Mailbag question: Linebackers as bad as they look
Are UM’s linebackers that bad?
Is the defensive line not helping them out or do they suck this bad?
Why do we rotate other players at other positions, but we do not rotate linebackers at all? Mouton and Ezeh both played most of the game without coming out.
Why does it seem a guy like Ezeh makes the tackle, but is always 5-8 yards down the field? He seems to never, or hardly ever, fill the hole, never seems to find the ball and always goes to the wrong hole. He never makes a big hit behind the line or at the line of scrimmage.
Why isn't a guy like Fitzgerald or somebody else getting a chance to play? Is it they are not ready or is it that the coaches believe the older guys are the best we have? It seems like against Indiana we took out a starter like Boo Boo for messing up, but we leave the linebackers alone.
Your thoughts?
Tom D.
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Thanks for the question.
Not filling the holes is part of Michigan 's defensive philosophy.
Michigan teaches the linebackers to take two shuffle steps as first movements instead of downhill filling. The theory is this technique will help Michigan against zone teams. In our opinion what has been seen is a combination of poor linebacker and defensive line play.
The defensive line is not holding the point of attack well or keeping offensive linemen off the linebackers and the linebackers are not getting off blocks or stuffing lead blockers.
We can only guess why the linebackers are not rotating, but from what we saw this spring, and at summer practices, the young guys are just not ready yet and Mouton and Ezeh are simply the best options at this time.
Would we like to see a player like Fitzgerald on the field? Yes, just to see what he can do in a game situation. Players act differently when "the lights come on," as they say, and we would like to see how Fitz reacts to a game situation. We already know how the starters are playing.
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Written by CoachBt and ErocWolverine
2 comments:
If you look at the couple of plays that Fitzgerald was in on in the EMU game, he makes some very questionable if not horrible reads. He has a long way to go in understanding the defense, but hey he's young. I think OE and JM will continue to improve as the season goes on...they've only had 4 games in this defense and they certainly looked better against Indiana
what game were you watching, alex? Ezeh had his usual awful tackling performance. He leads the team in tackles by sheer virtue of the fact that he's in the middle of the defense, but his tackling (much like the rest of the team's tackling) has gone downhill since WMU.
I continue to see no improvement from Ezeh, though I think Mouton has improved. I'm a hater, I know, but I think Ezeh is the worst player on our D of the starters in WMU. We need help at the Mike, and quick, but it doesn't look like we'll find it in 2010.
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