Don Brown: U-M Inside Linebackers ‘Could Play Anywhere In The Country'
Michigan defensive coordinator Don Brown lost some talent to the NFL, but he’s got plenty returning, as well. Brown said this week that his duo of redshirt sophomore Cam McGrone and redshirt junior Josh Ross would be good enough to play at any school in the country, adding he’s glad to have them on his team.
Ross missed much of last season due to injury and took a redshirt, while McGrone emerged as one of the Big Ten’s top young linebackers. The two should team up this fall to form a formidable duo.
“Having Cam McGrone and Josh Ross to start with is an excellent place to start,” Brown said. “I’ll bet there aren’t many inside linebacker coaches in the country that wouldn’t want to trade places with me. We have those two guys who I think can play anywhere in America. I really do.
“They can play in any system. Ross is not only a physical guy; he’s an athletic guy, but he is one bright guy. McGrone, very similar except he runs 4.4. You don’t get many of those guys."
It almost feels like 2016 revisited, Brown continued. Ben Gedeon hadn’t played much, so they moved him to MIKE linebacker. Mike McCray hadn’t played much at all but he played the WILL, and they talked Jabrill Peppers into being the viper linebacker with the promise to blitz, cut and roam the field.
“There’s our three positions to start with. Then we had Devin Bush, and we had to bring him along and utilize him with Mike Wroblewski and some of those guys,” Brown said. “I’m working with very excited to work with [freshmen] Kalel Mullings, Cornell Wheeler and Nikhai Hill-Green. Those three guys are going to give us tremendous skill. Obviously, you can benefit from these kinds of zoom meetings we have."
Overall, he said, he feels really good about the position.
"Obviously two tremendous leaders at the forefront, and the talent is there. We just have to get them up to speed and ready to go," he said. "But athletically, again, I feel very strongly about that position.”
At viper, meanwhile, there isn't much experience, but there's talent.
"I’ve seen enough out of Michael Barrett to be excited," Brown said. "He runs 4.51 … that’s fast, at 221 pounds. That’s a good place to start. He’s had a tremendous role model in Khaleke Hudson that showed him the way. He’s worked extremely hard and has a very close relationship with Cam McGrone in particular and Josh Ross, so that chemistry, that camaraderie you search for that allows some groups to be exceptional; I think it’s there.
"That’s the place we’ll start. I don’t want to put undue pressure on [freshman] William Mohan, but I think he’ll be a really good player. We call him Apache. He’s a true freshman but has that kind of ability."
There are a number of guys at the safety position that it would be ‘smooth as silk’ to drop them there, as well, Brown added.
“The Viper might be even thought there’s a lot of jobs there, think that might be a little easier for guys to grasp than the rover free safety position we utilize on the back end," he said.
All told, it makes for a potentially outstanding group, one Brown said he can't wait to coach.
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