Mailbag question: Woolfolk at cornerback

Posted at 12:00pm -- 10/16/2009

Mailbag question: Woolfolk at cornerback

Well it seemed like moving Woolfolk to CB helped that position, but really killed us at safety. So now what does the defense do? Seemed like all the big plays happened because of the safety play.

Williams forgot to pick up the TE on that short pass to the TE that he went a long way for a TD and then on the long 3rd and 24 play the safeties should have been there.

I realize some of these problems cannot be fixed this year because like you guys have said we are not that talented back there, but what can we do now besides pray and take mallox?

Bryan M.

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Thank for the question.

As for where the defense goes now, we would guess that JT Floyd might get another look at cornerback.

Michigan cannot beat good teams giving up big plays in the passing game. We said pre-season that Troy Woolfolk was very important to this Michigan team because he was the only safety with the required speed to play the wide side in cover 2. That was born out Saturday.

Troy Woolfolk played solid Saturday, but we are reserving judgment on the move. He played fairly physical when Iowa went at him.

Iowa does not have the best passing game in the conference this year. The Hawkeyes do not have a true burner on the outside to give the defensive backs a real test. This is not a good sign for the future.

Playing a natural strong safety at free safety will definitely make for an interesting afternoon. There is still no excuse for getting beat deep. How many plays can Iowa, a basic team, actually run to get 25 yards?

The biggest thing with the move seems to be that the safety position has less talent, less quickness, less experience and also less depth now. What will happen if an injury happens? The answer: things will even get worse and domino effect other problems.

The problem with the move is Iowa really took advantage of Michigan’s lack of experience at safety and that is how they were able to get most of their big plays.

Sometimes football is not complicated and it never is when discussing Iowa.

Written by GBMW Staff

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