4C — October 19, 2016
SportsWednesday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
THE MICHIGAN
DAILY TOP-10 POLL
2. OHIO STATE: The best
players from Michigan play for
... Ohio State.
1. ALABAMA: Nick Saban still
yelled at Lane Kiffin last week.
9. WISCONSIN: You really
start to wonder what the
Badgers’ record would be with
Bart Houston under center.
3. MICHIGAN: Jim Harbaugh
was the best coach working a
chain gang in the country last
weekend.
6. TEXAS A&M: Aggies fans,
don’t check under your bed
— there’s a Nick Saban-sized
monster waiting.
5. WASHINGTON: It’s sail-
gating time.
7. LOUISVILLE: Lamar
Jackson would be a great
Heisman candidate … if he had
any tackles for loss.
4. CLEMSON: Before you mock
NC State’s kicker, think about
how disappointed in you your
parents are.
8. NEBRASKA: Easiest way to
anger the Children of the Corn?
Ask them about their strength
of schedule.
10. WEST VIRGINIA: Dana
Holgorsen may have lost most
of his hair, but his team has yet
to lose a game.
Each week, Daily sports staffers fill out ballots, with
first-place votes receiving 10 points, second-place
votes receiving nine and so on.
Cookies make dominance even sweeter
The Michigan football team’s
defensive line conjures images
of physical pain inflicted on
quarterbacks, a toothless grin
from one of its anchors and the
sheer size of the dominant unit.
But it might come as a surprise
to learn one of the ways defensive
line
coach
Greg
Mattison
motivates his squad — sweet
treats.
“Coach Matty’s wife gives
us cookies for sacks, tackles for
losses, and there’s a new one —
highest percentage,” said fifth-
year senior defensive end Chris
Wormley. “And Ryan (Glasgow)
has got it probably four or five
out of six weeks, the highest-
percentage bag of cookies.”
Cookies might seem like an
odd way to motivate a group that
brings aggressive intentions into
every game, but so far, it seems to
be working.
Through
six
games,
the
Wolverines have racked up 59
tackles for loss, 24 sacks and
have
chased
four
opposing
quarterbacks out of the game.
Wormley said the most cookies
he has earned for a single
game was three bags — which
translates to about three dozen
chocolate chip cookies — and
that he usually tries to share
the sweets with his teammates.
(“Delano Hill usually steals
them because he’s right next to
me,” he added.)
But while the line competes for
cookies, Wormley also pointed
out that the unit has a marked
cohesion to it this year. Prior to
the season, it was easy for fans
to fantasize about the prospect of
rotating two similarly dominant
complete lines. But halfway
through the year, that’s been
close to reality.
Perhaps the best example
of the depth can be seen in
Wormley. At his size and speed,
he is capable of playing on both
the interior and exterior of
the line. He expected to play
more inside coming into the
year, but at the halfway mark,
he has consistently been used
at defensive end. Meanwhile,
interior linemen Matt Godin,
Maurice Hurst and Ryan Glasgow
have
combined
for
four
sacks
and 10.5 tackles
for loss.
That
diverse
spread
of
production
has
given
the
entire unit more
confidence.
“It’s cool to see
Taco (Charlton)
get a sack, and
then Ryan Glasgow, who’s a nose
tackle who usually doesn’t get
the opportunity to make sacks,
get sacks,” Wormley said. “And
me, and Rashan (Gary), and Mo
Hurst and Godin. So it’s cool to
see everyone do that, and I think
when we have that mentality
and that confidence in ourselves
that the (defensive backs) are
going to give us time to get to the
quarterback, we just make plays.”
When the Wolverines take on
Illinois this weekend, they’ll be
facing an offensive line that does
a relatively good
job of limiting
those
kinds
of
plays.
The
Fighting
Illini
are tied for 28th
nationally
with
five tackles for
loss allowed per
game and tied
for 46th with just
two sacks allowed
per game.
But against a defense like
Michigan’s, those numbers are
liable to inflate. Penn State is
allowing just 1.8 sacks per game
if you exclude the Wolverines,
but in that game, Michigan
tallied five.
The line relies on a trust and
familiarity Wormley says has
been building since the end of
last season. But that feeling has
grown stronger of late, and the
results are clear.
“I know Taco’s going to do his
job extremely well, and I look to
my left and I know Matt or Mo is
going to do their job perfectly,”
Glasgow said. “So it’s like, ‘I’m
going to do my job and I’m going
to do it to the best of my ability.’
You don’t feel as if you have to
compensate for anyone.”
And
when
it
comes
to
compensation, Mattison’s wife
might be onto something with
her reward system. Normally, the
players are rewarded for strong
play with a sticker for the helmet.
But to Wormley, the exclusive
treats make that success even
sweeter.
“Everyone
gets
helmet
stickers,” Wormley said, “but
(only) the D-Line gets cookies.”
Defensive line coach Greg Mattison has worthy reward for his starring unit
MAX BULTMAN
Managing Sports Editor
SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily
Fifth-year senior defensive lineman Chris Wormley has four of the Michigan defense’s 24 sacks this season.
“Everyone gets
helmet stickers,
but (only we
get) cookies.”