On the ride to get to Ann Arbor

Wild. Probably not as wild for me as my wife, really. There's always the families. And she is a saint. I don't know how she does it. She is awesome. But I left mid-January from Western at a place that I loved. It was a great spot. I was a coordinator there for a long time. A lot of good people there. But I left to go to a bucket list job for me with my alma mater, the University of Memphis. And for me, it was like a great, great spot. It was an awesome landing spot for me. I felt great. Something I always wanted to do. While I was at Memphis, I turned down a couple opportunities to go to different places that were maybe a little bit more high profile. And then all of a sudden, it's like we close on a house on Thursday. I get the call from Sherrone on a Friday. And then we were back to Michigan that next week. It was wild. I've never dealt with anything like it. Personally, me, I landed at 11:40. I got here at 12:30. Practice started at 1 o'clock. I didn't meet a player. I didn't meet a coach. I just knew the guys that I knew. Like a couple of the players that I had recruited a little bit at high school. Went to practice. Got a script handed to me. Talking about hands and effort, hands and effort, hands and effort. So it's been crazy. We lucked out. My wife got to go back to where they were in Portage when my mom retired. Lived with them. Got the kids right back in school. And the rest is history. We actually close on a house today as we sit here now.

On moving the family again suddenly

I was, for me, and you'll learn, I'm brutally honest. I'm not great. I don't have this great vocabulary and I'm not eloquent with my words. That's not my gig. So I just told her, here's the situation. This is the opportunity. It's your call. What do you want to do? You literally just got here and the movers just got here. The boxes are here. We just closed on the house. It's your call. And her answer was, are you effing kidding me? And I said, and there was a lot of other words there too that she could say. My wife Brooke is like a saint, Coach's wife. She's awesome. She's a rock star. I wouldn't be where I am without her. And I truly believe good coaches have great companions. And she's like, well, what do you want to do? And I said, if I didn't want to do it, I wouldn't have brought it up. Because I had told her about the other opportunities later after they passed. And she kind of looked at me like, aren't you going to tell me about them? And I'm like, I wasn't going to do it. So I brought it up to her. I said, it's your call. It's 100% on the balls in your court. And she's like, let's do it. The kids were born in Michigan. Let's go back to the state of Michigan. And she was all for it, which let me be all in. You know what I mean? Like, I think if I was worried about, well, does she really want to go? Does she not want to go? It would have been a thing like, nah, I'm probably not going to do it. She was all in. And it was hard for me to leave Memphis, because Memphis is my alma mater. And I love that place. But Michigan, it's special.

On his reaction to first watching film on the team

Unbelievable toughness, physicality, great traits of athleticism. Each guy in that front line brings something different that you need to be a great defense. Whether it's Stu's ability to be physical, rush in the pass or drop into coverage. D-Mo's job of being able to be an elite edge setter, rush the pass or drop into coverage, play with great effort. Mason and KG's ability to just stone at the line of scrimmage and create a wall. I think since I've been here, I've heard Coach Moore talk about it all the time. And I didn't hear it before I got here. We're going to create a run wall. And that's what those guys do. And they take pride in that. And it's something special. Like those guys work and do things that are uncommon to most people at their position.

On his thoughts on the DL

They're really good. I feel like there's some things that I've said. It's hard when you come in and take over a room that has been so talented, and they were so successful. I think I say things sometimes differently, that maybe it was the same point, but they grasp it a little bit better. There's some things that I've given them just in film breakdown, and how to watch opponents that are different than what they've done in the past that has really helped them. So it's been awesome. And the way they take care of it, the biggest thing to me is they coach the young guys like I coach them. So it's pretty cool to watch that, because they've all either come in young and had to learn quick and play, or had some time to grow. And then they're teaching these guys the same techniques, the same things that I'm teaching them, which has been awesome. It's like having coaches in the meeting room.

On what he's seen from Kenneth Grant and Mason Graham on the field

I think when you put those two guys together, they command double teams. You can't single block those guys. And when teams do, you have to make them pay for that. Which in turn, good defenses are built from the middle back, right? Like you build it from the front back. And it just helps everybody out. Like when they play well, everybody else plays well. When Mason and KG have a great practice, the whole defense has a great practice. And they can affect the games in so many different ways that never show up. Batted balls, running to the football. Those are the things that I've been trying to get those guys to do all the time. Like KG has that unbelievable play where he runs down the running back, right? Do that every time, even though it's not a running back. Go chase a quarterback down. Go run after the ball and make extra effort plays. It's a big point that we've been talking about in camp. Knockbacks, extra effort. Knockbacks, extra effort. And those guys have been doing a great job of it all camp.

On whether the DL will be as deep as last season

Yeah, I think, I don't know if it'll be as deep. But we have some guys that are kind of, people don't really know their names yet. That are going to be good players for us. Ike has been doing a great job. Like he has progressed probably the most out of everybody since I've been here. When I came here from the spring to where he is now is light years ahead. He still has a ton of room to grow. The other one is Enno. Enno when I got here was 265 pounds. He's 308 right now. And he's not a big, he's not a bad body guy. Like he's... It's crazy. And that's to me, like I talk about it all the time in recruiting. The thing that separates Michigan from everybody else. Everyone's going to have these cool jerseys and these sweet team rooms. The things that matter here that help you when it's fourth and two. They spare no expense. The things that help you here that when you're 35 years old. And you got to roll over and go to work. Because you got people in your house that depend on you. They're going to spare no expense. They're going to prepare you for that. Michigan prepares you for the things that matter. The things that aren't a big deal. That like maybe at other places it matters. And I'm not saying that's wrong or right. Just here at Michigan. The things that matter to make you a better man. To make you a better football player. That's going to translate to the field. That's going to translate to real life. They spare no expense. And they're the best at it. And that's to me. Just from the outside looking in. Just being here a couple months. Like that's the thing to me that's special about this place.

On Wink Martindale

It's awesome. I mean I talk about it to my friends in the coaching profession. I've been coaching for I don't know 16 years now. And I've been a coordinator. I've been a position coach. The first practice we were at we talked about double teams and how to take it on. And he literally taught me something the first minute I was there. And it was awesome. And I've just kind of tried to be a sponge the entire time. Like he's awesome. The best thing about Coach Wink is he tells you exactly how he feels. When he feels it. There's no beating around the bush. And I appreciate that. Because I've been around guys that are going to put your arm around you. And try to tell you something to make you do something else. Listen I'm the type of person. Tell me what you want. I'm going to go do it. Give me the tools to do it. And that's what he does great. I feel like I'm like that a lot too. So it's awesome. He does a great job with that.

On what Wink brings that adds to the gameplan

Well I think the biggest thing is just the transition from NFL to college. It's football is football. Like Coach Wink has coached more football in big games than any of us have done before. It's the transition of the rules being a little bit different. Like the unbalanced stuff. And some of those things. And just you know helping coach whatever he needs to be successful. He does a great job when we're meeting as a defensive staff. Hey what do you think? How do you see it? And those things to me. And then he takes what you say and uses it. Or he'll take what you say. Hey that's a good idea. Let's keep it. Let's keep it. But we're going to do it this way right now. I think that's awesome. And I just think it's a different. You get a bunch of different voices. I think our defensive staff is unique. Because all those position coaches have coordinated for a long time. So it's a great mesh. Like we all know at the end of the day my job is to make his job as easy as it can be. Concentrate on the game plan.

On setting goals for the season

Yeah I think that we talk about it all the time. The first thing we did the very first meeting is we had a card. And on that card is like hey what are my camp goals? What are my season goals? What are my life goals? And then on the back of it is like why do you play football?And who's the most important person in your life? And everyone filled out those cards. And we just like randomly I'll pick a guy every meeting. And he'll just take the card out and he'll read it in front of the whole group. And we tack it on the wall. So if you go in the D-line room you'll see a bunch of these tags on the wall. A bunch of these cards. And the reason I do that is because if you know somebody's why. You can motivate them however you want. Like hey these are your words. You put these goals down. You're not working towards this goal right now. I shouldn't have to scream and yell for you to do this. These are your words. You're like that person who's the most important person in your life. If they just watch you play with bad hands and stand straight up and peek in the backfield. What are they going to say? You know what I mean? You want to be able to reach your goals and get every ounce out of football that you can. This is what you have to do. And when you do it like that the kids kind of like it flips a switch. Like oh yeah that's right. And it makes them want to do more. Because at the end of the day everyone talks about hey kids are different. They're not as tough as they used to be. That's a bunch of BS. Kids are just as tough. They're just as strong. They're just as fast. They're just as big. The difference is kids walk around with a phone that they could type a question in and get an answer at any point. So you have to tell them the why. And if they know you love them they'll run through a wall for you. And it's all about the relationships. And I think that's where Coach Moore does a great job better than anyone I've ever been around. The relationships with the players. And if they love you they'll work their ass off for you.

On how he makes sure his group is in peak performance to start the season

It's in camp right now. You're getting reps. And your banking reps are doing things perfectly. Playing defensive line from the outside is so simple it's hard. And I tell them all the time. When I first got here I was like Coach you say throw your hands and knock back. Run your feet all the time. I said because at the end of the day that's what you got to do. If you're denting the line of scrimmage and you're changing it. It's going to be really good for us. So those things you always have to harp on the fundamentals. Fundamentals. Fundamentals. And you're starting to see some guys like we talk about depth. Trey Pierce is another one who played a little bit last year. They're starting to build that callous. They're starting to build that toughness. They're starting to build that grit. And those are the things that are going to translate to the field. Because here's the reality of the situation. In every game versus every opponent. I don't care who it is. Stuff is going to go south. Something bad is going to happen. They're going to do something that we didn't prepare for. You're going to be tired. It's going to be a six-play drive. What do you do when adversity hits? You fall back on your training. You fall back on throwing your hands. You fall back on great eyes. You fall back on good keys. And those are the things that are going to help us win. And you have to do it at a high level. And you have to do it now. And you got to keep proving it in practice. And that's what we're trying to do now.

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