Staff believes Benny is back in the fold, WMU LB a likely transfer
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
December 18th, 2020 at 7:29 AM ^
Benny Feilhaber?
Benny the Bull?
buh buh buh Benny and the Jets??
December 18th, 2020 at 8:55 AM ^
I’m glad I’m not the only one confused. Ben Mason? I’ve never heard him referred to as so before.
December 18th, 2020 at 9:19 AM ^
Rayshaun Benny. 4* DT out of Oak Park. Currently committed to MSU.
December 18th, 2020 at 10:12 AM ^
Is it wrong that my favorite version of that song is biz markie and the beastie boys?
Dude is so drunk singing and playing the piano that it just works.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OIcyI6iHK-Y
Cheers.
December 18th, 2020 at 10:19 AM ^
Haha. That's so good.
Side note, I watched Rocketman a few weeks ago. Highly recommend.
December 18th, 2020 at 7:34 AM ^
Yeah, of course they don’t know how to win. Teams that know how to win play with their heads out of their asses on the road and show up for Bowl Games. That’s on the head coach, who we’re stuck with. So hopefully this sacrifice of Don Brown, Nua and Shoop does the trick. Modernizing the recruiting department would be nice as well. Just some sort of defined change since we’re not getting the one the program needs.
December 18th, 2020 at 8:36 AM ^
Hey, our 2 wins were on the road, so there's that
December 18th, 2020 at 8:37 AM ^
Exactly. Not knowing how to win has been a program issue since at least Rich Rod. You’d they’d have learned something after think 6 years of Harbaugh...
December 18th, 2020 at 7:37 AM ^
Staff believes Benny is back in the fold
Excellent, we need some big bodies in the middle.
WMU LB a likely transfer
Wait why do we need more LBs? We already have...4-star sophomore Jaylen Harrell (#294), junior Anthony Solomon (#223), seniors Cam McGrone if back (#118), BVS (#624), and Michael Barrett (#751), and RS Senior Josh Ross (#211). That doesn't even mention true freshman Junior Colson (#95) and true sophomore Kalel Mullings (#152) next year or second year players Nikhai Hill-Green, Will Mohan, Cornell Wheeler or 2021 true freshman Jaydon Hood or Tyler McLaurin. That's a lot of bodies.
December 18th, 2020 at 8:00 AM ^
Maybe they’re switching to a 3-4?
In all seriousness, that is a bit of a concern. The staff has neglected the CB and DT depth and have overstocked on the LB position.
December 18th, 2020 at 8:51 AM ^
Could have used some of that LB stock while trotting out a walk-on and with Ross really struggling to play zone.
December 18th, 2020 at 8:18 AM ^
Michael Barret is not a traditional LB. Hell he did what Hudson did, disappeared after playing Minnesota. I like Barret, but he is just too small, and teams like Wisconsin, Penn St, Indiana, MSU and Iowa have killed the viper position when we play them. We have to go more traditional. All those guys are young and need some seasoning. Remember they will still be freshman next year, and they probably aren't all coming back.
December 18th, 2020 at 8:27 AM ^
Hell he did what Hudson did, disappeared after playing Minnesota. I like Barret, but he is just too small, and teams like Wisconsin, Penn St, Indiana, MSU and Iowa have killed the viper position when we play them.
That's a good point. If Brown is gone the VIPER might also be gone. Peppers, Hudson, & now Barrett's role won't exist. He's probably not fast enough for safety or big enough for a 3-4 scheme. It will be interesting to see how it pans out. We still have plenty of LBs, but some are on the small side, but still plenty of guys in the 225-250 pound range.
Ross - 230
Barrett - 227 actually bigger than I thought
Solomon - 212
Wheeler - 231
BVS - 253
Hill-Green - 225
McGrone - 236
Ojabo listed as a LB - 250
Harrell listed as a DL - 235
Colson - 228
Hood - 212
Mullings - 233
December 18th, 2020 at 8:48 AM ^
Not necessarily true. Quite a few teams use the HSP position in their defense. Michigan could theoretically bring in a DC that utilizes a similar position that has a role for those guys. Even if it isn’t an every down basis, pretty much every team HAS that role now in modern football. It’s almost NECESSARY at this point.
December 18th, 2020 at 9:14 AM ^
Barrett is listed at 6’, 227.
I don’t think he’s too small to play Viper. I think you need a better athlete if you’re going to have a Viper, and frankly, I’m not convinced that this isn’t another in the list of things opposing OC’s have figured out.
That position is a lot like QB in RR’s offense. There just isn’t a lot of margin for error if you have an inferior player manning the position.
December 18th, 2020 at 9:39 AM ^
WMU linebacker is REALLY good.
If he is better than guys in the two-deep, then get him. I mean, we all want Michigan to get back to winning, right?
Proven really good football players help win games.
December 18th, 2020 at 7:42 AM ^
I wonder what Tim Banks thinks about this.
December 18th, 2020 at 7:45 AM ^
Sounds like we reached the nadir of news flow on the defense - looking forward to winning the offseason AND the '21 season.
December 18th, 2020 at 8:01 AM ^
Fun fact/short story...my old man played at NMU in the late 60's when Lloyd Carr was the QB there for a year. Him and I have always religiously watched MI football games together, until last year when he couldn't take it anymore. He is beyond frustrated with the OSU games (who isn't), but more so he is frustrated with what he claims is a lack of effort by some of the players and coaches. We watched the 2019 WI game where if you remember they scored on basically every drive, then our QB got lit up by a cheap shot, and the OL is walking around, no one rushes to help Dylan up, or confront the WI defender. After that game my dad said something along the lines of "back in my day you could pull 20-30 guys out of a bar and get more effort in a pick up game than what we just watched." I pretty much laughed it off as an old man giving the typical "back in my day" story, but if a young player like Velazquez is "very frustrated with the way the team fought" thats pretty damn telling, and I may just have to swallow my pride and tell the old man he was right.
December 18th, 2020 at 8:40 AM ^
We could all see it on the field. This team quit in the MSU game and never bothered to show up the rest of the year.
December 18th, 2020 at 9:53 AM ^
Yes a 3 point loss is "quitting". A 3OT comeback win is "quitting".
I mean I'm upset at how they played too but the only game the team truly quit on was that debacle against Wisconsin.
December 18th, 2020 at 11:02 AM ^
Neither MSU nor Rutgers had any business being anywhere even remotely close in score in those games. So yes, to me that's our team not bothering to show up.
December 18th, 2020 at 8:55 AM ^
Caveat: Grown sons should always tell their fathers that he was right.
December 18th, 2020 at 8:59 AM ^
For sure. The defensive effort in this year's Wisc game was appalling. It was THE most pathetic effort I have seen from a Michigan defense and I have been watching since the mid 70's.
December 18th, 2020 at 10:26 AM ^
Whether your dad is right or not, tell him he is right. It will be best Christmas present he gets this year.
December 18th, 2020 at 8:07 AM ^
By the way as someone who follows WMU football that kid is one hell of a linebacker. It would be a good get, Our line backing play this year also took a step back,
December 18th, 2020 at 8:10 AM ^
Hayward is actually an amazing pickup. I find it odd he just wouldn't go to the NFL. Not every day you can pick up an all-american and mac player of the year via the transfer route.
December 18th, 2020 at 8:14 AM ^
It is going to be an interesting offseason. I imagine we will have a lot of stuff to discuss on the Board.
I like Brown. He can coach when he has the horses but the way they recruited has been a huge miss. I hope we can get Benny and find and land a few more CB/DT prospects to help us get the defense back on track sooner rather than later.
December 18th, 2020 at 12:46 PM ^
Julian Barnett, MSU CB from Belleville, is in the portal. Is he worthwhile?
December 18th, 2020 at 8:14 AM ^
Dude you are getting good at this posting thing. only one set of initials, but the name was already written great job, and thanks for the info. Does anyone know if the LB is good?
December 18th, 2020 at 8:15 AM ^
Thanks for the info sir. Going to dip out of here before the mouth breathing starts.
December 18th, 2020 at 9:01 AM ^
That's odd. By the looks of your avatar, it would seem you would want to stick around for a bit.
December 18th, 2020 at 11:56 AM ^
Intent to deceive bud.
December 18th, 2020 at 8:22 AM ^
Looking back, that was the beginning. Don Brown’s defenses at UM have long struggled in the Red Zone. They did a nice job in that 2016 game, but then the questionable penalty on Hill kept the tying drive alive, then once it hit OT, 2 touchdowns given up in 2 possessions. Since then? They forced a FG attempt in the 2017 game, but then no FGs in 2018 or in 2019.
The antithesis of “bend but don’t break.”
December 18th, 2020 at 8:50 AM ^
I also think that Brown's defenses would do better in the early aughts or the 90's; mainly due to rules changes. We had more than one game where some guy got ejected for a targeting call.
I'm not saying this is bad, per se. I don't want kids to get injured. More that it's an older school philosophy that won't work if you can't be that violent.
December 18th, 2020 at 8:29 AM ^
Thanks for the info, GoJ - your stuff is gold!
I'm very disappointed to hear a young guy say the team doesn't fight. I mean, we see it on the field, but to hear it from a player is just ugly. But I don't think any of us can be surprised by this! We all know that teams largely follow the personality of their head coach - the guy that sets the example. And, since 2017, Harbaugh has been the kinder, gentler version of John Beilein. He simply has not been the Jim MF'in Harbaugh we knew from 1984-2016.
Maybe a handful of new assistants can change that?
December 18th, 2020 at 8:39 AM ^
Part of it is the coach, but it’s not everything.
I can’t help but imagine what it was like for some of the more highly touted players to be standing on the sidelines watching AJ Shibley man the middle of the defense. I’m not entirely against walk-ons playing; but it’s typically a guy whose athletic ability is limiting but he’s the smartest player on the field. He gets where he needs to because he reacts a split second before a faster guy would, like Jordan Kovacs would sometimes do.
And whomever has contacts with current players, try to get a feel for the reaction to Milton over McCaffrey and then the reaction once McCaffrey decided to sit out. Were players as surprised as fans were that McNamara was so evidently better than Milton as fans were in that Rutgers game? Or were they standing on the sidelines looking at each other like, “Yep, we were right!”
December 18th, 2020 at 11:35 AM ^
Pretty sure it was the collective group of players who wanted Milton to play over McCaffrey.....hes known as a great teammate and imagine the wow sessions in practice...
December 18th, 2020 at 8:48 AM ^
Half kidding, but the “human fight machine” aka Will Muschamp is looking for a job.
December 18th, 2020 at 9:19 AM ^
He just got a check for $21M. That is spelled $21,000,000,000.00... Not sure he's looking for a job as a DC with an underperforming team 1000 miles from his home stomping grounds...
Though he would be a good hire...
December 18th, 2020 at 9:22 AM ^
Your long-form number accidentally represents billions, with a ‘b’.
December 18th, 2020 at 10:11 AM ^
Oh, dear god... LOL!!!
Umm, I meant that! Yeah, its comic relief!
December 18th, 2020 at 10:21 AM ^
Dude got paid!
December 18th, 2020 at 11:57 AM ^
Are you confusing Gus Malzahn with Will Muschamp?
SoCar didn’t pay WM $21M did they?
December 18th, 2020 at 6:23 PM ^
Actually, $15,378,750.
December 18th, 2020 at 8:42 AM ^
We need Linebackers just as bad as any position group on the defense. Overall I think they were the worse postion group on the defense this year, always out of position
December 18th, 2020 at 8:55 AM ^
Not really. Linebackers were bad this year in part because they were hit with injuries. McGrone was playing with a cast before he even missed any games and was replaced by a walk-on.
We HAVE depth at linebacker. The issue this season was that they were pretty much all freshmen or undersized rush specialists. Now we’re adding two more top 250 (including a top 100) linebackers to the mix.
So adding some top talent to the group we already have that will all be a year older and more experienced, and linebacker play isn’t nearly the issue we saw last year.
December 18th, 2020 at 12:49 PM ^
How many times was a Michigan LB out of position or take a bad angle and we were left watching a RB getting chunk yardage? I kept thinking that Ross and McGrone kept telling us they were the best LB combo in the B1G, yet their play on the field never showed it.
December 18th, 2020 at 1:00 PM ^
Depth???? McGrone got hurt and we were playing a Walk-On...that is the opposite of depth. We have bodies at the LB position, but the team is lacking with competent players at the position who are ready to play significant snaps.