Defense: fundamentals or scheme?
Throughout spring practice and prior to the season, it was mentioned that G-Rob was spending a lot of time drilling fundamentals and teaching a completely new tackling form. This appeared to be a necessity as our tackling had been downright awful in years past. This season, aside from Mike Williams, it doesn't appear that tackling has been as big of an issue, but the downfall of the defense has been players not knowing their assignments defensively. I raise two questions:
1. Was all the time spent in spring and summer practice drilling fundamentals at the expense of implementing and practicing scheme the cause of our porous defense that we see on the field each week?
2. If that is the case, should we withhold judgment of G-Rob until year two when he will (ideally) have his entire scheme better implemented?
Giving up 30 pts/game is unacceptable. Let alone against Illinois or Purdue. I'm throwing in the towel on significant improvement this season, but next year, even with less star talent (loss Graham and Brown), this defense needs to be markedly improved.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:46 PM ^
Kovacs starts.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:52 PM ^
Sigh, he said "unacceptable."
November 9th, 2009 at 12:53 PM ^
Aside from the things you mention, Magnus' comment speaks volumes. I think a few of the starters on defense simply don't have the ability to succeed at their position and it's tied back into depth. We simply don't have better alternatives (at the present moment) to make the defense any better. I'm quite sure GERG didn't teach Ezeh and Mouton to take horrible angles or be caught out of position so much nor did he physically limit Kovacs and Williams ability to play safety. Some players just don't pan out and we're seeing that.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:57 PM ^
Its not fundamentals or scheme.
It's players.
We dont have enough good ones that play LB or DB. Mostly due to three recruiting classes that saw record attrition before and continued after the new corches got here.
Its players. Why do we still wonder if its scheme or fundamentals?
November 9th, 2009 at 12:57 PM ^
I think our players think too hard at times too. We just look too slow to the ball. Hopefully more time in the system will give players more comfort with their roles, and they will make plays more instinctively. Right now, everything looks too methodical.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:58 PM ^
Actually, #1 is talent.
A gun doesn't work w/o plenty of ammo.
November 9th, 2009 at 1:18 PM ^
A gun will work no matter how much ammo you have. If you have a single bullet, you can kill a yak from 500 yards away.
I'm just sayin'.
November 9th, 2009 at 1:26 PM ^
Unfortunately, football isn't trying to kill a single yak from 500 yards away. If that were the case, The Beast would chase him down, sack him, and then eat his liver.
November 9th, 2009 at 1:21 PM ^
Hopefully that guy doesn't come on this thread and try to asplode Magnus' head.
http://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/greg-robinson-man-job-or-not-real-question-…
November 9th, 2009 at 1:29 PM ^
I saw players in position all day to make plays, and they didn't. Thats not scheme, thats just pure lack of talent or fundamentals to make the play while in position.
November 9th, 2009 at 2:25 PM ^
Yo, our defensive players are not good enough to make the plays on skilled offensive players consistently, even when they are in the right place. It's pretty simple. When a new freshman shows up for drill, he can be in the right place with the right form, but the bigger, faster, stronger senior just runs him over. End of story.
When our defense is stronger and faster across the board, this won't happen. Until that point, hope the offense scores a lot and our couple defensive playmakers make a play or two. That's not a high-percentage game, but that is what we have.
There is no magical scheme or fundamentals drill regime that is going to allow Delaware State to beat Michigan, or a young, thin Michigan defense to consistently stop Big Ten offenses. Not gonna happen.