aaron lewis

the Dangermen for their respective teams colliding [David Wilcomes]

Previously: Rutgers Offense

We're back for the defense half of FFFF, focusing on the side of the ball that our opponents for this weekend specialize in. Rutgers has started the season 3-0 largely on the back of its offense so it's time to ask: how scared should we be of Sir Henry's finest defenders this weekend? 

 

The Film: We're going with Virginia Tech again for reasons previously stated in the offense piece, recency and the likelihood that the Hokies are indeed better than Northwestern and Temple (not assured, but likely). 

Personnel: Don't get mad, Seth is testing the powers of the Michigan Cyan Circle Positive Jinx [click for big]: 

Rutgers' EDGEs are familiar to those who read this column last season, or Michigan recruiting news dating back four years. Old Friend Aaron Lewis is still around, his chops against the run still up for debate (they seemed fine in the game I charted) but his overall importance to this Rutgers defense is not. The one-time Michigan commit is currently off to a blazing start to the season, PFF's 3rd-highest graded EDGE player to play at least 50% of his team's snaps. He gets the star for it. 

The other EDGE is still Wesley Bailey, the one who gets to drop into coverage from time to time. He's fine, but not the impact piece of Lewis. Bailey is the spot on the line that rotates out more frequently, where you can see the likes of Kenny Fletcher and Jordan Thompson get involved. Sometimes you'll see Rutgers go 3-3-5 with their passrushing SLB coming on in Bailey's place, who I'll get to in a moment. 

DT in my estimation is still the biggest weakness on the Rutgers defense. Mayan Ahanotu is starting after being in the rotation a year ago, while Isaiah Iton, a journeyman transfer joins him in the lineup. Both of these players were liable to being shoved around, Iton especially, earning the diagram's lone starter cyan circle. As most teams do, Rutgers rotates their tackles pretty heavily, Rene Konga, Kyonte Hamilton, and Troy Rainey all in the mix and all of them unspectacular. There is no Dude at this position. 

There is at LB though, MLB Tyreem Powell. A real good player, Powell earns the Dangerman designation this week and is the 12th-highest graded ILB in PFF's grading among players at the position to play at least 50% of his team's snaps. WLB Deion Jennings isn't as good but is still a solid starter and then their third LB is the aforementioned SAM, Mohamed Toure. Though Toure's main skill is his pass-rush ability, he is plenty capable of performing ILB duties and did so in the place of one of the MIKE/WILL starters in the VT game from time to time. 

Rutgers typically goes with five DBs, though sometimes they're in a 4-3 with the SLB out there. The nickel who gets lifted when they shift is Desmond Igbinosun, who seemed decent to me. Like a lot of team's nickels, he has responsibility in the blitzing department. The outside corners are longtime Scarlet Knight Max Melton and Robert Longerbeam, both of whom are familiar with the program and these roles. They are decent B1G starters but showed vulnerability to vertical passing in the VT game. At safety, Minnesota transfer Flip Dixon has had a tremendous start to the season and just missed star status. Shaquan Loyal starts as a ho-hum safety next to him. Eric Rogers is the first corner off the bench, Joe Lusardi the first safety. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: clips]

[Bryan Fuller]

Previously: QuarterbackRunning BackReceivers, Offensive Line

The Enemy, Ranked now shifts to the defensive side of the ball as we break down Michigan's opponents for the 2023 season. Today we start in the trenches, looking at the opposing defensive lines. While perhaps not quite as grim as offensive line, I can't say I came away from this exercise terribly enthused by the opposing defensive lines. Yet again you can partly chalk that up to the schedule, avoiding Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa, but I also am not sure how great of a year for the B1G on the DL this is in general. Regardless, let's get going: 

 

12. Bowling Green 

DE DT DT JACK
Jordan Porter Anthony Hawkins Dontrez Brown Demetrius Hardamon
Ali Saad Davonte Miles Billie Roberts Chasius Howell

Today we start off with a tight battle for the bottom of the list between BGSU and the team just ahead of them, but I ultimately opted to go with the Falcons in 12th place. Bowling Green's DL last season was a solid group, emerging as one of the strengths of the defense, but now they lose three of four starters and are in for a bit of a rebuild. To make matters worse, Anthony Hawkins, the one returning starter, graded out pretty poorly in PFF's data. We should note that it's not all bad though. DT Dontez Brown and JACK Demetrius Hardamon, who are now leveling up to the starter role, were rotational pieces last season, each logging >250 snaps. They aren't completely inexperienced and both charted pretty well in their appearances.

The other EDGE spot is pretty murky though. I listed Jordan Porter as the starter since he has played the most at Bowling Green, but it could easily be one-time Minnesota transfer Ali Saad or UTSA transfer Chace Davis. Those three are all pretty inexperienced and haven't done much when they've played. As a whole, this defensive line is not in a terrible position for a Gof5 unit, but it's not in a good spot either, with three new starters, multiple players taking on elevated roles, and no proven impact starters. They're not far off from being #11 but I narrowly opted to put them here. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: more defensive lines]

[David Wilcomes]

FORMATION NOTES: Rutgers uses a blizzard of different fronts but spends the game in a nickel with said nickel over the slot almost all the time, and then that guy gets nosy in the box almost all of the time.

image

Here they've shifted their line over to the strength of the formation and the nickel is the littlest LB closes to the center of the field.

SUBSTITUTION NOTES: Usual at QB, obviously. Edwards got more carries earlier than usual; seemed like Corum may have been ill and Michigan was trying to limit his usage. At TE, Schoonmaker went out for a portion of the game and this led to more Loveland snaps. At OL, Persi took over for Hayes. On some goal line snaps Persi went out, El-Hadi came in and Keegan kicked out to tackle. Also El-Hadi got the last drive with the starters when Keegan got dinged.

WR saw more rotation with Wilson out. Walker and Morris both got targets and Anthony was a bigger part of the gameplan. No Clemons.

[After THE JUMP: a much more interesting defense]

Rutgers has a system defense, so if you read this you'll learn what a Stunt 4-3 is. Then on Saturday you'll be able to point at the nose tackle lining up at a weird angle, and explain why he does that, and then say something smart about NFL history. It won't make you popular, but if you're really into knowing things for the sake of knowing things, you were never going to be popular.

Risers

no obstacle course or moguls videos... yet

Another big anchor type with room to grow who is not the lead singer of Staind

Michigan's second pebble of the day is a WVU flip with nice offers. 

Another weekend with high-profile on-campus visitors, plus a look at Michigan's offensive line recruiting under Ed Warinner