Michigan Football Tidbits: Position Group -- Safeties -- Part 3 of 3

Michigan Football Tidbits: Position Group -- Safeties -- Part 3 of 3

The biggest question, and mystery, concerning the Michigan football team is why Michigan cannot, either recruit quality safeties or get the safeties to perform.

The number of big plays in recent years (especially on running plays) against our defense can almost exclusively be blamed on our safety play. We are sure there will be a major focus on this position by the new defensive coordinator Coach Robinson.

A couple of notes:

1) With our depth concerns, it is possible that all of the previous players mentioned in the "Safety Tidbits" could play there, at least for one year.

2) We're pretty sure that in 2010, recruiting safeties will be high on the list of priorities.

3) Having small numbers at safety also hurts special teams. In addition, of the six potential safeties listed, four of them are either redshirt- or true freshman.

4) The only other player I can see playing safety is Floyd.

We will get a better handle on things after we see spring practices. Therefore, as always, we reserve the right to change our opinions.

With new defensive coordinator Coach Robinson, it is much more difficult to predict where kids will end up. Based on just athletic ability and early workouts, this looks ,at least initially, to be the way they will start.

Let's see what happens in spring. Coach Rod, just like Coach Carr, allows every player to start out where the player's want -- and Jones wants to try safety. It is easy to say a certain kid would be a better linebacker (Jones, Bell, Smith, Williams, etc), but it is easier to have a safety move to linebacker in passing situations such as in a dime packages.

Could someone like Warren move to safety? Not a total impossibility, but the more likely scenario would be Turner getting a shot at safety. They really want to try to get him on the field somewhere.

This spring, the onus is on the defense, which will hinge on safety play more than anything else.

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Written by MaizeMan, CoachBt and ErocWolverine