SIAP: Insider comments about our defense (ugh)
All comments below are taken from the article linked here (pay site):
http://michigan.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=338&mid=128347447&sid=883&ti…
From a trusted source:
“I hate to say it because I do have great respect for Michigan and this rivalry, but I was talking to a colleague in the business that just played Michigan and his comment was, ‘Any play is a big play waiting to happen against their defense. They’re awful.’
“And that’s from a guy that in all the years I’ve known him has never really been much of a trash-talker. But he’s calling it like he sees it, and what everyone I’ve spoken to sees is a defense on the brink of total collapse, if it’s not there already.”
Recent second halves have left even opponents scratching their heads.
“What’s going on there? How can they look good for the first half and look like a MAC team in the second half?” a source asked us. “I just don’t get it. Do the coaches go into the locker room and rip the kids apart so they have no confidence? Do they try to change their scheme so much that they have them confused? What is it? I don’t get it.”
November 19th, 2009 at 11:55 PM ^
My spider sense is tingling with some change ups coming for position coaches.
EDIT: Not because they berate the players at half-time, but simply because at least one of them appears to be, um, not too good.
November 19th, 2009 at 11:37 PM ^
my 5 year old niece who doesn't know a lick about football could have told you and anyone else that UM has a very suspect Defense. As painful as it has been to watch opposing teams carve up UM's D like a Thanksgiving Turkey, I am confident that the D will become solid in a few years. We just need to be patient and understand that football teams go through periods where they struggle.
November 19th, 2009 at 11:44 PM ^
I dont understand how someone could charge for that article... I mean - anyone who's been watching the Michigan Defense the past few games knows everything they said already.
November 20th, 2009 at 12:09 AM ^
It was a message board post, not an actual article.
November 19th, 2009 at 11:46 PM ^
But, but, but... we're Michigan! We're immune to having young, inexperienced, and talent-deficient defensive units! We have the inherent right to field superior teams that are stacked with talent from top to bottom because that's how it's always been! Right? Top recruits should flock like the salmon of Capistrano (per Lloyd Christmas) and are complete and utter morons if they don't and therefore we don't want them anyway! Period of struggle!? We're Michigan, it's our God given right to avoid such things! So just take your calm, logical perspective and go kick a kitten!
/sarcastic rant
November 19th, 2009 at 11:41 PM ^
You would have to be a fucktard to think that Michigan's coaches are so bad that they would browbeat players into inadequacy in the second half of games. They're among the best coaches in the country -- but the cupboard is bare. No amount of coaching can make up for lack of talent. Just sit tight and be patient. We'll be great again -- it's inevitable. Fanbase, facilities, tradition -- it will happen.
November 20th, 2009 at 1:35 AM ^
Was the 'Cuse last year. Or before. I think GERG is a good coach but it's certainly a possibility that the difference in 1at to 2nd half is related to coaching. Then again maybe it's just that the offense has sucked in the second half. How many points have scored in th scored in second halves?
November 19th, 2009 at 11:46 PM ^
Must be OUR coaches that are destroying the guys confidence at halftime. Certainly can't have anything to do with the coaches on the OTHER side figuring out "hey, if we just throw it over the middle, they can't stop us..." Yeah, definitely couldn't be that because only one team is allowed to make halftime adjustments...
November 19th, 2009 at 11:56 PM ^
Right?
November 19th, 2009 at 11:48 PM ^
“What’s going on there? How can they look good for the first half and look like a MAC team in the second half?” a source asked us. “I just don’t get it. Do the coaches go into the locker room and rip the kids apart so they have no confidence? Do they try to change their scheme so much that they have them confused? What is it? I don’t get it.”
its easy to make adjustments to what we're doing with kovacs/williams...its not easy to recruit better safties at half time.
November 19th, 2009 at 11:53 PM ^
but the guys over at rivals seem to be leaning towards the anti-RR crowd. reading that would make you think there's good players on the defense that are being misused, that's simply not the case.
November 19th, 2009 at 11:57 PM ^
from OSU people. What do you want them to say?
Every week Rivals gets comments from people that follow the opponent for that week.
November 20th, 2009 at 12:07 AM ^
...pacing the sidelines while the defense was on the field. Honestly, it is shocking how far removed he is from the defense. I don't think he spoke twenty words to Greg Robinson during the game. And, RR was as unhappy as I have ever seen him. I didn't travel to Champaign, so I can't speak to that one. Seriously, his only contact with the defense was to encourage them when they came off the field. He clearly wanted them to do better, and wanted to fire them up and pick them up if he could, but this defense is just so totally Greg Robinson's deal, it is amazing to me. I'm with Mr. Anonymous Expert, inasmuch as I cannot figure out how a defense with Brandon Graham, Warren and Woolfolk, Martin and Van Bergen, and StevieBrown2.0, gives up 500 yards a game like it was nothing. This is a defense with some holes, to be sure, but there are some serious players on this defense too. 500 yds a game x about 5 games in a row is what happens to no-name small-school opponents in the Big Ten. Not defenses with players like we have. I don't get it. I have nothing against Greg Robinson whatsoever. I have no idea what it is that he does every day, and he has no doubt forgotten more about being a DC than I shall ever know. I just don't see how it is that we can simply try to add a few freshmen and redshirt faces on this defense, and, without Graham and Brown, expect to have an acceptable defense in 2010.
November 20th, 2009 at 12:09 AM ^
with your last sentence. I don't see next years defense being very good either. Unless the light goes on for a number of guys (be it returning starters or young guys who aren't seeing the field right now), I see the defense being another huge liability next year.
November 20th, 2009 at 12:18 AM ^
RichRod has made his name as an offensive innovator, and he's clearly done a decent job with the offense. However, it's well known that he is very hands-off in his dealings with the defense. Even so, I'm surprised that he has such limited communication with the defensive personnel and coaches. The head coach, by definition, should have an idea of what's happening on the field at all times, offensively and defensively. If Rich Rodriguez can't put the same emphasis on defense as other top HCs (Carroll and Tressel are both heavily involved in their teams' defenses for example), then he should at least hire some competent position coaches to make the defensive decisions for him, because clearly Gibson and Hopson don't have clue.
November 20th, 2009 at 7:32 AM ^
if carroll and tressel are both "heavily" involved in the defenses, doesn't that mean they are only mildly paying attention to the offenses? you can't be heavily involved in two areas or three, it would have to be even.
successful managers delegate to and away from their strengths. RR has always been known as an offensive mind, why would you want him spending time trying to coordinate the defense when clearly that is not his strength?
November 20th, 2009 at 12:19 AM ^
You listed six guys of which only one is going to be a first round pick. Warren might go by the middle rounds if he left this year and maybe Martin could develop into a mid rounder as well. Besides those listed there are six other guys who aren't very good and/or experienced. When half your D sucks and there is little or no depth, 500 yards per game makes a lot of sense. It's painful to watch, but it makes a lot of sense.
November 20th, 2009 at 12:54 AM ^
They see five guys they can exploit and go after them.
I suspect it's indirectly one of the reasons we've been burned on all out blitzes so often. Opposing offensive coordinators know we are likely to blitz. If you were GERG, what would you do? Roll the dice on (perhaps too many) all out blitzes or just sit back and watch the opposing QB & five skill players versus our five holes?
November 20th, 2009 at 12:52 AM ^
If we nabbed a high profile DC with *proven* track record, would our D be worse off next season? I'm not sayin', I'm just asking the question.
November 20th, 2009 at 9:49 AM ^
Yes we would be worse off. The numbers might be similar but there wouldn't be any improvement because of having to learn a new system. Just like this year...
I still think Gerg deserves credit for his Macgyver- esque bubble gum and shoelaces effort to hold water in a sieve. The personnel last year was much better with more experience.
November 20th, 2009 at 12:02 AM ^
Filed under "Things that are obvious:"
sky is blue
sun is yellow
Michigan's defense is bad
Don't really need outside observers to point it out...
November 20th, 2009 at 12:27 AM ^
this is why insider information is complete BS. They state the obvious and get money shots from "unnamed" sources.
In other words, who cares. Greg Robinson has a better resume than most DCs, so other coaches can be captain obvious and feed the Yahoo/ News Corp machine.
November 20th, 2009 at 7:34 AM ^
I was hoping that RR would hire someone like Will Muschamp, but Gerg needs another season before we can make a final judgement.
November 20th, 2009 at 8:50 AM ^
and your membership card is ready to be picked up genius. The defense has been questionable this year? You don't say.