On Kenneth Grant batting passes and teaching it

He's massive. He's big. He's long. I think in our defense, when you play that shade or that nose, you get double-teamed a ton in the pass game. So while he's getting double-teamed, I think the knack that he has is he picks one guy out and knocks him back. So a lot of quarterbacks think the pocket is clean there when they know that there's a double-team. Well, he's really knocking it back and he's matching hands. And we emphasize it every single day. We do some type of match hand drill every day. I think football has turned into affecting the quarterback. It used to be, yo, just hit him and get sacks. Well, you've seen in some of our games, if it's close, they're going to get up as a penalty. So we've got to figure out different ways to affect the passer. And one way is matching hands. And we talk about it all the time. And he's done a great job with it.

On motivating the defensive line

Playing defensive line is so easy, it's complicated. Because if you stay low and you throw your hands and you play with violence, you're going to be successful. But you have to do it over and over and over again. It's not a secret. Low man wins. We talk about vertical and violence all the time. And I think when the guys buy into that and they do it, they'll just keep getting better. You can always be better with your pad level. You can always be better with your hands. Everyone's chasing perfection, right? So I think those guys, what they've done is they've really bought into that. And when the lights come on, they do a great job of trying to do that. I mean, when we come off the sideline and we're on the iPad watching the plays, which is new for us this year that no one's ever been able to do, those guys are on the iPads, oh, man, I was a little high here. Oh, my hand placement wasn't perfect. And those guys are chasing perfection. And it's competition within that group. And it's been really good.

On whether there's more pressure on the defensive line when the secondary is giving up yards

Well, I think at the end of the day, it's hand in hand. When we play good defense, it's all 11 guys doing a good job. So our guys take it as when there's a big play, whether it's in the run game or the pass game, we haven't done what we're supposed to do. And I think that's the biggest thing. It's 11 guys. I know you can look at things and say, oh, well, this guy's giving this up or this guy's giving that up, or the ball went through this hole, the ball went through that hole. It has to be. It's all 11 guys. And if we're getting a great pass rush, some of those things that don't happen on the back end. So I think it's hand in hand. It's not one group or one person. It's us as a group. And those guys know it. And they take that pretty seriously. Yeah, I think they are. I think they're more comfortable than what they have been in the past. They've played more plays than what they have been in the past. We still got to keep pushing, guys. I think Trey Pierce is doing a great job the last couple weeks coming back. He's a little banged up coming back. Enow is getting better. And then you've seen the emergence of Ike a little bit inside. And then Benny's been solid. Benny's played more plays than he's played too in the past. So those guys are getting better. We got to keep pushing that next group because the better they are, that'll take us the second half of the year. It'll keep some reps down on KG and Mace.

On Josaiah Stewart being elevated to team captain

I mean, he's one of the toughest dudes on the team, first off. He's vocal. He does everything you want. He's one of those guys that gets the guys going. If you see the guys when they're in the huddle, he's the guy talking. Everybody listens. I think it's a huge accomplishment. For me being the first year in the program and seeing a guy that transferred in become captain at the University of Michigan, it's pretty special. And in order to do that, you have to be a special person. And he's like the spark plug in the engine, man. He gets us going. He does an unbelievable job of motivating guys and talking to guys all different ways. He's like a coach out there. Some guys he puts his arm around and talks to. Some guys he's in their face like a coach. And he's a special man.

On hiring a sports scientist and how it's help to manage workload

I mean, it's awesome. You see so many things that you never thought before, right? I've been at programs that everyone wears the chip and they talk about how many miles per hour you run and how many yards you go. But Zach (Higginbotham) does a great job talking about volume and wear and tear on bodies. And he literally, we can tailor things based on where guys are threshold-wise to get them to where we need to be on Saturday. So it's helped us a ton. It's helped me a ton. I try to meet with him every other day.

On examples of how it's been different

I wasn't here last year, so I don't know. In the previous spots that I've had, it's like one of those things where like, hey, he's got a big load already. It's all comparisons, right? So week one, we played at a high level and he was at this load on Wednesday. Well, week three, he didn't play, maybe not as a high level and he was higher than the threshold. So you try to stay and find that sweet spot. And I think it's always working because guys' bodies change too. And as the season goes down, it's like a gas tank, right? You start with a full gas tank and as you play that gas tank gets a little bit less and a little bit less and a little bit less. And you can only fill it up so much because of the wear and tear of games. But everybody's going through it. It's not like we're the only ones. Halfway through the season, everyone's feeling the same soreness, bumps and bruises. You've got to push through it. And we've got a great group of guys that are doing that right now.

On whether the bye week helps fill up the gas tank

For sure. It definitely does. It definitely does. I mean, you go all those games in a row and then you can just take a couple days off and really let the young guys get at it a little bit. And those older guys get a good sweat going. Get them into what we're doing schematically versus Illinois. And it's been a great week. Much needed for us.

On Derrick Moore

He did some stuff yesterday so it's day-to-day with him. He looked good bouncing around yesterday. So we'll see. I mean, it's like anything else. Everybody's body's a little bit different. So if he progresses, we'll see game day how it goes. But he did some stuff yesterday.

On whether there's another level Moore can rech

Like, again, this is going to sound weird. So for me, you go back and look at every single sack we have. When he's on the field, he contributes to it. Every single one. And a lot of the guys' sacks are because of him. Because he's doing such a good job with a power rush or a hesitation or beating a guy around the edge, the quarterback flushes. And I can't tell you. If you're a football fan and you know football and you watch that tape, he is just as important as any one of those guys that had a sack. So like Coach Wink talks about it all the time, the dam's going to break at some point. He's going to have one of these games where he's got three or four sacks in it. So he's imperative to our success. And when him on the field with Josiah or TJ, that's a very formidable duo there. And then you add Mason and KG inside and Benny and those guys playing. He's really good. He helps us a ton and makes us go. And if you watch the tape, you really see it. And he's done a great job. Like, everything we talk about, like, sometimes guys are selfish and they want to run around blocks or they want to do their own thing. He's not that, man. He goes right through the tackle. He condenses the pocket. He does a great job. He's a great team player. And that's what makes him special.

On the assessment of the defense at the halfway point

Guys are bouncing around, having a good time yesterday in practice where we are right now. I think there's things to work on. I also think it's a different team, right? You have different players. There's different schedule. There's different people. We just got to keep chasing perfection. And I think the off week has been good in many things. One, you get some guys to heal up. But two, you get to self-reflect a little bit, right? Like, hey, how can we help what we have right now in certain situations? Whether it's a D lineman getting a better pass rush. Whether it's a D-end staying lower. Whether it's a D-tackle doing a better job and selling a movement. And I think when you do that, you just help the overall defense. And we've had a chance to do that. So I think you'll see a better second half from us. The guys are super excited about it. The guys were bouncing around, having a good time at practice, hooting and hollering yesterday. And when we play with energy and emotion, we're pretty good.

On whether he expected this is how the first six weeks would go

No. I mean, we expect to win every game we're at Michigan. Like, that's the reality of it. Like, we expect to win every single time we're out there. So, no, it didn't. That wasn't the expectation. So our deal is we want to chase perfection, right? So let's go 1-0 every week. Let's not talk about this game or that game. Let's go 1-0 this week. 1-0 today. 1-0 on this rep. 1-0 on the next rep. And let's just keep those blinders on and have that one rep mentality. And that's what the guys have been doing. It's been great this week.

On Illinois' offense

You got to stop the run with them. Like, they're big. They're physical. Their running backs are big. The offensive line is massive. Like, they're going to try to run the ball. And if you let them run the ball, it opens everything else up. The quarterback is super shifty. He's going to get himself out of situations. They've got a pretty good tight end core and a really good receiving core that finds a way to get open. And they make some unbelievable catches on the perimeter. So it's going to be a tall task for us. We've got to be on our best game. And the guys have practiced like that all week. So we're excited about the competition and excited about the opportunity.

On whether he incorporates wrestling training with his players

In the offseason, we do some pummel drills, some inside stuff. So I have a wrestling background, too. And I love wrestlers because they understand leverage. Like, if you've ever wrestled before, a lot of wrestling is working your opponent's momentum against him, right? So it's just like football. So I'm in a block. I'm fighting pressure with pressure, pressure with pressure. I feel pressure coming back at me. Now I'm over it. And I think that he has a knack of doing that. If you watch him on tape, that's one of the things that makes him special. As far as doing anything other than that, I mean, it's all leverage. And wrestling is leverage. So, again, wrestling knee bend, power, strength, inside hands, inside control. Like, all those things that you talk about in wrestling work for defensive line. It really works. It's sacred. It works for every position.

On why blitz or send pressure when you have an effective front out

Well, one, I think every game plan is different. I think if you look at us the last three or four games, I would say we rushed four more than we brought five or six. Significantly. Because of that. But every game plan is different. Like, if you see something, we're watching an opponent and they run this protection and they don't have an answer for this, that's what you want to do. You want to put your guys in the best spot to win. Right? Whether that's rushing four, whether that's bringing five, whether that's playing man, whether that's playing a fire zone behind it. It's a chess game and you're always trying to match it. You're trying to give them a picture and then change it post snap. They think you're in man, now you're playing zone. They think you're in pressure and now you're dropping out. They think you're not pressuring and now you're pressuring. So I think his mindset is whatever it's going to take to win and I think that's the one thing that you've seen the last couple weeks for us.

On whether there's rationale to not send the blitz as much

No, I think he does. I think it's whatever the game plan is. Like, if whatever's going to work for us, that's what he wants to run And I truly believe it. And again, you can be on the board and draw up a bunch of good blitzes and it looks good. You can be on the board and draw up a bunch of good coverages and it looks good. The secret is this, when the front four get there, the back end no one even talks about. And that's what we have to keep doing. And that's what we talk about all the time on us. It's 11 guys. Football's a unique sport. It's the greatest blueprint of life because you've got 11 dudes working the one common goal. It's not one of these individual sports. They're all different shapes and sizes and they're all working on one thing. So like a play, like a football player or a defensive call, there's never been one made not to be successful. And you're calling it in those situations because of tendencies and numbers and things that you've seen. And I think Wink does a great job with that. So again, we all got to get better. At the end of the day, there's things that we can improve and I think this bye week has helped us look at ourselves a little bit and I think we'll put our best foot forward moving forward here in the next six weeks.

On the younger players standing out

Yeah, Trey has really, he's come along the last two weeks really. I think he's feeling better. Enow has done a great job. Etta and then Ike just keep progressing to get better. And then for us on the edge, Dom Nichols has done a great job. So we're excited about those guys for sure moving forward. We're going to need them.

On the point of the season that a team is at its best

You hope it's at its best. It gets a little bit better every week, right? That's what you hope. I think if you've watched great teams, they get better every single week. So you want your best at the end of the year when you're playing for a championship, right? You want your best every game you go out there, but good teams get better every week. So I would hope towards the end, like this month of October, this is when championships are won. October, November, because you're getting into now the end of the season. You're playing conference games. Every game matters. Like when you play in the Big Ten, it doesn't matter who you're playing. Every game matters. And I feel like being in a conference like this, that's important. And our guys know that and our guys have experienced that. So you want to get better as the season goes on. But perfectly, like a little bit better every week. That's what you want to be.

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