Two starters are for sure, Ruiz and Bredeson. Big Mike could easily be replaced by Vastardis or Spanellis because he struggled with picking up stunts in pass pro. I find it hard to believe Newsome returns to starter level after not taking a single rep in 2yrs. I'd love if it happened because he seems like a good person. Best guess, JBB at RT and take your pick at LT. If Hudson was way ahead of other guys, he would have played last year given how bad RT play was.
These are garbage questions each and every week. If I were a football expert and asked these types of questions each week, I'd hate pressers as well. This is why Tony Romo is getting such good press as an analyst right now. He's not dumbing down information for the masses. If you want to watch/read about football, maybe learning a bit about it would be good. Do better reporters.
That being said, I watch the pressers each week and when Jim is in a bad mood, he makes it as uncomfortable as possible. You can see this from the very first question. I am guessing this is the reason he has the reputation of rubbing people the wrong way because his style of answering is often condescending and dismissive.
Every defense is based on gap integrity. It is just a matter of what type of player you want filling those gaps (That’s what she said). A 3-3-5 is designed to defend spread/passing attack offenses because it trades size for athleticism. Most spread teams play on the perimeter which is why it is useful. The 3-3-5 generally does not do well against quick hitting power run teams a la Wisconsin, Bama or OSU (2015 version....not sure about 2017 yet). Power run teams generally have man sized guards that can get to LBs with ease and thus gain 4-5 yards on a quick hitting iso. This is especially the case when playing a guy like Hurst at the nose…ish instead of a guy like Mone because Hurst won’t take up two blockers. There’s a lot of pros though. I played the Viper position in a 4-2-5 and 3-3-5 scheme at WMU about 10yrs ago and we had a ton of blitz's that were very difficult to pick up.
Michigan is doing an unreal job filling its defensive roster with really unique guys so they can switch schemes. They can play a traditional 4-3; 4-2-5 and 3-3-5. I don't know if I've seen a team that can be good at all three, but they seem to be capable. It's impressive.
Backup D-line doesn't have to be "good", they have to be serviceable (think Matt Godin). They only play 20ish snaps per game. Freshmen are more than capable of that role (e.g., Gary last year). Now, if Mone or Hurst goes down (especially Mone), Michigan is in trouble. We saw this in the 2015 OSU game when Mone and Glasgow were out. Michigan never had a chance, but few teams would in that scenario. Here's hoping Solomon is Ed Oliver, but I've played and watched a lot of college football and have never seen a freshman DT be the best player on the field.
There are 6 guys that are almost certain to be in the 2 deep rotation (Winovich, Mone, Hurst, Gary, Solomon and Kemp). If I had to guess, Vilain gets time at WDE, then it is a battle between Dwumfour/Hudson/Iriving-Bay and Jeter for the other DT position (likely 3tech). I doubt Marshall or Myers get serious time. It's going to be fun to watch the young guys complete and develop this year.
Drevno has repeatedly said he wants his best player at center because of having to make the calls. Keeping Bredeson at guard would help his development. He's not an NFL sized tackle and having to learn another position would not be ideal. The only case I see him jumping out to tackle is if Ruiz is too good not to put at guard. As for tackle, who knows. Hoping they grab one of the grad transfers (kid from Cal or Clemson). 2017 O-line will likely be very average, but when you look at what will be there in 2018 (Newsome should be back), they should be good and possibly even great in 2019.
Grad Transfer - Bredeson - Cole - Onwenu - Freshman/Redshirt Freshman
Question 1: Last year was Harbaughs first full class at Michigan and it seems like they did well given early contributions from freshmen. Any major changes you've seen in their approach to this year's class (e.g., recruiting tactics, types/number of players offered, areas of the country they are focusing more/less on, how they are navigating their board)?
Question 2: Any high end guys you think the staff may push for late in the cycle that really aren't on the radar right now? Last year they got Asiasi, Long and Eubanks late without them being on the "public" radar for very long.
This is actually a huge loss for a number of reasons. 1) The safety's aren't great in coverage at this point, 2) JC and Stribbling were lockdowns on the outside so far, which allowed JD to play the slot corner when PSU went to a 3 WR look. This helped reduce the amount of man coverage that the safety's were responsible for. 3) OSU is going to spread Michigan out with 3 - 4WR looks. There is a big drop between JC and whoever they put in as the 3rd and 4th CB. Peppers will remain as a strong side LB and will likely spy JT Barrett for most of the game. Good news; there's a lot of time to prepare the next two corners and there's not another team on the schedule that will require high level play from a 3rd CB. I really hope JC gets a chance at a 6th year because he was playing at such a high level. Feel bad for the guy!
One of the coolest things about this team is they have the personnel and scheme to matchup with any offense. They are more than capable of playing a traditional 4/3. Good luck running between the tackles with Mone/Glasgow/Hurst/Wormley combo. They can also deploy 4-2-5 or 3-2-6 type defenses against spread looks. Hill and Peppers are excellent open field tacklers which makes this possible. Plus pre-snap reads are exponentially more difficult in these packages.
One of the main reasons I focused on D-line when I was reviewing film is I couldn't figure out the coverages based on formation. It was a constant "WTF is that? Forget it, watch Glasgow/Wormley". Very few coordinators mix pre-snap formations up like this. Also, Peppers being responsible for deep thirds being 8yrds off the ball is impressive/insane. Good luck with the UFR's Brian.
Agreed. Probably frustrating for the players as well because they executed the stunts pretty well for a first game.
When I watched the game live, I was shocked the front four weren't getting more pressure. I was expecting a more Bama d-line vs. USC o-line performance. However, When I watched the tape, it made more sense as to why it wasn't happening. It was a much more dominant performance by the entire defense then I originally thought.
I was bored at work so I reviewed each defensive snap a few times. The majority of my focus was on the d-line. A few things stood out to me.
1) Mone and Glasgow seemed to interchange between the 1 and 3 techs, with Wormley playing a ton of SDE. I wasn't expecting that but it made sense with Hurst being out. Glasgow and Wormley were really good Saturday.
2). Holy stunts by the d-line. Don't quote me, but I'm guessing they stunted over 50% of the snaps. Some were obviously coming based on alignment (e.g., Goodin being 1.5yrds off the ball). If the o-line hadn't held so much, many of those stunts would have resulted in sacks from interior d-line.
3). Gary shows flashes, but has a ways to go before he's a Wormley type guy. Gary was slow off the snap for most of the second quarter. By the end of the game, he was much better and was tough to block when playing WDE.
4). Winovich played well for the most part. He's a bit undersized, but by far the quickest d-lineman. Very different skillset from Taco.
5). If this d-line gets/stays healthy and Hill keeps up his run support from the safety position, it will be very difficult to run the ball against this team
Recent Comments
Backup D-line doesn't have to be "good", they have to be serviceable (think Matt Godin). They only play 20ish snaps per game. Freshmen are more than capable of that role (e.g., Gary last year). Now, if Mone or Hurst goes down (especially Mone), Michigan is in trouble. We saw this in the 2015 OSU game when Mone and Glasgow were out. Michigan never had a chance, but few teams would in that scenario. Here's hoping Solomon is Ed Oliver, but I've played and watched a lot of college football and have never seen a freshman DT be the best player on the field.
There are 6 guys that are almost certain to be in the 2 deep rotation (Winovich, Mone, Hurst, Gary, Solomon and Kemp). If I had to guess, Vilain gets time at WDE, then it is a battle between Dwumfour/Hudson/Iriving-Bay and Jeter for the other DT position (likely 3tech). I doubt Marshall or Myers get serious time. It's going to be fun to watch the young guys complete and develop this year.
Drevno has repeatedly said he wants his best player at center because of having to make the calls. Keeping Bredeson at guard would help his development. He's not an NFL sized tackle and having to learn another position would not be ideal. The only case I see him jumping out to tackle is if Ruiz is too good not to put at guard. As for tackle, who knows. Hoping they grab one of the grad transfers (kid from Cal or Clemson). 2017 O-line will likely be very average, but when you look at what will be there in 2018 (Newsome should be back), they should be good and possibly even great in 2019.
Grad Transfer - Bredeson - Cole - Onwenu - Freshman/Redshirt Freshman
Hi Steve,
Question 1: Last year was Harbaughs first full class at Michigan and it seems like they did well given early contributions from freshmen. Any major changes you've seen in their approach to this year's class (e.g., recruiting tactics, types/number of players offered, areas of the country they are focusing more/less on, how they are navigating their board)?
Question 2: Any high end guys you think the staff may push for late in the cycle that really aren't on the radar right now? Last year they got Asiasi, Long and Eubanks late without them being on the "public" radar for very long.
This is actually a huge loss for a number of reasons. 1) The safety's aren't great in coverage at this point, 2) JC and Stribbling were lockdowns on the outside so far, which allowed JD to play the slot corner when PSU went to a 3 WR look. This helped reduce the amount of man coverage that the safety's were responsible for. 3) OSU is going to spread Michigan out with 3 - 4WR looks. There is a big drop between JC and whoever they put in as the 3rd and 4th CB. Peppers will remain as a strong side LB and will likely spy JT Barrett for most of the game. Good news; there's a lot of time to prepare the next two corners and there's not another team on the schedule that will require high level play from a 3rd CB. I really hope JC gets a chance at a 6th year because he was playing at such a high level. Feel bad for the guy!
One of the coolest things about this team is they have the personnel and scheme to matchup with any offense. They are more than capable of playing a traditional 4/3. Good luck running between the tackles with Mone/Glasgow/Hurst/Wormley combo. They can also deploy 4-2-5 or 3-2-6 type defenses against spread looks. Hill and Peppers are excellent open field tacklers which makes this possible. Plus pre-snap reads are exponentially more difficult in these packages.
One of the main reasons I focused on D-line when I was reviewing film is I couldn't figure out the coverages based on formation. It was a constant "WTF is that? Forget it, watch Glasgow/Wormley". Very few coordinators mix pre-snap formations up like this. Also, Peppers being responsible for deep thirds being 8yrds off the ball is impressive/insane. Good luck with the UFR's Brian.
Agreed. Probably frustrating for the players as well because they executed the stunts pretty well for a first game.
When I watched the game live, I was shocked the front four weren't getting more pressure. I was expecting a more Bama d-line vs. USC o-line performance. However, When I watched the tape, it made more sense as to why it wasn't happening. It was a much more dominant performance by the entire defense then I originally thought.
I was bored at work so I reviewed each defensive snap a few times. The majority of my focus was on the d-line. A few things stood out to me.
1) Mone and Glasgow seemed to interchange between the 1 and 3 techs, with Wormley playing a ton of SDE. I wasn't expecting that but it made sense with Hurst being out. Glasgow and Wormley were really good Saturday.
2). Holy stunts by the d-line. Don't quote me, but I'm guessing they stunted over 50% of the snaps. Some were obviously coming based on alignment (e.g., Goodin being 1.5yrds off the ball). If the o-line hadn't held so much, many of those stunts would have resulted in sacks from interior d-line.
3). Gary shows flashes, but has a ways to go before he's a Wormley type guy. Gary was slow off the snap for most of the second quarter. By the end of the game, he was much better and was tough to block when playing WDE.
4). Winovich played well for the most part. He's a bit undersized, but by far the quickest d-lineman. Very different skillset from Taco.
5). If this d-line gets/stays healthy and Hill keeps up his run support from the safety position, it will be very difficult to run the ball against this team