Time to get super high on defense

Submitted by massblue on

I listened to Mattison's interview on BIG network last night. When he was asked what are the weaknesses of the defense, Mattison paused for a moment and then basically said none. Then he went to praise every unit and say that we are going to be very aggressive because the DL will put pressure of QBs. This morning, there is additional information on MLive with Mattison defending Hoke, but also sounding really high on the defense. I think we are going to have a really good defense this year -- May be the best in BIG. http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2014/08/greg_mattison_defends…

 

Edit: sorry for the typo in the title: "Heigh"

MGoBoard
Football
all hail greg mattison

Michigan4Life

August 12th, 2014 at 10:43 AM ^

In B1G bc if Narduzzi. They also have players who will play on Sunday like Drummond, Waynes, Calhoun, Jones, etc. that's more than the current draft eligible Michigan players right now.

Joined: 07/29/2010

MGoPoints: 25410

alum96

August 12th, 2014 at 12:09 PM ^

Right but a year ago MSU had in retrospect 1 "draft eligible" player.  I get your point - they have some good NFL talent that can leave in a year (in fact Waynes and Calhoun could come back for 2 years - so that's impressive) but it is pretty limiting to just say the draft eligible players.  For better or worse outside of Jake Ryan most of our NFL talent (whatever there is) is JR or younger.  Clark probably gets a sniff late in the draft I presume, maybe not.  Now the open question is how many of these guys will develop into NFL type talent and when.  I don't know - but I think there are a lot more NFL type bodies out there now than 3-4 years ago - if the skill develops.

Gun to head (again I have no idea, just projecting) all these could ne NFL talent someday but none are "draft eligible":

  • Wormley
  • Henry
  • Pipkins
  • Gedeon
  • Countess
  • Peppers

Maybe in October we add guys like Lewis, or Charlton or a Hurst.  Don't have a clue - it's still a relatively young group in the 2 deep.

But you can have a very good defense without a lot of 'draft eligible' talent - see MSU last year in fact. 

 

Joined: 04/28/2012

MGoPoints: 82522

1928

August 12th, 2014 at 11:11 AM ^

But I have watched GMatt and I've seen all I need to from Hoke. His poor game management, lack of situational awareness, awful road record, and most importantly, lack of development from many members on this team tell me all I need to know about his ability to lead a program like Michigan

Joined: 07/22/2014

MGoPoints: -286

AlwaysBlue

August 12th, 2014 at 12:33 PM ^

radar should tell you that the team he inherited did not have the depth, cultural consistency and talent not to struggle. Hoke and company did just fine their first year with the tail end of a Carr class.

Joined: 11/23/2008

MGoPoints: 7854

1928

August 12th, 2014 at 1:25 PM ^

It's the way the struggles that pushed me over the edge, especially with regards to the bowl game. That was the last straw for me. How do you not even motivate the players to simply act like they care??? Sure it was a disappointing bowl to be in after a thoroughly disappointing season, but c'mon at least go through the motions. Hoke couldn't even get the team to do that, and that convinced more than anything else of how inept he as a head coach. That was simply unacceptable.

Joined: 07/22/2014

MGoPoints: -286

alum96

August 12th, 2014 at 11:24 AM ^

Is this where I put the "right to rush 4" bumper sticker?

Boom!

I expect a defense that returns to 2011-2012 form.  Need to see a better pash rush, and the safety issue continues to worry me.  Content with the rest of the group. 

Joined: 04/28/2012

MGoPoints: 82522

CLord

August 12th, 2014 at 11:39 AM ^

Ohio's D line has more talent than ours, but perhaps all the other units can compensate to give us the better overall D, but who cares.  I could not give two hoots about preseason, projected D rankings.  All I care about is:

Can Nuss solve MSU's  D?

Can Mattison bounce back from the molestation he endured courtesy of Urbz's offense last year to somehow control Miller, Wilson and Smith?

Can Funk, like show something? Anything? Like just get the offensive line be even just average?

Can we beat ND in the "fuck you for ninja quitting the series so as to tactically give yourselves the last home field game" last game of the series?

Can we effing beat mediocre PSU, i.e., Evil Incorporated, once and for all after owning them for the prior two decades and get back to enjoying "WE OWN PENN STATE!" chants like we should be?

Can we effing beat NW in a resounding manner like we should, instead of scraping by on miracles time and again?

Can we stop making mid-tier non-conference opponents play out of their minds against us?

CAN WE MAKE IT THROUGH A FALL CAMP WITHOUT A SERIOUS INJURY TO A KEY PLAYER FOR ONCE?

These are all I care about.

Joined: 09/11/2011

MGoPoints: -6341

Uper73

August 12th, 2014 at 12:29 PM ^

I like that Mattison is going to be aggressive. It seems like we should be really good, however, my last memories are Jake Waters throwing at will, Tyler Lockett making the D backs look silly and Braxton Miller and Carlos Hyde running at will. We need Mattison and crew to step it up....

Joined: 10/12/2013

MGoPoints: 1352

I Love Lamp

August 12th, 2014 at 2:32 PM ^

Get some penetration, rush and hit the QB, and maybe we won't see our secondary having to play 8 yds off the receiver, getting picked apart in the process

Joined: 07/15/2014

MGoPoints: 8306