Feed the Beast...(No, this is not a Charlie Weiss Post)...Recruiting Defense

Excellant post bilg. We need more guys on D.

GERG should be an excellent recruiter. Thirty years of experience, NFL, other big time college programs, etc. In addition, you would think that some of these undecided blue chippers would now be more attracted to M than ever. The team is clearly on the rise and there is an opportunity to play right away or at least early.
That being said, I have heard that the position coach is more important in recruiting than the coordinator, but I am not a recruiting guru. If so, and there is a public outcry to dump Hopson, it could be a problem for LB recruits. The gurus on this board may want to comment on this.

After a loss to ASU (to a John Cooper-coached team, no less) in 1987, Bo started moving some of his fastest players onto the defense.

I remember, in particular, Tripp Welborne, who was a freshman in the 1987 season. He was fast and had good hands. Bo moved him from WR to safety the following year. Tripp became one of the most dominating players on either side of the ball, and was a consensus All-American in 1989 and 1990.

The point is that, sometimes, moving a good skill position player (such a WR for speed and size) to a corner or safety position can be a difference maker. If we can't get the "natural" D recruits we need, maybe we "promote from within".

Given that we could give the max 28 scholarships without batting an eye, I am wondering if RR doesn't go for numbers as the class ends. He's slow playing it now to see what studs bite (Christian, Olayian, Mathis, etc.) and when we get them in the fold, he goes and gobbles up the best of the three stars left stealing from MAC teams and similar schools. Maybe add four or five low three stars for depth and hope to catch David Harris in a bottle once or twice.

draft picks (recruits) this year and next, that is my epinion. They are working hard at coaching them(current starters) up as best as possible. The Staff is working with inferior and/or inexperienced talent. I am loving the effort from these kids, we will get it. I am saving my kool-aid for later.

There's a quick compounding effect on defense. If a defense has gaping holes, it makes every player on the unit look bad (phenoms like Graham and Warren being the rare exceptions, but even they would look a ton better with a more solid unit). Offense is different because one good QB can relatively salvage the unit. Take last year as an example: Terrance Taylor, Tim Jamison, Will Johnson all saw their draft stock fall off a cliff as a result of the overall unit's poor performance (you can say what you will about their true NFL staying power, but they would have been drafted higher if our secondary play wasn't so bad last year). Stud defensvie recruits know this; they're smart; there's so much at stake with potential NFL millions down the road that they do their homework. When they see a defense play solid every year (e.g., Penn State, Florida, USC, Ohio State, Michigan pre-2007) they realize that's a safe place to ply their wares for three or four years. When a defense is porous, why would they take the risk of making themselves look worse? Every game we get gouged it has a negative compounding effect on our future defense. We need to make defensive recruiting a major priority now, and we need to be disturbed every game we get blatantly pushed around and run around on defense. Perception matters.

This team is still extraordinarily young and is still operating at a scholarship deficit after all the defections (fewer scholarship players on the team than there are scholarships to hand out). Next year's D only loses two scholarship players (assuming Warren stays). Losing two starters is nice, but losing only two players is unreal. Next year's D will have 8-10 extra bodies on it. This can't help but make the team better.

Also, I think you have to give some credit to the kids and coaching staff for holding a quality offense to 20 points in regulation, despite being on the field all day. Hell of a performance that gave us a chance to win. Just caught a bad break in the OT.

Last year there were too many blown tackles by the defense.

Capers winning run in overtime was notable for two blown tackles on the way. Was it just the rain?

was OSU in 2003, but I disagree. His final game was a win against a top 10 Florida team.

What we need is some big time, NFL quality linebackers. We have none in the pipe, so we need them this year, which is not going to happen. We also need to ask whether Hopson is a good enough teacher to really improve out ILBs.

What we need is some big time, NFL quality linebackers. We have none in the pipe, so we need them this year, which is not going to happen. We also need to ask whether Hopson is a good enough teacher to really improve out ILBs.

tackle properly and take the correct angles and play with discipline over guys who run fast to lunge and grab at players while taking poor angles. Bad habits have returned.

Michigan has been a fundamentally poor team on defense for a number of years now. (Save for a good starting 11 in 2006 who played no good offenses until Ohio State)

Joshua Shaw, cullen christian, rashad knight, dior mathis, tony grimes, and all other corner backs lol

If my memory serves me right, didn't we have two D-line four star decommits last February, guys who had made their commitment and changed their minds on signing day.

Recruiting helps, but so does coaching stability If recruiting were the sole reason a team is good, Iowa would not be ranked and Michigan would be top ten almost every year. Ditto for PSU, but they tend to do better in their recruiting, at least recently, than Iowa. Admittedly, you need the talent, but without consistent coaching it is impossible to succeed. Even before LC left, our D was often in the crosshairs, with the obvious exception of 2006.

Go Blue!

Defense is the hallmark of all real great teams. We also need more speed. The sight of Cousins breaking contain and running rampant on us was horrific.

Looking at the recruiting board, it seems Michigan is close to securing key commitments on defense from high star guys. That's a good sign, and teaching them fundamentals is even better. Defense, unlike offense, is reactive. You don't control the pace of the game. Therefore, having better players is oftentimes the pivotal key for a successful defense. Whereas you can account for athletic differences on offense, sometimes that just cannot happen on defense. No coordinator is going to correctly predict the offense each time, so you need guys who can compensate for a poor call. Only speed, athleticism and agility can do that.

Right now, there is unquestionably a need for speed on defense except maybe on the D-Line, which could use some depth but is not as pressing of a concern as the LB or secondary. The MLB position must be faster. The WLB position has to be stronger fundamentally. There is a huge hole at corner and probably at safety as well.

The problem is that under the old regime, players were recruited out of position because the idea was to stop smashmouth teams. Now, however, with so many teams running the spread, the former safety is now a LB and a former corner is now a safety. These position shifts have really hurt the defense because a new position is like turning the player into a true freshman all over again. With more time in new positions and recruits hopefully on the way, the defense can improve. But I cannot imagine a truly good defense until 2011 at the earliest.