Staff believes Benny is back in the fold, WMU LB a likely transfer

Submitted by GhostofJermain… on December 18th, 2020 at 6:59 AM

Matt Dudek and some of the current defensive staff believe they have Benny back in the fold.  Additionally, they have already been in contact with WMU's Treshaun Hayward (I believe Treshaun family actually reached out to Michigan to get the ball rolling) and it sounds like it's more of an admission issue than anything else, but he is also likely coming.

PS:  All of the players are back home, spoke to Joey Velazquez last night, both him and Eric All believe Don Brown is gone, but they have not been told that directly.  JV is very frustrated with the way the team fought this year.  "It's like we don't know how to win".  He is now preparing for baseball, and says there is no chance he quits or transfers, even if DB is fired.   

Cheers

Robbie Moore

December 18th, 2020 at 10:15 AM ^

The 2016 defense? Brady Hoke recruits. Or Greg Mattison recruits. I believe Don Brown could coach at a championship level if he could recruit good enough players to execute his defense against the better teams. But he couldn't recruit better than the lower half of the P5 with the occasional underrecruited gem like Paye and Uche. You want to play press man coverage against Ohio State? Better have corners like Long, Hill and Lewis.

Joined: 12/01/2008

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My Name is LEGIONS

December 18th, 2020 at 11:25 AM ^

After you see the front seven we have, imagine the disgust Mattison had, to see these smallish players come into the program and replace the players he and Hoke pulled in, while still being passed over to be DC, and stuck as DL coach.     Hindsight 20/20... leave Mattison as DC, or make him co-DC and bring up a guy like Partridge...  sounds better to me...

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carolina blue

December 18th, 2020 at 7:42 AM ^

 I think he works with the right players. His system worked until our CB and D-line talent dried up. We allowed half the defense to go bad talent-wise. 
 

you could argue that it’s Don Browns responsibility to adapt to that, and you’d have a valid point. I’m just saying I don’t think his coaching/coordinating ability suddenly went south. I think that stayed the same. His available talent did. 

Joined: 02/12/2014

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Blau

December 18th, 2020 at 8:03 AM ^

So who’s in charge of restocking the defensive cupboard so to speak? 

Sure, we’ve had a few guys transfer or drop out but the positional recruiting deficit needed to be addressed like 2-3 years ago.
 

Maybe there just wasn’t enough 3* recruits in the greater Boston metropolitan area to make it work?

Joined: 01/23/2014

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crg

December 18th, 2020 at 8:51 AM ^

I think Don Brown is a great coach from an X and O perspective.

I think Don Brown is great at finding "diamond in the rough" recruits.

I think Don Brown is horrible at recruiting "Blue Chip" guys... probably because he wasn't accustomed to pulling guys away from other power programs at his previous stops.

Maybe instead of "firing" him we allow him to "semi-retire" and still work for us as a recruiting specialist in the NorthEast?

Joined: 04/30/2015

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Blau

December 18th, 2020 at 12:45 PM ^

Not sure I agree with your Blue Chip assertion.

That's like saying because someone worked at a fast food restaurant and then got a job Morton's Steakhouse will keep trying to make Big Macs because that's what they're used to even though they have a the resources to make a quality burger. I don't buy it. 

Now I'm hungry. 

Joined: 01/23/2014

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Toby Flenderson

December 18th, 2020 at 8:11 AM ^

I think he really underestimated how important having very good/elite athletes were to his scheme, given the lack luster recruiting. In 2016, it is easy to run this sort of high-pressure defense when you have an 8-deep rotation on the line, a generational talent at Viper, and Jourdan Lewis and Channing Stribling as your corners. In 2018, you were able to run this high-pressure type defense when 2016 recruits (who came in before Don Brown came on board) like Rashan Gary, Devin Bush, David Long, and Khaleke Hudson are on the field.

However, we saw in the OSU game, that this type of defense can be taken advantage of, even with solid/good talent. Brandon Watson was actually a really good corner, who could jam a receiver at the tine of scrimmage and had great technique. However, when you put him against NFL/elite speed, he was no match. Instead of adjusting his scheme or recruiting strategy, he double-downed on this, by recruiting corners without elite speed and continuing to put Vincent Gray on an island.

Joined: 01/16/2012

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Wolverine 73

December 18th, 2020 at 8:38 AM ^

Brown seemed great until Ohio State showed how to exploit his defenses.  He never was able to adjust  to counter how they attacked him.  Really good coordinators are constantly adjusting, and they tailor their defenses to the talent they actually have, not what they wish they had.  And good coaching can make up for a talent deficit, as we see yearly from the Wisconsin team, among others.

Joined: 08/03/2009

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1VaBlue1

December 18th, 2020 at 8:15 AM ^

Completely agree with you - I've been saying the same thing till I'm blue in the face!  Give him a competent DT group and two shutdown corners (or at least 1, GG is able on the other side), and his defense is again a top 5 affair.  Problem is that he doesn't have those, and his base scheme can't cover for them - as we've seen.

That said, I do have to blame him for the lack of DTs and CBs.  As the guy in charge of defense - and lets be perfectly clear about this, Harbaugh put him in charge of defense and walked away from it - it his his responsibility, 100% no questions, to ensure that he has the personnel to run his defense.  He failed at that, he failed the team and he failed himself.  The defensive debacle that was 2020 football is directly on him.

Now, if the portal could be counted on to magically deliver two capable DT's and a true press man shutdown corner (or two), I'd be all for bringing him back.  But it ain't happening...

Joined: 01/31/2016

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outsidethebox

December 18th, 2020 at 8:26 AM ^

The rules clearly favor the offense. The poison that comes with press man coverage against today's offenses is too much for any defense to over come. I love "aggression" but aggression without deception and imagination is fools gold. The lack of adjustment is inexcusable. The talent going to the NFL declares that recruiting is fine-the coaching is not. You have to have both to attain elite status. Michigan is 3/4 of the way there on recruiting and less than 1/2 way there on coaching. This leaves you in no-mans land...a mediocre, second tier program. Good coaching with this roster has you challenging OSU every year. 

Penn State and Michigan are mirror images of each other. Wisconsin, Indiana, Northwestern and even Iowa have the coaching. Obviously OSU has both. 

Joined: 01/23/2017

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bluenectarine

December 18th, 2020 at 8:41 AM ^

I'm bored with hearing about DTs (Hinton, Jeter, Smith) and CBs (Green, Gray, etc.). I doubt that Indy, NW, MSU, WHiskey, Iowa, etc....have any better DTs and CBs than us CURRENTLY (let alone prior years when DB still got torched against good teams)...yet they still are OK defensively if not good...why? because our scheme blows...simple...we get players drafted all the time, its not the players...its the coaching scheme....yes, he sucks as a recruiter but do not for a minute think its only or mostly that!

Joined: 06/29/2012

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Toby Flenderson

December 18th, 2020 at 8:43 AM ^

I think it is both a scheme and a talent deficiency. Listen, I think Vincent Gray can improve, but his athleticism makes his ceiling quite unbreakable. I think Michigan needs a change in the scheme, but also stronger recruiting emphasis on getting corners who can run, and game changing Defensive Tackles. Michigan's 2017 defense was incredible because we had Mo Hurst leading the charge in the middle, blowing up anything coming down the center. Glasgow in 2016 literally was a brick wall, helping wormley and taco get to the QB.

Scheme and talent is the key here. 

Joined: 01/16/2012

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Ghost of Fritz…

December 18th, 2020 at 9:34 AM ^

My 2 cents...

D Brown is an excellent DC.  Only excellent DCs get as many to ten Ds as he has produced over the years.

But...he really does not have an answer to deal with a year where he lacks the perfect fit guys in two position groups--DTs and CBs. 

When you have a 'roster gap' year--a year where certain guys really are not capable or not yet ready to do the very things that your style of D must have in order to work--DCs should adjust, come off of their ideal style of D, and teach the kind of D that the roster can actually play at least o.k.  I did not see that happen.  

I guess one could fault Brown as a recruiter.  Thus, why did M end up with two positon groups that are not capable of doing the very things that his base D must be able to do?  Maybe Brown not being a monster recruiter would work (could avoid roster gap years) if ALL of the D position group assistants are monster recruiters.  But right now not all of them are monster recruiters. 

In addition, Brown's base D is really not a good fit against the type of offense that OSU has run since JT Barrett graduated.  That does not make Brown a bad DC.  But it may mean that he is not the right DC for Michigan right now.  Michigan should always run, practice, and refine, whichever base D is most capable of limiting whatever OSU is doing on offense. 

Joined: 10/04/2014

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JFW

December 18th, 2020 at 8:46 AM ^

I don't think his defense is bad per se. It is highly reliant on good corners and alot of speed. Give Done Brown LaVert Hill, Ambry Thomas, Dax, Wino, Gary, and Mo Hurst and you're goign to see a defense that's hellacious on most offenses. He's also switched around alot of things. 

But we lost Solomon, Ambry, a good chuck of the '17 class in fact... and he doesn't have the tools he once did. Also, to a certain extent OC's figured out that if he doesn't have uber corners if their QB's can get the ball off quickly it negates a big chunk of his D. 

Finally, for whatever reason I don't think he puts a ton of emphasis on recruiting stud D tackles; but that's just conjecture. 

I just remember many, many people talking about the Pep/Brown years and saying 'We need a Don Brown of the offense'. A couple blowouts later and it changes pretty quickly. But... people are fickle and football changes quickly. In the last 3 years we are 2-1 with MSU and lost a fairly close game this year with a ton of youth on our roster, to a rebuilding MSU team. But the two prior years were commanding wins over them. But people act like we suck vs. MSU when the 8 years prior to Harbaugh define sucking vs. MSU. 

But if I had a big complaint with Brown it's that his defense is too reliant on those key guys. To me it's like the spread. It lives and dies by it's QB. I can't remember a spread offense having any appreciable success with a game manager QB. In fact, get a game manager and they tend to crap the bed. I can remember UM being able to have a servicible offense with a Freshman Navarre. 

Joined: 10/20/2010

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Twitch

December 18th, 2020 at 11:37 PM ^

THIS!  Various film breakdowns have been written on Don Brown's defense and its never ceased to amaze me how often the narrator can identify the coverage presnap and how it never changes postsnap.  Don Brown is an aggressive version of Bo offense or Wisconsin offense: you know what we're doing, we know you know, just try and do anything about it.  Drives me absolutely insane.

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