Chris Spielman on Denard Robinson (good!) and Michigan's defense (uh, not good)

"Spielman on Michigan's defense, ranked 112th nationally giving up an average 445.2 points"



...but I didn't think we were that bad. Almost 450 points per game, damn. Good thing we have such an explosive offense.

Are we going to have walk-ons from outside of Toledo be our starting safety (Jordan Kovacs) or are we going to get kids who can play?

Ouch.  He's obviously selling Kovacs short, but I get where he's going with this.  Our depth at Defense is hurting.

Fuck Spielman. Seriously.  He keeps saying we have no talent.  We have plenty of talent.  We out-recruit, or at least recruit on par with Wisconsin, Iowa, and Michigan State on the defensive side of the ball.  They all have pretty solid defenses.  I can't stand when commentators (especially Buckeyes) talk shit about the talent level of our players.  I love our players, and am excited to see what they can do when they have some more beef, and possibly better coaching on that side of the ball.

WOW. He ripped into us. And I can't even be mad, he's either mostly right, or absolutely right, about everything.

Also, from the years '85-'88 we went 3-1 against OSU, which I believe was when Spielman played there (not sure if he stayed 4 years).  So he can go fuck himself.

Michigan to smack the ever loving $#it out of Ohio State as much as I want it this year since David Boston called out Woodson.

I think Spielman was deliberately trying to give the Michigan players some bulletin board material.

He knew what he was doing when he talked smack like this. He's clearly trying to stoke the flames of a smoldering rivalry.

is that our defense is bad, but denard is good. thanks spielman!

so regardless of how you feel about Spielman, this week, fuck him and fuck osu.

I agree with him. It will be interesting to see what rich rod does this offseason as far as scheme, coach and philosophy.

a "fake" buckeye.  I suppose it depends on if he gets somebody to read the comments to him.

We can't tackle. I made this point on the 3 man line thread. We can play whatever scheme we like but we do not know how to tackle. Arm tackles at the backs shoulders when a good shoulder to the chest and arms around the middle will suffice.

I hope they teach tackling during the 15 bowl practices. JHC.

3-time all big ten, 2-time all american, lombardi award winner, 4-time pro-bowler...

he's forgotten more about football than I know.  the Indiana subs bit is questionable but the rest of it is pretty agonizingly accurate.

I knew our defense was bad, but can anyone confirm this number:

Spielman on Michigan's defense, ranked 112th nationally giving up an average 445.2 points.

I guess it has been worse than I though.

Chris Spielman and Kirk Gibson get my official Buckeye and Spartan exemptions. They are both awesome. As mentioned above the two-handed spike from Spielman against the Bears is my favorite Lions memory.

Forget about where our defensive players (outside of martin) would be on osu's depth chart. Name one defensive player, whose name is not mike martin, who would even get offered by osu. While I have serious issues with scheme and coaching, the problem has to start there.

Who is this Spielman character?

Is that the emaciated dude I saw on TV this weekend?  To hell with him and his Columbutt brethren.

Go Blue.  Beat Ohio State.

Suck on that, Spielman!

Spielman is one of the best color guys working today.

Sev. things stood out.

1. Cupboard left bare. I agree, and think this has set us way back.
2. Talent deficiency. Partly agree. Partly, think it is age, size, strength, seasoning, which doesn't happen overnight.
3. Scheme. Disagree. Think the combination of lack of high end talent and lack of experience make it impossible to fully evaluate the scheme.
4. Coaching. He didn't focus on this. Either he doesn't want to publicly bash Gerg, or he doesn't see a huge problem with the coaching. I personally believe that the jury is out, and that you can't evaluate this adequately with our current lack of talent and experience.

You're a lifesaver!

I read the article. As much as I hate to say it I cannot disagree with Speilman's take. We are indeed a talent depleted defense. With regard to Kovacs - Spielman is spot on. I love the kid but he's tiny and normally this is not the type of guy you see as a starter on a Michigan defensive roster. The fact that Kovacs is one of our better players speaks volumes. Our issues will be solved on the recruting trail. Let's just hope RRod can close big...

And I kind of agree with him. We've been getting some impact players on the O but the D has been embarrassing this year. Recruiting on the D has to focus on guys with size and speed. 4-5 star recruits who go out there and know how to tackle, get off the line fast and low and pursuit at the right angle.

Our defense is comically bad. But I do think we have some good young talent to build on.

I think you would find Spielman knows what he is talking about vs. a majority of people who think they know by studying a board.  Also, he was very close to wearing the Maize n Blue out of HS, Bo almost convinced him to come to Ann Arbor.....his father did not support that choice which is how he ended up a Buckeye.

Most people I think regardless of side want to see two of the best teams play in this game and really go head to head for the B10 championship and possible NC.  If it is truly competitive with two great teams and one is on a streak of wins it is one thing.....being dominated for years at a time is another. 

unintelligent and idiotic.  By this logic, talent can be identified and conclusively determined by the time a player is a freshman.  Just about all All-Conference type of players are either on the bench the first couple years or playing and not wrecking people.  It's a rare player that is dominant as a freshman.  Likewise, if he's watching our young players and can't see flashes of talent that will likely grow into great players in the future, he is simply blind.

I'm willing to bet that if you took a great defense like Iowa and sent a top junior to the draft early, knocked out the top 2 players with injuries and transformed another 8-10 on the 2-deep into freshman they would suck horribly.  That doesn't mean Iowa can't recruit talent.

Spielman needs to wait until these young players are juniors and seniors.  If they still can't hang with anybody in the B10, then you can talk about how the defense lacks talent.

I don't care if this quote comes from Drew Sharp or a defensive genius, the point stands.

WOW! I wonder if coach will make an exception and use this to fire up our "special teams players" for saturday.  I respect spielman for giving his honest opinion and we have definitely been bad on D, but we have talent  they just aren't developed.  Good motivation for our 'indiana" defense. 

Uh, yeah, Chris you're right, a lot of the players wouldn't start for many teams because they are freshman. That is kind of the whole point. They are freshman. Name me a successful, hell even average defense in any conference who has half the freshman in the two deeps as we do. I won't even mention the lack of experience all over the place. Let's just stop at freshmen.

I just don't like that he is claiming that there isn't any talent. On defense, experience matters a lot. You can be a great RB or WR without experience because it is so much talent based, but on defense experience is king.

... but I love Chris Spielman.  He was a great player for the Lions, he respects the hell out of the rivalry, he speaks his mind, and from a couple personal interactions with him when I was younger and he was playing for the Lions he was just a great guy. 

He says nothing in this article I would take offense to -- knowing he is a Buckeye and talking on a buckeye radio talk show. 

There, I said it. 

(Deleted)