Who will emerge as our top players on Defense this year?
Last year, Brandon and Donovan turned out to be the #1 and #2 players on our defense, respectively. This was hardly a surprise since both were expected to be among the top players on the team before the season started.
This year, the front runners are less clear and there’s an opportunity for a handful of guys to step up and be the leaders of the Michigan defense.
Who do you predict will emerge as the anchor(s) of our D this year?
August 12th, 2010 at 12:55 PM ^
Mouton for sure and hoping that Big Will tears shit up too. But I also think that Martin will have huge year.
August 12th, 2010 at 12:56 PM ^
Mike "Hulk Smash" Martin.
August 12th, 2010 at 12:56 PM ^
Of course.
August 12th, 2010 at 12:57 PM ^
Martin, Roh, Van Bergen and I pray Mouton or Ezeh
August 12th, 2010 at 12:57 PM ^
Death Roh and Troy Woolfolk. Hopefully the LB corp also plays well.
August 13th, 2010 at 12:20 AM ^
Craig Roh will play like opponents offended his dad.
August 12th, 2010 at 12:58 PM ^
Sorry, had to.
But really, Carvin Johnson as a sleeper pick.
August 12th, 2010 at 12:58 PM ^
Van Bergen, and Mouton. That's at least 4 great players out of 11. Potential for more
August 12th, 2010 at 1:34 PM ^
Exactly the 4 guys I was thinking of. I might add Woolfolk, but I think that's more of me hoping he steps up than me actually believing that he will.
August 12th, 2010 at 12:58 PM ^
Hope & Prayer: JT Floyd & Cameron Gordon
August 12th, 2010 at 12:58 PM ^
everyone has a different opinion? You know what that means? That our defense is NOT made of swiss cheese, but actually has a lot of very, very good players. We should be juuuuuust fine.
August 12th, 2010 at 12:59 PM ^
Not so sure that Warren was the #2 guy last year.
Basically, the whole D stunk it up and only BG was a star. I think Warren (who got torched in the Wisco game) was pretty much tied with Roh, Martin, and RVB.
Anyway, with defense, I just want them all to be solid. No need for a superstar like BG if everyone else plays decent. I think Mouton, RVB, Martin, Roh, Woolfolk, Vlad, etc... could all be "top performers."
August 12th, 2010 at 2:37 PM ^
i would feel more comfortable with warren on the corner if he had stayed like he should have but i think people have been confused about him for quite some time....he got burned constantly, not just that wisco game.
August 12th, 2010 at 1:04 PM ^
Martin, Mouton, Roh, and Woolfolk as anchors throughout with M. Robinson and Cam Gordon terrorizing offenses more and more as the season progresses.
August 12th, 2010 at 3:20 PM ^
Can't wait to see M. Robinson and his ridiculous abs take the field. If the kid has any ball skills at all he's going to be a terror.
August 12th, 2010 at 6:02 PM ^
What you may not know is that's a full-length shirt. Fabric has not been woven that can contain his abs.
August 12th, 2010 at 1:04 PM ^
Obi will make the most tackles, but Martin and Woolfolk will be our best defenders.
August 12th, 2010 at 1:04 PM ^
Hulk Smash, Death Roh, and Cam Gordon... Hopefully Ezeh, Mouton, and Woolfolk as well
August 12th, 2010 at 1:07 PM ^
How is S. Brown left out of the #2 defensive player from last years squad...he played well enough to get drafted...
As far as this year below is my top 5
1) martin - hard to argue this one
2) Van Bergen - it will help that he's playing on the DL with Martin. He's not the most talented player, but he'll never give up.
3) Roh - He was a good pash rusher as a true freshman, but to be considered to be in the top 2 he'd have to improve his pass rushing skills and be more of an all around player. Should help that our DL is solid this year.
4) Woolfork - He's a best player in the secondary, my only concern will be him against the #1 WR's on other teams...
5) Mouton? - Gets a litte sketchy here, this is more of a hope than reality...just depends if our LB's are allowed to attack or react.
August 12th, 2010 at 1:27 PM ^
WoolFoLk
He is NOT a fuzzy utensil
August 12th, 2010 at 4:28 PM ^
Guys like Mike Heart, Brian Greasy, Jack Long, Chad Henney, Brandon Miner, Adrian Harrington, David Boss, Jammer Adams, Jimbo Elliot, Bubby Paris, John Jensen, Renny Hamilton, Greg McMurray, Jared Bunch, Chez Foster, Lloyd Car, Don Deirdorf, Gary Molar, Harlan Huckleberry, Marcus Night, Charles Woodley, Elvis Gerback, Larry Foot, Jeremy LaSewer, Tim Masakoi, Shantee Oar, Jay Fealy, Tie Streets, Paul Yokish, JB Askew, LaMarr Woodson, Aaron Gold, Anthony Thompson, Tom Biakabatuka, Tyrone Wheaties, John Rangler, Bernie Joppru, Kato June, Tommy Hendrix, Mike Hammerstine, Rob Sweat, Jeremy Tooman, Greg Matthews, Glen Steel, and John Cola-Czar all agree with you.
Poor T-Wolf. Has there ever been a Michigan player whose name has been more butchered on the internets?
August 12th, 2010 at 2:48 PM ^
All indications are we have a solid defensive line. It would sure help our LBs out, reacting or attacking, if the DL can control their gaps.
August 12th, 2010 at 4:25 PM ^
If you're saying that you expected Brown to be drafted ahead of Warren, then I call BS.
If you're not, then your point is moot.
August 12th, 2010 at 5:18 PM ^
I can tell you with absolute certainty that I thought S Brown was the better player last year and new he would get drafted before Warren. I said from the time he said he was leaving that he was going in the fifth round or perhaps not at all. You can call BS all you like but most here on this blog would not agree with your position that Warren was our second best player last year. He simply wasn't.
August 13th, 2010 at 12:59 AM ^
Cosign
August 12th, 2010 at 1:09 PM ^
RVB. Love the kid's work ethic and leadership. He's never going to be flashy, but I think he will always be dependable. He's always going to be my favorite player on this D. Death Roh is a close second though.
August 12th, 2010 at 1:10 PM ^
/obvious
August 12th, 2010 at 1:15 PM ^
Only partially kidding... if he can consistently put our opponents deep in their own end of the field, it will help us on defense immensely.
August 12th, 2010 at 1:22 PM ^
Not the most physically talented, but I see him being our leading tackler in several games, again.
August 12th, 2010 at 1:52 PM ^
Usually love comes with spelling someone's name right.
August 12th, 2010 at 2:52 PM ^
baseball player ... he likes Ks.
August 13th, 2010 at 12:30 AM ^
That drew a smile. Well done.
August 12th, 2010 at 1:29 PM ^
We don't have a monster like BG this year, but we have a lot of solid guys. Martin, RVB, Roh, Ezeh, Mouton, Kovacs, and Woolfolk should all be at least serviceable. It's the other guys I'm worried about. Hopefully Floyd plays better like he reportedly did in spring. And then the rest of our safeties are ? marks. If C. Gordon and Floyd play well, we will actually have a decent D.
August 12th, 2010 at 1:30 PM ^
Jordan FUCKING KOVACS
August 12th, 2010 at 1:46 PM ^
KOVACS DOES NOT SLEEP
August 12th, 2010 at 6:13 PM ^
JFK FTW!
Also Hulk, Death Roh, and My name is J8NAS
and I better throw RVB and T-wolf in there....oh and what the hell can't forget about The Otter akaThor aka Big Will...anyone with three nicknames has to start wrecking shop at some point in the near future.
August 12th, 2010 at 1:30 PM ^
Anyone else find it deeply troubling that the defensive staff has only just now begun to use the same terminology. Sometimes it feels like our defense is a rudderless ship. From the beginning it's weirded me out how RR, aside from fighting with Schafer to run a schizophrenic defense in '08, doesn't even pay attention to that half of football.
August 13th, 2010 at 12:33 PM ^
Really? Noone's concerned about this? Cooool, maybe everything's a-ok!
August 12th, 2010 at 1:49 PM ^
Do you roam the sidelines? How do you know RR doesn't pay attention to defense?
August 13th, 2010 at 12:36 PM ^
I'm basing this on everything RR has said about the defense publicly, which could be dramatized as follows:
RR to D coordinator: "Take care of this, will ya. Make sure you become buddies with all the WVU staff. Speak their language. Make sure our opponents score less than 40 points. Okay. See you in the fall."
August 12th, 2010 at 1:43 PM ^
Call me crazy (YOU'RE CRAZY!) but I believe Obi Ezeh makes a Stevie Brown sized leap in competence.
Looking for Woolfolk to be a great leader if just a competent corner (although I would sure as hell take that), and I think we'll have a good D-line.
August 12th, 2010 at 2:02 PM ^
But seriously, I'm hoping that EITHER Ezeh or Mouton take a major step in the right direction, and I'm hopeful that there's a decent probability one of them will have that lightbulb shift where suddenly assignments start to make sense.
August 12th, 2010 at 2:17 PM ^
Cissoko, Warren, Dorsey and Turner. Maybe witherspoon as the 5th.
too soon?
August 12th, 2010 at 2:25 PM ^
If it's not them, this season is gonna suck.
Also, all the LBs need to play like champs.
That's what I'd *expect* to see. Anyone playing well in the secondary would be cool too, but I consider that to be a luxury.
August 12th, 2010 at 2:25 PM ^
decides to step up at linebacker will be my hero for 2010. Also looking for big things from Roh, Floyd, and Cam Gordon.
August 12th, 2010 at 2:30 PM ^
I think players have more insight than me and the fact neither senior LB was picked as D captain is a bad sign for Obi and Mouton. Having said that, we must have big time improvement from that group- the LB's. GERG even calls it the glue to his D - recently. If someone can step up and make an impact - we can be good. Im gonna go with Mouton. Ezeh gained 10 lbs since spring. Not good in my eyes. Would love to see Demens beat him out and maybe he's the guy.
August 12th, 2010 at 5:08 PM ^
....was awarded the Iron Wolverine before the spring game. He knows he needs to step up his game this year and worked hard to get his body in top shape to perform at a higher level this season. I can't see those being 10 bad pounds since spring. He looks pretty good in the few clips he was in in the Day 24 Countdown video. Hope he really takes his game to a new level this season.
August 12th, 2010 at 3:06 PM ^
...both 5-star players. Ugh.
August 12th, 2010 at 4:57 PM ^
and Roh. And i think a guy like courtney avery could come out of nowhere