DT (0-1 Tech) Options for week 2
Everyone is enjoying the sigh of relief upon the news that Bryan Mone wont be out for the season, but it does sound like he will be out for a few weeks (see here).
My question to the board is (and Mods feel free to delete this if you think this topic should have been under the Injury Timlines post... just thought this was a slightly different conversation):
What is Michigan's best option for NT depth for week 2? How I see it:
1. Move Mo Hurst over to play NT. We know how that went last year but the difference would be he's not on an island at that position, so to speak. Glasgow still takes the majority of snaps and the drop off is relatively minimal.
2. Make Onwenu a NT for the time being due to depth needs. This option captializes on Hurst being better utilized as a 3 tech and allows for those times when we want to bounce Wormley out to SDE. Downside is playing a true freshman at NT where some seasoning is the best case scenario.
3. Get creative with some different packages that maybe don't leverage a 0-1 Tech quite as much. (MOAR RASHAN GARY!!!)
4. Something else?
What does the board think?
September 6th, 2016 at 10:29 AM ^
September 6th, 2016 at 10:36 AM ^
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September 6th, 2016 at 11:07 AM ^
Normally I agree, but Don Brown seems to like to do some stuff with the NT too. I noticed some stuff where the NT would be lined up a gap away from where they would ultimately attack, with a LB filling behind them to the gap they lined up over.
UCF is an uptempo team, so I think not knowing the playbook front to back will limit Onwenu and the defense as a result when he's on the field. But, like you said, if you can get him to just demand a double team every snap, that's plenty good enough.
September 6th, 2016 at 11:24 AM ^
September 6th, 2016 at 6:04 PM ^
I just want to see a video of him opening up his defensive playbook folder and inside it is just a blank piece of computer paper that has "Fuck Up The Center" written in gatorade.
September 6th, 2016 at 10:36 AM ^
September 6th, 2016 at 11:02 AM ^
Dwumfor had to leave the field himself with what looked like a shoulder injury late in the 4th qtr. Hopefully he's ok (stinger?) and can add some depth there. I agree, Glasgow is in the "keep in bubble wrap" category until Mone comes back.
September 6th, 2016 at 12:51 PM ^
To the OP's remark about Hurst, I thought he did very well when he was rotating in. He only struggled when Glasgow was out and he had to play most of the snaps.
September 6th, 2016 at 10:52 AM ^
I think we'll see a heavy dose of Big Mike at the nose over the next few weeks as Mone gets healthy. He probably won't get a ton of penetration but can definitely swallow up double teams and hold his ground at that size, which is really what you need in the middle of the line.
September 6th, 2016 at 11:57 AM ^
Heaviest guy on the team by 50 pounds? Only one position truly demands planet sized humans: NT.
September 6th, 2016 at 12:19 PM ^
I see it.
September 6th, 2016 at 2:30 PM ^
I'm not sure it was even intentional?!
September 6th, 2016 at 10:30 AM ^
The solution to all depth issues
September 6th, 2016 at 10:31 AM ^
I like the idea of him being the immovable object on the field.
September 6th, 2016 at 10:36 AM ^
For the real technical people out there? I saw him on a few plays but really didn't notice much.
September 6th, 2016 at 10:41 AM ^
September 6th, 2016 at 11:04 AM ^
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September 6th, 2016 at 11:11 AM ^
Not a technical person, but I did see him get in the QB's face, get a hand up in the throwing lane, and generally harass the QB. The INT that got called back because of the ridiculous roughing the passer call was a result of his pressure. I thought he contributed to the errant throw a few plays later that resulted in the Stribling pick six too. He had a few good plays on the goal line series at the half too if I remember right.
He also got a hands to the face penalty and gave up the edge on a zone read where he crashed hard down the LOS and let the RB outside of him (although he impressively chased down the play and got in on the tackle).
September 6th, 2016 at 12:13 PM ^
Turning your body obviously isn't good, but if Rashan were to completely plug one hole and it was a run, hopefully our LB will read the run and fill that hole to make the play.
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September 6th, 2016 at 5:01 PM ^
True, but Gary is playing DE rather than the interior this year. (At least, according to what Brown was saying before the season started.)
September 6th, 2016 at 11:37 AM ^
With the caveat that I don't know what his responsibilities were on any given play, I saw him lose contain on a couple plays.
Hopefully someone will correct me if I'm wrong... On this play he completely turns his body to squeeze that C gap and then completely loses contain, which seems 100% wrong?
September 6th, 2016 at 11:46 AM ^
I watched Gary closely on several snaps and he seemd slow off the snap. Maybe the other guys were anticipating the snap count and he wasn't? I was just surprised because it made him look a step slower to get into the play.
It will be interesting to see if that continues. Or maybe I just chose the wrong play to isolate on Rashan!?
September 6th, 2016 at 12:12 PM ^
He's still a freshman. This is his floor. It is an extremely high floor and his ceiling is gigantic. We shouldn't have expected him to come in and be our best defensive player on day 1. He's 18. Soon he will be living in backfields and destroying QBs with regularity.
September 6th, 2016 at 6:21 PM ^
FWIW, I certainly don't expect Gary to set the world on fire this year. But it would be disappointing if he wasn't a contributor (he will be). I love how he plays and have no doubt he'll be very good to great.
I was just surprised to see him consistently slow off the snap. But I didn't watch him all the time. And maybe that's just not his strength.
My guess is that he's being extremely responsible and doesn't want to jump offsides. It will be interesting to see how he does next week. I'm going to make it a point to watch him along with some others for comparison.
September 7th, 2016 at 9:53 AM ^
It was about 50% of the time. I wonder if he's coached to watch the ball on some snaps and the OL across from him on others, depending on the defensive line call. I noticed a couple other guys occasionally doing this too (Taco, Wormley).
September 6th, 2016 at 12:26 PM ^
He looked solid. I agree he seemed to get grabbed often, but with how they call holding I guess he wasn't.
Anyone notice that lineman are allowed to reach around a defensive player and basically hold the guy, but seem to get away with it since they don't grab jersey. basically they use a reverse choke with one hand.
September 6th, 2016 at 2:56 PM ^
played from at least 3 different positions on the line and even dropped to cover RB in the flat one play. When he was inside, near the end of the first half - he split the center and RG only to be tackled by someone ... with of course no holding call. He immediately sought out the a ref to let them know what had happened to him. He also was involved in plays down the field - so even if his technical stats didn't impress last week - he will be seeing the field a lot in the future.
Go Blue!
September 6th, 2016 at 10:37 AM ^
September 6th, 2016 at 10:39 AM ^
UCF will be running a lot of tempo too, so it would be nice to have some fresh legs available. I think big Mike is the obvious choice--didn't he play some NT against Hawaii?
September 6th, 2016 at 10:39 AM ^
Maybe Big Mike could play NT in the first half and OG in the second?
September 6th, 2016 at 10:49 AM ^
At one point before the game, I had a brief chance to be just close enough to Onwenu that you could appreciate what a massive human being he is. Indeed, in some conferences, he could probably BE the line on either side, and he might be able to do that here yet because he is that big, at least in my opinion. OK, that's exaggeration, but it is the reason why I am also interested to see more of him on either side of the ball, just to see how versatile he is.
September 6th, 2016 at 10:43 AM ^
Recall the buzz several weeks ago when a video clip of Onwenu in practice surfaced showing him playing DT and blowing up both an OL and the poor RB who was in the area? That experimentation led to the real possibility that Onwenu can be a real option to plug the middle at the NT if need be. Imagine if he continues to learn the position; and then when the toughest part of our schedule kicks in and if either Mone or Glasgow aren't 100%, we could bring him in there and really disrupt JT Barrett's ability to find run lanes up the middle.
September 6th, 2016 at 4:26 PM ^
I am imagining a GIF of that occuring where Onwenu is pacman.
The ball is snapped and it goes to PAC MAN eats bad guys flashing mode.
Then have him just swallow the Center and JT Barrett and cut to "Game Over, You Won!".
September 6th, 2016 at 10:46 AM ^
Did anyone notice Rashan's timing on the snaps? He was delayed about a half second compared with the rest of the line. I'm wondering if that was a true freshman thing, a planned strategy to see which way his blocker went, or something else. On the one play where he covered the HB, it worked out well because he had plenty of time to read the tailback and cover.
September 6th, 2016 at 10:52 AM ^
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September 6th, 2016 at 10:49 AM ^
September 6th, 2016 at 10:51 AM ^
September 6th, 2016 at 10:53 AM ^
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September 6th, 2016 at 11:13 AM ^
Onwenu, I think, makes sense. He would be a space eater. He's not probably at this point the playmaker that Mone can be but if he can hold his ground and draw double teams, I think that works.
September 6th, 2016 at 11:17 AM ^
September 6th, 2016 at 11:26 AM ^
September 6th, 2016 at 12:09 PM ^
Thanks. I'm trying to up my post game this season. Add some depth to my usually childish snark and overuse of other people's jokes (cant do X until we beat... you get the idea).
September 6th, 2016 at 12:45 PM ^