The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Thursday, October 6, 2011 - 7A Defense takes pride in turning the tide TIM ROHAN defense, 110th in total defense - Daily Sports Editor 112th in passing defense, allow- ing 261 yards per game - and Greg Mattison had a specific 76th in turnovers forced. message for the group of players How did Mattison and Michi- who lived by his word. When he gan coach Brady Hoke turn walked into the team meeting around a defense in five games? room last Sunday, one day after Maybe they don't believe any- the Michigan defense posted its thing's turned around just yet. most dominant showing since Maybe the turnaround started 2007, Mattison began: when the Wolverines took their "You guys played good. You lumps a year ago. guys got a shutout. You guys were "We (have) an unbelievable good on third down. But you guys hunger and the attitude that, gave up first downs that you nor- 'Yeah, we accept the fact that we mally wouldn't give up. So we've were not where we need to be got to watch this film and get this last year. We'll do everything and corrected." anything to be good this year,'" Win 58-0? Not good enough. Van Bergen said. Mattison's defense is ranked Demens said the secondary second in scoring defense, 16th plays with an attitude that they in passing defense - allowing were better than it played last 177 passing yards per game - season. Perhaps more than any and sixth in turnovers forced. unit, it plays with a personal To the untrained eye, Mattison's pride. defense is doing just fine. "They understand totally that But it's not his defense. giving up big plays is not accept- "It's the Michigan defense," able in the back end," Mattison Mattison said Tuesday. "It's said. Ryan Van Bergen's defense. It's Now, Michigan's allowed Mike Martin's defense. It's the just 10 plays of 20-plus yards (line)backers' defense. It's the and Mattison commended their secondary's defense." positioning in run defense. Last "We're just taking pride," season, the unit allowed 46 pass- added junior linebacker Kenny ing plays of 20-plus yards. And Demens, as he explained what it missed tackles at all three levels meant to make it their defense. led to long runs. "Coach Hoke told us that it's our Pride as a unit is stronger than defense - they give us a scheme, that of one individual. they coach us, but it's our job to When Mattison said he was Sgo out there and perform." going to rotate waves of defensive A year ago, the Michigan linemen through, cutting down defense finished 107th in scoring Van Bergen's playing time, the "The things that happened last year is, the ball would be on the ground, and we'd not come up with it as much. This year, when the ball's on the ground, it's ours." Four players have intercep- tions. Seven players have forced fumbles. Three players have scored defensive touchdowns. Everyone's buying in. Hoke says the turnaround starts up front with his defen- sive linemen - once Van Bergen, Martin and junior defensive end Craig Roh started being "disrup- tive" by themselves, it opened up the world to Mattison. The line- backers could do their job. And the secondary could disguise coverages and double team play- ers if they needed to. At one point, Mattison chal- lenged his front-four, saying, "We're going to start rushing just you four, you have to hit home." "(It) allows us to go back and forth: pressure, no-pressure," Mattison said Tuesday. "Or make it look like pressure, when it's really not pressure." Roh, in particular, has four tackles for loss and two sacks the past three games. But on Tues- day, Mattison challenged him to be even better - tobe the impact player Mattison needs his rush end to be. In the past, it would've been enough if Roh just worried about himself. "I think individuals have probably tapped into confidence. (in the past)," Van Bergen said. "There have been guys that have played well. But as far as confi- dence in the unit, that's more of a new thing." Together they're No. 2. Divid- ed they're No. 107. Mattison threw out schemes and variations that didn't fit this version of the Michigan defense. He'll only use what they know and are comfortable with, and only bring in new schemes when they're ready. Maybe, just maybe, the turn- around started when they all started having fun. Mattison pre- pares them so they know what plays are going to be run, where they're going to. go and what the opponents' tendencies are. Demens said the game prepara- tion this season is well ahead of what the defense was doing last season. And Van Bergen called Mattison's in-game adjustments, "always correct." "When an offense hears the defense calling out their plays, that's kind of intimidating," Demens said. Really, though, at this point, the turnaround could be attrib- uted to all of the above. "I think it's schemes,"Van Ber- gen said. "I think it's guys buying in. I think it's experience - we've got a lot of guys who have played a lot of football. I think it's just confidence. There's a swagger about our defense. When you're playingthe waywe're playing, it's a lot more fun to play. ED RIN KI RK IA ND/D Defensive coordinator Greg Mattison has prepared his unit well this season. fifth-year senior was skeptical at first. Then he saw how fresh he was in the fourth quarter, and how he and senior defensive tackle Mike Martin, who played upwards of 90 snaps a year ago, had enough energy to go 100 per- cent when they were in the game. On Saturday, Van Bergen played 28 snaps and got his first sack of the season. "With so many things that have gone right with coach Mattison and all these coaches, we've all bought into everything they've told us," Van Bergen said. "Anything that they say, goes." Maybe the turnaround start- ed when Mattison came to his defense with a new rule - when- ever the ball was on the ground, in any drill, whether it was an incompletion or thrown out of bounds, or whenever the ball was on the ground, the whole defense had to sprint to the ball and rally to the endzone. "Everybody rolled their eyes at this rule," Van Bergen said. "We thought, 'Man, this is nuts, we're going to be tired. We're wasting time. This is stupid.' Shame on us because it's been great for us. It's taught us great habits. Borges OK with backs Smith's versatility paying off for Blue MICHAEL FLOREK by committee for now Daily Sports Editor IkJ \. !-.A i M LJL-L~ .,'O/\/ i !__ Z Z ~ KEVIN RAFTERY over Minnesota, Smith rushed, Daily Sports Editor received and threw a touchdown. But Smith's success came as Five games into the season, no surprise to Borges. the Michigan football coaches "We're using Vince Smith are waving a white flag - for exactly the way I thought we now. Throughout spring and were going to," Borges said. fall camp, plenty of questions NEW FIELD, NEW CITY, NO lingered. How would the team PROBLEM: On Saturdays this adjust to a new offense? A new season, the Wolverines have defense? Who played on nothing but the Michi- would be the NOTEBOOK gan Stadium turf so far. This starting kick- weekend, they'll get their first er? But for the coaches, one thing taste of real grass at Northwest- was certain: They would have ern's Ryan Field. It shouldn't be a lead running back to take the an issue for Michigan, or coach majority of the carries. Now, just Brady Hoke. over a month into the season, "We've been practicing on four different backs - redshirt grass all the way through," Borg- sophomore Fitzgerald Toussaint, es said. "Brady likes practicing junior Vincent Smith, senior on grass. It's easier on the kids' Michael Shaw and sophomore legs. As long as the field stays in Stephen Hopkins - have had decent shape, you can do that." meaningful carries this year. There should be no issues "I'd prefer the other way, with the field Saturday, as tem- where there's a (main) guy," said peratures are forecasted to be in Michigan offensive coordina- the mid-70s with clear skies for for Al Borges on Wednesday. the 6p.m. central time kickoff. "But our combination of backs And chances are, a good majority is working out. I may change my of the people will be rooting for mind in three weeks, but I see the Wolverines. Michigan has a no reason at this point to change huge alumni base in Chicago. * how we're going about it." "It's always nice to play in Toussaint has tallied the most front of folks that are behind carries among the backs and you," Hoke said. "I know there's a also leads them with 75.2 yards ton of alums who live in the area, per game - still more than 45 so we welcome them all." yards behind junior quarterback WHERE'S TREE?: Last Denard Robinson. season, redshirt junior Roy "Fitz has come around," Borg- Roundtree led the team in es said. "Fitz is really running receiving. He snagged 72 passes the ball hard and tough." for seven total touchdowns and Smith was originally set to 935 total yards. be the third-down back, but in In last season's offense under recent weeks he has given the former coach Rich Rodriguez, coaching staff plenty of reason Roundtree played in the slot to put him on the field more position. This year, he's on the often. In last week's 58-0 rout outside. And he's struggled to make his presence known so far. In five games, he's had just five catches for 44 total yards and one touchdown, albeit the game- winner in the Notre Dame game. Both Borges and Hoke insist Roundtree's numbers mean nothing. "Just the way games have played out," Hoke said. Borges expanded on Hoke's analysis. "Within the game plan, we have X amount of balls that go to the split receiver," he said. "If they go to him, they go to him. There's going to be games you catch some balls, there's going to be games you don't catch any passes." INJURY UPDATE: Junior left guard Ricky Barnum, who hurt his leg two weeks ago in a 28-7 win over San Diego State, is ques- tionable for the game against Northwestern. Based on what Hoke said at his press conference before practice yesterday, his status for Saturday depends on what Barnum was able to do at practice Wednesday - the day of the week Hoke decides if injured players will be able to play in the Saturday game. "I don't think he's out," Hoke said. "He didn't do much yester- day, but today's Wednesday." Fifth-year senior receiver Junior Hemingway has been playing with a protective arm wrap, but Hoke said that shouldn't be an issue. "He's alright," Hoke said. "He's got a little boo-boo on his elbow. We did punt yesterday and he's one of our wings, and he did a great job protecting." It was the second quarter and the Michigan football team was already up 14-0, but junior run- ning back Vincent Smith'sjob was possibly on the line. Well, one of Smith's many jobs. He was already the third-down back and had claimed one of the top two running back spots early in the season. But this job - the person who throws the half back pass - had the smallest room for error- Smith had won the job at the end of summer, throwing two successful passes during prac- tice, but offensive coordinator Al Borges has a quick trigger fin- ger when it comes to halfbacks throwing the ball. "They get fired fast," Borges said on Tuesday. "They do. Last year at San Diego State I fired Ronnie Hillman after one throw. He told me, 'Coach, that's too much pressure, just one pass!' I go, 'That's tough. It's like Donald Trump, man. You're out."' Fortunately for Smith, he floated a 17-yard pass to wide open sophomore receiver Drew Dileo to put Michigan up three touchdowns. It was just the lat- est example of Smith proving his versatility. He tore his ACL in the last game of his freshman year, but recovered in time for the sea- son and didn't miss a game the following year. Smith rushed for 612 yards, good for second on the team behind junior quarterback Denard Robinson. When Michigan coach Brady Hoke was hired in the offseason, he said he wanted to bring a more traditional power run game back to the Wolverines. The offense didn't appear to fit the 5-foot-6, 172-pound Smith anymore. But Smith said he never thought about leaving. He lost out on the running back job to open the season but found a way to get on the field as the third-down back, mostly because of his block- ing ability. Teammates say that Smith picks out the biggest guys to go against in practice and Hoke has repeatedly praised how tough his smallest running back is. "The small guys, they always got to put a little extra to be noticed so that's what I do," Smith said. "I've got to do my job and just get noticed in a different type of way." After a 118-yard performance against Eastern Michigan, he was noticed for his running ability too. Since then, Smith and redshirt sophomore Fitzgerald Toussaint have been the main rushers in the 12th-ranked Wolverines' running .: : , a. I[i ; ERIN KIRKLAND/Daily Junior running back Vincetn Smith has scored four touchdowns this season. back by committee attack. Smith has two rushing touch-, downs in the past two games. The rushes, from seven yards and three yards respectively, are putting some of the doubts about whether he can run between the tackles to rest. And as Michigan's utility man, his impact hasn't beenlimited to the runninggame. He's also third on the team in receiving with nearly 100 yards. The screen pass he took 28 yards to the endzone against Minnesota was his second receiving touch- down on the season. "He does everything you want him to do," Hoke said last week. "Vince is a guy that you can count on. If he makes a mistake or doesn't do something as well, it's not because of lack of effort or lack of toughness. He's done a good job for us." I. " Redshirtijunior wide receiver Roy Roundtree has just five catches in five games this season.