Kenny Demens Performance
I will defer to Brian when it comes to maticulously combing over the performance of Demens in the Iowa game. However, I will say from my standpoint as a Michigan fan and general college football fan, I was pleased with him. Sure there are some fixable mistakes which stem from his youth. In all, though, I saw him as being very athletic and much more aggressive and decisive in his play. As opposed to Ezeh, who generally waits for the play to get to him, Demens seemed to attack more. In reading the last 3 years of UFR's about Ezeh's poor play, that seems to be a common missing component from his game. Ezeh just doesn't play downhill enough. Just about every coach I've ever had has always echoed the same sentiments when it came to playing style and mistakes. I agree with them. I would rather see a player make a mistake while playing hard and aggressive instead of being overly conservative and basically just taking up space. Ezeh let's himself get caught up in the wash of blockers and takes poor pursuit angles far too often. Not something you expect to see from a multi year starter and upperclassman. Demens, in my eyes, tried to fill and shoot gaps when he could. His athleticism let him pursue well and the most important thing is that he tackled when he got his hands on defenders. I don't know how he'll grade out in the UFR, but I am hoping his playing time continues to increase. Bottom line, I would rather see someone aggressively participating in the effort to win rather than someone who basically just takes up space and plays indecisively.
Interested to hear other's thoughts on this.
October 17th, 2010 at 5:16 PM ^
you're not the first to say this. Might want to check previous posts. But i think he played well. Not sure whether that 1st TD was his fault or not. Something to build on.
October 17th, 2010 at 5:20 PM ^
Sorry if this exact content was already posted, I am killing some time here at work and didn't have time to comb over all the posts since the game. On that first TD though, it looked like he just got fooled a bit. He came up to fill a gap and got caught in the wash and was unable to free himself in time to effectively pursue. You're right though, there is a base there from which to build.
October 17th, 2010 at 5:29 PM ^
Great thread. By the way, would you happen to have an opinion on the defensive schemes or point limits to start threads ?
October 17th, 2010 at 5:36 PM ^
Sorry if I violated your little free forum in which to post and discuss topics related to Michigan football. I have more things to do than to comb through all the point limit posts and gripe posts that really have nothing to do with Michigan football. I had something I wanted to say about a M player's performance as it relates to another's and was hoping to start a constructive conversation in an effort to see something positive from the last game. This board is riddled with those who go all Hitler on anyone who posts something they don't see as worthy of their precious time and it only gets worse after a loss. I'm just trying to see and discuss a positive coming out of the weekend.
October 17th, 2010 at 6:04 PM ^
Thought your post was fine, keep posting...intelligent, well thought out...hell, if there were no repeats, you'd have maybe 5 o 6 topics...even repeats can be looked at from different angles. Sure, some dead horses get beat, but it's a board, everything else is sufficiently restricted from the "commoners." Let us have our cake!!
October 17th, 2010 at 6:06 PM ^
Sorry, that was a little sarcastic and I apologize but the point is that just 8 threads down there is a post about Demens and the page before that there is one and there are many prior to that. I have no control over this "little free forum" and would not want that responsibility. You do make good points but it just seems redundant to start a new thread every time someone has an idea about a topic that has been posted many times before. I never said your opinions were not worthy so I am not sure where you are getting that from and to say "go all Hitler " is kind of childish. I read just about every post on here and honestly dont mind double posts for the most part becasue they are often timing mistakes or topic title issues but the repetitiveness of some of the coversations or topics lately that clearly are already on here seems to be getting to be a little too much. Thanks for your thoughts by the way. I did agree with you for the most part.
October 17th, 2010 at 6:11 PM ^
My bad, I'm in the same boat with you. An overreaction on my part. Everyone's a little on edge lately with the trajectory the season is currently on. I read some of those posts, but none of them discussed anything in the same vein as what I was talking about. Also, after about 10 replies, someone has to either drag down the conversation with comments about point limits and double posts and thus stopping any intelligent conversation about the topic of football. I do apologize sir.
October 17th, 2010 at 11:08 PM ^
Hooray for the restoration of MgoRelationships!
!
October 18th, 2010 at 8:21 AM ^
you're beginning to sound remorseful...
October 17th, 2010 at 6:37 PM ^
relax. And yes...watch out for the "Regulators". Sometimes people get annoyed with others in the cyberworld not following their direct orders and guidelines....so be it. Kenny Demens is going to be a much need improvement to our defense with his attacking aggressive style, I liked it. We have the potential to be a fierce, fast group, only time will tell.
October 18th, 2010 at 8:29 AM ^
You can't be any geek off the street, gotta be handy with the steel if you know what I mean, earn your keep!
The 'Vigilantes', on the other hand, dems the ones you gotta look out for; blinded by cynical beliefs, they're ready to push someone off the board for percieved offenses or stupidity. Sometimes it's a fine line between right and wrong...
October 17th, 2010 at 5:31 PM ^
He might have graded out better than Ezeh but he was not good. I think several of those long runs he was supposed to be in the hole.
The 1st td I don't think was his fault. We were in zone and Avery ran with the slant and got pulled out of his zone....the oft repeated freshmen mistake.
October 17th, 2010 at 5:41 PM ^
Maybe I wasn't looking at it right, but on some of those longer runs, wasn't he just in the wrong gap? I'm just glad he chose a hole to fill rather than go all deer in the headlights like Ezeh can tend to do.
October 17th, 2010 at 6:00 PM ^
He at least did something which was better than nothing, but it didn't really help all that much.
October 17th, 2010 at 5:57 PM ^
He seemed to do pretty well but I am waiting for the UFR as we could all be suffering from "anything but Obi" syndrome.
October 17th, 2010 at 6:01 PM ^
I am going to deny that 'til the end, but you may be right. I hadn't thought of it like that.
Anything But Obi....it almost sounds like a t-shirt idea.
October 17th, 2010 at 6:01 PM ^
Impressed me to the fact he played down hill and attacked gaps. Wondering why it took Gerg and Rich this long to make the change at mike?
October 17th, 2010 at 6:28 PM ^
October 17th, 2010 at 6:24 PM ^
about Demens can be learned from watching what happend when Ezeh made an appearance in the first quarter, and what didn't happen when Demens came back in.
he's not an all-american, but for the first time yesterday it looked like Michigan was playing with all 11 defenders.
October 17th, 2010 at 6:40 PM ^
Exactly my thoughts too. It felt weird, different. I actually was semi encouraged with the defense after the game. I am in no way saying they turned the corner to being a good defense. If the offense can eliminate the mistakes and finish the drives with points, we don't need a good defense.(It would be nice) We only need a serviceable one to get a few stops.
I am starting to feel a little better about the defense going forward.
October 17th, 2010 at 8:22 PM ^
I still think we might be missing a few in the secondary. Maybe we're up from 7 to 8 or 8 to 9.
October 17th, 2010 at 7:00 PM ^
They gave up 383 yards (instead of 500+) and Iowa had great field position all day (anybody out there who plays soccer or has a strong leg please try kicking a football our team needs you)
October 17th, 2010 at 7:02 PM ^
did enough to win. Yesterday was the first time the offense, and to a lesser extent special teams, let them down.
October 17th, 2010 at 7:18 PM ^
October 17th, 2010 at 7:30 PM ^
I think his performance would have been even better had Martin played the second half. I applaud the coaching staff for showing loyalty but not if it comes at the expense of the team. They must have seen things in practice that made them keep Obi in the starting lineup. It has been suggested elsewhere that perhaps Demens isn't that good of a practice player. I doubt if anyone really cares if he can simply do an adequate job during games.
October 17th, 2010 at 7:44 PM ^
They tried to replace Obi and Mouton last year but the results weren't much better. I don't think they had an abundance of loyalty to Ezeh, I just think Demens wasn't quite ready until now (which makes sense since he is just a sophomore).
October 17th, 2010 at 8:32 PM ^
Demens did well, but I think he was victimized by the one pass--word was he was poor in pass coverage and that may be true--however, to me,watching him fairly closely at the stadium Saturday, his strength against the run (compared to Ezeh) is far preferable
October 17th, 2010 at 8:52 PM ^
Can't wait to see Kellen Jones out there, too. We definitely need some help at the linebacker position
October 17th, 2010 at 9:40 PM ^
I expect Demens to grade out at -2ish, which would be a sizeable improvement. He had a lot of action, likely related to Martin's absence, and either made plays or blew plays, kind of like Mouton (high risk high reward). I think we'll take that (and it'll only improve with experience and Martin back) over Ezeh's "hang out and get blocked" hesitation any day.Without watching the replay my drunk eyes would guestimate something like +6, -8 = -2. Overall I was pleased.
October 17th, 2010 at 10:09 PM ^
Better than Ezeh, but not a world beater. There should be no more Obi and let Demens learn along with all the other kids in the secondary. What happened to the bouncing ball of Jonas Mouton. He reverted back to the U Mass Mouton, overrunning everything and giving cutback lanes everywhere. He was soooo disappointing against Iowa.
October 17th, 2010 at 10:07 PM ^
I cannot believe hoiw big this kid is. His arms are massive and typically when he hits a player they stop in their tracks (see most goal line stops that he has made. I am excited to see Demens develop and hopefully become a productive player on our defense for years to come.
October 17th, 2010 at 10:17 PM ^
Demens delivered the best hit of the entire spring game in my opinion. It was one of those attack the LOS and rb type hits we haven't seen much. That was a good first impression for me, and he did nothing to ruin that against Iowa.
October 18th, 2010 at 10:55 AM ^
and that's an improvement. Obi tends to make a lot of average to above average plays, with some terrible mixed in. There are very few instances of Obi making a big play or stopping someone for a loss or 1-2 yards.
Demens, OTOH made a number of very solid plays. He stopped people at the line and was pretty aggressive. People generally didn't run him over. But, his aggressiveness got him out of position a few times...just like Mouton.
While it's pretty dangerous to have 2 LBs with high variance out there in Mouton and Demens, at least we have a shot at making some big plays on D. Ezeh is Mouton without the upside. Demens is Mouton. That's a net plus in my book.