Don Brown presser notes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPpqPMDRxHo
Don Brown did a zoom call with reporters. I'm not giving a summary of everything. I'm just noting things I thought were interesting. So, for example, he talked a lot about how good Dax Hill is and also Ross and McGrone at LB. I feel like we already know that.
He talked up BVS a lot as exceeding expectations at LB. He also talked about Ojabo and Harrell in the same group. I thought Ojabo was a DE, so I guess those 3 guys are more in the DE/LB Uche role.
Lots of Jeter hype. Once early and then again mentioned he's a different guy. He was hyped a ton last year though too. However, remember that he lost 18 pounds going into last year. This year he gained 28. Not sure if they tried to slim him down and it didn't work out so now I guess they want him to be a space-eating nose and let other guys make plays. He mentioned Kemp going back to 3T this year from nose last year. Kemp has improved every year and is better at penetration. https://mgoblog.com/content/fall-roster-overanalysis-2020
He said Welschof and Upshaw are also much improved. Upshaw didn't have a butt last year and now he does while keeping his speed. It was really weird Upshaw had lost 6 pounds going into last year. He's up 16 this year. Welschof is up 8.
Hinton was mentioned in passing. I don't think that's a bad thing. I think that just means he's established. Brown said they feel really good about those 3 (Hinton, Kemp, Jeter). Troubling that Mazi didn't get a single mention. Later, Angelique asked about the strength of the defense, and he didn't really call it their strength but he did say they're so much better up front, mainly because of depth. I'm hoping for Hinton and Kemp to be starters and Jeter to be a quality backup.
When he mentioned the secondary he went through names pretty quickly, which I took to be kinda worrisome. At the same time, it seems he has a history of hyping guys up who they need but aren't necessarily going to be great, at least yet (e.g., Jeter last year, BVS this year), so maybe that's not a bad thing? Also, he did that after someone asked about his starting 11 and he had already run through the LBs and DL so maybe he just wanted to speed up through the question. Later he did mention Vincent Gray and Makari Paige are doing well.
Also notable that Seldon missed some time. I think CB is obviously the most glaring weakness right now, and I was hoping to hear more about Seldon. Hopefully he can stay healthy and let Dax play safety. Makari Paige may be fine this year, but I think the ideal situation is they get some guys good enough at CB and let Dax be a playmaker in the secondary. Boring safeties are nice, but I feel someone like Dax can be a real gamechanger. A couple times he mentioned how good Dax can cover, he said he was maybe the best cover guy in the Big Ten, but not so sure that's where his ceiling is.
September 30th, 2020 at 10:51 PM ^
Okay.
September 30th, 2020 at 11:36 PM ^
If football coach press conference summaries bother you, you might be visiting the wrong website.
October 1st, 2020 at 8:35 AM ^
You see, no one is really there. The poster you responded to doesn't actually exist. It's a figment of his desire to be noticed. It isn't really there though.
September 30th, 2020 at 10:56 PM ^
Serious question. How is this not a summary of everything?
October 1st, 2020 at 12:16 AM ^
Because it leaves out the fate of the universe.
October 1st, 2020 at 5:02 AM ^
Well it was a 45 min presser, and the summary didn't mention salt and pepper. ?
October 1st, 2020 at 6:43 AM ^
I didn't know Don Brown was a fan!
October 1st, 2020 at 8:07 AM ^
That's Salt-N-Pepa.
October 1st, 2020 at 9:23 AM ^
Which one is -N-?
October 1st, 2020 at 9:53 AM ^
The 1 n the middle.
October 1st, 2020 at 11:41 AM ^
Isn't that Spinderella?
September 30th, 2020 at 11:03 PM ^
ojabo is a DE but if the 2 starters rarely leave the field then it makes sense to try to work in with situational players (like uche).
appreciate the summary
September 30th, 2020 at 11:36 PM ^
Could be. He is only 5 pounds heavier than BVS now.
October 1st, 2020 at 12:13 AM ^
I had assumed on passing downs we'd lift a DT and get a pass rush package in with
1. Hinton (who I thought had a great first step in limited snaps; be sure to check out reshp1's counterargument in the comments) at NT
2. Hutchison at "3T"
3. Paye at SDE
4. Ojabo or Villain at WDE
September 30th, 2020 at 11:11 PM ^
Kemp has improved every year and is better at penetration.
This has been my goal since getting laid for the first time.
Mazi and Hinton breaking through on the D line means a ton for the D this season. Hoping for the best.
September 30th, 2020 at 11:44 PM ^
Sacked in the backfield?
September 30th, 2020 at 11:19 PM ^
Rumor has it Dax Hill is getting run at CB since Faustin is doing so well at S. Should be fun if he does get some PT there.
September 30th, 2020 at 11:38 PM ^
He mentioned Faustin had improved a lot but didn't talk him up much at all. Makari Paige got more praise, but I think that was in response to a question about freshmen who have been standing out specifically. But is it because Faustin is so good, or because the CBs are not good?
October 1st, 2020 at 8:12 AM ^
No you were correct. Makari Paige has more experience in this defense than any previous safety that has come in because it's the same defense the Bloomfield Hills plays. Sam has mentioned multiple times that the coaches from Bloomfield consult with the Michigan coaches about scheme and concepts.
October 1st, 2020 at 8:40 AM ^
*west Bloomfield
October 1st, 2020 at 9:55 AM ^
Thanks, my bad. I'm sure that pisses off some W Bloomfield and Bloomfield Hills alum.
October 1st, 2020 at 9:46 AM ^
Sam Webb devoted two segments of his radio show to this topic yesterday. Harbaugh told him that Hill could play "any of those spots."
September 30th, 2020 at 11:26 PM ^
thx, nice summary.
September 30th, 2020 at 11:27 PM ^
Jeter becoming a viable rotation guy at DT would be huge for our interior line. If we can have at least three solid players that is a much better situation than we had last year.
September 30th, 2020 at 11:34 PM ^
I didn't see the words "Luigi Vilain" in there anywhere, did I? Are we sure this guy exists?
September 30th, 2020 at 11:40 PM ^
I'm pretty sure he wasn't mentioned at all unfortunately. Or maybe once when he was basically rattling off everyone on the 2 deep.
October 1st, 2020 at 12:02 AM ^
This isn’t happy fun town.
best quote ever
October 1st, 2020 at 12:22 AM ^
1,000 points to your House sir.
Also--and this is just common sense not from ANY kind of insider info--there's an added good reason other than the many reasons that players you'd expect to be on the depth chart might "not be available" for 14 days this year.
October 1st, 2020 at 1:21 AM ^
Thanks.
I hadn't thought about that. Perhaps that refers to a player I mentioned. Hopefully precautionary only.
October 1st, 2020 at 10:39 AM ^
Great point Seth,
The 14 day period could really hurt depending on the day it starts on. going to be an interesting year. I wonder how many "stars" will never test positive in the SEC because of this.
October 1st, 2020 at 12:30 AM ^
I've got a feeling we're going to be seeing a lot more zone coverage this year and hoping that Dax can be the eraser.
October 1st, 2020 at 4:54 AM ^
At least when asked about Day and "wanting to hang 100" he didn't say they "better watch out" like last year.
October 1st, 2020 at 7:38 AM ^
Gosh I don't know what to expect this year from the defense. Even last year, while there unknowns, it felt like we all kind of knew exactly what we were in for and that seemed to come to fruition.
I have no idea what this will look like.
October 1st, 2020 at 8:34 AM ^
Which brings it all back to Coach Brown talking up the DL - if that's real, they can be a lot better than last year. CB is a question, but I think they can "get over" there ... a stronger D interior would be a big step up though.
October 1st, 2020 at 10:40 AM ^
As an outsider, I think we are going to find out a lot about your secondary week 1. Minnesota has talent and speed at WR and a QB that will get the ball to them. It's game one, expecting the youth to shut them down is unrealistic. However, if they manage to slow them down enough to win the game, it would go a long way in the confidence level of the young guys as well as give you guys some hope that the perceived weakness of the D this year will turn out alright.
October 1st, 2020 at 9:18 AM ^
There seems to be some unknown aspects of the D this year, for sure. But remember that defensive 'crootin has been consistently good for several years now. Brown has pretty much all the players he's wanted, and they all have some time in the system. Yes, the CB room has taken a step back from the lock down, 'fuck you, don't throw at me' days of Lewis and Long, but DB did bring in more zone last year than he had in the previous two seasons combined. We'll see even more zone this year to help protect the corner's a little more. I think it's fair to expect we'll still have a top 15 defense, maybe upper single digits if the CB's step up beyond expectations.
October 1st, 2020 at 8:12 AM ^
Has he discovered the crossing route and how to defend it?
October 1st, 2020 at 9:03 AM ^
I hate that this is literally all I think of whenever I see his name or face, but I can't help it.
October 1st, 2020 at 10:10 AM ^
The only way you’re going to defend those is mix in enough zones so teams don’t run it on every new set of downs and tackle the receiver when they do catch it, immediately. However, this would require a philosophy of allowing the other team to move the ball in between the 20’s (which I’m entirely for in this day and age) and I doubt Brown and Harbaugh will go for it.
Otherwise, a better question is to ask the coaches is if they have enough data points to consider the fact maybe Michigan needs to use tempo to score more points since you’re not going to ‘stop’ OSU or Bama anyways?
October 1st, 2020 at 11:22 AM ^
it would be nice to see changes in pace by the offense. That and different snap counts. Feels like most defenses had snap count figured out over the past few years.
October 1st, 2020 at 9:10 AM ^
If Hill is that good at covering, I’d expect he has moved to CB. Good. They brought in three safeties (one to be LB/Viper), so if Paige is ready at safety, good.
Truth is, we won’t know how good many of those CBs are until they start playing games. Of course there is concern when no one has seen these guys play college ball. CB is one of the toughest positions to play in this modern game.
October 1st, 2020 at 9:18 AM ^
I need to know Mazi is going to pan out. These are worrisome times.
October 1st, 2020 at 9:28 AM ^
As long as we can keep Ohio from triple digits we win?
In all honesty, with how weird the world is, I could see Michigan beating OSU this year and then we spend the next 20 years arguing with Ohio people on whether the win “really counts”
October 1st, 2020 at 10:29 AM ^
If Michigan wins, 100% of OSU fans will say it doesn't count, and so will a small but loud portion of anti-Harbaugh UM fans.
If OSU wins, 100% of OSU fans will say it counts, and so will a small but loud portion of anti-Harbaugh UM fans.
October 1st, 2020 at 9:58 AM ^
Don Brown regarding Taylor Upshaw:
I like big butts and I can not lie
You other brothers can't deny
October 1st, 2020 at 10:36 AM ^
I heard the audio and Brown actually referred to some guy on the DL known as "Julian Weiskopf."
I think it's hilarious that the kid has been in the program for three years and Brown still completely butchers his name.
So, all you MGoKrauts, how do we pronounce the name?
Is it VEL-shoff or VEL-skoff?
October 1st, 2020 at 1:59 PM ^
In Germany it is "VEL-shoff". In most English speaking countries it would be "well-shoff".
October 1st, 2020 at 11:03 AM ^
Concerning on the 3 technique for sure. Mentioned Carlo,Jeter, Hinton, and Speight....didnt even mention Mazi Smith being one of his guys. That really sucks because we need inside presence and that big body more than ever. Can anyone confirm if he is still in the program?
October 1st, 2020 at 12:33 PM ^
I was most excited to see Julius Welchof’s name mentioned as one of the top most-improved guys. Really anxious to see what he can do, since I don’t think he’s had a meaningful snap yet.
October 1st, 2020 at 1:03 PM ^
I heard this presser twice on WTKA. First time was in the M-Zone w Jamie Morris, yesterday afternoon and then most of it this morning on Sam and Ira's show.
Don Brown is an honest guy. He did admit that his defense practices daily against an OH State offense which was one nice admission. He also said, they have a "long way to go" regarding this which was kind of revealing. Again, Don tells like like it is. Some sugar coating is mixed in during this presser but WHAT coach wouldn't highlight the positives?