What did you expect from a Scott Shafer defensive secondary?

for pissing in my Cheerios this morning.

I find that interesting. What was the attraction of Shafer for RR? I am not hating, I just wonder how he landed on him. I think he deserves two years at least to get his thing going, but those numbers don't lie.(source?)

Thanks Section 37.....that section was our season tickets growing up. Great memories.

Nothing less.

In truth, I expected an improvement to those cited statistics because (1) I thought this was the first defense he'd be leading that was objectively superior to the majority of the the opponents' offenses he'd be facing this year, and (2) I thought this was probably one of the more talented DLs and secondaries he'd ever coached.

When looking at those keep in mind, he was not the DC at Illinios. So, make what you want of those stats. If you want to be happy take a look at the improvement from 2005 to 2006 at Western. That is a big big step up and probably what got him the Stanford job. Personally, I agree that he didn't do much at Stanford to add to his resume. But, Stanford sucked and it was the pass wacky PAC 10 so I'm not sure what he was supposed to do in one year. The thing missing from those stats is sacks. Every where he goes he gets sacks. Unfortunately, as we found against MSU sacks alone are useless if when you don't get the QB he throws 50 yard TD passes.

I take very little from these stats because they are so limiting and completely out of context. The improvement at Western is what jumps out at me.

Ron English should have been kept. Yeah his schemes were a little suspect,BUT, He got every ounce of intensity out of his players. And to me that's what this Defense is missing, the FIRE to attack and soft tackling.

Can find them here: http://mgoblog.com/content/we-have-dc

3rd down conversions not included.  These are what prompted my email that Brian answered Monday.

First of all shafer is well regarded among people in the profession.

the lack of excitment and tackling at michigan has been a problem long before shafer got here, in fact that is exactly what he has to fight against, the complacency...

Execution of a game plan lays squarly on the players shoulders... if you have seen shafer coach you would see many of the problems that michigan is having technique wise on defense, are the very things that are being rep over and over at practice. He knows what the weaknesses are, and that is why there has been adjustements made to try to compensate for those weaknesses. it takes more than a couple months to complete teach kids hwo to be fundamentally sound defensive players, espically after some of the upperclassmen have been alloud not to be since they arived on campus.

I can yell and scream about tradtion, and what we are playign for, and motivate kids with the best of them, but if you dont give the kids the tools to be successfull, then you arent doing your job. This is the product on the field, that shafer and his staff are having to change, and change takes time...

And yea from all ive heard English was a good motivator, and his kids really liked him, but you dont hear about English being asked to speak at lecturships about his schemes, philosphies and coverage techniques.. And as far as the tallent is concerned, go back and see some of the guys that shafer has coached in his secondary over the years.. i would say some of those secondary's were BETTER than michigan this year...

Your ideas interest me and I would like to subscribe to your magazine.

In all seriousness, I hope we improve; I have questioned Shafer mainly because it seems like Ron English exceeded expectations, though in hindsight perhaps we should have had higher expectations for '06 and '07. It's tough to blame Shafer for the MSU game though, which sounds weird considering all the yards they got.

That said, I'm optimistic we will be improved next year. Mental errors are annoying but over time often get resolved (and that appears to be a lot of our problems on D).

I'm giving Shafer the benefit of the doubt, and he deserves at least that. But we'll see.

use a monster back on 3rd downs? Pass the Cheerios-please.

He gets outcoached. Simple as that.

I think physically, the defense matured a good deal in the offseason between Scot Shafer and Mike Barwis. However, I think with that, came some mental complacency. Or rather, the attitude became something of,"It'll materialize because we're Michigan." By materialize I mean stops. Numerous times I've observed some of the worst mental breakdowns by Michigan's defenders. Sorry, there are things you cannot coach. If during practice you show a kid the right way and then ask him during film if he understands and he doesn't produce those results in the game. Then I would say what more can Scot Shafer do??? Entitlement and complacency, at times go hand in hand or mirror each other. And they will ruin the psyche of a defender and a team. If Michigan's struggles this year rid the program of those two ills, then it is for the greater good that we lose. Self motivated and seeing the problems before they happen has and should be the mindset of a Michigan Football player.

Did these numbers improve on the numbers the year before? Did the talent increase or decrease? Looking at 2007 Stanford pass numbers on their own tells you dick about Shafer.