late after the offense's millionth three-and-out of the game.

Let's try to address the others.

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Marshall is a breakout candidate and a 2015 key [Fuller]

Can anyone rush the quarterback? Michigan has not had a standout pass rusher since… Brandon Graham? Jake Ryan had a year in there but then he blew out his knee and wasn't an impact player as a junior; as a senior he had a distinctly muted impact (2 sacks) as a middle linebacker*. Brennen Beyer led last year's team with 5.5; Frank Clark had 4.5; neither was the kind of edge terror that needs to be accounted for every play.

Prospects are dim for that guy to emerge this year. Lawrence Marshall, a highly-regarded in-state recruit coming off a redshirt, has gotten a lot of hype. It would be a meteoric rise to go from not playing to being a terror. Mario Ojemudia is what he is at this point.

Michigan's best hope might be Taco Charlton, who seems set to move back to the weakside end after a season spent on the strongside in a 4-3 over. Charlton has a package of athleticism that is unmatched; this is a point where the proverbial light might come on. A spring injury prevented a hype train from building up steam; he'll be a guy you hope starts opening eyes in fall.

The defensive tackles also offer some promise here. Glasgow offered little pass rush a year ago, but Hurst, Mone, and Henry could be plus gentlemen, especially if they're all fresh because they can rotate freely without much drop in production. And the havoc Peppers causes might open up opportunities for other guys.

Even so this seems like the biggest gotcha in Michigan's quest for an elite defense.

Can they find a second man press cornerback? Michigan wanted to run an in-your-face aggressive defense last year and did so until it became clear that this was exposing Blake Countess to Spock levels of toxic radiation. Jourdan Lewis thrived, though, and returns as Michigan's #1 corner. Is there someone around who can let Michigan go Teddy KGB on opponents?

The two main contenders here are Countess, a year wiser and receiving cornerback coaching from a couple gentlemen with a slightly better pedigree in that department than the departed Roy Manning, and Stanford transfer Wayne Lyons. Lyons started for large chunks of the year for a lights-out Stanford secondary; he was regarded as something of a weak link. He can be the weak link in the #2 defense in the country and I will find that acceptable.

I give the slight edge to Lyons here, as he is bigger and faster than Countess. The boundary corner slot beckons.

A darkhorse: Brandon Watson. The redshirt freshman spent some time at safety last year, which made no sense since literally the only thing he did in high school is line up with his facemask molecules away from the opposition and jam the hell out of them. He looked pretty good on Saturday.

Are the safeties reliable enough? Jarrod Wilson is probably fine. I thought Michigan's tendency to jerk him around because he gave a team a small window to hit a pass in was one of their worst qualities under Hoke. They played nonsense guys over him from time to time, seemingly out of pique, and the defense got worse. Anyway, he's back and he should be reliable to good.

The second safety is not really Peppers since Peppers is a destroyer-of-all-trades in or near the box. The second safety is the guy who comes in when Michigan goes to the nickel that we are all going to interpret as Michigan's base defense by midyear. That is some combination of Delano Hill, Dymonte Thomas, Jeremy Clark, and Tyree Kinnel. Clark and Hill are the favorites. The numbers there are reasonable; can they find a player?

*[A move that was way more bonkers than it seems in retrospect because of Morgan's injury. Michigan opted to move their only impact rusher to MLB when they had Bolden and Morgan at ILB.]

Comments

dragonchild

April 7th, 2015 at 2:32 PM ^

For example, if an OC's answer to a blitz is a "hot" route to a go-to receiver it can be worth it to bump him so the pass rush has time to get there.

But the pass rush had better get there, because you're now playing zone without one guy.  That's either leaving an obvious hole in the coverage or asking everyone else to cover that much more ground.  Neither is a sustainable option as a base defense.  After a few plays any decent QB, let alone OC, should see the hole in the coverage and now all you've done is tell them where to throw the ball.

Think of it as a "trick" defensive play.  Can work as a changeup if you have the players and the situation calls for it, not viable as an every-down look.

SC Wolverine

April 7th, 2015 at 3:15 PM ^

We certainly saw that a lot in the spring game.  While Lewis was pretty much in press coverage the whole time, Countess usually was not.  And when he was he usually didn't get a hand on the receiver during his release.  I did not see a whole-hearted commitment to press coverage in the spring game film.  Stribling also usually did not play up.

dragonchild

April 8th, 2015 at 8:41 AM ^

Not trying to put words in Padog's mouth but I understood the question as mixing man and zone coverage.  I agree that they're not committed to press coverage just yet, but it was still man coverage.  Because the slot receiver is a shifty guy a few steps behind the line, they're very hard to press and Countess isn't very good at it anyway.  Peppers can press but he's now more of a NB/SS/OLB hybrid.  Both would blitz, and when they did a safety would cover the slot wherever he went -- still man, just not press.  I saw a lot of press from the outside corners, when they were in the frame anyway.

Bodogblog

April 7th, 2015 at 1:33 PM ^

A lot of buzz from Spring, but he's not an edge rusher.  He can push a guy over or toss him aside and run at the QB, but he's not an edge guy you have to think about every down.  And he's been very inconsistent thus far in his career.  Great size and strength, but just like on his HS film, he seems to inexplicable move slowly at times and/or not play with abandon on every down. 

I'd like to see Godin at SDE on rushing downs.  He's not a speed edge rusher either, but lacking other options, he has shown ability to get around or dart through guys and put on some rush. 

FreddieMercuryHayes

April 7th, 2015 at 2:33 PM ^

While I agree with you that Wormley isn't the edge rusher you see out of a WDE, I think he is a pretty prototypical SDE (at least in the 4-3 under) who has shown ability to make plays in the backfield..  I know he's played a lot of 3-tech, but I would like to see him get more snaps at the end position especially considering the other DT depth. 

Disagree about the inconsistancy.  While yes, he has been inconsistant, he has been no more inconsistant other underclass DL.  He was just a RS sophomore (coming off an ACL his freshman year) last year.  And he still had 5 TFLs and 3 sacks last year, 4.5 TFLs and 2/5 sacks his RS frosh year..  Henry's 5.5 TFLs, and 3 sacks last year, and 3 TFLs, 0.5 sacks his RS Frosh year.  Godin had 1.5 TFLs and one sack last year while getting no stats his RS frosh year.

Basically, I think Wormley sees a lot of time at the SDE position and he's right there along the developmental path as his peers; i.e. benefitted from the RS, is poised for a breakout his Junior year setting up an all-conference caliber senior year.

Bodogblog

April 7th, 2015 at 5:28 PM ^

Very much hoping that happens, but I pinned a lot of my hopes on him taking a leap last year.  It would be outstanding if he did so in 2015.  I agree that SDE is his ideal spot.  

Inconsistency isn't at a relative level in my book: he can be inconsistent even if those around him are also.  It just means we haven't had consistent contributers at those positions, which I think is true.  Martin and Van Bergen were the last true stalwarts on the DL in terms of effort and high performance every play.  I'm not talking stat lines so much, which certainly speak to the good plays.  But it's the play or two after, where inconsistent effort or urgency lead to Wormley getting blocked or whiffing on his assignment, leading to big gains and him getting yanked.  Those were the things Martin and Van Bergen kept down. 

alum96

April 7th, 2015 at 5:51 PM ^

Wormley is also on my radar as a potential breakout player (as he was last year) but unless you are Bosa or Suh it is not really common for a RS FR to make a leap on the DL.  He has 3 more years here - I think he is going to be an impact player.   One of those guys who gets better each year and by JR and SR year is in talks for 3rd all conference or maybe 2nd. 

Bodogblog

April 7th, 2015 at 5:55 PM ^

He's a RS Junior, so this year will be his fourth on campus - he's played two seasons, redshirted one.  Usually you see some action in that magical third year on campus - that's typically when you know what you've got.  I'm hopeful he's a ninja-sumo assassin of death, but again I'm just looking at his play on film... I don't know that he can get much bigger than he was last year, he was a grown man then and still is now.  Stronger certainly, but not leaps and bounds.  

stephenrjking

April 7th, 2015 at 1:12 PM ^

Developing a pipeline of pass rushers is something Hoke worked hard to accomplish, and failed. And, unfortunately, I don't think that is precisely on him; the type of player needed is very hard to come by.

Michigan needs to start coming by them to keep up with those guys on the Olentangy.

"The defense is designed around his uncommon abilities" sounds really, really awesome. If Peppers stays healthy, it sounds like he will be a terror for two years. Then, perhaps, he hits the draft just as similarly-skilled recruits are breaking down the door to replace him. Legit optimism here.

mwolverine1

April 7th, 2015 at 1:25 PM ^

Biggest issue there is that Hoke decided to bulk up our pass rushers until they reached their NFL weight. This caused them to lose speed and athleticism, taking away from our pass rush. Look at a guy like Striker at OU. At the college level, you don't need to be huge to be a reliable pass rusher.

tolmichfan

April 7th, 2015 at 1:53 PM ^

Which pass rushers are you talking about? Black bulked up because we had no one DT and he had to move down, Clark bulked up because he had to, to become a pass rusher. He didn't loose any athletic ability. Ojemudia probably should add more weight. Other than those guys I can't think of who your talking about.




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FreddieMercuryHayes

April 7th, 2015 at 1:18 PM ^

Love the DT depth, and I think it will help with the pass rush.  I know a common complaint in the past few years after Martin left, was lifiting the NT and running two 3-techy, SDE type dudes in the middle.  And often, in addition to not holding up to the run as well, there was a problem with the DTs not collapsing the pocket and allowing the QB to step up easily even when the edge rushers were getting there.

alum96

April 7th, 2015 at 1:51 PM ^

I am not sure I heard his name once Saturday.  Not sure if that is a good thing or bad thing at his position.  Can't tell how much he played.  Contrast with Watson who at least in the 1st half seemed to be in on a lot of plays.  Based on weight chart Stribling really still is struggling to put on weight.

I love Watson's size and my personal hope is he beats out Lyons and Blake for the starting CB role.  If so that would mean (a) he is pretty damn good - early and (b) we have a guy who is an actual press corner with fantasic size.

If Watson becomes the real deal and your 2 corners are Lewis and Watson, and you have SR Wilson and Peppers as your safeties that could be one legit crew.  I'd prefer Blake to be the nickel dude; I don't like him outside against bigger WRs.

I know Peppers is destined for S but I would have been very curious to see this DB with Peppers and Lewis as your 2 corners - as long as guy like Hill was an adequate 2nd S.  Or Thomas.  Was Thomas out there?  Like Stribling I can't remember him being called.

All that said you can't take much from this game with the DBs as the WRs and QBs lacked.  We'll know quickly as Utah is not a high potency offense but has some halfway competent Power 5 conf players including a functional experienced QB.  Oregon State is breaking in a new guy and UNLV is UNLV so BYU and Utah should be 2 good early tells. 

But going full circle if we dont get outside pass rush it's going to be a moot point on the secondary as you can't cover guys for 8 seconds every play.  Marshall popped Saturday but it was against our OL so can't read too much into it.

Bodogblog

April 7th, 2015 at 3:01 PM ^

Stribling played most of the game.  Normally we say that's a good thing, didn't hear the CB's name.  This game lol, wouldn't expect to hear it unless it's a 5'5" slot receiver playing CB. 

But I'm not basing my question on this game, and I don't think Brian should either.  Stribling has actually seen the field in the last two years, and entering his third year on campus, where "the proverbial light may come on" a la Charlton.  In earlier reports this spring it was made clear by the coaching staff that the top 3 corners were Lewis, Countess, and Stribling.  Very little mentioned of Watson at all, from what I can remember. 

I'd put more stock in what Stribling has done on the field (a little in two years, with some flashes, vs. nothing for Watson), what the coaches have been saying (among top 3 for Stribling, nearly no mention of Watson), and nummber of years on campus (entering 3 vs. entering 2).  That seems a better data set to rely on than Watson's high school film, especially considering his HS played like 4 games. 

Is the Watson prediction based on insider buzz?  If not, it seems like Stribling is the favorite, unless people are overweighting a few nice plays in the spring game. 

Bodogblog

April 7th, 2015 at 2:59 PM ^

Sure Thomas played, made some nice plays, but couldn't quite cover Winovich on the early drop he had.  Maybe I'm overthinking this, but it seems like Thomas should have been able to pop him as he crossed and stayed with him - instead he was trailing and should have been beat, though he recovered decently.  A legit TE would have taken that a long way. But again, he made some nice plays during the game.  If he were a RS sophomore I think there'd be a little less pressue on him.  Though he's got to beat Hill (who looked absolutely massive, good massive, Saturday), Clark, and Kinnel this year anyway if he ever wants to see the field. 

Marshall passed the eyeball test as well as the playball test.  It was a good first showing, but I agree you can't read much into it.  It went about as well as you could have hoped.  He may not be a terror at this early stage, but we don't need that.  We need Charlton to break out,  Ojemudia to outwork OT's late in critical games for key sacks, and the DTs to drop blockers and plow their helmets into the quarterback just before he throws to an emerging receiver downfield.  If we can get Marshall to pile on that by adding 3-4 sacks of his own, with 1-2 in critical games, he'll be a great addition. 

Tyrone Biggums

April 7th, 2015 at 4:23 PM ^

Dymonte has has some type of lower leg injury. You can see in some of the mgoblue videos that he's participating in practices but has a little gimp in his step. I thought he played pretty well on Saturday albeit a step slow. 

I don't know if he has a breakout year but I think he's coming around and gets a bit more run than he has previously. Hill looks like a NFL safety. The secondary overall is a very intriguing position group with so many guys ready to take the next leap. With the addition of Lyons I'm confident that it will be the best one we've fielded in a long time.

reshp1

April 7th, 2015 at 2:56 PM ^

Stribling played well all game. He was a big part of the "receivers problem" people saw and was locking his guy down the whole time and not allowing any separation. They never really went to his side of the field, not surprising considering they had great matchups on the other side with Norfleet all day.

MaximusBlue

April 7th, 2015 at 1:30 PM ^

A great mix of young guys with the few veteran guys. J. Lewis should be ready to lock down one side of the field and Peppers is the eraser we haven't had in years.

Defense should be nasty!

Ricky from Sunnyvale

April 7th, 2015 at 1:33 PM ^

I like the Eric Berry comparison a lot, Earl Thomas(Texas) comes to mind as well. I remember Berry being an excellent tackler and very dangerous once he got the ball in his hands, which was often. A fun thing to youtube is Knowshon Moreno meets Eric Berry.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIfRBFALl2E (I'd mute the crappy music)



Side Note: Berry was diagnosed Hodgkin lymphoma, so hope he gets well.

991GT3

April 7th, 2015 at 1:48 PM ^

They never were blown out and would have been better if the offense gave them respite and good field position. They kept us in the game against OSU until a busted fourth and one play which gutted the defense morale.

NO doubt they will be better this year. A big test will be when they play BYU. Without a pass rush it may be a long afternoon.

More importantly, our offense needs to improve, score some points and keep the ball longer.

dragonchild

April 7th, 2015 at 2:17 PM ^

Huzzah, this is what I wanted.  Peppers as a CB could've been a playmaker who freed up a safety on his side of the field, but considering he's got the size, why not just play him at safety?  Especially since archtype safeties would have trouble staying with slot receivers Peppers can cover like a noon shadow.

Honestly an edge rush would be great, but I don't think that's necessary if all the other pieces are there.  The DEs only need to play the edges/gaps they're assigned to.  The DTs are good enough that they'll eventually get push, the ILBs are very good, and with Peppers wreaking havoc this won't be the situation where the QB can confidently wait all day in the pocket for someone to break open.

The issue is more that we have some pieces that don't fit as well as others.  Countess is, or should be, an All-American zone merchant who may or may not develop into a decent press corner.  Two senior inside linebackers is a luxury that doesn't make this defense much better compared to, say, a reliable edge defender.  We're loaded at DT and thin at DE, pass rush or no.  It won't be a perfect defense.

But coming full circle, it will be a very good defense, and my point is that will be the case without asking our DEs to do too much.  With the DTs and ILBs applying pressure every play and Peppers playing sideline to sideline, whatever "weak links" opposing offenses think they can exploit will be difficult to execute against.  For example, even if the DEs don't provide pass rush, in a nickel formation vs. spread I can see Peppers blitzing/spying the QB and Wilson being an insurance policy against whoever Lewis isn't pressing.  As long as the DEs don't derp completely, when the DTs collapse the pocket the QB's options are to roll out and risk getting leveled by Peppers or try to hit a small window on the run.  Those aren't appealing options.

Wolverine In Exile

April 7th, 2015 at 2:22 PM ^

In his prime Troy Polamalu. Line up damn near the LOS, but fast enough to track back into deep coverage at the snap. Plenty of inexperienced QB's this year will be tricked up by counting 8 in the box only to have Peppers drop in coverage after the snap and steal a pass. That type of versatility by a safety, including what Rod Woodson brought to the Steelers when he dropped from CB to S, is what can make a defense transformative.

leftrare

April 7th, 2015 at 2:33 PM ^

Don't get me wrong, I love Peppers and am totally stoked to see him go at it.  However, guys like Peppers or Woodson come along once every 10-15 years.  No question you build your scheme around such extraordinary talent, but what happens when that one piece is removed?

 

Am I being an alarmist?

 

 

evenyoubrutus

April 7th, 2015 at 2:53 PM ^

Is there any chance Michigan may consider redshirting one of the senior LB's (like RJS)? Also I am praying endlessly that Jarrod Wilson does not get injured.

bronxblue

April 7th, 2015 at 3:44 PM ^

I don't expect the defense to be demonstrably better than in years past simply because there are holes in personnel you can't paper over with great schemes.  That said, it seems less likely that Michigan's offense will be a tire-fire for long stretches, hopefully protecting the defense a bit.  It isn't a dominant unit, and being tasked with constantly bailing out a 3-and-out offense will wear down anyone.  

I'm guessing that the pass rush will come from inside, which would be a welcome change from the past couple of years when a QB could escape outside pressure simply be stepping into an intact pocket.  The best defenses pressure inside first, and if Hurst, Mone, etc. can get some consistent push inside it should make the overall rush better.

alum96

April 7th, 2015 at 6:03 PM ^

I think at the 40K foot level the D will be similar in "eye test" production to last year but improve on turnover statistics.  It was a 6th to 8th place Big 10 D on almost every advanced stat which stunk but was masked by a whole cadre of awful offenses it played.  That has to improve to 4ish IMO. 

Just by default the turnovers caused have to improve - having back to back years of incompetence in turnovers to that degree would almost be statistically impossible.

I dont see a giant leap overall when the 2 best players from last year's D are gone - Ryan and Clark.  But it will be stronger in different areas than last year - I am sure on the DTs and I am hoping the 2nd S with Peppers.  And Lewis is "established" now vs "finding himself" last year.

Misses of Hand, McDowell and ignoring Nicholson really could have made this D super.  And still don't see impressive speed in the D, esp in the linebackers.

EGD

April 7th, 2015 at 6:39 PM ^

A lot of the things that killed us in 2014 were problems we either hadn't anticipated, or that wound up being worse than we'd counted on, because of new personnel and the changes in systems and techniques.  For instance, one thing that killed us against ND was Countess not being a good man-to-man defender; until that game, nobody had really said anything about that being an issue.  Another problem was Jake Ryan's move to MLB; while it was easy to look at the depth chart, see JMFR, and think "we're good at that position," the reality was that Ryan struggled early in the year and never really turned into an impact player at the MLB position.  

For 2015, the lack of an established, Frank Clark type pass rusher is the only known concern (and it's a pretty significant one, IMO) .  But I think we are less likely to have these unknown killer problems arise, because we aren't really changing defensive systems and won't have to depend heavily on inexperienced players (except Peppers, and he's Peppers) or position-switchers.  Things can always change depending on how the injury dice fall, but I think there is now enough depth, experience, and consistency to expect a very strong unit to emerge in 2015.  If Marshall can do what he did to the Blue Team against real B1G competition, then it really could be an elite unit.  

pescadero

April 8th, 2015 at 12:06 AM ^

Lets define "elite"...

 

When I use it, I'm talking 1st or 2nd in the B1G and top 5 in the country on advanced stats like S&P and FEI.

The defense this year has a chance to be good, but I see no chance of a top 5 defense nationally.