Fire Jay Hopson
Reflecting on this atrocious performance, one thing that really sticks out is how bad the linebackers are. They were consistently out of position and failed to make tackles time and time again. For every successful LB blitz, there was a big play that can easily be attributed to out-of-position linebackers or missed tackles by linebackers. Of the listed LBs, only Craig Roh seemed to play at a level that even approached acceptable, and he isn't even a true LB.
I know that it is generally a bad idea to post stuff like this in the aftermath of a loss. Even so, though I admit that I'm not the best observer of this stuff, I feel that if the LBs were remotely competent, we could have kept the game in reach at the very least (assuming that Tate didn't fumble away any additional opportunities, which is no gimmie).
EDIT: I didn't realize I put a question mark in the title. To be clear, I want him gone.
October 31st, 2009 at 7:05 PM ^
I think lots of people are behind you on this one.
October 31st, 2009 at 7:06 PM ^
I think we should focus on recruiting actual LBs before condemning Hopson. He doesn't have much to work with. None of the guys on the line were recruited as LBs. That's very telling of Lloyd's final few years.
October 31st, 2009 at 7:26 PM ^
People always change positions when they get to college and Obi/Jonas have had plenty of time with this guy. You're asking for a lot more patience than we afforded Schafer.
October 31st, 2009 at 7:37 PM ^
Making another mistake doens't help any body. Shafer was fired too soon, making another rash decision helps nobody.
October 31st, 2009 at 7:52 PM ^
but people don't ALWAYS change positions when they get to college. Linebacker recruiting has been tough for years. We're seeing the evidence now, unfortunately.
October 31st, 2009 at 7:07 PM ^
I'm undecided on this. Mouton improved a ton last year at OLB, then this year played awful. Ezeh has never been good. Demens and Fitz are true sophs. This team just has no MLBs. So, w/e. Let's offer PSU's LB coach 2M to come here.
October 31st, 2009 at 7:08 PM ^
Lets hope he finally recruits an actual LB sometime in the near future?
What about a safesties coach. Williams was a de facto LB today and caused us a fair bit of pain...
October 31st, 2009 at 7:13 PM ^
Currently, we have Mike Williams, who just isn't good, Jordan Kovacs, a walk-on, and freshman. We've recruited better safeties since RichRod came in, and once they mature some, I'm willing to bet that the safety play will improve dramatically.
October 31st, 2009 at 7:15 PM ^
WRT the PSU LB coach...
Did I hear wrong or didn't they mention during the game that he was previously the Ill LB coach? Interesting...
October 31st, 2009 at 7:09 PM ^
He seems to bring nothing to the table. I can't remember him ever being responsible for one recruit coming here and obviously the LB core is pitiful. Well, it was good while it lasted.
October 31st, 2009 at 7:25 PM ^
Hopson is now officially a disaster. The LBs have constantly over-pursued, cannot read defenses properly and lack discipline. Mouton has regressed considerably and the MLB spot is a mess and will not be solved by Leach, who tried his best but is just physically overmatched.
Then there's the issue of deep south recruiting. I thought Hopson would be able to bring some recruits, but he has failed to secure one good recruit from the deep south.
There's just no reason to keep him. As the defense continues to regress, changes must be made with the position coaches. Gibson better start recruiting because he should be in trouble as well.
October 31st, 2009 at 7:31 PM ^
of David Harris, Michigan's LB's have been a disaster for about 5 years now.
October 31st, 2009 at 7:26 PM ^
Which brings us to another point...when are we going to recruit actual LB's! I'm so tired of hearing about how we have this safety recruit...who's eventually going to end up at linebacker.
October 31st, 2009 at 7:31 PM ^
What about Cameron Gordon?
In all seriousness, we have recruited LBs over the past couple years, they just aren't good enough to displace the upperclassmen (and for what it's worth, I don't think that Hopson is going to make them much better either, hence this thread).
October 31st, 2009 at 7:34 PM ^
for developing top linebackers. PSU, OSU and others have a history of turning out great LBs. In the past we have turned out great QBs and some great linemen on both sides of the ball and of course WRs and at leat one great CB.
LBs that want to go to the pros go where they have the best chance to go pro.
October 31st, 2009 at 7:44 PM ^
Ian Gold, David Harris, Dhani Jones, all Pro bowlers in the last 10 years.
That is a pretty good number.
October 31st, 2009 at 7:47 PM ^
Ian Gold, Dhani Jones, Larry Foote, David Harris
October 31st, 2009 at 8:05 PM ^
victor hobson
October 31st, 2009 at 7:33 PM ^
"No sittin' at the table if you bringin' nothin to it" - that is all
October 31st, 2009 at 7:39 PM ^
i thought they did alright today, the linebackers that is. the player who constantly killed michigan was Williams (shocker). he never contained Juice on the reads, just ran after the RB, as if he could actually make a play HAHAHA. towards the end i saw the LB hesitating a lot but at the point the game was over. Dont care how bad our backups are at Safety, we must replace Williams
October 31st, 2009 at 7:46 PM ^
...for all those times we were gashed on runs up the middle. I don't. While he wasn't good, I'm not going to blame him for the LBs leaving a huge lane and then being beaten back while LeShore just ran past them.
October 31st, 2009 at 7:49 PM ^
unfortunately PSU and OSU and USC have stronger reps with HS players to be top LBs.
It may not be accurate, but the results on the field for these schools and others convince kids that they have a better chance to get to the pros thru these schools. Also, the coaching change may not give kids the trust to come here yet to be top LBs.
October 31st, 2009 at 8:06 PM ^
Yes, totally agree with the OP. Hopson's only job is coaching the ILB, and he has failed. Our ILBs are constantly out of position, can't make proper reads, take wrong angles, and can't shed blocks worth a shit. Hopson's other calling card was his so called recruiting abilities, but we've landed a grand total of ZERO recruits with him. I'm really struggling to find a reason why Hopson should be kept around. But I guess it doesn't matter, it looks like it is going to take a full recruiting cycle to rebuild this defense. We're years away from having a good defense.
October 31st, 2009 at 8:14 PM ^
Brandon Graham (Beyond-Excellent DE)
Donovan Warren (Excellent CB)
Troy Woolfolk (acceptable CB)
Mike Martin (solid DT)
Ryan Van Bergen (mistakes are outweighed by great plays)
Craig Roh (freshman mistakes are acceptable, given his obvious talent and the fact that this is a new position)
Note that there are three D-linemen (D-Line coach), two corners (secondary coach), the deathbacker (I believer he's coached directly by GERG), and no LBs (or safeties, but that's forgivable, considering that Woolfolk was fine as the FS, meaning that the secondary coach deserves some credit here, and that there just was a huge dearth of talent here coming into the season).
October 31st, 2009 at 9:39 PM ^
is not the problem.
November 1st, 2009 at 2:09 PM ^
Hi, Obes.
November 1st, 2009 at 3:02 PM ^
LB blow they can't
November 1st, 2009 at 3:02 PM ^
It was interesting to get the perspective on a non-fan on our defense the other day. I went to the game with my dad. He is not a Michigan fan. He is not an Illini fan, just an avid college football fan... His two consistent comments throughout the game were:
1) M's linebackers seemed to be out of position a lot and over-pursuing... and
2) Why do you have a white guy playing safety? M's safety play was bad...
I'm not football-smart enough to fully understand how players develop and to know if this is just a lack of talent or poor coaching (probably somewhere in the middle), but it sucks right now... There's nothing we can do about it at this point except hope that the next time we have four chances to punch it in from a yard, we do it...
November 1st, 2009 at 3:03 PM ^
plays that our
November 1st, 2009 at 3:17 PM ^
it's been 2 years with Hopson, and LB play has gotten much worse. yeah, we did stupid schematic things under Szabo/English like cover 170-lb slot receivers with 240-lb linebackers. but when not faced with match-up nightmares, our LBs made plays.
right now i'm seeing LBs either take themselves out of position (largely incorrect reads, not scheme) or completely whiff on tackles. and even Szabo the "poor recruiter" brought in better talent than Hopson.
November 1st, 2009 at 3:24 PM ^
Position coaches aren't responsible for recruiting their position. Each assistant coach is given a geographical area, which is why QB coach Rod Smith is responsible for recruiting a billion kids from Florida.
November 1st, 2009 at 3:28 PM ^
Smith does a lot of the heavy lifting in Florida, but he also worked hard to get Forcier and Gardner.
November 1st, 2009 at 3:35 PM ^
You can blame Hopson for a lot of things, but not the amount of talent being recruited at linebacker.
November 1st, 2009 at 3:47 PM ^
even if the recruits reside outside the coach's recruiting area. as a coach you own your position, and you cannot just hope that someone else on the staff lands you quality players from their region. no one commits to a school without a strong relationship with his position coach.
November 2nd, 2009 at 8:12 AM ^
I don't think anyone (or at least most people) are blaming him for the lack of LB recruits since he has been here. It seems to me people are saying he hasn't brought in anyone from the deep south at any position.
Couple that with the fact that the LB's we do have are showing zero signs of improvement this year and there are very few reasons to keep Hopson on.
His two main responsibilities on this staff are developing the talent at ILB and recruiting the deep south, both which appear to be incredible failures at this point. That's just my e-pinion though.