Don Brown - Coaching Primer
I've had an interest in Don Brown for a while, and was happy to see his success over the course of the year. Needless to say, BC's last season on the scoreboard was a bit on the weird side. For instance, over the first six games, BC gave up 43 points, never more than 14 points, and were 3-3 in that span. They lost 14-0 and 3-0. Yeah, the defense I don't think was to blame.
Anyway, while I haven't been contributing much or blogging much lately (first child was born a couple weeks ago), I had a lot of this information already in the fold, which isn't normal for out of conference coaches.
So with that, here's my coaching primer on Coach Don Brown and his mustashe.
December 21st, 2015 at 6:00 PM ^
Congrats on the new family member! Thanks for doing this. Get some sleep.
December 21st, 2015 at 6:53 PM ^
Congratulations!
There is an infant "golden period" . . . the months between when your baby finally sleeps through the night and when (he's?) fully mobile that they never tell you about. Be sure to take advantage of it. It's wonderful.
During this time, he's like a brick . . . you put him down and he will stay there. Once he's fed and content, you can do anything. We used to go to fancy reataurants and just put my son in his detachable car seat on the table and have a nice dinner. He would just look around for a little bit then go to sleep.
Once they get mobile however, all hell breaks loose. It's hard to go anywhere with out you and your wife playing sound, aggressive, heads-up defense. It gets as tiring as defending an up-tempo spread in the 4th quarter.
Be sure to milk the "golden period" for all its worth when you can. Go out and do stuff. Later on you will not want to.
December 21st, 2015 at 6:57 PM ^
December 21st, 2015 at 9:20 PM ^
December 22nd, 2015 at 1:35 PM ^
Yep...
My oldest was walking months before he slept through the night, and you could never set him down anywhere.
December 21st, 2015 at 7:17 PM ^
It is a golden period (sorry you missed it Mabel!), but there are some risks to be aware of:
- Our oldest was so chill in his car seat that the back of his head was somewhat flattened (we were also terrified of crib death, rightly so, and had him sleep on his back until he could lift his head). Pediatrician said he saw a lot of this, due to parents leaving their infants in car seats.
- Same boy was in his car seat at about 11 months or so, on a beautiful spring day on an outdoor patio, while mom and I enjoyed the day and a beer. Then our boy projectile vomited a tapioca-like mixture of milk and rice onto himself and his doting parents. We're talking The Exorcist levels of barf. The sorority girls next to us were appalled and blathering about it, so I turned to them, smiled (barf still on my shirt), and said "my son really recommends the queso!".
December 21st, 2015 at 7:42 PM ^
December 21st, 2015 at 8:14 PM ^
Completely different in every way possible. Dumbest thing I've ever said is when the 2nd was born, "Seen it before, I've got this."
December 21st, 2015 at 10:18 PM ^
December 21st, 2015 at 6:00 PM ^
THanks... and congradulations on the whole baby thing!
December 21st, 2015 at 6:01 PM ^
Brown has improved every defense hes coached, so the thought of that with Michigan is pretty scary.
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December 21st, 2015 at 7:22 PM ^
December 21st, 2015 at 6:03 PM ^
December 21st, 2015 at 6:03 PM ^
December 21st, 2015 at 6:06 PM ^
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December 21st, 2015 at 6:06 PM ^
Nothing better than a healthy baby, especially near the holidays!
I've got a question for you (and Alumn96/Magnus/etc., if so inclined): Don Brown put up great numbers on defense, and looks like a great hire. But are his defensive stats somewhat inflated by the fact that BC's offense sucked ass?
To flesh it out, is there evidence that in some of the games BC was far behind and hardly daunting, so that the "smart play" when playing BC was to build a modest lead, and then step off the gas since BC's offense was as threatening as an enraged month-old pug puppy? On the theory that "Hell, if we don't give BC the ball in great field position, they're just going to give it right back to us, so not point in trying to throw through tight windows."
Just trying to get a sense of the yin-yang of the BC 2015 team. It's striking that their defense was FEI best, while the offense was nearly the worst via FEI.
December 21st, 2015 at 6:19 PM ^
I'm not Alumn96 nor Magnus nor any kind of football savant, but in my humble opinion I think the effect you describe (i.e. teams playing less aggressive offense due to BC's inept offense), assuming it exists, is offset by the fact that said bad BC offense couldn't stay on the field forcing the BC defense to defend a greater overall volume of snaps and likely poor field position. Despite this, the BC D rated well both in points and in yards metrics.
December 21st, 2015 at 6:20 PM ^
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December 21st, 2015 at 6:44 PM ^
December 21st, 2015 at 7:52 PM ^
December 21st, 2015 at 8:20 PM ^
December 22nd, 2015 at 12:24 PM ^
December 21st, 2015 at 6:06 PM ^
Nice write up. How would you grade the hire? Any realistic candidates you would have rather Michigan landed?
December 21st, 2015 at 6:37 PM ^
December 21st, 2015 at 6:07 PM ^
and thanks for the info!!
December 21st, 2015 at 6:07 PM ^
interesting that he went from hc at umass to dc at maryland....his umass record was pretty damn good so looks more like he was taking a crack at fbs as opposed to getting pushed out anywhere. seems like a guy that fbs discovered later in the game
December 21st, 2015 at 6:08 PM ^
December 21st, 2015 at 6:55 PM ^
December 21st, 2015 at 6:55 PM ^
December 21st, 2015 at 7:17 PM ^
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December 21st, 2015 at 6:12 PM ^
How do you see this impacting Peppers? Does he become a straight SS in Brown's defense?
It sounds like he's extremely versitile with the front 7...interested to see what you think he'll do with the personnel in the back 4 or 5 (outside the scheme's play 1 high vs. 2 high).
December 21st, 2015 at 6:35 PM ^
December 21st, 2015 at 6:54 PM ^
If that's in 2016, we just won't have enough LBs, IMO.
It'll be do you play Jared Wangler over Delano Hill? Because Peppers is going to be on the field.
I don't think you play Wangler over Hill.
December 21st, 2015 at 8:30 PM ^
IF Peppers move to safety, here are some things to consider...
- Nothing precludes Hill, Thomas, or another DB from converting to an OLB spot.
- Nothing precludes Winovich, Shallman or another TE-type from converting to defense.
- Nothing precludes Michigan from adding a serviceable grad transfer.
- The barriers to entry for a freshman contributor are lowered when everyone has to deal with a coaching/scheme change.
Michigan may not return a lot of experience at LB, but one would presume that Gedeon, McCray, and Furbush would lead the charge for playing time from returning linebackers (based on their contributions thusfar).
Wangler vs. Hill is not a useful way to frame the situation. One is an experienced starter who is likely to play in nickel packages (at the very least) and the other is a guy who has barely made a contribution on the field.
December 21st, 2015 at 11:13 PM ^
lol nothing precludes Jaylen Smith from pulling out of the NFL Draft and trasnferring to Michigan to play in 2017 either.
I mean jeez...if we're going to pull out all the "what ifs" just to make everything rosey, go for it, but I'm going to be a touch more realistic.
None of those options you listed screams "SOLUTION," IMO, it just sounds like you're moving your veggies to the other side of the plate.
I'm not saying we're going to be trash and I'm not freaking out like some...but I'm pretty sure if Wyatt Shallman was the solution, he'd already be playing LB.
December 21st, 2015 at 6:22 PM ^
With the roster we have and those bringing in, will there be a season or two of learning or will the scheme be somewhat similar. Follow up, who do you see as making a big impact next season?
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December 21st, 2015 at 6:34 PM ^
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December 21st, 2015 at 6:25 PM ^
December 21st, 2015 at 6:45 PM ^
December 23rd, 2015 at 6:03 AM ^
December 21st, 2015 at 6:28 PM ^
It'll be interesting to see what Brown does from a personnel standpoint. I think he's going to HAVE to repeat the defense we played this year (personnel wise). The exception would be ot move Charlton to the BUCK spot.
That gives you...
WDE: Charlton
NG: Glasgpw
DT: Henry
SDE: Wormley
LB: Gedeon
LB: ??????
NICK: Peppers
CB: Lewis
CB: Stribling
FS: Thomas
SS: Hill
----------------------------
However, it sound like we'll move to a...
SDE
DT
NG
WDE/SLB
ILB
ILB
WLB
CB
CB
FS
SS
...we just don't have the personnel for this in 2016.
December 21st, 2015 at 6:57 PM ^
SDE: Reuben Jones / Carlo Kemp
DT: Maurice Hurst
NG: Bryan Mone
WDE/SLB: Shelton Johnson / Lawerence Marshall / Ron Johnson
ILB: Devin Bush Jr.
ILB: Noah Furbush
WLB/Nickel: Jabrill Peppers (fingers crossed) / Jared Wangler
CB: Keith Washington
CB: Antwaine Richardson / Sir Patrick Scott
FS: Brian Cole
SS: Jabrill Peppers (fingers crossed) / Tyree Kinnel
Wheatley to SDE? #1 Recruiting class in the country in 2017? Best offseason improvement in school history? We will need it all.
...woof
December 21st, 2015 at 7:02 PM ^
Yikes that is scary thin. We can only hope that we get Gary, a linebacker, and either Khaleke Hudson or Jordan Fuller to play safety.
Gary turns that D-Line into at least a B+
Jonathan Jones would be nice to redshirt and have another option in 2017
Hudson to me is a project player with large upside
Fuller would play next year
David Long would be a bonus.
December 21st, 2015 at 7:20 PM ^
We'll need to be looking into some grad transfers, IMO. Either that or guys we'll need 2-3 guys to be on a Peppers level as freshman or RS freshman this year (in terms of impact ability).
Hopefully we get a bunch of young breakout players this upcoming year - however, with the experience ahead of them, they're not going to get as many snaps in 2016 as they normally would. For example, Antwaine Richardson could be really good...but with Lewis (and Stribling), he's not going to get as many reps as you'd like to prepare him for 2017. So really, you're going to go into that year with a lot of unknowns.
(BTW, that's not a depth chart - however, obviously if those are the names fighting for starting spots, the depth isn't great either)
December 21st, 2015 at 7:26 PM ^
I think the biggest takeaway from Don Brown is that he did what he did at BC with 0-3 star recruits. This tells me that 2017 may be rough for a few games but after gaining experience in the system the defense will come together. I think we will be able to evaluate better after this recruiting class finishes up. If we strike out on most of the bigger guys we will be in trouble, but if we land some of the big fish I think we will be fine. Do you agree?
December 21st, 2015 at 8:31 PM ^
I think with Harbaugh and Brown, there will be a plan and we'll put something together. It just won't be an elite defense like we had for 3/4 of this year and we should have for most of next year.
That said, we should be able to find guys who can get stops.
Finishing out this class with guys like Gary, Jones/Jackson, Long/Hill is a must.
Next year, we're going to have go heavy on the defense, but that really shouldn't be relied on for 2017. So I'd like to see us look at some grad transfers, especially at LB and CB. We'll have enough comp at DE to find a legit starter. No question about it.
The issue at LB is we don't even have the bodies right now. Same with CB.
I'm praying Furbush turns into Jake Ryan and Bush is Ian Gold. That's our only hope right now at the LB spot. McCray's health can't be trusted and he hasn't done mush when healthy. Wangler hasn't been mentioned since he arrived.
December 22nd, 2015 at 10:21 AM ^
And it does look bad. However, I think that college football teams almost always look bad somewhere when you look two years down the road.
So, I don't think it's that bad. Maybe see where things were at the end 2013? I haven't had time to do that but how scary would 2015 have looked in December 2013?
December 21st, 2015 at 6:55 PM ^
Between
Allen Gant (undersized, but should be fast since he used to be a safety)
Mike McCray (dealing with injuries for awhile)
Noah Furbush (Freak Athlete, might not have the head yet)
Jared Wangler (A smart player, limited athlete)
We should have two serviceable linebackers without the need to play any Freshman, however, I can see them giving at least one guy significant playing time.
Devin Bush would be the most likely to play, followed by Johnson who should redshirt, and then Devin Gil who is probably a guaranteed redshirt.
December 21st, 2015 at 7:00 PM ^
And we'll need to hit on this freshman and RS freshman that year. Could be rough.
As for next year, you're correct...but with the DL, I still don't think you take one of those guys off the field and add another LB just to run your scheme.
Playing any guy you mentioned over Willie Henry and Chris Wormley would be a crime. Hell, I wouldn't play any of those guys over Taco next year.