Opening Statement
We’re excited, ready to roll. It’s finally here. You know, we’ve been talking about ever since the last game and we had a good spring. I think we’ve had a good summer being in the building here, but what really matters is this training camp. And we’ll see who’s gonna step up and take some positions and be a backup or whatever when we get into the heat of the competition here and it’s gonna be full pads and ready to roll. Well, that’ll open it up to questions.
On the biggest surprise returning to the college game
Biggest change has been recruiting. Man, it’s a 24-7 job. And that’s been the biggest change from the NFL to college. But football’s football.
On what's exciting about the transfers on defense
I mean, the obvious is what you just said, but we haven’t gone out there and actually played football in a while. So it’ll be interesting to see that first — a week to 10 days, how everybody gets acclimated, but we’re not disappointed with who we got and there’s going to be great competition in that part of it.
On how his 'Buckle Up' tweets came to be and whether he comes up with his own content
I plead the fifth. We do it really sometimes just to laugh at ourselves. And the whole thing that I never did have a Twitter until I came here so it’s really out of humor a lot of times and I love to see where people take it. So I’ve been enjoying it.
On having elite block destruction on his defense
I think that it’s very important for any defense. It all starts up from offense and defensive linemen. Sherrone or Kirk or Grant would say the same thing offensively. Because when you have a good defensive line with some depth, and you can rotate some guys and roll them in. Before you ask that next question, we’re going to find out training camp who’s going to get a lot of playing time early as far as the rotational type guy. We’ve had a lot of guys that had a great summer with it. Working out, like — Ike (Iwunnah) comes to mind. He’s changed his body in the month of July, and he’s in great shape. Killed the conditioning test, which I was told he struggled with in the past. So I’m excited to see where we’re going with it but the defensive line in any scheme is vital for your success.
On the thought process behind bringing in four defensive backs via the portal
I just think for depth purposes and competition. We got Quinten Johnson back — that was big for us. We weren’t expecting that, at least I wasn’t when I initially got here. And so you could add him to the list of it just coming out here in training camp, and we’ll see that while everybody’s healthy and who can stay healthy and where that competition will go from there.
On the new locker room
The new locker room is awesome, especially the golf simulator. Because I know I’ll be here later than the players and I’m gonna have to go get some swings and keep myself awake. No, I think it’s important in recruiting to have a nice facility, which we do have here. I don’t think it needs to be the Taj Mahal. And I think we do just what we do here at Michigan and I I think the players really liked it. And it’s good. They’re here all the time anyway. So it’s going to give them their space where they can do things together and then not be late for meetings or when afterwards if no one wants to do anything they’ll sit there and probably bowl a few games.
On the competition at nickel
I think that Zeke, come out of the spring was slotted with the first group but I think it’s fluid. As Sherrone always says with the depth chart we’ll see as we go, as we progress. (Ja’Den McBurrows) and you get some other guys that we’ll look at there and we’re just a long way away from talking about any of those things of exactly where it’s at.
On what he looks for out of a nickel corner
Well, I look, first of all, at someone who can communicate because when you’re the nickel, you do a lot of communicating with the safeties, the corners, the linebackers. Someone that knows the system. But the No. 1 trait is how well do you tackle? The coverages and everything else we’ll work through, with what they do and who you have there. I think an example, like when I was at Baltimore when Marlon Humphrey was coming to play nickel — and I’ll tell you right now, I think he was the best nickel in football because he could tackle and he communicates. So it all depends on who comes out on top from training camp, so it’s still is a competition, which they all are.
On how Sherrone Moore sticks out as a head coach
First of all, the the easy answer is he wants us to be Michigan, stay Michigan, who we are since back to Bo, Fielding Yost. He wants to carry on the tradition of Michigan. What stands out with me with Sherrone is how much he cares about the kids, the players, how much he cares about you as a coach? How much he cares about people, how he likes to uplift people. And I just think that he has all the characteristics of being a great leader. And he was that when he stepped in for Jim last year. And it’s gonna be a fun journey to go with him on this and I’m really looking forward to it.
On who else stood out during the conditioning test
I don’t want to list them. I think we only had one guy miss, one guy miss the test or fail the test.
On whether he feels pressure to remain as the number one defensive unit in the country
I think that you’re not worth a grain of salt, if you don’t feel pressure as a coach every year, no matter where you’re at. Do you want to be better than that? Sure you do. But sometimes what you want is not always what you get. There’s different opponents, like you said, different offenses than what they’ve had. And everything fits just right when you end up being No. 1. I’ve been around No. 1 defenses and everything just fits right that season. But I think that there’s no doubt where the bar is set. There’s no doubt we’re all set the bar and that’s for us to be the best in the country. I’m not going to hide from that, I’m not going to run from that and neither are we as a defense.
On how the offense will impact the defense
I think it’s the team, the team, the team, you know? And I guarantee you this, if not the best, I’m one of the best defensive coordinators when the defense is on the sideline, when the offense is going on 17-play drive. So, I think it comes down to the team, the team, the team is which we’ve talked about, and so I think it all works together to answer your question.
On the four pillars and keeping them intact
I think it’s a different delivery when it’s a different guy doing it and we had those same pillars in Baltimore and New York. I just think that you get what you emphasize. And that’s definitely one of the first things I’m going to talk to them about. When we have our philosophy meetings tonight it’s talking about the pillars and how I seal and make sure we’re all looking at it the same way.
On whether there's one pillar more important than the other
Not really. It’s all basic football. Taking the right angles, tackling, tackling, tackling, pursuit, effort — those type of things, attacking the football. With the spring we had a lot of takeaways, which I thought was a good start. I think we need to cause more fumbles, which you’ll get that when you have more contact, those type of things. But no, the pillars are important.
On Jaishawn Barham's development
I just think that he’s grown in his understanding of the package, his knowledge of the package. I think he’s a very good athlete, with a mean streak in him and that’s perfect for being a linebacker.
On the identity of the defense
Smart, humble and hungry.
On whether the strategy will change with the new schools in the conference
No, I mean, I think that the flexibility’s already built-in within the system, and it’s nothing that we haven’t faced before. as a coaching staff. And I’ve talked about that since I’ve been up here at Michigan. I think we probably are, maybe I don’t know we have to do the research on it on a few staffs defensively, that each one of our position coaches have been a coordinator before. So when you have that knowledge base of of all the different spots that they’ve been and things that they’ve seen that really helps me and I think that you have some rock stars, not only on the field as players, but I think we have that defensively as position coaches and other people that we have there on the defensive staff.
On whether he has a choice of quarterback depending on who is tougher in practice
I don’t look at it that way. When we get into training camp, I’m worried about the defense. I know that the offense is in good hands with Kirk and Sherrone and all those guys that — they’ll pick who’s best for us here at Michigan. I’m just worried about the defense, to be honest with you.
On whether it's difficult taking over an established defense
I think that most of us have been someplace before/ When I say most of us coaching-wise have been someplace before where we’ve had No. 1defenses. So we’ve had the confidence in what we do and how we do it. I just personally know the two guys who were here previously here in this system, you know what I mean? And it’s a great challenge. I know because they did a great job. But we plan on doing a great job too. The players are resilient. You know that they’ll adjust however we attack it, and I think the coaches are resilient. So we’ll just do it all together. I have no problem with a kid coming up to me and saying I don’t understand this or I don’t feel good about this. And we make adjustments and I think that Sherrone said it best the other day. We’re gonna have some bouts with adversity till we become adversity and I think that’s the same thing on each side of the ball and special teams. And as a team I think it’s the truth. And once you understand that, if we all stay together, and we’re all happy for each other successes, that’s when you have something special and get it rolling. Because we are Michigan. I think I heard Makari say this at the Big Ten media days — we’re never the hunted, we’re always the hunters. And it’s true. I understand exactly what he’s saying. Because there’s a level of expectation of being at this great university. It shouldn’t be a surprise that Sherrone hired the staff that he hired and we have the players that we have, and we’re just gonna go attack — doesn’t matter what anybody else says. We’re going to get better. We’re going to try to get better each and every day. The whole 1% better and you like where you’re at. So I think that’s the biggest challenge is when you get into that fourth to sixth day of practice, and those days get long. It’s just keeping everybody focused on what the challenge is. That’s to get better every day. And then we’ll see where we’re at and adjust from there.
On the players adjusting to more man coverage than zone coverage
There’s no truth to any of that. I mean, that’s all speculation. And, to me, understand this: and I’ll say this wherever I’m at, and I’ll say it when I’m retired, OK? Man teams, when you start out teaching the principle of man, which will do on the first practice, can play zone to win games. Zone teams who play nothing but zone can never play man to win the game. Teams that don’t pressure, when they have to pressure, it doesn’t usually look right because they don’t practice it enough. So if you just want a four-man rush and coverage the entire game, when it comes time where you need to win a situational play, if they know that you’re just going to be a four-man rush coverage team, you don’t have a very high success rate. Now if they don’t — I’m not saying you can’t play four-man rush and coverage in situations. But I think just building it off of the man principle, one-on-one coverage principle which these kids have been playing ever since they played football with all the 7-on-7s and everything else they’re doing seventh grade on sixth grade on younger than that, they all grow up playing cat coverage. You know what cat coverage is? I got that cat. So I think that there’s a lot more things that go into it than just playing man, man, man.
On whether there's been some struggles with the switch
Well, I mean, you could say scheme, you could say got older, you can say a bunch of different things. He’s got a different coach. There’s a bunch of different things that go into it. But, my preference, I want to corner out there and cover man. My preference. What we do with the safeties is our business. But if you got to corner that can play man like Will can, that’s my preference. I like the guys that get drafted.
On the narrative that he blitzes too much
We’ll control the narrative of it. Am I an aggressive playcaller? Yes. I’m an aggressive playcaller. We’ve a lot of football games calling games aggressively. OK? When it doesn’t work, that’s when everybody comes down to he’s always blitzing too much. Don’t hear that at all when you win, you hear but how creative you are. Right? So you just don’t listen to any of that. We’ll find that right mix of pressure simulated, all the other stuff. We’ll find the right mix and that’s what training camp’s for.
On Kevin Wilkins' role as an analyst being allowed to coach
He and (Pernell McPhee) will be working with the edge guys. Lou and LaTroy will be working with the D-line. Obviously, BJ is linebackers with Anthony. And then secondary is Lamar, Lionel and B-Hawk. And I love this group. To start off, they’re good people. And they’re damn good coaches. And as I said before, if I haven’t said it to you guys, I’ll say it again: these guys inspire me. The way they work and their knowledge of the game. And the questions that they have are good football questions. I think that it’s gonna be a fun year working with this group.
On pushing back on the Don Brown narrative
Yeah, I mean, it’s ridiculous, as I see it. It’s ridiculous. You have defenses that have ranked NO. 1 in the NFL and in the top five three years in a row and then you come into a new system in New York and you go into the playoffs, but what do they want to talk about? They want to talk about last year, the last year, and it’s just the way life is, where we’re at today’s society. And that’s fine with me. I know where I stand. And I stand where I’m excited about starting training camp, and finding out who we’re going to be, because it’s up to all of us.
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