Michigan Defense-under the radar?

I think we're all unsure about what its going to be like. GERG seems to have built this new scheme that has new terminology and sounds like its going to be a lot different than we're used to. Its hard to predict something if you have no idea what its going to look like. (at least I don't think I know what its going to look like). Also there are a lot of question marks. We've got depth issues up front and without Mouton and Ezeh making a huge leap forward our LBs are probably going to be pretty bad again. The secondary scares me...I could be wrong but I've never had that "wow" moment with Donovan Warren yet and he's really all we're banking on for quality. the rest is a crap shoot.

back seven. In the OSU game, Barringer went down early with a knee injury and Burgess was banged up and didn't play a lot. So, get ready for this...we had Ryan Mundy AND Johnny Sears AND Chris Graham on the field at the same time a lot. Three guys that played mostly garbage time in the first 11 games. OSU took advantage of all three repeatedly. The Anthony Gonzalez touchdown drive to finish the first half was particularly painful to watch. Anyway, on this year, maybe we don't know what to expect. I can tell you that I expect the defense to appear to be much improved only because the special teams and offense will be improved, scoring more and fumbling much less. The defense will be in better game/field position situations consistently. Is the 3rd and long problem from last year fixed? No one will know until sometime in mid- to late-september, and I'm sure no one wants to talk about it anyway. Those were daggers last season.

People who are regular readers of this Board, as well as other Michigan blogs, are fully aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the 2009 defense. There is a fair amount of returning talent, some very promising youngsters, and 3 of the 4 main position groups are one major injury away from serious issues. As for your second paragraph, yes, a new coordinator again. This is the most impressive of the 3 and is focused upon tackling, something Michigan defenders haven't done effectively since early November 2006. As for the last sentence, huh? I'm not sure I get your point about The Game in 2006. Ron English and Ronnie Lee couldn't make any pre-halftime adjustments to stop Ohio State. That's not exactly the fault of the "finger pointing" defense. They did pretty darn well in the second half, holding tOSU to 14 points. It would have been better but for Mr. Crable.

It's not like the defense has really given us much to cheer about the last couple of years. Also, I think the proliferation of the spread has made college football even more offense-minded that it already was. In addition, RR was hired for his offense, not his defense, and most UM fans seem to be anticipating offensive improvement and the grand entrance of Tate Forcier. In a way, though, defense usually has a tendency to be "under the radar" compared to offense. I know I'm looking forward to what happens on the offensive side of the ball a lot more than the defensive side this year. Hopefully, though, both sides improve. The defense will be "improved" if the offense keeps the ball longer and special teams don't turn the ball over as much, and that's before any actual improvement in their performance.

that the offense will be very good, but not as great as we would like. The defense will not be as bad, not not as good as we'd want either. there. settled

It's mostly about staying healthy, but also about actually performing. Donovan Warren and Boubacar Cissoko (assuming he's in there...) can be stars; they were elite-level recruits coming out of high school. But the corner play was hampered last year because there was no confidence in the safety play. Will it be better this year? Maybe. It's hard to imagine it being worse than it was last year, but at the same time, we're going to have two new guys back there again. If Emilien wins the battle with Mike Williams, will he be able to step in from day one and provide the consistency needed? Troy Woolfolk is at a new position and will be seeing his first significant playing time. Can he step in and deliver? The linebackers...well, we'll see. Despite being a fan favorite and leading the team in tackles, etc...Obi Ezeh hasn't been all that yet. To be a truly great linebacker, you have to be mentally fast, and Ezeh has been a step slow in figuring things out in his first two years at MIKE. Can he make the progression that would be expected from a sophomore-turned-junior? Mouton was, IMO, our best linebacker by the end of 2008, and assuming he's fully healed and catches on in G-Rob's scheme during fall camp, he should continue to improve. I think Mouton could be our second best player on defense, honestly. Then there's the D-line. It's interesting, for the past ~10 years, while the secondary degenerated into a blithering mess of insanity and Yards After Mundy and Steve Brown, and while the linebacking corps went from pretty damn good with Jones, Sword, Gold and Foote to please save us David Harris to godDAMNit we can't recruit the star LBs, the defensive line has been the one consistent. When we were going with the stupid 3-man fronts (or dropping a DT into a zone, which is even stupider), the DL was still pretty solid last year, considering all the other circumstances. So what about this year? Brandon Graham is Brandon Graham, but who's going to keep the opposing offense honest? Who's going to step up to keep Graham away from double teams? Can Mike Martin avoid the sophomore slump while simultaneously handling the burden of being the #1 DT (as opposed to being the #3 last year)? Can RVB provide an extra burst off the edge? There's no questioning the talent of some of the front line guys on defense. Graham, Martin, Mouton, Warren and Cissoko can all be STARS. Van Bergen, Ezeh, and the safeties can be very solid players. Guys like Turner and Emilien and backups like Fitzgerald and Brandon Smith and Campbell are (obviously) very young and ooze with potential. But the depth is scary because it's so thin, and honestly, does anyone expect everybody to stay healthy through 12 games? We are in TROUBLE if Warren or Cissoko misses time. We are in TROUBLE if Woolfolk is injured. If Graham goes down, who's going to rush the passer? If Steve Brown is hurt, we're starting a freshman at spinner. If the front line guys shine like Robinson's defense calls for them to do, this can be a good defense. Good enough for 8, maybe even 9 wins. But if the depth gets tested, we're in for a long season. I've said it once or twice before, but I feel the need to emphasize it again: the Greg Robinson hire is probably the most important thing Rich Rodriguez will do as Michigan's head coach. I (and probably everyone else) have no doubts about the offense. RR and Magee have a track record on offense. That track record shows that the beginning will be rocky (2008), but the ninja-like spread 'n' shred will come, and opposing defenses will be humbled. But for Michigan to truly achieve greatness, for us to catch up to Ohio State and join the nation's elite, the Greg Robinson hire MUST be a homerun. RR's assistants must respect the man, the players must buy into what Robinson teaches, it must show on the field, and continuity is required. If an NFL team comes calling after a year or two offering Robinson a coordinator job, that's no good. Robinson must be here 4-5 years minimum, and he has to deliver/not be sabotaged, or this isn't going to work.

Not sure if they're under the radar. I don't think to many people are expecting this to be a dominating defense - a number of players would have to really step it up and the injury bug will need to stay away. I'm hoping that with an improved offense (less three and outs, better job of winning the field position battle, fewer turnovers - special teams is included here) we'll see a better defense statistically. Honestly, I'd like to see the defense be a fundamentally solid unit. The UM defense lately, not just last year, seems to give up to many big plays, and does a poor job of tackling and pursuing the ball. If the defense can improve in those areas, it would go along way to helping make the defense solid. I was hoping with RR and a new staff we'd see some improvement in those areas last year, but that didn't seem to be the case.

1- Minimal injuries to the starters, as we won't have any depth developed until next season. Hopefully this is in the 6-9 player games lost for the season. 2- Better tackling, period. Hasn't really happened since 2006. But its an obvious focus of GRob and the "Shin angle" references by the players. 3- Field awareness and knowing where you need to be in each D alignment so you can react based on repetition vs thinking out there and being lost in space. The number one killer for us last season. And i believe this is where GRob is going to help improve the D this year big time. It will be fun to watch and likely a bit painful at times earlier in the season. Hopefully we have less sudden change situations (ie TO's) by the O this year and the D will have time to grow with repetition and game speed exposure. The Pete Carroll write up was great and his KISS methodology is ideal with the 4-3 Under, as he understands you don't put your players in situations where they cannot succeed (ie. don't play bump and run cover if your DB's are not as fast as the opposing WR's), as it results in big play opptys. Our number one weakness last year.

Minor overarching quibble - I always have a little trouble with the point that michigan is experiencing 3 DCs in as many years (regardless of how aesthetically pleasing as it is to say) - for two reasons. First, only the players who played under English are experiencing this. Many are experiencing their 2nd DC in as many years, many will experience their 1st in as many years. Plus, I am not sure how much control Schafer had, but many 2nd year defensive players are experiencing no change in their position coach, so there is some stability there. Thus, I am sure that most of our starters are experiencing their 3rd DC in as many years, there is a sizable group that are not. Second, another way to look at it is that 3rd year players have experienced nothing but change in defensive schemes, and therefore should be more adaptable, more ready to pick up Robinson's scheme than if they were transitioning from a long-standing DC. Thus while stability is undoubtedly better than continual change (but only to a certain extent), I would rather have defensive players on the field this year who are used to change than players who trying to adapt to the first year of change from an inveterate defense program that had become routine. Just another way to think about the catchy "3rd DC in as many years" line.

I'm going to get negged to hell for it, but I am absolutely not sold on the defense. There are just too many question marks. I know plenty of people are excited about GERG, but let's be honest -- when is the last time he has done anything relevant, let alone in the college game? Yes, he was an excellent DC in the NFL, but what about in the NCAA? Was he really that great at Texas? There was no really significant statistical difference between his one year at UT versus before and after he arrived. At Syracuse he was awful. I want to be optimistic, but I don't think GERG's track record allows me to be optimistic. Honestly. On the plus side, I do think our secondary will be better -- I do have a lot of faith with Cissoko moving up into the starting role, assuming there is enough faith in the safeties to allow the corners to play more press coverage (since this has always been highlighted as one of Cissoko's strengths). I liked what I saw from Emelien. Will Stevie brown be alright in the spinner role? I don't know, and I can't guess. It could be good that he'll have less time to react, but I think it's too soon to say. How will Woolfolk play at safety? There are a TON of question marks. If there's anything I'm confident will keep the team afloat, it will be the offense, assuming Tate stays healthy.