[Fuller/MGoBlog]

Amara Darboh and Willie Henry

What did you guys work on individually this week and what did you want to address as a team with your bye week?

AD: “We worked on a lot of different things. Me personally, I worked on routes, worked on timing with the quarterbacks and then as a team we just worked on getting better overall.”

WH: “Same on this side of the field. Defensive-wise, we corrected mistakes we had against Michigan State, worked on a lot of techniques, get our hands better, our feet and footwork because technique’s a big part of our game. Just getting better and resting our bodies as much as possible.”

What does your coach have to say to you or what did he have to say to you about perhaps one loss not taking you guys out of the Big Ten race and the forward focus you guys needed to have?

AD: “He told us to focus on us and our team. Depending on whether we won or lost we have to keep on winning, keep on taking every game as if it were the last game and go out and try to compete each game.”

Willie, coach Harbaugh was talking about Jarrod Wilson and his leadership style and how he’s not a guy who’s going to say a lot and how he leads silently. Have you seen that, and in what ways does he lead the defense?

“He’s not a guy who’s a big talker. He’s a doer, so you can see by his work ethic a lot of times what kind of leader he is on and off the field, in the class room and also when we’re off the field in the locker room the kind of person he is, the kind of person who cares for his teammates and wants the best for everyone in that locker room whether it’s the class he came in with or younger guys. He’s always trying to coach somebody and help them and help the team.”

Jon Falk isn’t here any more, so who tells the Jug story every year?

AD: “No one’s told it this year yet, but I think being here for a while we all know the story so now we’ve been telling the younger guys about it and how this is an important trophy game.”

[The rest after THE JUMP]

Do you notice that its absence this year?

AD: “Yeah, yeah. We notice it’s not there, and it’s something we plan on getting back.”

Willie, I noticed your shirt on the back says 10-25-14. Is that when you got that, and is that representative of the Michigan State rivalry?

WH: “This is a shirt coach Hoke gave us. It’s nothing to do with this year, it’s just something coach Hoke gave us the week we played Michigan State.”

When we talked to a couple players Jourdan said the finish of the game hadn’t left him. How long did it take for you to get over that, or have you gotten over the finish of that game?

AD: “Me personally, it took me a couple days because of the way it went down and everything. But I think I’ve moved on from it now and I’m focusing on Minnesota now and the rest of the season. I don’t think dwelling on the past is going to help us in any way so I think it’s best for us just to move on and then focus on finishing strong.”

WH: “Same here.”

Willie, can you talk about the D-line as a unit? Do you feel like you guys are performing as well as you can right now, or where are you guys right now in the process?

“We’re doing pretty well right now. I most definitely see us doing better as a defensive front, getting more pressure on the quarterback on those first- and second-down play action passes and transitioning better on play action. I feel like we can do better. We’re doing a decent job, a good enough job of putting pressure on quarterbacks but I feel like we can step it up a little bit.”

[Upchurch/MGoBlog]

Royce Jenkins-Stone and Dymonte Thomas

Royce, you’ve obviously jumped in the lineup and played a lot more snaps the last couple of weeks. How close do you think you are to being the kind of player you want to be?

“There’s always room for improvement. I feel like I’ve stepped up a lot and it’s a big role playing the starting Buck position and definitely some big shoes to fill from Mario Ojemudia.I just did my best and came out there ready to play.”

Dymonte, how about you? Do you feel like you’re playing your best football at this point?

“I’m getting a lot more playing time, making plays here and there but like Royce said, there’s always room for improvement. I’ve just got to keep taking my game to the next level and just keep competing. At this point it’s not really about am I doing this well, am I doing that well? It’s about the team: are we winning, are we having fun and enjoying our time and that’s what we’re doing right now.”

If you could weigh in on this defense, three straight shutouts going into the Michigan State game and you had them fairly well contained except for some big passes. Where does this defense go from here and where would you like to see it improve the last few weeks of the season?

DT: “Not really changing our defense. Our defensive line does a great job stopping the run, so when you stop an offensive team from running what do they got to do? They’ve got to pass, but we’ve got DBs who’s always there to make plays so it’s like how do you score on this Michigan defense?

“And we all play together so well. Our D-line creates pressure and throughout many of our blitzes we’re able to create that pressure, and when we’re able to create that pressure quarterbacks like to throw the ball up to our DBs. JD [Jourdan Lewis] and Jeremy Clark and all them does a great job of going to get the ball.

“We got three shutouts but that’s in the past. Now we’re just moving forward. And, you know, Michigan State did a great job with doing some plays that sort of messed up our scheme and stuff but that’s not the end of the day. We’re just going to keep improving from there and hopefully keep getting shutouts so we can keep getting donuts.”

RJS: “So what coach Durkin wants to do is make a big emphasis on stopping the run, so making teams one-dimensional is what our defense wants to do and lately we have been doing that. We didn’t come out with the win last Saturday; always room for improvement. We still look forward to being one of the best defenses in the country. Just keep moving forward. Next game.” 

How eager are you to get back out there and re-establish what this defense’s attitude and defense’s presence is? It got a little bit lost with Michigan State throwing for as many yards as they did.

DT: “I don’t think it got lost against Michigan State. I just think they had a great quarterback and great receiver and Cook was doing a great job putting the ball where only his receiver could get it so to be honest, I don’t think it’s something that we messed up on.

“It’s just like you had a good quarterback and good receiver going against one of the best defenses in the nation and they got the better of us that day, but to be honest I just think as a defense we did a great job. Like we said, there’s like a few plays where we just messed up ourselves on our scheme that they were able to get us.

“But we are really eager to get back out there and show teams that was just one game, but that’s going to define us. Like coach Durkin said, we’re not going to let one game define us just like we didn’t let those shutouts define us. We just keep coming in every day and working harder and harder to get better and better.”

Dymonte, in your prep career you played pretty close to the line of scrimmage. What’s the transition been like now that you’re playing 20 yards off the football and how comfortable are you feeling now in that role?

“At first, when I first came in, it was kind of hard because I’m so used to playing in the box and as a safety you’ve got to stay back but linebacker you’ve got to go forward so I always wanted to come up in the box.

“This year it’s been a really big change for me and I actually like it, and it’s different because now I’m backpedaling a lot and opening up my hips and stuff, so from taking my hips to being stiff as a linebacker and loosening them up and getting them ready for a safety has been a big jump for me but it’s allowed me to play faster and keep my aggressiveness, too.

“So, sometimes I come down in the box as a safety and that’s where my linebacker skills come in, but then when I’ve got to get back I’m able to do it because I’ve been playing safety since I got here so it’s been an easy transition.

“The coaches have been doing a great job of working with me. Just very blessed to have the coaches that we have to help me work on my game and take it to the next level.”

Royce, it seemed like it took Mario a couple weeks to really develop his pass rushing. Is that kind of what you feel like? Maybe stopping the run is coming easier to you and you’re trying to find where to find the spots to pick at?

“Yeah. During this opportunity week [Harbaugh’s preferred nomenclature for the bye week], they bye week, I’ve definitely been working on my pass rush. It comes easy to stop the run but I’m trying to elevate my game and definitely work on my pass rush. That’s what I’ve been doing during this opportunity week, so yeah.”