Defensive Players
I've read a lot on this board this afternoon about our defensive players and their ineffectiveness so far this season. I've read a couple of times on here that we have athletes on defense but not football players. It is obvious that we don't have the defense of 2006 this year, but I think we have to give the new schemes and defensive coaching staff some time. For whatever reason, it has been difficult to get any of the elite defensive recruits across the country to come here the last few years. But I have confidence in Robinson's abilities as a defensive coach. He has been successful everywhere he has gone as a defensive coach and he asked Rodriguez if he could come to Michigan, so he will do everything he can to prove himself.
I think we have some defenders that are going to be good athletes and good football players (Campbell, Emilien, Turner, hopefully Lalota, Bell, Fitzgerald, and others), but of course it is hard to tell until they see some consistent playing time. I think we'll be recruiting some others in the near future as well. But I think Robinson can help these guys become better players with more time. This year's defense is better than last year's, in spite of losing almost the entire defensive line and most of the secondary. So it seems to me that Robinson is already making his mark when you consider that the defense is supposed to be in a rebuilding stage this year.
I'm like every other Wolverine fan. I love watching Sunday night football and seeing the starting lineups at the beginning of the game and seeing the familiar faces of those great Michigan players representing their university. The Super Bowl game last year was like a Michigan football alumni reunion. I know that most of these players (on defense) won't play in the NFL, but they can still be good football players at Michigan. Many of them are young and still have lots of time to improve over the next couple of years. There are glimpses of the future that are exciting (like Roh, whom most people on here thought would be redshirted this year), and I think they have a great defensive coach that will get the job done. It sucks to lose and it sucks to lose to a cocky douchebag like Dantonio, but Michigan is coming back and faster than most people have predicting. Robinson will get the job done!
This is my first diary, so keep the criticism at a minimum. I now have greater respect for those who frequently write these and write them well as it is harder than it looks, especially when you are trying to watch football at the same time. Seriously, how many big games has Stoops lost in the last five or six years? That's another topic...
I think we have some defenders that are going to be good athletes and good football players (Campbell, Emilien, Turner, hopefully Lalota, Bell, Fitzgerald, and others), but of course it is hard to tell until they see some consistent playing time. I think we'll be recruiting some others in the near future as well. But I think Robinson can help these guys become better players with more time. This year's defense is better than last year's, in spite of losing almost the entire defensive line and most of the secondary. So it seems to me that Robinson is already making his mark when you consider that the defense is supposed to be in a rebuilding stage this year.
I'm like every other Wolverine fan. I love watching Sunday night football and seeing the starting lineups at the beginning of the game and seeing the familiar faces of those great Michigan players representing their university. The Super Bowl game last year was like a Michigan football alumni reunion. I know that most of these players (on defense) won't play in the NFL, but they can still be good football players at Michigan. Many of them are young and still have lots of time to improve over the next couple of years. There are glimpses of the future that are exciting (like Roh, whom most people on here thought would be redshirted this year), and I think they have a great defensive coach that will get the job done. It sucks to lose and it sucks to lose to a cocky douchebag like Dantonio, but Michigan is coming back and faster than most people have predicting. Robinson will get the job done!
This is my first diary, so keep the criticism at a minimum. I now have greater respect for those who frequently write these and write them well as it is harder than it looks, especially when you are trying to watch football at the same time. Seriously, how many big games has Stoops lost in the last five or six years? That's another topic...
October 3rd, 2009 at 11:43 PM ^
Bold statement there. :)
October 3rd, 2009 at 11:47 PM ^
We have walk on playing bro'. Nothing against them, but we need to recruit over the next few years to develop that D. Once that is done and the O has more shots on the field, 60ish points on O is the limit. Note: We also need to catch the ball to limit Tate's heroics for meaningful games.
October 4th, 2009 at 12:29 AM ^
That walk-on was pretty spectacular on that last drive yo.
I think there are bad calls made sometimes on the defensive side, like only rushing three on some of state's early third and longs, but then our secondary is terrible. I think we may have a lot of guys who are capable of playing hybrid positions, but arent good enough to run with the thoroughbreds.
I worry that Warren is gone next year, with no one on-deck to replace him. Its also pretty telling when one of the best defensive plays in the secondary was made by Craig Roh.
October 4th, 2009 at 8:59 AM ^
did put up some nice stats but, he couldn't cover State's TE to save his life. He was very good on the run blitz though.
I'm still surprised that we haven't seen JT yet. I know he was late getting started but, with the talent and physical capabilities he has I would think he would be an improvement in coverage over our other options. I know other things go into the D besides just coverage but....
Did Williams reinjure himself as he was listed as the starter over Kovacs?
October 3rd, 2009 at 11:57 PM ^
Bold statement indeed. It's sounds kind of funny too "in spite of losing almost the entire defensive line and most of the secondary"
Oh what defense wouldn't be better after that?
I know what you're saying kid, though. I think you're just echoing what all of us fans hope is going to happen. I have faith in GERG, I think he should get some time just like RichRod.
October 3rd, 2009 at 11:58 PM ^
It's too early to tell whether or not most of our players will be in the NFL. Graham and Warren will probably be high draft picks and they have the potential to be solid players at that level. It gets a lot harder to project whether or not our other defenders will be capable of playing at that level, especially with all of the sophomores and freshmen who see consistent playing time. For example, Cissoko and Floyd's performances this year are similar to Morgan Trent's performance at times in his sophomore year. Trent never turned out to be a very good college player, yet he was still drafted in the 6th round last year.
October 4th, 2009 at 12:09 AM ^
We're 4-1. If someone would have offered me that record plus an overtime loss as a line in August, I would have bet against us and been laughing all the way to the bank--and I'm as big a homer as Michigan has!
Unfortunately, we're going to lose Graham and Warren after this year. Warren has a lot of incentive to leave with the upcoming uncapped year.
October 4th, 2009 at 12:26 AM ^
PJ Hill of Wisconsin was first team All Big Ten at RB last year. He opted to leave early to enter the NFL draft....except no team took him.
I don't think Warren is playing lights out football this year, not even good enough to be named first team All Big Ten. If he leaves early, I doubt he goes higher than third or fourth round.
He'd be crazy not to try to stick around next year and improve his standing.
October 8th, 2009 at 8:06 PM ^
So who are the first team All Big Ten CBs this year? I have a hard time believing that there are two of them who are clearly better than Warren.
October 4th, 2009 at 1:50 AM ^
Through 5 games last year, Michigan had given up 136 points.
So far this year 111 points.
Michigan gave up 4403 yards total last season, or 366.9 per game.
This year, 392 yards per game, on pace for 4704 yards.
There doesn't seem to be much difference.
October 4th, 2009 at 6:07 AM ^
Last year, between all the turnovers and all the three and outs, the defense was under much more pressure than this year. Last year's defense was on the field longer and had to defend many more plays, often deep in Michigan territory due to fumbles. If this year's defense had to play with last year's offense, the defensive stats for this year would be much worse.
October 4th, 2009 at 7:40 AM ^
Sometimes stats lie, but in this case I think BlueinLansing's numbers speak an uncomfortable truth: this defense might be competitive in the MAC, but in the B10 it's middle of the pack at best. Just check out the rushing yards we allowed to Indiana last week at home versus what OSU allowed the Hoosiers in Bloomington. Unless the level of play improves dramatically, getting to 6-6 is going to be much tougher than a 4-0 start would indicate. All the happy talk around here of 8-4 or 9-3 is based on the assumption that Tate can rescue us repeatedly late in the game. Sometimes he can, but depending on that game in and game out, especially on the road, is a recipe for disappointment.
October 4th, 2009 at 7:24 AM ^
The defense has made key stops time and again this season. Today was a replay of last year in that the offense was inept for 55 minutes.
What I'm wondering is why the staff is so reluctant to blitz.
One point on the secondary: People keep saying it's horrible--but when you don't pressure quarterbacks--anyone who knows football will tell you that your secondary is at a huge disadvantage.
October 4th, 2009 at 7:53 AM ^
My brother works for MSU, and was at the game yesterday. He's not a Dantonio slappy, and is pretty critical of him on a routine basis, and is always pretty objective.
He said he was amazed at how Michigan never adjusted to the short sideline routes MSU was running all day. Our DBs continued to play 10+yds off the LOS on every snap, and never started cheating up to try to limit the short passing game. When you combine that passivity with a refusal to blitz, you're essentially telling the opposing offense, "go ahead, take the underneath, we're not going to contest it."
Robinson is the third DC in a row we've had who's asserted that we're going to have an aggressive defense, but so far it's just as consistently passive as it was under Herrmann. When I saw our DBs playing so far off the LOS during Sparty's first drive, I knew it was going to be a long day.
October 4th, 2009 at 12:47 PM ^
Try the fourth. Hermann, English, Shafer, and now GERG. Four DCs in six years. Tough to establish any kind of system or consistency.
I think its also been pointed out that we're playing a huge number of freshmen, sophomores and walk-ons. When you're worried that you don't have the quickness at DB, you play a few more yards off the ball. Its a risk you take, but if you don't, you're leaving corners on an island with big, fast WRs who are almost assured of getting the separation they need for a big play.