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.

