a
w
Stopping Hillman key for Blue defense
explode into each dummy up and down the line with his
forearm. Brady expected them to move the whole sled by
themselves.
Wired like Brady, from a good family but tough as nails,
Jeff didn't mind. So Brady pulled Jeff close, took a liking to
the kid. Knew he could push Jeff.
"Jeff Barr was a miniature Brady Hoke," Tanner said.
When Jeff came to practice without his helmet on, Brady
would bark: "That's a Power Drill," which meant extra sui-
cide sprints after practice.
The next day, Jeff made sure his helmet was one.
Again: "That's a Power Dill!"
"What for?" Jeff asked.
"I don't know, but I've got all day to think of it," Brady
replied.
He'd tease Jeff. But in those serious moments he taught
Jeff everything he knew about playing linebacker.
"That was the way my Dad was on me," Jeff says. "I guess
I liked it. I liked the attention. And I have a lot of respect
for Brady, so when I saw him give that back to me, that just
made me try harder."
Then Jeff taught Jesse Neal's oldest son everything he
knew about being a linebacker. Three years ago, the kid
broke all of Jeff's Yorktown tackling records that stood for
25 years.
Don't forget about those Neal boys.
Just ask Jay and Jesse where they'd be without Brady
Hoke.
Jay - the popular, big-strapping star running back -
almost cried every day because he had nowhere to go. His
parents divorced and living with three brothers, a sister and
a single working mother, he couldn't study at home. It was
chaos. There was no food in the refrigerator.
Jesse, the youngest boy, was the quiet one. His older
brothers thougt it was their duty to make Jesse tough, rough
him up. They would all get into "rock fights," throwing
stones the size of baseballs at each other.
"They're a rough bunch - fighting - and they don't take
no crap from nobody," Jeff says. "That whole family. All of
'em."
Jay and Jesse were running backs, but meeting a line-
backer in the hole? That was nothing.
Brady pulled them close too. He checked in on Jay's
grades, just like he did everyone else, making sure a Divi-
sion-I talent didn't go to waste. Jay considered quitting his
junior year. Brady went to his house and talked him out of it.
Brady guided Jay to Ball State, instead of bigger schools
that were farther away, where Jay would be lost in the shuf-
fle.
When Jay graduated, Tanner and Brady took turns taking
Jesse out to breakfast every morning, and they made sure
the skinny running back ate three meals a day.
Just like Brady's coaches at Ball State, Tanner cared about
molding the kids as people. Brady's college coaches had been
like that and Brady decided he liked Tanner's world.
"To me, that's what this whole thing is about," Brady said.
Laura and Brady sat down at the end of the season, and it
was clear Brady's calling was no longer to protect the Presi-
dent, like he thought. Those Yorktown boys changed every-
thing.
Those two years, Brady watched how Tanner made the
team a family. As Tanner put it: players play harder the more
they have invested in it.
Play for something pure, like the love of a family, and not
out of fear of being benched or other selfish goals. Play for
Dave Tanner. Play for Brady Hoke.
In the week leading up to the game against Delta in 1982,
Tanner had a team bonfire the night before the game. They
burned a fake Delta letterman jacket of his.
The guys went nuts.
Tanner wanted this year to be different: Delta was heav-
ily favored again, it was homecoming there and Yorktown
hadn't beaten its rival in quite some time. So Tanner pulled
his guys close.
A booster came up with the idea of having the mothers
write letters to every player and every coach rightbefore the
game. Tanner handed out the envelopes. He got one from
his mother. So did Brady.
"I'll tell you what, there was not a dry eye in that locker
room," Tanner says. "We could not say a word, could not
give a pep talk, because we were all crying."
Delta jumped out to a 12-0 lead by halftime. Yorktown
was too emotional.
Yorktown calmed down in the second half. In the fourth
quarter, Jay Neal burst through the line like a bowling ball,
running over defenders, legs churning. Jeff Barr, a two-way
starter at guard, sprinted down field to land more blocks.
The whole Delta game plan was to run away from Jeff when
he was at linebacker.
Jay Neal scored the game-winning touchdown. York-
town 13. Delta 12.
The whole town rushed the field.
"Dad, I'm not one of your football players!" Kelly Hoke
would shout.
Brady'sfather, John, ajunior-high principal, was strict with
him, so Brady is strict with his only daughter. All of Brady's
favorite words - accountability, responsibility, toughness -
Kelly hears them at home because Brady heard them.
The problem is he also has 100 sons to take care of
Laura and Kelly have adapted. The only night Brady is
guaranteed to be home - or at least nine times out of 10 - is
Thursday night,family night,for homemade pizza.
Laura and Brady didn't even think twice about the future
when Brady
left York-
JAY NEAL town to be
a graduate
RUNNING BACK assistant at
Grand Val-
ley State.
"THE Y'REAROUGHBUNCH... Laura fol-
DON'T TAKE NO CR AP FROM lowed him to
DOO 'Grand Val-
NOBODY" ley, Western
Michigan,
-JEFF BARR Toledo, Ore-
JEFF BARR
BRADY'S FIRST LINEBACKER
"HE WASA MINIATURE BRADYHOKE"
-DAVID TANNER
gon State and then to Michigan. She always found a job.
But children need consistency.
"When your kids are young it's hard, because as adults we
can talk on the phone, you know, 'How's your day going?' "
Laura says. "But for a child to talk to their dad on the phone,
it's different.
"They need to see him and touch him."
Brady taught Kelly how to ride a bike, not how to shed
blocks. He took her trick-or-treating. Dad was there, but he
wanted to be therefor her all-the-timefor his actual daughter
like he was for his recruited sons.
"There's things," Brady says, sitting in his office at Schem-
bechler Hall, "that you'd always want to take back.
"I think we all live ourlives with some regret."
'/5 o og /S e csAj ct 6 1
It's 1995 and Brady's office isn't as large yet as he'd like it
to be. For now, it's simple, just a desk and two chairs, with
photographs around the room of former players he helped,
people he wants to remember.
He's coachingthe defensive ends at Michigan, the school
he'd always dreamed of coaching at, and a troubled soul is
sitting across from him.
MarcusRay's name is hanging in the balance.
Brady's the only one Marcus can turn to. He can't talk
to Lloyd Carr. Marcus lied to Lloyd's face after he and two
teammates used someone else's credit card at the mall in
April1995.
Lloyd suspended him seven games.
Marcus was a "handful" by this point, having problems
with other guys on the team, over women, playing time and
status.
Brady's the new guy. This is a fresh face, one without a
negative opinion of Marcus. A face he can trust. And Marcus
wants to change.
How can I be a better teammate?
Am I as selfish asI've come off?
What does Lloyd think of me?
Marcus opens up to Brady as much as he can with a coach.
MICHAEL FLOREK
Daily Sports Editor
Michigan coach Brady Hoke is
downplaying the fact that he's fac-
inghis oldcteam, San Diego State, on
Saturday. But he broke up via mass
text. The Aztecs have every incen-
tive to rub their
rebound season San Diego
in his face. And
they're trying to State at
do it with a bet- Michigan
ter looking form
of Brady Hoke's Matchup:
ideal offense. San Diego
It starts with Stale 3-0;
running back Michigan 3-0
Ronnie Hillman, When: Satur-
San Diego State's dat 12 P.M.
1,500-yard rush- Where: Michi-
er from a year gan Stadium
ago. In three TV/Radio:
games this sea- BTN
son, he's rushed
for just under
500 yards and eight touchdowns.
"They say he's a Heisman candi-
date," defensive coordinator Greg
Mattison said. "When I watch the
film I see it. I'm not voting. This is
a guy that can be physical, can be
really quick and make you miss
tackles, and has and will run away
from you if he gets in the open field.
He's got all of those things. This
will be the toughest back we've
played, without a doubt."
For No. 22 Michigan's defense,
one aspect of Hillman's game
sticks out above all the others: his
speed, which makes him especial-
ly dangerous when he gets to the
outside. The Wolverines' chances
of success will likely rely on the
defensive line's ability to keep con-
tain and funnel Hillman towards
the linebackers.
Luckily for Michigan, the
defense practices against a similar
type of talent daily. He may not be
a running back, but junior quarter-
back Denard Robinson has been
known to break a long run or two.
"Denard's such a fast running
back, and if you blink your eye he'll
get outside," fifth-year senior Troy
Woolfolk said. "So I think going
against Denard every day allows us
to help our defense contain and put
a cap on long runs."
But the practice hasn't helped
the rush defense recently. Despite
the defensive line ostensibly being
one of the strengths of the team
entering the season, Notre Dame
and Eastern Michigan ran over the
Wolverines for an average of 202.5
yards per game.
Since the NCAA doesn't count
the Wolverines' lightning-short-
ened game in its official statis-
tics, Western Michigan's 96-yard
performance doesn't count when
ranking the rush defense. The
other two games have Michigan
103rd in the country. Hillman is
second nationally in rushing yards,
37 yards behind South Carolina's
Marcus Lattimore.
If Michigan can stop Hillman,
it'll move on to the passing game,
led by San Diego State quarterback
and NFL prospect Ryan Lind-
ley. Contain him as well, and all
the offense has to do is figure out
Aztecs coach Rocky Long's compli-
cated 3-3-5 defense.
"He's taken a 3-3 concept and
created a lot of looks from the 3-3
that makes it hardly recognizable
as a 3-3," said offensive coordinator
Al Borges, who coached with Long
at San Diego State. "What seems
to be very helter-skelter is not at
all. It's a very disciplined style.
Every guy's in a gap. Everyone has
a responsibility. Coverage is sound.
"But it's not what you see every
week, and that requires a little
more preparation. It's almost like
facing a wishbone team when
you've never seen a wishbone
team."
Robinson will be faced with
cracking it as he tries to find a
rhythm in the passing game.
He's completing just 49.1 per-
cent of his passes, attributing most
of his failure to happy feet. But he
continues to beat teams with his
feet.
Hoke said this week that oppo-
nents run different defenses than
Michigan studies on tape because
they vastly change their gameplan
for Robinson. And if there's any-
body who can cook up a unique
defense, it's Long.
"Oh man," Robinson said.
"They're defensive coordinator is
probably a genius at the defense
they're running, they throw a lot
of stuff at you. ... It's kind of crazy
defense."
While Hoke's never coached
against a Long defense, he's seen
nearly everybody on San Diego
State before.
cHRIS PARK/AP
an Diego State running back Ronnie Hillman is second in the nation in rushing.
6 1 FootballSaturday - September 24, 2011
TheMichiganDaily - www.michigandaily.com 3