Coach’s Corner: Michigan Defense

Coach’s Corner: Michigan Defense

As most of you already know Michigan is playing what is sometimes referred to as a hybrid defense. They line up in a three front, but very seldom play what would be considered a true odd front defense. Through angles, stunts and blitzes and usually the end playing what I call an off set four defense, Michigan is basically a combination of the four and three man fronts.

Defensive Line:

This group is undersized, no doubt about it, and is having trouble holding the point of attack. Coach Robinson is constantly trying and adjusting things to make up for this lack of size. He (per the player assignments) is angling, twisting, playing a four front, playing a three front, and Coach Robinson has pulled safeties to within seven yards of the line, sometimes even closer.

The defense’s lack of size and ability to hold up at the point of attack has allowed teams to get linemen up on the linebackers too many times. The defensive line has also been lacking at getting penetration, both Eastern Michigan and Notre Dame were able to pull offensive guards and offensive tackles and get them through to the second level. Only a few times were they picked off by good defensive penetration. Expect this to be a continuing problem.

In some of the schemes, Ryan Van Bergen has the contain assignment on boots and even sprint outs. Renaldo Sagesse does not have the feet or overall athletic ability to play contain in my opinion. Will Campbell has the ability; his problem is technique, specifically pad level. Until he learns to keep his pads low and not stand up I doubt we see much of him.

In my opinion the defensive line is going to be okay/solid. With Mike Martin, Craig Roh, Will Campbell, and I still have hope for Anthony LaLota. I think Michigan will be solid up front.

It may be worthwhile to try substituting Renaldo Sagesse for Brandon Herron and play a standard 4-3 with Renaldo Sagesse and Mike Martin at defensive tackles, and Brandon Graham and Ryan Van Bergen at defensive ends.

With Steve Brown playing as a factor UM could play a 4-2-5 or even a 4-4, depending on how the secondary rolls up and plays the safeties. Virginia Tech has been very successful playing an eight-man line out of a four-man front for years. In fact, West Virginia in Coach Rod's early years before Coach Casteel took over as defensive coordinator, played against a Virginia Tech eight man front.

Linebackers:

There is a misconception: Michigan linebackers are NOT coached to fill or get downhill immediately. Coach Hopson talked about using two shuffle steps and then leveraging the gap. This is basically a “defending the zones” philosophy.

This philosophy keeps the linebackers from getting out of position and beat by the cutbacks in the zone packages. It does make them more vulnerable to power games or lead offenses. This type of philosophy/scheme uses smaller, quicker, more athletic linebackers, which is why Steve Brown is so successful this year.

My biggest complaint with the linebackers regards pass coverage. Indiana and Eastern Michigan hurt Michigan with the d*MN short controlled passes, passes requiring linebackers to provide help. Watch Indiana’s last offensive play. A linebacker getting underneath and taking away the passing lane, finally!

A concern is that linebackers Kenny Demens and J.B. Fitzgerald have shown some promise, but counting on safeties to blow up and learn to play in close quarters at the line of scrimmage makes me a bit nervous. Fitzgerald shows signs of being a player at practice, but still is missing some of the instincts and natural reactions linebackers need. I am, and all of us are, hoping something clicks and soon.

I do not mind if a staff takes two, or so, players who outgrow the safety position and shift them to linebacker. It just seems that all of UM’s future linebackers are high school safeties learning new positions.

Cornerbacks:

So far this has been a much-maligned group, but holy cow what should fans expect? Between the lack of pressure and being left on an island, it is amazing the corners have done as well as they have. My only complaint is there is no excuse for getting beat deep. Regardless of how good the wide receivers are defensive backs must keep everything in front and maintain proper deep leverage.

In my opinion, with Boubacar Cissoko, it is not skills, but technique and inexperience. I still have high hopes for him.

Safeties:

Because of the deficiencies noted above, the safeties have been used as run defenders and this use has caused some problems. Some long passes and long runs have been given up due to the fact that safeties, at times, are only seven yards off the ball. Watch closely and you will see some teams playing 12 or more yards off of the ball. This technique is part of the old bend but never break setup. So the deep safety scenario has its own difficulties.

On the 85 yard run Saturday, Indiana caught the safety in a terrible angle and he could not make the play. The long passes vs. Notre Dame had little safety help with Troy Woolfolk and Mike Williams being used as run defenders.

The overall tackling by the safeties this year has been noticeably improved in my opinion. In past years, if Michigan had to rely on safeties to stop the run and make tackles, it would not have been pretty.

Bottom Line:

Defensive staff, Coach Robinson and staff are doing the best that can be expected with the talent level on hand. Complete disclosure: I am personally not a big fan of hybrid defenses. This is not to say they are bad or you cannot be successful with them, you certainly can. In my opinion it is easy to cause mismatches when attacking hybrid defenses, but that is just my opinion.

Michigan, at this time, does not have top-level players who are explosive, good athletes that coordinators need to defend today's high-powered offenses. Michigan just does not have the horses to line up and play with most teams.

They will need to stem, stunt and take risks to stop any good offense. So take your Maalox or other stomach medications, watch your blood pressure, keep the Valium handy; this is not going to be easy. But it should be exciting and fun to watch.

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Written by CoachBt