Michigan linebacker coach George Helow met with the media on Wednesday to break down his position group, preview the Wolverines' upcoming game against Maryland and much more.
For everything he had to say, check out the full transcript below.
On returning to Maryland
I’m fired up. Obviously, coached there last year. Had a lot of friends on that staff. Looking forward to the opportunity to watch the guys play.
On Junior Colson's ascension
Junior just continues every week to understand what we’re doing, how the defense all fits together. He’s really been playing well. Between the tackle boxes, he’s like a tackling machine. Has a really good feel, has good natural instincts. He’s a young player, so the more experience he gets, the better he plays every week.
On the challenges Maryland's offense brings
They’ve got a really good passing game. They’ve got some receivers that are down, but the ones that are playing are still good players. I know that offense really well. They get the ball out fast. You’ve gotta challenge them and you’ve gotta be aggressive. They’ve done a really good job of recruiting and bringing players in that can make the one-on-one plays.
On whether Junior Colson is still following Josh Ross
Josh is such an experienced player that a lot of the guys kinda lean on him. He’s a really good leader in our room, always helping all the guys. Junior’s learning what to do, and we preach on defense as a whole having obnoxious communication and always knowing what to do, and how to do it, and why it’s important to do it that way. Junior’s learning it and he’s doing a tremendous job.
On what makes Hassan Haskins special
I think Hassan is one of the best running backs in the country. He is just unbelievable. He’s a team guy, he plays on the punt team, so he understands the importance of team football and special teams. You’ll see a play versus Penn State where he’s blocking and hits the guy under the chin. Just plays like that make you love Hassan. And everybody sees what he does, he hurdles guys every week, he’ll run through you, he’ll run around you. I’m glad he’s on our team. I actually kid with Josh, too. ‘Send him over and he could play a couple snaps at linebacker, if you want.'
On Michael Barrett's role and his performance
Mike’s done a really good job all year on special teams. He’s earned the right to get some defensive reps. He’s done a really good job in practice. We have a package, ‘buffalo,’ where bigger personnel groupings come in and some plays that get Mike on the field. He’s also in the rotation at dime. He does a good job, he understands the position. Mike can blitz, he can play man-to-man. Doing a really good job.
On how the offense is benefitting the defense
That starts with Coach Harbaugh and the tone that he sets. He does a great job of relating to us what we’re trying to do. The ultimate goal is winning the football game. The offense has done a great job this year of keeping us off the field in a lot of situations. When you’re limiting the reps that you have to play on defense, it allows those guys the rest and be fresh. It really helps us. Our running attack, as everybody knows, has been really good this year and it really helps the defense out a lot.
On having fresh players helping the pass rush
It’s everything. You look at—this is the time of year when people are a little banged up. You could say that Maryland has got a couple receivers out, but everyone does. That’s horizontal, that’s across the board. The more you can stay off the field and limit the amount of reps, especially late in the season, that helps you out.
On how the linebackers develop blitz timing
Our guys up front have done a great job. Shaun Nua does a great job with our defensive line, our edge guys, as you know, Ojabo and Aidan Hutchinson, the list goes on. Mike Mo, Upshaw, Jaylen — they do a really good job of playing their technique. I think the defense has really tied in and everybody understands how to execute their individual assignments. So those guys doing a good job up front help us at linebacker to play downhill and execute fast. We like striking blocks and staying square. We talk about blitzing all the time with speed and intensity and playing fast. Playing fast has to know what you’re doing on every play. I think guys understand that and do a good job. It’s a good question.
On the assessment of his linebackers in coverage
Feel good about it. Starts with knowing what to do, putting your eyes in the right spot. A lot of people, whether you’re playing man-to-man or zone, if you don’t look at the right stuff, it’s hard to play. Starts with that and then understanding how they’re trying to attack in the passing game. A lot of teams, are they throwing perimeter? Are they getting the ball out fast? Are you getting the RPO stuff? Are you getting intermediate passing downs, say five to 12-yard range? And different hi-lo concepts and layer routes? Are they taking shots on the outside? So, having a good understanding week-to-week of how teams are trying to attack, that’s the first thing the linebackers have to understand. It’s a great question, because linebackers are tied into the fronts and they’re tied into the coverage, along with the safeties, too—especially at that position. Understand how they’re trying to attack and put your eyes in the right spot and execute.
On the linebackers response with Penn State attacking the middle of the field
There was one where we could’ve been better, that hit down the middle. A lot of it guys, when you play zone coverage, your exit angles and the way that you take a departure angle has gotta be good. We talk all the time about vicing the football, if they throw and underneath route it’s not killing us. But if we twin tackle it and we use each other and keep the ball on our inside pad, keep our onside and outside leg free, and squeeze the football, then it can’t get out on us. It’s something that happens sometimes throughout the course of the game. Tempo or they give you different looks, you make a mistake or have a mental error, that’s what we call it. But our guys, they understand it, what’s broke after the game, we look at the film and we fix it, we move on and we keep drilling it. We look forward to doing it the next week, you know?
On defending the mesh concepts
When teams play a lot of man-to-man, you get a lot of mesh concepts. They’re trying to pick you. It’s also a check-down for first or second-level reads not there. It’s a common route that you get. A lot of offenses run it. You play some zone with it and you drive it from top-down and don’t let the guy run after he catches the ball. That’s a good way to defend it. But you see it, a lot of times you’ll get it when a receiver has got a short split or a condensed split. A lot of times you’ll get it out of a snug formation. A lot of the time offenses could give it away. It’s different from week to week, it’s something you study. We tell our guys and they look at the splits and they tie it together. We have really good communication across the board to know when we’re getting those certain plays.
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