Andrew Stueber sees the challenge of Georgia's defense, he sees what Alabama did to defeat them, and he's confident that the way to replicate Alabama's victory is to play like Michigan. Stueber spoke with the media and said that Michigan's best chance at defeating Georgia is playing the way Michigan has played all season, not trying to copy what a different team with different personnel and different strengths did. He also addressed the looming issue of COVID and cancellations. For all that and more, read on.

On what makes Georgia's front-seven so challenging given the number of players that have at least one sack (16)

Yeah, they're a really impressive defensive front, defensive line. Their structure's really good. They're well-coached. They play hard and everything but I think the biggest thing for us is just making sure we play Michigan football, we don't change too much, we do what we do best. This team has had so much success and so I think the coaches know not to go away from what is working and will continue to work.

I think they're really well coached, they're really well conditioned and everything like that but just make sure we don't play scared, we don't play timid, come off the ball, play Michigan football. What has gotten us here to this success so far is playing Michigan football and being able to not change who we are. I think the biggest thing now is just kind of maintaining that and keeping it moving forward.

On whether things have been structured differently recently due to COVID

Yeah, that's definitely a growing concern of ours. We've implemented masks in meetings, maintaining social distancing, a lot of people are kind of taking their meals to go now, not really sitting too much. But it's a lot safer now out there. A lot of students have left the campus. Booster's out there now. We have a full-team booster shot tomorrow, so that'll be good. And I think everyone understands kind of the gravity of the situation. To have an outbreak now would be devastating to a lot of people, so just kind of understanding the concern there is a big thing so we've taken the proper precautions there.

Have there been guys who have had to miss practice in the last few weeks due to exposures, etc.?

No, I can't think of anyone. I think--100% of the team is vaccinated so we're good there, so only if they're feeling a little sick, nothing but the common cold i guess now we've gotten hit with.

On how much they have watched the Alabama game, Georgia's only loss

We definitely looked back and that was definitely an interesting game to watch. There's a lot to learn there. I think Alabama did a lot of good stuff but then also a lot of stuff that doesn't really cater to us or our offense, so just being able to pick apart what did work and what we can transmit into our offense is a big thing.

And like I said before, we're not going to change too much. We're not going to cut-and-copy what Alabama did or any other team that had a little bit of success on them, so just being able to kind of pick out what worked and seeing what that version of that in our offense is big. Definitely from a kind of player perspective individually, it was really good; Alabama has a great offensive line too, so being able to watch them and how they conducted their business was something that's big for us too.

On BTN's Gerry DiNardo ranking Michigan first, Ohio State second, and Michigan State third before the teams played each other because of their offensive lines

I didn't hear about that but it makes no surprise. Those two teams have great offensive lines. Ohio State had great success, Michigan State had great success running the ball this year and protecting as did Ohio State. That's something that's big and it's not surprising.

Coach Moore says the o-line sets the tone, sets the tempo for practice and in gamedays and we really took that upon ourselves this year. We tried to bring as much energy as we could to practice every day and just kind of set the tempo because when the o-line is firing on all cylinders it's really easy for every other position to fall in place and so an o-line is a great testament to how good the team's gonna be and so that doesn't surprise me at all.

On the feeling the line had after beating Ohio State

It just all came together. It's something that coach Moore has always preached throughout all of spring ball and all of training camp. He puts up a PowerPoint of what we want to do and that includes beat Ohio State, the Joe Moore Award, Big Ten championship, and the national championship. And so he puts it up every single day during fall camp and it's kind of just this is where we want to be, this is where we need to be for this program. To kind of see it all come to fruition and kind of see how well the game--not only the offense played but the offensive line and the defense played, it was just a perfect colliding of everything. It's what we've worked for so hard. We've come such a far way since the 2020 season and it was just pure joy.

On the reason that so few players have left via the transfer portal during the season

Well, after the 2020 season we kind of took a look around. Anyone who wanted to leave, free to leave. Those who stayed--there's a saying, 'Those who stay will be champions' and those who stayed, as we got into spring ball, winter workouts, summer workouts, fall camp, we kind of looked around and said 'This is the team, this is the only group of men and coaches that will believe in us because no one outside of this building is going to believe in us.' We kind of took that upon ourselves and you know it's (inaudible) but Michigan vs. everybody, but that's how it was at the beginning of the season, it was us versus everyone else because they weren't going to believe in us, so we kind of put it upon ourselves.

We built a belief system. We worked internally a lot and we just kind of focused on ourselves. I think that that culture and that energy has really built a bond with this team and I've never been closer with a group of men in my five years here than this team right here. I love everyone on it, I'm comfortable going up to everybody and talking to them, so that kind of culture really built up throughout the offseason and transitioned into the season as well.

On the importance of player retention

I think it's big. I think it's very important, especially from a coach's perspective. You come in with a guy and you want to see his development, I think. So being able to retain players and being able to implement them in your own offensive schemes is very important and being able to build them how you want to build them for their success is something that's big too. When you leave you take the chances to go into a new system, new position, and it can be tough to adjust. Being able to keep players here and keep players here that want to play and want to grind and succeed is something that's big and I think that's part of recruiting, it's part of coaching, it's something that's big for this team.

On whether this group needed a change in the voice at the top similar to what the defense needed in moving on from Don Brown

I think it was a change for sure. Obviously whenever you change coaches the dynamic changes, the room changes a little bit but I just think it was something we needed as an offensive line. I think the new defensive coordinator was huge for us, just kind of a fresh, new, young perspective and I think the same happened with the offensive line. I'm not knocking any of the coaches previously, they're all great coaches, but I think at that time it's what we needed. We needed kind of a fresh perspective, a new look, some new energy, some could say.

And so I think that was a huge part of our success and coach Moore brings energy every single day. He pushes us to our limits. He really has done a great job of building up the young guys, too. You can see that in who's gotten in for some games this year. It was just the right time for a new perspective, bringing in new energy. He's done a great job.

How many times can you bench the Moore trophy?

(Laughs) Maybe in parts but not the whole thing. It's a little too much.

On what this moment means and what people who don't know much about Michigan football should know about the Wolverines

I think first off it's just the tradition of Michigan football. It's a great tradition. We have a whole museum dedicated to it. It's something that drives this program, and so I think one of the biggest pains of last year was obviously losing but (also) letting down the people who've come before us, because that's something that's huge for us. When we were able to beat Ohio State, coach Harbaugh said this too, it's not just the men in the locker room that are happy but it was everyone that came before you, everyone that's watching, everyone that was part of the program in the past, they're happy for you too.

So I think one of the biggest things about Michigan football is just the tradition within it. There's a tradition of great offensive linemen, producing great offensive line units and great offensive linemen, so to be a part of that as well is something that's huge for us and coach Moore's done a great job in shaping the offensive line and shaping the young guys, too, to have a great (inaudible) to come before. I think those two things are big things about Michigan football. If someone doesn't know too much about Michigan football I'd highly recommend looking into it because it's a great tradition, it's a great team to root for.

On how Cade McNamara handled the highs and lows of the season

Yeah, Cade's a funny guy. I've talked before about how his confidence really grew throughout spring ball and fall training camp and when he was finally able to command the pocket and the offense, that's when he kind of truly won us over and had that starting quarterback walk about him, just that energy about him.

One funny thing about him is he kind of maintains the same no matter what, and the funniest thing about him is he changes his voice based on who he's talking to. He kind of lowers it. We noticed it. But he's always the same, whether he's mad, happy, or whatever you want to say on the sideline, he's the same deep-voice, big-guy Cade and so he's a funny guy and I wouldn't want anyone else back there.

He's got great confidence, great energy and he's just so confident in this coaching staff and the team and the units and the players around him that it just rubs off on everybody. When he's back there everyone has confidence in what we're about to do. I think that's a big part of an offense and a big part of a starting quarterback.

What does a starting quarterback walk look like?

He just kind of walks in, he does a little trot out there all the time.

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