Michigan Football Tidbits: The "cool" thing is to hate on Coach Shafer, but what about the rest:

The "cool" thing is to hate on Coach Shafer, but what about the rest:

Coach Rod is the one that loves the 3-3-5. He and his friends are the ones that were forcing the 3-3-5 and made the switch for the Purdue game. Coach Shafer is a 4-3 person and mixes in a 3-4 “okie” look when needed. Hard to throw in a new defensive scheme during the season, especially this late.

There is no way that Coach Shafer made the switch to the 3-3-5, he has never run that defense before. Defense against Purdue was tentative and steps slow all day long, and the switch to the 3-3-5 had a lot to do with it.

Here is the $1 Million question: Who in their right mind would want to be defensive coordinator under Coach Rod now? Who would fans get excited about taking over this defense when you had a good young hot coach come in from Stanford last year, one who had shown a lot of promise? I do not see any big-time defensive coordinator coming in here unless you throw head coach type money at him. Even then he would still worry about losing his job and reputation.

It seems a defensive coordinator would be coaching here with a gun to his head, having to worry about being told to pack his bags. Coach Rod dealt Coach Shafer a losing hand with terrible staff construction. If Shafer is fired, I can see Rodriguez going to his buddy list and asking Casteel to come to Michigan again, or possibly Vic Koenning, Clemson's defensive coordinator, who might lose his job also.

We tried to tell people the defense here was not that talented or deep. We also said that defensive recruiting was lagging. But the masses complained about what we said and most seemed to feel that we would be all right.

Coach Shafer did not recruit any of these players. He never hired any of these assistant coaches, he was not asked where to put these assistant coaches. Also, he was hired after all the other assistant coaches were hired, and then was told what position each was going to coach.

In addition, have we not seen this from a Michigan defense before? Terrible tackling – WOW was it bad against Purdue; terrible contain, terrible coverage and terrible pursuit angles. Have we not been complaining about this for a long time? It is also frustrating that the players seem to be in the right positions a lot of the time, but do not make the plays.

It seems as if Coach Shafer was as good as gone after the press conference a few weeks ago during which Coach Rod called him out. Now, with them installing the 3-3-5 defense, which Shafer has never run before, the writing is on the wall.

It is very troubling that we see the players making the same mistakes they made under Hermann and English that they are making under Shafer.

If Coach Shafer goes, I believe the rest of the defensive staff should be let go and that includes Coach Rod’s friends.

Player evaluations:

Trent:
I will be happy when he is gone. He might be one of the fastest players on the team, but this is football, not track. Being right there and making just the tackle does not cut it. He is making the same mistakes and continues doing the same things since switching over to defense a few years back. He is one reason why the defense cannot use press coverage on opposing wide receivers.

Jamison:
He cannot contain anything and has been making the same mistakes since he arrived on campus. Hell, Butler, who has not played defense since his high school years, played just as well as Jamison. Not saying that was anything spectacular, but at least he has the excuse of just switching over to defense. Jamison is a player that makes a good play and then makes two to three bad ones in a row and you cannot have that from your fifth year seniors.

Taylor:
Has Martin outplayed him this year? Seems like Martin’s name is being mentioned more than Taylor’s. Taylor seems to show up once in awhile and then goes into a shell, and you do not hear from him the rest of the game. Also, I could not stand that in a previous game he ran down an opposing ball carrier and laid a big hit on him, and even though the play was a big gainer for a first down, Taylor stood up and made the big gesture like he just sacked the quarterback for a ten yard loss, instead of this ball carrier who had just gotten an important first down.

Obi:
People kept saying he was a great linebacker and I still have not seen it. A lot of people said he had a good game against Utah with the 15 tackles. Well go back and look at the film where most of his tackles were after his man (TE) caught the ball and had a nice gain, or it was getting the running back down 10 yards down the field. That is not good defense from a linebacker. Time to either move him or try him at another position and give Fitzgerald a chance to play his spot. Obi also has the ability to be a defensive end, an area of need for Michigan.

Warren:
He has been injured so have to give him the benefit of doubt, but he has really struggled with covering receivers and making plays.

These players were supposed to be the backbone and the leaders on defense and not one of them is having a great year. Brandon Graham is the only one on the defensive side of the ball that is actually close to performing at a high level. However, even he has struggled during some games, and you hardly hear his name called. Or you see the running back go right by him.

For those who think a quarterback will cure all, you are fooling yourselves because there are a lot more problems at Michigan than ever before and I am not sure when things will turn around now.

Michigan has set many records this year and none of them are positive. This could be the worst record in school history if they lose any one of the last three games. We already equaled the record for most losses (7) from 1962.

written by ErocWolverine and CoachBt