2B — April 15, 2019
SportsMonday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
M
ichigan football is
back.
Well, sort of.
On Sat-
urday, the
Wolverines
held their
Spring
Game at
Michi-
gan Sta-
dium, which
turned out
to be more
of a practice
with some
scrimmage situations mixed in.
It was everyone’s last chance
to see Michigan and all its
offensive changes before the
summer begins.
So, more accurately, Michi-
gan football
was back for
one day before
going back into
darkness where
you can’t find it.
Like Batman!
All jokes
aside, it is
very easy to
watch Satur-
day’s action
and immedi-
ately overreact,
because it is the only glimpse
of next season’s team that you
will get until next season is
here. And by that point, it’s
far too late to change expecta-
tions.
Many people would say it’s
smart to resist the urge to fire
off the hottest takes imagin-
able, but I am not one of them.
Now that we all got a taste of
football, the next four-and-
a-half months without it are
going to be hard, and there is
no better way to pass that time
than by envisioning, in mania-
cal detail, all the success your
favorite team is going to have.
The fact that there is no
real evidence to support your
claims of supremacy means
that there is also no evidence
to prove you wrong!
Shea Patterson sure looked
good on Saturday, didn’t he?
The senior quarterback was
slinging the ball all over the
field. It didn’t seem to matter
that some of his top receivers
were out with injuries, because
Patterson seized control and
showed just how good he can
be.
Patterson’s quotes after the
game sounded confident, too.
He pretty much completely dis-
pelled any concerns that offen-
sive coordinator Josh Gattis’
new offense will be accompa-
nied by a troublesome learning
curve, and he even said this
year is going to be fun. Fun is a
good thing!
The rest of the offense was
all roses, too.
Senior run-
ning back Tru
Wilson is back
and gritty as
ever.
At this time
last year, the
offensive line
was perhaps the
biggest ques-
tion mark on the
team, but now
it just might be
the surest unit the Wolverines
have.
As for Gattis, he has changed
the offensive philosophy. The
tempo is up, with huddles a
thing of the
past. There are
even cue cards
on the sideline.
We had cards
for our offense
my junior year
of high school
football, and
we went 1-8. It
wasn’t the signs’
fault. We just
weren’t good.
These signs are better, as is the
talent on the field.
So, realistically, you should
already be picking out which
member of Michigan’s offense
will win the Heisman and tell-
ing everyone you know.
Boom, there’s one side of the
ball out of the way.
Now look to the defense.
I know my colleague Max
Marcovitch
wrote a column
asking if the
defense is going
to be good liter-
ally yesterday,
but I taught that
kid everything
he knows, so
ignore him.
A lot of the
Wolverines’
defensive talent
from last year will be drafted
later this month. That is a
tough task to overcome. But
Michigan does still have defen-
sive coordinator Don Brown.
Brown once hit me in the
chest during a media availabil-
ity. I gave him permission first,
but it was also crippling and
sent the fear of God into my
soul. From that moment on, I
vowed not to bet
against Brown.
Also, the Wol-
verines have
overcome roster
turnover before.
In fact, they did
it two years ago,
becoming the No.
1 defense in the
country.
It isn’t as if all
of last season’s
talent is gone, either. Seniors
Josh Metellus, Lavert Hill and
Khaleke Hudson are returning
to anchor the defense.
So what I’m saying is that
you should be getting in the
comments section for 2020
mock drafts and asking why
they are disrespecting Michi-
gan.
Of course, there is the pos-
sibility that you
were disap-
pointed in the
Spring Game
for some rea-
son. In that
case, you can
just argue with
everyone who
was enthused
by it.
I don’t say
any of this
for myself. I realize, and you
probably do too, that the Wol-
verines will have to prove they
belong on the field this fall.
Expectations don’t really mat-
ter.
I say all of this for you, the
fan, because the last paragraph
may be true, but it is also your
responsibility to ignore it.
So go and put yourself out
there. Social media is too quiet
and calm anyways.
The worst thing that can
happen is that you look dumb
online, but we all already look
dumb online. Checkmate,
buddy.
Besides, football won’t be
back until August.
The least we can do is make
the internet a little bit more
like the gridiron.
Persak can be reached at
mdpers@umich.edu or on
Twitter @MikeDPersak.
SportsMonday Column: Time to overreact
T
here’s a reflexive ten-
dency in Michigan foot-
ball spheres to defer to
Don Brown. It’s understand-
able, even justified.
In
each of
his three
seasons at
Michigan,
Brown has
guided
a top-20
defense
nation-
ally. His
defenses
have
given up
less than
2,000 passing yards per year
each season; the last group
to do that was the 2001-2003
Miami Hurri-
canes (Yes, those
Miami teams).
So when all
else fluctuates —
offensive strug-
gles, widespread
coaching change,
roster turnover
— Don Brown
remains, more
than any other
entity, the linch-
pin of the program. He annu-
ally coagulates whatever group
of parts he has into a healthy
sum. It’s why Michigan coach
Jim Harbaugh called him the
“king of defensive coordina-
tors” last year. And for many, it
will be reason enough to sing
kumbaya and expect a seam-
less defensive transition this
year amid what, under any
other circumstance, would be
worthy of concern.
But while Brown’s presence
may add a comfortable layer of
trustworthiness, he does not
make the defense impervious
to questions — of which there
are plenty to ask.
Not even the king of defen-
sive coordinators can step on
the field and replace Devin
Bush’s generational sideline-
to-sideline speed, Rashan
Gary’s power or Chase Win-
ovich’s tenacity. He cannot
mask a woefully thin interior
defensive line, nor hide holes
at safety and linebacker.
The buzz within the team
remains rightfully optimistic
now, as if there’s reason for an
alternative four months before
the opening kickoff.
“We know that we’re looked
down upon as a group out of
the old defense to not do as
well,” said senior linebacker
Josh Uche. “That’s OK because
that’s for us to prove to the
world wrong.”
This is a team that is losing
two top-10 NFL Draft picks,
two other early-round selec-
tions and a multi-year starter
and team captain at safety.
It’s forced to
replace three
valuable inte-
rior defensive
linemen — and
currently
looking to a
250-pound
converted
fullback to
slot into one
of those roles
(Yeah, yeah, I
know how much you love Ben
Mason).
This is especially trouble-
some given Brown’s biggest
weakness has been his pro-
pensity to be
too trusting of
his players and
scheme — to
a fault. Ohio
State last year,
of course, is the
classic example.
In 2017, Penn
State blitzed
the Wolverines’
defense for 42
points.
“It’s not the concept,” Brown
said on Mar. 27, attempting
to diagnose those problems.
“What it is sometimes is, ‘My
guys are better than their guys’
and I’m just gonna shove it.’ ”
Sure, recognition of this
mindset inherently implies a
desire to fix it. But this is not
a group Brown
will be able
to take into
big games and
“shove it.”
None of this
is meant to
imply roster
turnover is
worrisome in a
vacuum. Roster
turnover is the
norm at Michi-
gan and in college football —
and nothing this coaching staff
is unfamiliar with.
“I feel like stuff like this
happens every year. My fresh-
man year, we’re losing all those
guys and we only had one
returner coming back,” said
senior VIPER Khaleke Hudson
“I feel like every
year it’s going to
be something —
even next year,
I’m going to be
gone, so they’re
going to be ask-
ing the next
person the same
question. Just
do what you do
regularly, just
next person up
step up and do what you’ve got
to do.”
Many point to the 2016 off-
season — the one Hudson is
referring to — as being similar,
if not worse. The Wolverines
lost 10 starters off a top-five
defense in the country, includ-
ing Chris Wormley, Jabrill
Peppers, Taco
Charlton, Jour-
dan Lewis,
Delano Hill and
other stalwarts.
The follow-
ing year, Gary,
Bush, Winovich
and other slot-
ted seamlessly
into new roles.
The question
of Michigan’s
defense next year might hinge
on whether they have a similar
reservoir of talent waiting in
the wings.
For now, amid a swarm of
noise about Josh Gattis and the
new-look offense, the defense
can find its feet away from the
spotlight.
“It’s different guys, but the
same thing,” said redshirt
sophomore quarterback Dylan
McCaffery.
Perhaps, as has been the
norm under Brown at Michi-
gan, that will hold true. Maybe
the loss of Bush, Gary, Winov-
ich and others will hurt more
than expected.
As with any potential spring
takeaway 130 days before real
snaps, only time will tell.
Marcovitch can be reached
at maxmarco@umich.edu or on
Twitter @Max_Marcovitch.
Are we sure this defense will be fine?
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Michigan defensive coordinator Don Brown has led a top-20 defense in each of his three seasons at Michigan, but is tasked with replacing NFL talent this year.
MAX
MARCOVITCH
We know that
we’re looked
down upon as a
group.
It’s different
guys (on
defense), but it’s
the same thing.
... just next
person step up
and do what
you’ve got to do.
Amid intrigue about a new-look offense, there remain questions about a defense forced to replace top-tier talent
MIKE
PERSAK
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Offensive coordinator Josh Gattis’ “Speed in Space” philosophy was showcased publicly for the first time in Michigan’s Spring Game on Saturday afternoon.
It isn’t as if all
of last season’s
talent is gone,
either.
I taught that
kid everything
he knows, so
ignore him.
(Don) Brown
once hit me in
the chest during
... availability.