2012 Defense
This year Mattison has not used many exotic packages this year in terms of personnel. I'm curious if you think he will utilize more players next year?
One of the things that has perplexed(can't say mad after the improvement this year) me time and time again this year has been the use of Demens in our nickle package. He has been fine but it seems with all of our hybrid type guys they would be perfect in a nickle/dime package. We are finding out why certain guys may not have been out there this year, but next year we should have some athletic type guys with experience in the system that have physically matured.
So basically my question is do you think Mattison will try to utilize players like Furman, Robinson, Jones, Hawthorne, Cam Gordon etc in certain passing/blitz situations or will he stick with the base?
November 16th, 2011 at 3:54 PM ^
Perhaps the coaches think Demens performs better out there than the other guys? It's also helpful to have a true linebacker against whatever run they might throw at you.
November 16th, 2011 at 3:56 PM ^
IN 2012.
November 16th, 2011 at 4:01 PM ^
You're right. We should instead be talking about PSU 2011.
November 16th, 2011 at 3:58 PM ^
I'm still concerned about the 2011 D. Let's worry about the 2012 D after January 2012.
November 16th, 2011 at 4:38 PM ^
We're not coaches. Or players. We don't need to compartmentalize. If he wants to talk about the 2012 defense, then it's kind of silly not to just let him do it.
We're fans. This is what we do.
November 16th, 2011 at 5:28 PM ^
You mean you're not hitting the training room after watching coaches film tonight? Shame on you, Magnus.
November 17th, 2011 at 1:12 AM ^
I never have gotten why fans(not just this fan base) always do that. "Let not look past X team". Like we are the fans.. What does it matter? LOL.
November 16th, 2011 at 3:58 PM ^
The closer we get to the end of the season the more sad I get about losing Mike Martin....going to miss that human wrecking ball. Let win out for him and the rest of the seniors.
Mattison will know what to do next year
November 16th, 2011 at 4:04 PM ^
I think BWC will be a wrecking ball with a full plus year of getting coached up by Hoke, Mattison, and Monty.
November 16th, 2011 at 4:09 PM ^
is gone too though.
November 16th, 2011 at 7:04 PM ^
Heininger :( 3 out of 4
November 16th, 2011 at 8:20 PM ^
But we'll have Roh, Ryan, and a bunch of more experienced linebackers. BWC and Jibreel are going to need to do a lot of improving, but we'll still have some strong talent.
November 16th, 2011 at 4:22 PM ^
We see guys like Countess and Morgan crack the lineup as freshmen and play pretty well, guys like Ryan make huge strides, ditto Floyd. But Campbell doesn't seem to have been much of a factor at all this year. I hope you're right, but I would have expected far more improvement out of him this year if he were actually going to develop into a frontline player.
November 16th, 2011 at 4:39 PM ^
Campbell has played pretty well when given the opportunity. He may not have made a ton of plays, but he's messing things up in the backfield.
November 16th, 2011 at 4:41 PM ^
I hope you are right, I would love to see BWC start to eat bitches up.
November 16th, 2011 at 7:54 PM ^
it has been mentioned before and scoffed at, but I think there actually could be a move toward a 3-4 base next year. Considering some of the red shirts coming off in terms of Poole and the loaded linebacker class along with the return of Morgan, Hawthorne, Ryan, etc., linebacker is actually going to be the strength of the defense next year. A lot of this will depend on the development of BWC in the off-season, if he can provde stability in the middle, with Beyer, Heinenger, and Roh reasonable options to fill out the D-Line, I would not be surprized to see a 3-4 base next year in the short term. If I am not mistaken, that is what Lord Mattison coached in Baltimore, correct?
November 16th, 2011 at 4:02 PM ^
January........
November 16th, 2011 at 4:04 PM ^
While a linebacker typically comes out of the game for a nickel package, it isn't usually the Mike that comes off the field.
November 16th, 2011 at 4:36 PM ^
1st, Hybrids typically aren't big enough for lber when playing the power rush teams, but they are fine against the spread type teams, ie indiana, northwestern, minnesota.......against msu, iowa, psu, wisconsin, nebraska and Osu even when they go 3wr or spread set you need bigger lbers to stand up to that inside run those schools still use out of a spread formation.
2012 Defense, I hope like heck that BigWill and Quinton Washington, Richard Ash or Ondre Pipkins and play bigtime ball on the dline..........otherwise the defense will take a step back. Rock, Brink or Heininger may be able to bulk up enough to play the 3tech but One of the other 4 mentioned must be ready for the 1tech NT position..... and Mattison wants a 3 man rotation for inside minimum, he prefers a 4 man rotation where the backups can play 10 - 15 snaps and spell the starters if a long drive gets going....
De's, I think next yr this position, esp Rush End gets much faster and more athletic with Frank Clark and Beyer... and possibly Ojemudia gets some time there as a rush only, he probably needs a redshirt yr to get big enough to hold the poa against the run.
November 16th, 2011 at 4:40 PM ^
You can't pull all your run-stoppers out of the game when you go to a nickel package. That's just asking for a team to spread you out and then run right at you.
November 16th, 2011 at 7:21 PM ^
I was thinking of like 3rd and 8 or more. I think the faster players would give our defense a higher upside with better coverage and more impact making blitzers.
November 16th, 2011 at 11:37 PM ^
Also,
Demens may struggle in pass coverage at times, he may be a little stiff...but he knows what he's doing, he's in position and he's clearly the best MLB we have. Even on passing downs. He also helps get guys in position and with play recognition.
November 16th, 2011 at 4:53 PM ^
It seems like 2012 is far off, but it really isn't in a sense. After whatever bowl we end up playing in, we lose quite a bit of experience on defense, especially up front. I would think that a second year in this system makes up for a little of it once the Alabama game comes around, but I do think about how much we'll feel the impending graduations, if you will. I wonder if we'll be counting on a combination of returning players stepping up and incoming recruits making an immediate impact.
November 16th, 2011 at 5:20 PM ^
As he's mad a horrific defense good with a lot of spare parts. And in an ideal situation, after a lot of recruiting, he'll have a two deep that he can rotate, and pick and choose when he was to just have the line dominant and create pressure while shutting off everything else, mixed in with timely blitzes to drive the opposition crazy. That we're even above average is a minor miracle. I'll trust him that we need a LBer in a 4-2-5, 3-2-6 or 4-1-6 formation.
November 17th, 2011 at 10:54 AM ^
but some of those "spare parts" are experienced (Kovacs, Floyd, Roh, Demens) or seniors (Martin, RVB, WoolfoRk). While what Mattison has done is amazing and i have confidence in him heading forward - don't undersell the leadership and experience that some of these players have on the field.
November 16th, 2011 at 5:28 PM ^
that Mattison has taken a bottom 30 defense to a top 30 defense with the same players. So, to be honest, I don't care what he does.
November 16th, 2011 at 5:37 PM ^
On how our D-Line looks and what kind of production we can get out of the crew of Campbell, Ash, Washington, Pipkins, Brink and Wilkins
November 16th, 2011 at 7:13 PM ^
Black, ?????, Campbell, and Roh. Washington, Ash, Pipkins, (and to a lesser extant Wilkins) all have the physique to be good run stuffing double team eaters but 2 of those 3 are underclassmen. Wish I could see more of those kids to tell how they've progressed.
November 16th, 2011 at 7:32 PM ^
The likely reality is that we'll rotate a lot more than we have been this year on the DL. We won't have guys like RVB and Martin who almost never come off the field, but we have some numbers so hopefully fresh legs will make up for what our guys lack elsewhere. A DT can be a lot more disruptive when he gets to play every play at 100%, so I wouldn't be surprised if all the guys you mentioned get a good chunk of the PT.
November 16th, 2011 at 11:37 PM ^
...I'll give it a go!
WDE: Craig Roh
-Frank Clark
NG: Will Campbell
-Richard Ash
DT: Quinton Washington
-Ondre Pipkins
SDE: JiBreel Black/Nathan Brink
-JiBreel Black/Nathan Brink
WLB: Desmond Morgan
-Brandon Hawthorne
MLB: Kenny Demens
-Mike Jones/James Ross
SLB: Jake Ryan
-Cam Gordon
WCB: Blake Countess
-Delonte Hollowell
SCB: JT Floyd
-Courtney Avery
FS: Thomas Gordon
-Tamani Carter/Ray Taylor/Jarrod Wilson
SS: Jordan Kovacs
-Marvin Robinson
Thoughts?
Mine:
- Obviously Mike Martin and Ryan Van Bergan will be more than missed. Luckily we have the best DLine coaching staff in the country.
- Black or Brink? Athleticism and overall talent or technique and fundamentals? Our coaching staff seems to like the latter, however, with an entire offseason...Black is going to get better, a lot better
- Our LBs set up perfect...some experience to lead the way for this wrecking crew recruiting class we have coming in. I think James Ross plays early out of the bunch and could very well end up being the primary backup to Demens. Also notice the OLBs have the technicians starting, but some good experience and athleticism as the #2...makes for good rotation and depth.
- JT, JT, JT...my man! *Denzel voice* In all seriousness, if they play like they have at times this year, we could have two All-B1G CBs. I almost laughed when I typed that, that's how crazy it sounds. Countess reminds me so much of Leon Hall.
- Woolfolk is gone, no problem...Gordon has probably played better this year. But Coach Kovacs (my new name for him) comes back for round 3. Everyone WILL be in position, I can tell you that much.
Strengths:
-Back 7
-Experience or Upperclassmen
-'12 Recruiting Class
Things to work on:
-Interior DL
-Finding a SDE who can hold the edge
-Finding some promise/depth at both safety spots for when the starters move on
November 17th, 2011 at 7:53 PM ^
A couple comments on the line-up:
The DTs and NTs are switched.
I think Roh is more likely to move over to SDE than Black. Roh is just a bigger body, and I think he's do better over there.
November 17th, 2011 at 12:50 AM ^
about Will Campbell and Quinton Washington being able to replace MM and RVB.
Our D-line will probably regress in the interior but be monster on the outside. We'll also have to account for the fact that we play a very tough schedule next year (BAMA plus huskers & ohio away) so D-line is a concern.
November 17th, 2011 at 10:33 AM ^
understand questioning the defensive coaches the past three years, but questioning anything Mattison is doing is just not smart. The dude has turned water into wine in one year, and they haven't even gotten his type of players to fill the D yet. This thing will just keep getting better as long as he's a coach at Michigan.
That's my question, how long can we keep him at Michigan? Does he want to eventually go back to the NFL? I hope DB can throw a ton of money at this whole staff and lock them up for a decade. They are so focused on technique and the details of every position and it shows on the field. Just think what this team will look like in 4 years... GO BLUE!
November 17th, 2011 at 2:28 PM ^
He's retiring once he's done at Michigan.
My guess is that he'll see this recruiting class through for 4-5 years and retire to be an awesome Grandpa.
Another guess has Teryl Austin or our current DB coach Curt Mallory as his replacement.
November 17th, 2011 at 1:48 PM ^
That's the thing - he hasn't turned water into wine. He's allowed good players to be good players. There was talent at Michigan for the past three years (think of all those returning starters in 2008, and the guys who are there now were there last year). Rodriguez, Robinson, Gibson, etc. just couldn't harness that talent.
November 17th, 2011 at 7:21 PM ^
to see them transition to a 3-4 in the next few years. With the linebackers we have coming in and lack of DT's I would think this a logical conclusion.