Woolfolk To Safety

Submitted by Mr. Yost on
An interesting comment from Coach Hoke's presser. Woolfolk was already going to move to safety even if Kovacs was healthy. He likes his speed at the position, needs him to be more physical. How do you guys like this move? Does this mean we should be excited about the CB depth (not just Countess, you don't move a guy because of 1 player). Also, when Kovacs comes back...who do you feel gets the starting nod at FS? Woolfolk or Gordon?

BlueintheLou

October 29th, 2011 at 9:07 PM ^

Ahh, perhaps I should spend more time at the Derek Zoolander School for Children Who Can't Read Good. Touche, my mistake. That is a much better question.

Hard to bench Gordon, he's been playing pretty damn well.

Humen

October 29th, 2011 at 8:43 PM ^

There are only a couple of possibilities here.

1) Gordon was underperforming, so Woolfolk was moved to help out there.

2) Woolfolk was underperforming at corner, and the current starters are better. 

I'm thinking 2 is the most likely scenario. Our safeties hadn't given up the big one until today, hardly something to complain about. This may also be a depth issue, so the timing was pretty fortunate. 

MgoSuh

October 29th, 2011 at 8:55 PM ^

Is it just me making the connection that our safeties hadn't given up the big one until Woolfolk was playing safety? I think he will be a decent backup, but I thought Gordon and Kovacs were playing incredibly well together for the first 7 games and should still be the starters.

Mr. Yost

October 29th, 2011 at 9:09 PM ^

I like the idea of using Woolfolk like Michael Schofield on the offensive line.

Have Woolfolk backup both CBs and both safetys.

Why?

He's a 5th year senior...he knows all of the positions, he's not going to get that much better.

He's a 5th year senior...it's not going to "stunt" his growth or progress as a player.

He's the most versatile DB we have...

We have a backup at every position without having a major dropoff.

He'd still get a TON of playing time.

 

Humen

October 29th, 2011 at 9:09 PM ^

It's not just you. Thinking about this a bit, Woolfolk could have been moved to help the depth at safety, not necessarily to contribute immediately. It's really easy to make a simple mistake on a single play. The fact that our defense had not given up the big one thus far is simply amazing, especially considering how anything thrown over 30 yards was nearly automatic for the opposition previously. 

Humen

October 29th, 2011 at 8:48 PM ^

I don't think so. Thomas Gordon has been playing at least decently. I think it is more likely that Woolfolk was underperforming at corner, and the other safety backups were also disappointing. Carvin in particular has made too many mistakes. Moving Woolfolk to backup safety only improves the team if the corners were better/his impact was less there. I think Gordon will still start when Kovacs returns.

Fhshockey112002

October 29th, 2011 at 8:50 PM ^

IMO it puts another player with ball skill in the secondary.  I think having Countess and Floyd at the corner positions let's Woolfolk play "ballhawk" while Kovacs is in run support.  Yes he needs to be more physical (i.e. Ed Reed) and become a player who both can go and get a bad pass but also lay the wood on a WR coming across the middle.

robmorren2

October 29th, 2011 at 8:52 PM ^

TG is the nickel anyhow, so it'll probably be somewhat of a rotation. With the way college football is trending, defenses are in Nickel almost as much as base. I like the move. Have your fastest guy as your safety valve.

Mich1993

October 29th, 2011 at 9:31 PM ^

I agree completely. I think Woolfolk, Gordon and Kovacs will all play a lot in different situations. More Woolfolk in passing situations than in running situations. Hoke stated he liked Woolfolk having more catch-up speed than the other guys. He also said it was to get the best 11-12-13 players on the field. Clearly he thinks Woolfolk and Countess meet this criteria.

I see the biggest advantage putting Woolfolk at FS when they go Nickel and it lets Gordon play Nickel.

Space Coyote

October 29th, 2011 at 9:01 PM ^

In my opinion he needs to be a lot more physical.  I saw a couple times today where he lowered his shoulder and that was about it.  Didn't pop anyone, didn't wrap up, didn't really feel like a presence in that spot.  He was also, IME, behind both the starting corners too though, and maybe they are happy with Avery's improvement moreso than the backup safties.

I think Gordon starts with Kovacs in the future (though with the health of Kovacs and Wolf it's nice to have an extra body).  I think, depending on the offense they are facing and the type of nickel that Michigan wants to run (ie, does the offense run out of the spread more or to they spread to throw) they will either bring in Wolf and move Gordon to nickel (if it's a run base spread) or bring in Avery and keep the safeties the same (pass base spread)

Bodogblog

October 29th, 2011 at 9:31 PM ^

Is safety a natural fit for Woolfolk? “Oh I don’t know. I think with the emergence with how Blake’s been playing -- I always believe you put your best players on the field. Troy’s probably in the top 11, 12, 13 guys on defense.”
<br>
<br>Pretty clear that Countess took the job, Floyd has locked down the other, and they still want to get Woolfolk on the field

StephenRKass

October 29th, 2011 at 9:57 PM ^

I never thought Troy would be passed up. I wonder if this is health related, or if both Floyd and Countess are better when all three are at full health?

Still, as is said above, having Countess, Floyd, Avery, Gordon, Woolfolk, and Kovacs gives depth where there isn't a huge dropoff, where you can give someone a breather as needed, and where you can use personnel to maximize a player's strengths for a particular defensive play. What a wonderful thing to have.

Space Coyote

October 29th, 2011 at 10:47 PM ^

I've heard someone being described as bad as in good, or as "the shit" rather than shit.  But I don't think I've ever heard someone called a bitch in a good way (unless I'm watching the AKC dog show) but the explanation doesn't make sense with a bitch being a bad thing.

(Probably just getting older)

SixWingedAngel

October 30th, 2011 at 12:04 AM ^

would be fine.  My guess is that yes, he is being moved because lost time due to various injuries which have kept him from being in true playing shape for more than a year.  He will be a good and serviceable backup at safety, but time has not been kind.  Chalk him up as another player victim of the coaching kerfuffle because I can pretty much assure you he would be more than serviceable at this position if he had only stayed a safety, or am I the only one who remembers that?

www.michigandaily.com/content/woolfolk-may-be-cornerback-good

 

BlueinLansing

October 30th, 2011 at 12:57 AM ^

to see a Freshmen beat out Sr. who was supposed to be the best player on the D.  Not that I dislike Woolfolk but it just kind of shows how the better talent is already starting to filter into the program.

 

 

dollarbill

October 30th, 2011 at 1:31 AM ^

Both safety positions require hitters. I don't see TWolf replacing a healthy Kovacs or Gordan. Unfortunately, he is not one of the top 3 corners either. He will be a valued backup.

jwilkins3

October 30th, 2011 at 1:58 AM ^

Should be in cause at some point were going to be taking on Illinois, Nebraska, and Ohio State. All duel threat no pass (other than Scheelhause at ILL) and T Gordon can sneak up and provide speed and big hitter ability at OLB type position to negate some yards from those QBs cause at some point adjusments to duel threats have to be made. I mean all three are nasty and Hoke is right, T Wolf has the most speed at FS. When it comes to dealing with duel threats we need to match speed with speed and have our front four filling gaps like MSU did to us. Im even questioning myself on TG moving up but the kid can lay the boom in free space.

ajcrmr

October 30th, 2011 at 2:44 AM ^

Agree with this post. Hoke said in his presser that Woolfolk brings some speed to the position. While there's no denying that nobody on the team reads a play and reacts like Kovacs, he's also not the fastest guy on the team. Woolfolk could bring in a new wrinkle with his speed, either for chasing people down in the backfield when we bring pressure, or as noted by Mich1993 above, for passing situations.

Magnus

October 30th, 2011 at 4:53 PM ^

Woolfolk played FS in high school, but he played CB as a true freshman back in 2007. The argument could be made that he "started out" at both positions.

In his college career, Woolfolk has been a cornerback for 4.5 out of 5 seasons. The only year he played safety was 2009, and that was only for half a year.

2plankr

October 30th, 2011 at 2:23 AM ^

Seems to me one of the most important things about getting woolfolk on the field is not his physical ability, but his ability to make checks/calls.  Hoke even addressed this;

"They tried to tempo us a little bit, so he did a good job of getting us in and out of what we needed to be looking like back there."

With Kovacs out there this isnt as important, but I think its one of the reasons they have tried to keep troy out there even when its obvious countess is outplaying him (no offense to woolfolk, again hoke addressed this, countess is just that good)

KAYSHIN15

October 30th, 2011 at 4:57 AM ^

T-Wolf has clearly lost his starting position and the coaches want to give him respect as a leader on the team by attempting to keep him on the field. Fact of the matter is, he's probably a better coach and mentor at this point than player.

Magnus

October 30th, 2011 at 4:55 PM ^

Woolfolk's performance has been very disappointing this year, but it seems like many of his troubles have been caused by one injury or another.  I don't think he's as fast as he was a couple years ago, and that was one of his biggest strengths.  It's too bad he had such a devastating injury last year.