Mailbag question: Why are we recruiting small defensive players?
GBMW,
Why are we recruiting small defensive players? Can someone tell Coach Rod that this is not the Big East; it's the Big Ten? I have never seen anything like this in my entire Michigan life of 38 years. Where's the beef up front. Go out and recruit some 2 and 3 star 300 pound plus athletes, red-shirt them and get them in shape to clog gaps.
We are too little on defense. Alabama, Florida, LSU, and Ohio State are not playing with hybrid players, but all of them have beef in the middle. Mike Martin is not big enough to play the middle and Roh is too small. What are your thoughts?
D. Phelps
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Thanks for the question.
GBMW is 100% in agreement with you.
We have been writing about Michigan’s lack of size since the spring. Our depth and quality of talent is lacking at these positions filled with big bodies. In some games this year, the d=line gave up around 60 pounds, a little too much, actually way too much.
We have also talked about playing the hybrid defense numerous times. That is not our favorite defense for a base. We would like to see a 4-3 base defense or a true 3-4 defense as a base defense.
We are not big fans of this defensive philosophy. Not only does it cause mismatches, which other teams are/have taking advantage of, but how many times have you seen Michigan play with a third cornerback in a passing situation?
If you go back and look at our spring practice reports there is a lot of good information the consequence of is really coming out now.
We really need some bigger bodies for sure, and it will be interesting (at least initially) to see how we can try and stop a team like Wisconsin with this year’s defensive scheme and players.
Thanks for stopping by Go Blue Michigan Wolverine
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Written by CoachBt and ErocWolverine
2 comments:
If you average the weights of the DTs & DEs on Wiscy, Michigan, and Rutgers (just a random, average Big East school, you get:
Rutgers = 260
Wiscy = 261
Michigan = 267
Keep in mind, this is all DTs & DEs, so lighter kids who don't play may drag down the average. In any case, M doesn't appear small.
The issue is the number of DTs & DEs (which I believe your site has been talking about for ~2 years).
Rutgers = 19
Wiscy = 18
Michigan = 13
Michigan has 5 to 6 less DTs & DEs compared to Rutgers and Wiscy, which makes depth a huge issue.
Here is top two depth chart for the consensus top 3 teams in America.
Florida- Marsh 304 lbs, Howard 291 lbs, and Sanders 309 lbs
Alabama-Cody 365 lbs, Washington 209 Lbs, Chapman 305 lbs, Davis 299 lbs
Texas- Randall 290 lbs, Houston 300 lbs, Alexander 305, Howell 280 lbs.
In our opinion that is type of size it takes to compete with the elite college football teams. And that is what we want UM compared to these schools, not the Rutgers and Wisconsins.
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