8A — Wednesday, September 18, 2019 Sports The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com Patterson looks to make a statement When Jim Harbaugh strode to the podium on Monday, he carried the demeanor of a man focused only on what was ahead of him, unwilling to admit distraction. Harbaugh was asked about the offensive struggles, about where his team had improved over the bye week and where it needed to improve further. He was asked about ball security and the challenges of playing Wisconsin, and none of this would be notable if it didn’t carry a certain air to it — a connotation that Michigan would be in an uphill battle on Saturday. Then things got more direct, with a reporter asking about the feeling of being a Vegas underdog. Harbaugh barely gave a cursory stare. “That’s irrelevant,” he said. So, a day later when the normally soft-spoken senior quarterback Shea Patterson took his turn, it was unsurprising when he, too, fell back on platitudes in the face of those same questions. But after 10 minutes of being lobbed questions connoting a challenge, giving little benefit of the doubt to what Patterson was saying about the offense letting loose, maybe his patience wore a bit thin. He was asked how close the Wolverines are to showing the world what they’ve seen in practice — an offense that can fire on all cylinders. “Uh, what is it?” Patterson asked in response. “Three-and-a- half, four days?” Indeed, from Tuesday night when Patterson spoke, it was four until gameday. “Yeah, we’re gonna go out there and make a statement,” Patterson said. “Simple as that.” And despite the obvious hedge — winning on the road at Wisconsin, a top-15 team in a venue the Wolverines haven’t walked out of with a victory since 2001 would be a statement unto itself — everyone knows it isn’t that simple. A statement would be following up on what we heard all spring and summer about this offense. It would mean going in and showing everyone what this unit — a senior quarterback with three NFL-caliber receivers, should Donovan Peoples-Jones return, a top-50 recruit at running back and an offensive line chock full of returning starters — can do when it’s rolling and when its coordinator doesn’t get gun-shy. Patterson is, literally and figuratively, often a quiet figure with recorders thrust into his face. That does not mean he lacks confidence. He hasn’t since fifth grade, when his dad coached him. “It was a little rough at first,” Patterson said. Yet here he is. “I’m very confident and that comes with the guys around me,” Patterson said. “How can you not have confidence in yourself when you have our O-Line and unbelievable targets outside and a hell of a defense behind you?” It’s a good question, and really the only answer is to point to the last two weeks. The offense turned the ball over, unable to hold onto it. The defense gave up points when it got put in bad situations. Even when they kept the ball, the Wolverines played with timidity and struggled to move the chains. Michigan nearly lost to an unranked Army team at home. Do that against Wisconsin and the Wolverines won’t walk out so lucky. Patterson knows that, and so does everyone else in Schembechler Hall. “We haven’t been playing the best football we can play and we know that,” said senior safety Josh Metellus. “We got guys in this building who, potential, like way up here. We’re not reaching that.” The only news there is that Michigan is publicly acknowledging what everyone can see. Make the kind of statement Patterson talked about and the conversation will quickly turn back to where it was two weeks ago, all about Big Ten titles and College Football Playoff berths. As many questions surround the Wolverines now, narratives change fast. Statements aren’t made in the quiet comfort of your own practice facility. “I’m done talking about it,” Patterson said at the end of his session Tuesday, walking away from the group of reporters. It’s time to show it. Healthy Jeter aims to boost defense Don Brown let out a sigh and a trailing “you know” before pausing. Standing in the Schembechler Hall lobby last week, he had just been asked for his assessment of his defense through two weeks. The indecision in his initial reaction continued throughout his answer as he shuffled between positives and negatives, resistant to any grand declarations. The evidence for each came naturally. In its first two games, every regulation touchdown that Michigan’s first-team defense allowed came off a turnover. And yet, the Wolverines were 50th in Division I with 21 points per game allowed despite not facing a Power Five team. All of that, though, was before the bye week. “We haven’t been playing the best football we can play,” said senior safety Josh Metellus. “And we know that we’ve got guys in this building whose potential is way up here. We’re not reaching that.” A bye week, of course, isn’t some magic cure. Wisconsin had one of its own and was off a start in which it outscored opposition, 110-0. Still, it’s an opportunity for Michigan to look itself in the mirror and diagnose what went wrong in its underwhelming start. The Wolverines will hold most of that diagnosis close to their chest until Saturday, but junior defensive tackle Donovan Jeter’s return to full health is one piece of the puzzle that can’t be hidden. “Donovan’s a really aggressive player,” said junior defensive tackle Ben Mason. “He adds a lot. Big guy, comes off the ball hard. So it should a good add for us this week.” After missing the opener against Middle Tennessee State, Jeter returned against Army in week two, but was limited to a few snaps. It stood in direct contrast to the expectations that bubbled for him throughout the spring, when he was one of Michigan’s most hyped players. For months, this was supposed to be Jeter’s breakout after two years of sitting behind a deep defensive line that graduated both starters last offseason. “You get tired of sitting on the bench,” Jeter said Tuesday, reflecting on those two years. But instead of a breakthrough, Jeter got hurt. Meanwhile, Mason struggled and senior Michael Dwumfour played one snap before getting sidelined with an injury of his own. “It was frustrating cause I obviously want to be out there helping the team,” Jeter said. “But luckily it was just one week, nothing too severe. It could’ve been worse, I missed my freshman year with something a lot worse. It was frustrating, but at the end of the day, it was only one week.” The resulting adjustment had a domino effect down Michigan’s defense. Sophomore defensive end Aidan Hutchinson moved to tackle beside Carlo Kemp, while senior linebacker Josh Uche had to move into an every-down role on the front four. Against MTSU and Army, that speed-heavy look mostly worked. But Wisconsin wins games in the trenches, by pounding the ball up the middle with All-American running back Jonathan Taylor. Metellus wants to come back to Ann Arbor on Sunday and say, “This team is playing the best football right now. This team is reaching strides. This team is moving up better than we were the past couple weeks. This team is really doing something that we’re capable of.” To make that a reality, the Wolverines will need to stop Taylor. They’ll need to make good on two weeks of post-Army adjustments. And, most likely, they’ll need Jeter. Mel Pearson calls for rules changes ahead of Big Ten coaches’ meeting It looked like an ordinary, run- of-the-mill practice. The entire Michigan hockey team was on the ice working through drills and skating the occasional sprint, while the three goaltenders rotated in and out of the nets at each end. But there was one major difference that made for an atypical day at Yost Ice Arena last Wednesday. Instead of being down on the ice coaching, Mel Pearson and his staff were forced to sit in the stands and watch. According to Big Ten rules, teams must have two days off per week before the official start of their season. But on those days off, coaches can make the ice available for any player who would like to get extra reps in. “(The rule is) to try and help student athletes and take some of the burden off of them as far as the practice out of season and whatnot,” Pearson said Sept. 11. “But if you ask our guys (on days) like today, would they rather be out there with coaches or just out there (doing) their own thing? “They’re hockey players. A couple of them are gonna be multi-million-dollar athletes. They’re training. It’s why they’re here. That’s what they want to do.” Pearson isn’t normally one to voice his frustrations with rules or officiating, but at a meeting of the Big Ten hockey coaches on Wednesday, Pearson hopes they’ll get the ball rolling on a conversation about potential changes. It’s clear there are a few hot-button issues Pearson feels strongly about, including being allowed to add a third full-time assistant coach. When asked about the issue of a third coach, Pearson answered quickly and decisively, stating his answer before the question was fully posed. “Yes,” Pearson said. “Absolutely.” The Wolverines have 28 players and just three full-time coaches — Pearson, associate head coach Bill Muckalt and assistant coach Kris Mayotte. For perspective, Michigan basketball has 15 players and four full-time coaches, and Michigan football has 11 coaches for 85 scholarship players and a number of walk-ons. While other college sports have the option of recruiting during their offseason, hockey season runs the same portion of the year at every level of the sport, forcing Pearson and his staff to balance being at Michigan with being out on the road recruiting. Pearson spent 23 years with the Wolverines under Red Berenson, and he said for most road trips, only Berenson and one assistant would travel with the team while the other assistant went out on recruiting trips. There have been conversations about advocating for an additional coach, but the Division II and III schools with Division I hockey programs tend to put a stop to such talks. While schools like Michigan and other Power Five teams can afford another salary, the smaller schools with more limited resources are more resistant to additional staff. “We’re not as unified and as organized as some of the other coaches’ associations, and that’s where (the decision) has to come from,” Pearson said. “I know softball and baseball are trying to get another third coach right now. We definitely need one.” Other rules also frustrate Pearson, such as the NCAA- mandated extra 14 days that must be taken off during the school year. Because Michigan starts school after Labor Day and begins second semester early in January, the Wolverines have to take their extra days off in-season or much closer to the season than Pearson would like. “Some programs, it doesn’t affect,” Pearson said Monday. “But for us, because of our academic calendar, it really affects our program, taking the extra 14 days off. I’d like to see that change.” Part of Pearson’s displeasure comes from the fact that the rules vary by conference, with few rules about days off and the like shared across college hockey. The off-day that required him to sit and watch practice from the stands is mandated by the Big Ten, but schools like Ferris State, which the Wolverines will face at the Great Lakes Invitational, only have to take one day off per week. “You’re already behind,” Pearson said Sept. 11. “Every week you lose a day.” On Wednesday, the Big Ten hockey head coaches and sport administrators from each school will meet to discuss some of the issues facing the sport. While Pearson is hopeful they’ll start a conversation for some rule changes, both within the conference and across the sport, he has a cynical attitude about it after nearly 40 years in coaching. “When you get 60 schools voting on something — I know that the way it’s structured is that Division I schools are the only ones supposed to vote on Division I issues — but with hockey, it’s weird,” Pearson said. “A lot of times we don’t get things passed, even though we’re in a Power Five conference. We should have power. We don’t have any power. It’s one of the most frustrating parts.” BAILEY JOHNSON Daily Sports Writer ETHAN SEARS Managing Sports Editor NATALIE STEPHENS/Daily Quarterback Shea Patterson is confident in Michigan’s chances Saturday. We haven’t been playing the best football we can play. ALEC COHEN/Daily Michigan coach Mel Pearson called for multiple rule changes, including additional practice time and the ability to add a third full-time assistant coach, similar to other Big Ten revenue sports. They’re training. It’s why they’re here. THEO MACKIE Daily Sports Editor ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily Junior defensive lineman Donovan Jeter is fully healthy ahead of Michigan’s matchup with Wisconsin.