Michigan defensive coordinator Don Brown is preparing for Minnesota this week, and he said he’s getting incredible prep inside the building.
The defense is getting better every day, he said, and while a lot of that is because of his own players, he credits a good chunk of it to some young offensive guys, too.
“Let me tell you, now … when we’re going in practice, not only are we good on defense, our scout team, without question, with Dylan McCaffrey at the helm, they go now,” Brown said. “It’s next door to what you want on a Saturday. In terms of giving us a chance from a preparation standpoint, all those things are in place. It’s a good deal.”
Brown continued to rave about McCaffrey, a true freshman.
“This guy, it’s like it’s his business to get us ready to play,” Brown said. “That’s his business, and he doesn’t like approach it like, ‘um, well, you know, geez, I’m down here and I’ve got to do this.’ There’s none of that. There were a couple plays yesterday where he has to re-center the tight end, re-center the back and then run this specific scheme. I swear it was the quarterback form Minnesota doing it, because he did it exactly the same way.
“Our [coaches] have got them watching a little tape there, but then to come out and actually do it the same way, it gives you a chance. That’s really what you’re looking for. It just gives you a chance.”
Detroit News reporter Angelique Chengelis asked him to compare it to last year’s scout team.
“Brandon [Peters] used to come down and whip it around pretty good,” Brown said. “It seemed like last year we had a lot more guys that were rotating in and out of there. You’re not really overly paying attention.
“But for like Dylan — and [veteran Alex] Malzone helps us now, too — it’s his world. When a guy takes it upon himself like that, he takes the whole group with him and that gives us a chance to have a quality practice. You don’t realize how important that is until at the end of practice and you go, ‘wow … that was really a quality practice. We got a lot of work done.’ And it gives you a chance."
That's pretty rare for a true freshman, he concluded.
“This is a special guy, now. I see him in the building all the time," he said. "And I’m not making a case … I’m just saying from our standpoint, to get ready, it’s nice when you have a scout team that committed to the defense. They don’t have to be. It could be ‘okay, I’m down here, boom, I’ll take my steps.’
“But these guys take it serious, and they help us get ready to play on Saturdays. And he spearheads it. So that’s a good thing.”
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