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My Proposed Change

Excuse me for the length of this post, I wanted to post this in the forum but I don’t have enough points yet. So if you like what you read please vote me positive.

I like Rodriguez and his offense, I like the players on this team and I like the effort that they give even when they are down early. I don’t like the way the defense has played this year like everyone else. So whether its G-Rob's fault or not I think we should change DC's at the end of the year. I went scouring through some of the NCAA stats for this year and found Kent State's Defense (yes Kent State).

Kent State currently is sitting at number 8 for total defense in FBS this year. What about scoring defense you say? Well that is lower for sure as they come in at 27 there, but their offense is also very bad this year (how bad? they are 106 in total offense and 82 in scoring offense even with an awesome defense). The Kent State defense sports the number 1 rush defense in the country and the number 61 pass defense, the number 12 team for sacks (2.88 a game) and the number 1 team for tackles for loss (9.25 a game).

So I went out and looked up the defensive coordinator for Kent State and found him to be one Pete Rekstis.

Who is this Pete Rekstis... he's apparently a pretty good defensive coach if you look at Kent States defense over the years that he's been there. Here is his credentials on Kent States website (http://www.kentstatesports.com/sports/fball/coaches/Pete_Rekstis), I’ll highlight a few things that jumped out to me.

He coached at Youngstown State as a D-Cord before moving up to Kent State, now who else has made a jump from that school and had success? I can’t remember but he probably has horrible fashion sense.

Pete made an immediate impact when he arrived at Kent State because he did this "Rekstis led a dramatic and record-setting turnaround in his first season in charge of the Kent State defense. He oversaw a unit that had ranked 12th of 14 teams in total defense in the Mid-American Conference in 2003, then finished first in the league and 15th nationally in total defense in 2004. The team also set a school record for quarterback sacks in a season with 34." Tell me we couldn't use an immediate impact like that? If he can do that with Kent State talent he should be able to pull off numbers that are at least middle of the road in the FBS for Michigan next year given his track record.

What does Pete's defensive front look like? Like this "The 3-4 defense Rekstis preaches is one predicated on great pressure by the defensive line at the point of attack, a swarming corps of linebackers and strong, athletic defensive backs who seek out contact rather than hiding from it." A secondary that doesn't play 18 yards off the receiver! Hurray! His defense lead Kent State to this in 2009 "Kent State ranked third in the country in tackles for loss (8.42), eighth in red zone defense (.72), 17th in sacks (2.75) and 20th in takeaways (26)." Yes please I’ll have another!

Pete coaches the secondary! We automatically solve the secondary issue with his hire and probably see immediate impact with his coaching. His defensive front is a 3-4! That means he shouldn't be terribly limited by the personal that is already on the team as I don’t know how well we'd look as a 4-3 team due to the present personal and recruiting has been building for a 3-3-5. It's probably much easier to switch to a 3-4 when you are in a 3-3-5 than if you’re in a 4-3.

Something else that surprised me when looking at Kent State was their best linebacker. Cobrani Mixon. The same linebacker who transferred out of Michigan after his first redshirt year. Mixon has thrived under Pete's coaching and was a talent from Ohio that was at one point on Michigan's team. Pete being from Ohio couldn't hurt recruiting defensive players from that state.

My plan would give Pete full control of the defense and defensive staff picks are his decision. Pete to me looks like a perfect hire for us right now, I’m not sure how him or his staff or would fair at recruiting but if they start cranking out top 25 defenses and with the Michigan brand the recruits will come given time. I'm not sure who else would be a much better fit for this team right now. 

Go Blue!

I noticed that as well, it

I noticed that as well, it looked like he was pushing the ball rather than throwing it on those quick screen passes as well.

Going back and watching film of him at camps and even in his big game against ST. Edwards, his spiral looked much better. I'm guessing that maybe he hurt his shoulder and is playing through the pain as his throwing motion and ball accuracy/velocity do not seem normal.