On Amorion Walker

Amorion has been progressing every week. I talked about it a couple of weeks ago, a couple plays each game. Last week, I think about 20 snaps. 20-25 snaps. I continue to see him grow with this knowledge on the field. It's one thing to learn in the playbook, it's another to do it in practice and it's a whole other thing in front of 100,000 people. Playing, executing your assignment and being physical, stuff like that. Couple things I want him to work on. Keep being physical, a lot more physical than he was, I thought they found him on the field and tried to run towards him. He's really done a good job with that in the first two practices we've had. Continue to be a lot more vocal and take more pride in his preparation of his alertness and have more awareness of the field and what the opponent is trying to do. So far, this week, he's been progressing towards that.

On Josh Wallace

Josh had a hell of a half, I think he had player of the game, one of them. He did a really good job. All of his point of attacks were plusses, he was 100% at the point of attack. He's starting to understand the game too. You know, Josh, when he was at UMass, he didn't have a specific corners coach all the time. He's like a sponge with him being a graduate already, he's over here, I walked by the meeting room and he's watching film non-stop on his own. He's doing a really good job of trying to be like the veteran guys. He's a great addition. We wouldn't be where we are on the defense if it wasn't for Josh. Like I said, he can play corner and nickel and he's doing a really good job at the point of attack. DBs can play, they can grade out at 100% and never be at the point of attack. That one play at the point of attack and you screw up and it's a touchdown, you may as well not be out there. At the point of attack, that's the grade that's more important for him. He's doing a great job.

On Wallace's status

He's alright, yeah. All my guys are alright, everybody is working hard. Everybody is getting healthy or healthy. It's football, it's November. Hell, I'm injured. What am I working through? Life.

On where Mike Sainristil has grown this season

I say every week with Mikey, how can I put it, Mikey grows—he's very intelligent, for one. Telling him something once, he'll get it. He's a really good technician. The thing he needs to keep growing and working on is really the emotional part. He knows he's really good at things sometimes but he gets aggressive, he wants to be aggressive on people. I'm trying to get him to channel that the right way. This week, we watch film. I told him there's no problem being aggressive, I'm an aggressive person myself. Sometimes you have to finesse things. I tell him all the time, I learn from my wife, sometimes you can come in the house and be a brute when you need to but sometimes you gotta come in and back down and figure out what's going on before you start kicking in the door. He's done a really good job the last two practices of really honing in on his technique, being aggressive when he needs to and bringing everybody up to his level. He's been holding people accountable. People don't answer questions in the meeting, he tries to ask them a different way because sometimes when a coach asks you versus a peer, you understand it a little bit different. He's really done a good job of trying to bridge that gap between player and coach.

On Penn State's defensive back unit

I think they have a lot of talent. I've known their DB coach for an extremely long time. I've known Terry since I started coaching, so I've known Terry for 23 years. I think they do a really good job. I think our personalities and how we coach are very similar so I think they will get the best out of their guys and I think they're going to be up for the task. J.J. and our receivers and tight ends are doing a great job. Our O-line is protecting and we've got the run game. They'll be prepared for us. It's just going to be a matter of who can execute, out-execute and have the will to win. I think they'll be prepared but we'll see.

On Keon Sabb

I tell them they're all starters, for one. I told them when they started the season, the other guys were banged up, you're all coming in as starters. That's why they share, pretty much, an equal amount of reps. Whoever is having the hot hand, I thought Rod was kid of hot last week and Makari started coming on. Q's right there and Keon, I think, that they all know that to wait their turn. When they're out there, execute. It's like having two really good running backs like we have. You don't get banged up as much. You don't get over-exposed. You can be fresh and help on special teams. He's done a great job with his role. We didn't throw him to the wolves, he was ready. He still is. We can go out there and start and finish a game with Keon Sabb. He's going to be a great player for us.

On whether it's easy to get up for a Top-10 matchup

For the fan sake and media, no disrespect, we get up for everybody. When we play each other, it's exciting. When we do the spring game here, it's competitive. I don't like the other coaches. They don't like me. We don't talk, really, we don't talk. We're a competitive bunch. Whether it's Penn State or UNLV or Minnesota, whoever it may be, we're going to be up for the game. We're not going to walk in there flat. We're going to be prepared and go out there and execute.

On what has been the different between this year and last year with turnovers

Our pillars. Four pillars. Jay Harbaugh, his job is to—I have communication. Mike Elston has block destruction, CP has effort, angles and tackling and Jay has ball disruption. He's an excellent teacher, guys. Excellent. Excellent teacher, one of the best I've been around. He finds ways to show the guys really small things that's going to make the difference with the interception or stripping the ball or punching the ball out. The last thing would just be our physicality. I think we attack the ball more, a little bit more recklessness with our bodies, going up and get the ball. We're tackling a lot more physical and we just have better eyes on where the ball is and finishing. We practice those four pillars every day.

On how it differed from last year

It was taught, we talked about. We actually take a few moments between each meeting, each coach, and we present a little bit from our pillar in practice and in the game. We do a quick pillar four plays, we may do a long pillar, might be 15 or 20 plays. We also, in camp, we get a big slot of time to go over from every different way that you can pursue or angle or block destruction from each level and we all watch it as an entire defense. So the D-line know how we teach the DBs, the DBs know how we teach the D-line, they're all hearing it from one voice. Coach Minter, he gets all the credit for that, making that an importance. Anything in life where you stress it and make it important, that's what you end up doing well.

On how to emphasize physicality but also preventing penalties

Go get the ball. The ball is not the man, right? So if you're in a position to get the ball, go get the ball. If you make an aggressive play on the ball and you get there a little too early, I'm going to pat them on the butt and say you're just a little early, get them next time. If you tell them, hey, go get the ball but try not to hit that guy, guess what they're going to do? They're not going to get the ball. We want them to get the ball. If they're physical getting that ball and they're just a tad early, we can live with that. I don't like holding, especially when you're in a positon where you should've been in the proper position. If you hold because you're about to get beat for a touchdown, I can live with that a little bit. We want those guys to be aggressive on the ball. The other part, to answer your question, what Jay would tell you is just identifying it. Separating the man from the ball, creating fumbles, you have to be physical. You can run in there and try to shoot your hand, you have to be a physical player to do that. You have to create contact. Some type of contact. When the ball is in the air, again, identifying whether it's ball or man. In our manual, I did a thing like you have to decide are you early are you on time or are you late? If you're late, it's all man. You're tackling the man. If you're on time, now you've got a decision to make. Are you in a good position? It might be glove hand or it might be an interception. If you're early, you're going to pick that. Last week, with Will, he was on time. He was right there on time, the ball was slightly deflected because our pass rush and he was in good position, he made the interception. Against Minnesota, he was early on that pick-six. The ball was out, he beat the receiver to the spot, that's an early deal. He made the play on that. Those are different things. You have to keep reemphasizing it, show some NFL clips, show some other college teams doing it, show us doing it in practice and our guys end up doing a good job with it.

On size, speed and athleticism with Walker and DJ Waller

I think that's kind of been the trend. When I was at a couple previous schools, I had 6'3, 6'5, 6'4 corners. I like long, fast guys. I don't think you could 14 of those guys, of course, look at Mikey. Will is right there in between them. Will is tall, too. He doesn't look as tall with those guys around but he's 6'2. Finding those guys, helping them develop. If they can play like a small corner that's an even bigger bonus. Teaching those guys how to be in good position. At times, it's hard for them to develop some of the finesse because they are longer, takes a little longer time but then they also tools those guys don't have. They have long arms, they can keep separation on blocks and I like recruiting guys like that and developing them. I think that's been a trend. I think the trend is you look at the NFL each year in the first round there are several guys who are 6'2, 6'3, 6'5 getting drafted. Everybody used to always play receiver and I think a lot of guys can understand you can still get to the league playing corner at that size. A lot of people will be in here to watch it. You guys like watching them? They stand out. We'll keep working, keep developing them. D.J. is just a freshman and to be out there in the second quarter or the first quarter of these Big Ten games, I don't think that's been done. It's good to see him keep straining and keep working hard. He's kind of a war daddy, he's a guy that's going to work through some adversity and he's doing a great job and so is Amorion.

On how the controversy impacts relationships with other coaches

I'll be hones with you guys, we're in here all day. I'm working. I don't get to talk to too many people. I barely get to go home and kiss my kids goodnight, I have to go wake them up and tell my wife I love her and goodnight. Haven't really spoken to anybody. It's just that time of year where we all, every team, is focused on their group and we're all trying to win.

On what Jaylen Harrell brings to the defense

He's an all-around great player for us. I try to create a little competition with the DBs and especially outside linebacker group. I think they're coached extremely well. They identify what people are trying to do to attack us. They know the gameplan inside and out and I tell the DBs if you guys can do that as well, if you can mirror Jaylen and all the other outside linebackers, I think we'll all be pretty sound. I think you guys see that this year. We're making a lot less mistakes, communicating a lot better. Jaylen is a great communicator, he does a great job setting the edge and he's relentless trying to get to the quarterback. I think his skillset with him being a strong and violent player really plays into what we ask him to do and he's extremely smart and instinctual. I think he's one of the best players I've been around. I think consistency creates great players and he's extremely consistent. You're going to have a great game and the next game you can look really bad, he's the same every game. He's one of those guys that's always gotta prove himself because he gets overshadowed because he does everything right all the time. As long as he keeps getting better and he keeps being a great leader for us, we're going to have a great defense.

On Penn State's passing attack

The first thing that stands out is their offensive line, they do a great job protecting that quarterback. They give him time, he can go through his progressions. The tight ends help as well. They're big targets, they have great hands. I'm not sure I've seen them drop a ball on film, to be honest with you. Having those weapons, you watch a lot of NFL and great quarterbacks, what do they usually all have? A great what? Tight end, right? Those two guys are definitely helping their passing game. Their wide receiver corps, very similar every year we face them. They're very explosive guys. They run great routes, twitched up. They know where to be. Why he's throwing the ball, where he's throwing it. They're coached up very well and I think this is going to be our best challenge, our number one challenge, here to date as an entire group. They don't just have one guy, they have several guys that can take it to the house. Break tackles and make plays. It's a big challenge for us and we're ready for it.

---

Discuss this article with our community on our premium message boards

Not a subscriber to Maize & Blue Review? Sign up today to gain access to all the latest Michigan intel M&BR has to offer

Follow our staff on Twitter: @JoshHenschke, @Berry_Seth14, @TrevorMcCue, @DennisFithian, @BrockHeilig, @JimScarcelli, @lucasreimink

Subscribe to our podcasts: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify

Check out Maize & Blue Review's video content on YouTube

Follow Maize & Blue Review on social media: Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram