Size up front and Will Campbell?
Watching the M Dline getting pushed around by ND along with a modest pass rush and Rich's comment about "eating peanuts off our heads", was anyone surprised there was not a Will sighting? Anyone else concerned about future games with teams like Wisconsin? I'm guessing they may bring Will along but it looked like we were having problems with their size.
September 15th, 2009 at 9:54 AM ^
I don't think he will help yet. (I almost said Will will) The coaches have made it pretty clear that he has a long way to go with his technique and skill. He is a big boy, but so are the boys on the Wisconsin O-line. If he doesn't know what he is doing with his size, they will abuse him worse than someone who is smaller but has more control and better technique.
September 15th, 2009 at 10:01 AM ^
Yeah, I'm surprised that Will hasn't made an impact yet, ala Mike Martin from last year. Hopefully he can get on the field a little more in the next 2 games.
September 15th, 2009 at 2:44 PM ^
the biggest difference between the two of them. Plus its been referenced in a few articles that Will needs to work on technique and may have gotten by in HS by just overpowering people.
September 15th, 2009 at 10:10 AM ^
Will Campbell wasn't an all-state wrestler like The Hulk. I am sure that wouldn't hurt his ability to use his size and strength.
September 15th, 2009 at 10:19 AM ^
Namely two WRs who put the fear of God into opposing D coordinators. Would you play 8 in the box and leave your CBs in single coverage with no protection over the top? Throw in Rudolph at TE and that occupies one of the safeties. Wisconsin doesn't present this problem as the D should be able to load the box. My concern is the lack of ability to stop the screen pass.
September 15th, 2009 at 10:21 AM ^
Exact point I was going to make.
September 15th, 2009 at 10:24 AM ^
Granted they got killed by it in the first half, but GERG made the adjustments at halftime vs. ND and anytime after they tried to run it, it got stuffed or aborted all together.
September 15th, 2009 at 10:34 AM ^
I kind of feel like we made some progress there in the second half of the ND game, no?
September 15th, 2009 at 11:40 AM ^
but it still doesn't account for our d-line's lack of pressure and basically being abused all game by nd's o-line. mike martin, our hulk hero, was pretty much absent all game and he's our biggest, strongest stud on d-line. i am concerned that we will have to blitz more to get pressure on teams with strong o-lines and it will make us vulnerable to the long ball. cissoko got toasted all game and can not handle man coverage (which makes me question whether or not we should go after dior mathis with similar body-frame as cissoko). i concede that nd's o-line is stout, but it worried me to see that we couldn't get any pressure on clausen without blitzing.
September 15th, 2009 at 12:48 PM ^
not sure it's fair to say "cissoko can't handle man coverage". it's clear he's not ready for man coverage against nfl-caliber wideouts, but i'm not willing to write-off his skills based on trying to cover two guys who are a nightmare for anyone to cover.
September 15th, 2009 at 10:20 AM ^
Saturday, in the 4th quarter, I'm willing to speculate.
September 15th, 2009 at 10:23 AM ^
It's not unusual for guys who are enormous and strong as Campbell to require a transition period when they get to college.
They tend to play upright (which will get you deposited on your backside in college), rely on their arms instead of their legs, and have no idea what to do when everyone else is just as strong as they are.
September 15th, 2009 at 10:27 AM ^
Just because you are big doesn't mean you can help stop the run. There is a lot of technique involved in staying low and maintaining leverage. Ther reason Martin was successful was 1) he was a physical freak and 2) He was a state champion wrestler, which helps you in learning balance and leverage. Will Campbell is not the answer this year. He sounds like a great kid who may be dominant in the future years, but Barwis has put his body thru a lot and he has horrendous technical problems that must be ironed out. Size is overrated. Please go to youtube and watch West Virginia against Oklahoma where Oklahomas big boys got humiliated or Florida vs OSU where OSU's fat boys got shredded. A lot more goes into stopping the run than idiot Millen saying Irish line is pretty big 87 times. We'll be fine.
September 15th, 2009 at 10:30 AM ^
The biggest problem with stopping the run was Clausen, Floyd, Tate, Rudolph. We had to overly concerned with the pass so their run was more effective. It wasn't that they were big. If we choose to go big it will be Sagueese not Campbell.
September 15th, 2009 at 10:33 AM ^
Guys as large as he often take a fair amount of time to learn technique, etc. Mike Martin was an extreme case of having both a college body and excellent technique while still in h.s. Wrestling helped. He was college-ready but may have a lower ceiling than Will.
However, this uninformed observer would be surprised if, given his recruiting hype and that it looks like he'll burn his redshirt, Will doesn't rotate in for a some meaningful snaps, at least situationally, by the time we get to the Penn State game. By that time, he should have a) seen enough snaps in garbage time against lesser opponents, b) experienced at least a few snaps against power O-Lines (MSU, Iowa) and, most importantly, c) had enough practice time, to contribute. Though, I imagine a lot will depend on how well the coaches feel Banks and Sagesse are performing, a subject upon which I have no opinion as of now.
September 15th, 2009 at 11:46 AM ^
Got in for at least one series against Western, in the 4th quarter. Made a nice run stuffing tackle (see defensive stats in the box score). So technically (i.e., barring injury), the redshirt has already been burned.
I agree/hope that he'll get more PT when future games are no longer in doubt.
September 15th, 2009 at 10:44 AM ^
exactly. The fact that we were dealing with four likely first round draft picks in the passing game was our biggest issue trying to stop the run. Especially with ND's propensity to go with max protect. We will not see a passing game with that much talent the rest of the year.
September 15th, 2009 at 10:59 AM ^
I'm not as concerned about Wisconsin after watching the ND game because all Wisco really does on offense is run it up the gut, off tackle, and throw play action passes. Notre Dame did a lot of that as well, but they have far superior receivers and QB that Wisconsin does. If we can beat ND with the talent they have on offense, then we should matchup well with Wisconsin.
Will we have to stack the box? Yes, obviously. Will we have to leave our corners on islands a lot? Yes, but we did that against ND too and ND's receivers are far superior like I said compared to Wisconsin.
For the Wisconsin game and State for that matter, I'm sure we will see a lot different defensive sets that we did against Western and even ND for that matter. Herron will play a lot more, I'm sure Big Will will be used to stop the run, etc.
I'm confident in the defensive coaching staff this year, more so than I have been in a number of years. Yes, we got torched a few times last game against ND, but the game plan and defensive fundamentals looked pretty good and better than I can remember ever seeing with Shafer and English (minus 2006).
September 15th, 2009 at 11:01 AM ^
if brett bielima (don't care if I spelt that right) is still coaching wisconsin not really worried, guy is a dumb ox
11-1 9-4 7-6 he just gets worse lol
September 15th, 2009 at 11:27 AM ^
but don't underestimate the challenge of playing on the road in a very hostile stadium. Wisky will not be a gimme, especially if it's a night game.
September 15th, 2009 at 12:08 PM ^
It cannot be a night game.
h/t Big Ten Rules.
September 15th, 2009 at 12:02 PM ^
How much weight did the guy lose?! 30-40lbs?
Kinda hard to plug holes lookin all slim...lol...Hay Barwis, hook ole boy up with a Whopper or Somethin.
September 15th, 2009 at 12:16 PM ^
Michigans Defense tried to ensure that they did not give up the home run balls to the wide outs, that as expressed above are very talented. ND has shown a propensity to thrown the long ball. I think GERG scheme was to keep the wideouts limited, knowing that we would give up some yardage but hopefully not give up the home run. It was fairly effective. He also showed his ability to alter schemes at half-time. ND also goes with a lot of max protect schemes so it was very difficult to get pressure. I think we will see more pressure on teams that don't have the NFL class wide outs that we had to compensate for.
September 15th, 2009 at 12:31 PM ^
We were having problems with Notre Dame's size. You are correct. However, I don't expect that to be a major hindrance going forward. We match up well with most of the rest of the offenses we'll play.
Campbell isn't ready. This is evidenced by the fact that he's behind Renaldo Sagesse on the depth chart. I'll take a technically sound 294-pounder over a raw 315-pounder any day of the week.
September 15th, 2009 at 12:41 PM ^
losing Pearlie Graves and DeQuintia Jones really hurts Michigan. They can provide depth and can be part of the rotation at DT position. It would at least ensure that Big Will can redshirt so he can learn how to play with correct techniques and leverages.
September 15th, 2009 at 2:41 PM ^
Do you honestly think Michigan would play less talented true freshman on the defensive line in order to preserve a redshirt for a more talented player? That's ridiculous, especially when we're talking about size - both Graves and Jones were small-ish defensive tackles, and Jones had some chub on him. They wouldn't have been ready, either.