w w i 4 f . 4 f IL ri (7 vi)MIlri'le, -W The Michigan Daily - Saturday, Septei Page 4 - The Michigan Daily --- Saturday, September 10, 1983 It's bombs away against Michigan By RON POLLACK The forward pass has Michigan head coach Bo Schembechler worried. But wonder of wonder, miracle of miracles, it is not the loss of three-time All-America flanker Anthony Carter that weighs so heavily on the Wolverine coach's mind. Instead, it is his own secondary that causes Schembechler to fret. With the days of a team running the ball until it hits paydirt or a fourth down situation replaced bywild, crazy and thorougly unpredictable aerial assaults, Schem- bechler is vexed by a secondary, ravaged by graduation. GONE ARE starters Keith Bostic, Jerry Burgei and Marion Body. What's more, opposing teams averaged a lofty 254.8 yards per game through the air last season against Michigan. With senior free safety Evan Cooper the only full-time starter returning, a calculator with brand new batteries may be required to keep track of opposing quarterback stats. "The secondary is my biggest worry," lamented Schembechler. "That more than anything else." "The secondary is the weakest part of the team," echoed assistant head coach and defensive coodinator Gary Moeller. "We have some unanswered questions and a lack of depth. But the people we put in there will be competitors. The thing we'll miss most is experience. It's hard to replace a-Keith Bostic." BUT REPLACE Bostic they must, as well as Burgei and Body. Leading can- didates to take over their starting duties include seniors John Lott, Jeff Cohen and Rich Hewlett and sophomores Tony Gant, Dieter Heren, Greg Randall, Ivan Hicks and Steve Johnson who was a wide receiver last season but may line up in the secondary this year. Out of this group, only Gant and Lott saw any starting action last season. Gant started in one game, while Lott was a starter in four contests. Unfortunately for Schembechler and his coaching staff, few defensive backs saw much playing time during spring practice. Lott missed two weeks of practice because of a strained knee. Cooper only played in the last two 'The secondary is the weakest part of the team. We have some unanswered questions and a lack of depth.' -defensive coordinator Gary Moeller weeks of the spring because of a minor We worked all spring on emphasizing knee operation in the winter. Gant and the pass rush. Last season we lost a Cohen missed three and four weeks of couple of games we could have won spring ball repsectively. Heren also because of deep passes." was set back by injury. INSIDE LINEBACKER Mike Boren 1982 Big Ten Pass Defense Y YdsJ Ga. Att. Cmp. Int. Pet. Yds. Att. TD Ga. MINNESOTA ..................... 9 199 115 7 57.8 1513 7.6 13 168.1 NORTHWESTERN ......... 9 197 112 7 56.9 1572 8.0 13 174.7 INDIANA ....................... 9 235 136 13 57.9 1694 7.2 9 188.2 MICHIGAN STATE ......... 287 151 14 52.6 1921 6.7 11 213.4 WISCONSIN.....9..... 274 171 11 62.4 1955 7.1 7 217.2 PURDUE.......................... 9 248 155 7 62.5 2005 8.1 15 222.8 OHIO STATE............. 8 306 158 11 51.3 1813 5.9 10 226.6 ILLINOIS..............9 3 142 10 48.1 2043 8.8 14 227.0 IOWA ...................... 8 296 169 17 56.7 1921 8.4 5 240.1 MICHIGAN....................... 9 395 240 11 60.8 2443 6.2 7 271.4 injured his knee midway through the season and missed five games, -Dave Meredith and Mike Hammerstein both saw starting time. Brooks recovered from the injury, "however and started the last three games of the season. Other linemen who should see playing time include Vince DeFelice, Joe Gray, Mike Krauss, Mike Wilson, Jim Scar- celli and Nate Rodgers. With so many players returning along the defensive line, the overwhelming consensus amongst the Wolverine coaching staff is that there will be an improved pass rush this year. "THE EXPERIENCE adds a lot," said Schembechler. "You can tell the difference in all of them. In the spring, we can tell the difference in all of them. In the spring, we emphasized the pass rush. Not a lot of blitzing, although we do blitz a lot, just the pass rush out of the .down linemen. I think we're im- proved. I think that'll help." Said Moeller, "Pass rushing is not an easy thing to accomplish since offen- sive linemen can use their hands, the quarterback can get the ball off quickly or dodge the rush. But we worked hard on the pass rush in the spring and it really improved. We'll be a better pass rushing team than we were a year ago which is a concern because of all the passes we'll face." Said defensive line coach Jerry Meter, "We'll be improved because of one word - experience." With a little seasoning under their belts, these experienced linemen are now being taught a new trick or two. "What you want to do is create some problems for the opposing offensive line," said Meter. "so we do some changeups. It's not anything extraor- dinarily new to football, just new to our program." Get the picture. Well Schembechler and his staff didn't. The only picture of the secondary that came out of spring ball was a blurry one. According to Moeller, the only "sure starters" to emerge from spring practices were Lott and Cooper. "Because of injuries, we could never get in a position to tell what would hap- pen back there," said Moeller. ADDED SCHEMBECHLER, "We had so many guys out that we get any cohesiveness in the secondary at all and that to me is the biggest problem." If Michigan is to survive the barrage of passes it will face this year, it is not just the secondary which must develop. So too must the defensive line. Last season the secondary had added pressure placed on it because of a suspect pass rush. "The pass rush was lacking last season," admitted defensive tackle Kevin Brooks. "but we're working on it. agreed that the pass rush was not a Wolverine strong point last year. "The only thing that hurt us last season was letting the quarterback out of the con- tain. If we rush the quarterback well we'll be solid." Defensive tackle Winfred Carraway is "the only player gone from last year's defensive line and the result is a great deal of depth at the position. Al Sincich started all 12 games at middle guard last year, while Brooks started the majority of the season at the tackle spot opposite Carraway. When Brooks vi 0 t-k4 * * a aQ2" Pamper your feet in the * * * prettiest Pappagallos... * -' irresistible flat-n-sassy shoes * * * that love to play around all over town. * JUDY * 4 *0 Shop for Pappagallo *0 y* 241 E. 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