Mailbag question: What is wrong with our Michigan defense?

Mailbag question: What is wrong with our defense?

In addition, I like the fact it seems we are changing something up at halftime, but why does it take until halftime to fix the problems. Can't they make adjustments on the sidelines when they are not on the field? Granted the defense was on the field a lot yesterday though.

Seems like we have a lot of problems with our defense and a lot of walk-ons playing now.

Ted D.

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Thanks for the question.

We are not sure why it is taking until halftime for Michigan to adjust defenses, or at least make adjustments that show a noticeable difference. We are in 100% agreement that waiting until halftime is just too long of a timeframe. Some games this year may be decided by a late field goal or score and getting too far behind the eight ball in the first half may come back to bite the team as the season progresses.

What is wrong with the defense? The very things GBMW identified and have discussed since spring ball. Michigan is not very big on defense and big strong offensive lines playing toe-to-toe bully ball will cause some problems.

Michigan is not very deep regarding numbers on defense and that as well is going to cause problems, perhaps more so than weight. Michigan still does not have the personnel Coach Robinson needs to play his style of defense and he is doing a great job of holding the pass, plugging the dam, with what he has. This concern will pop up again and again in the future until fully addressed.

Michigan is playing its third different scheme in three years. All of these factors identified above and a few more are contributing to the problem Ted identified in his question.

We love the fact that Coach Rod is so big with a productive walk-on program. Still, we get a bit nervous when several walk-ons are getting major playing time and walk-ons appear frequently on the two deep chart.

Do not take this as an I told you so statement, but this obvious deficiency in defensive numbers (and therefore overall talent) is one thing we tried to warn readers of during the spring practices. Leach was on the two deep chart and likely was going to see playing time, especially if an injury, or what happened with Jonas Mouton happened with the suspension.

This is why for the past 18 plus months we have said the defensive recruiting needed to improve and not just get bodies. Read this as quantity and quality. The old academic argument holds forth here: each tenet (quality and quality) is necessary but not sufficient on its own to solve the concern. UM needs players that can come in and contribute at a high level right away. It is clear now that many people have finally gotten this point that the defense is/has been struggling and herein in this response lies the why. We all wish this situation was not so, but reality is reality. The truth is it will probably take two years to make this defensive unit a force. This team needs, says, 6 players of Turner and Roh’s caliber, not two.

Also, as we stated before, we all like Coach Robinson; especially how he teaches the players in practice, but he is no miracle worker. Too many people thought just replacing the defensive coordinator would solve every problem on defense. Well one of the biggest problems for the defense from last year was solved with the offense actually doing something with the ball and not having tons of three and outs, turnovers, etc… (Knock on wood).

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Written by CoachBt and ErocWolverine