Michigan defensive coordinator Don Brown has coached elite defenses for many years. This might be the fastest he’s ever had.
That’s not our evaluation — that’s from Brown himself after three days of practice, and after 41 years, ‘still rolling.”
“Three practices in, two good ones, no pads, a lot of learning, a lot of football being digested,” Brown said Tuesday night. “As you know here, that’s what we do.
“I’ve been doing this a long time. This might be one of the fastest, if not the fastest, groups I’ve ever been around. I’m pretty excited about it.”
Strength coach Ben Herbert did an outstanding job, he said, and the coaching staff was just as good recruiting them.
“It’s about energy and the character of the guys when they show up in the building. That is a trait that can’t be measured by how many stars a guy has,” Brown said. “That’s something you evaluate. We’ve got a lot of high character guys. If this is their ceiling, we’re getting their ceiling.”
Brown was especially pleased with his linebackers.
“This Devin Bush Jr. is a special guy now,” Brown said of the junior. “That’s all I’m going to say. There’s a private story. This guy stayed with his team and could have easily checked out for three or four days and everybody would have understood, but he didn’t. We’re talking about a guy whose character is completely off the charts.
“[Junior] Khaleke Hudson was playing at a tremendous level a year ago, and I think he’s a much better cover guy right now, playing at a much faster rate. He should go kiss Ben Herbert on the lips, because he’s helped him tremendously.
“[Sophomore] Josh Ross is going to be a dude. He’s a very good player. [Redshirt freshman] Drew Singleton … very good player. [Fifth-year senior] Noah Furbush, he’s so far up from a year ago, we’re just very excited about where he is.”
Jordan Glasgow has moved to viper behind Hill, so they’ve taken slot coverage off his plate. That’s helped him improve.
“[Junior] Devin Gil is a dude now,” Brown continued. “If you said to me who has benefited the most from Ben Herbert, he has. He’s faster, bigger, he’s strong.
“Smarts was never an issue. It’s hard to say this, but Mike McCray was so damn smart and had a good solid instinct about how the game is played, the fits … he was great. This is that kind of guy except athletically, if you asked me a year ago can he make it, I’d have said I don’t know yet. He can make it.
"He, Josh Ross and Drew Singleton will be at WILL. Jordan Anthony and Devin Bush, we’ll be cross training one of those guys at MIKE and WILL and Cam McGrone will join us in June. That six there, that’s a pretty good group.
“[Junior] Josh Uche, he’s a package guy, now becoming a linebacker. He played in high school with his hand on the ground, now all of a sudden he’s doing a much better job playing at a much higher level. We expect him to make a big impact on third down … now the question is can he make an impact on first and second down?”
There are plenty of options, Brown said, and a lot still to sort out, but he couldn’t be more pleased in week one.
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