Michigan Wolverines Football: A Solid Start For Clinkscale's

Had it not been for a couple penalties, Michigan football’s defense might have pitched a shutout against a high-powered Western Michigan offense Saturday. Instead, the Wolverines managed a 47-14 win, limiting the Broncos to just over 300 yards of offense.

New secondary coach Steve Clinkscale’s group played well after the opening drive, especially, limiting quarterback Kaleb Eleby’s success and preventing big plays. The first-year coach wasn’t completely pleased, though, noting there was plenty of room for improvement.

“We’ve definitely got some work to do,” Clinkscale said. “I felt that our communication needed to improve. One thing I did like, I liked our effort. D.J. [Turner] – I thought he had a lot of reps. He was out there almost the whole second half. Really, we’ve got one group of corners I feel are the ones — Vince [Gray], Gemon [Green] and DJ. I think you’ll see a good mixture of all three of them.

“I’ve been a part of some good secondaries, and I feel the more you rotate and get guys in there whether they’re ones or twos, it builds confidence; builds trust. If anything happened to one of the other players, we don’t take a step backwards.”

Gray took a lot of heat a year ago, struggling in man coverage in bad matchups. He’s benefited playing more zone in coordinator Mike MacDonald’s scheme; on Saturday, he started and played most of the first half, showing well.

The one time he got beat deep really wasn’t his fault, Clinkscale said.

“He graded out very well,” the coach said. “The second half, I wanted to see a little more of D.J. and Gemon because of where we were with the score. Vince did a good job of dominating and really slowing things down for us.

Click the image to sign up for TheWolverine.com, free for 60 days!

“Everybody knows they’re going to take shots. When they did take their shots, he covered the guy pretty well. One time a guy got a step on him because he ran inside of him, running a fade route, and they threw it to him three yards top of the numbers. The corner is doing the job … we’ve got to get the post safety to get that interception. It’s us working together.”

Even then, Clinkscale noted, Gray stayed calm and made a play.

“What I did like about him at the end of that play, he didn’t panic. He didn’t grab; he didn’t run into the guy all crazy,” he continued. “He worked all the tools we worked. He shot his hands right on the hands of the receiver, and the receiver dropped the ball. It’s really good to see Vince continue to take all the coaching.”

Turner, meanwhile, got beat once on an out route in the second half, but he also lived up to Clinkscale’s lofty expectations for an opener.

“I told all the DBs, I thought he went out there and proved to me he knew what to do,” he said. “He was going to execute it, he was going to tackle; he was going to make communication calls, and we’re just going to continue to build off that. He just needs to keep doing what he’s doing, working hard for me, going out there and executing the assignment.”

Green, too, had an early play go over his head even though he was in the right spot. The third and three play kept the first drive alive and led to a WMU touchdown.

“He was in good position, but he realized a little bit during the play … you can tell if you read his body language as he was running that he didn’t quite expect the ball was coming,” Clinkscale continued. “When he turned around, ‘oh shoot … it’s there.’

“Always be ready. I continue to tell those guys; the ball is coming your way. You’re the single receiver corner, you’re on an island, you always expect the ball coming to you. He was in good position, but I feel like [we need] him to be on top of that route and make a better play on that ball.”

They also need to do a better job securing picks when they get the chance, he said. There were five opportunities he counted where they could have intercepted passes, including three he considered flat out drops (one by safety Brad Hawkins, the other from Gray). They spent added time in practice on the JUGS machine this week as a result, and he’s confident they’ll have more chances due to the scheme.

Overall, though — not bad for an opener, with the potential for much more.

“What gets me excited is the physical nature and how fast we play,” Clinkscale said. “I want to continue that, and then we can continue to coach them and get them in the right spots.

"As far as coaching goes, we’ve got a lot of work to do. During the plays, I’d like to continue to pick up the urgency with communicating, getting alignment. We had a couple plays that we busted some assignments and cut some guys loose. But I think it was a good start. I think we have a lot to build on, and hopefully we can do that this week.”

---

• Talk about this article inside The Fort

• Watch our videos and subscribe to our YouTube channel

• Listen and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes

• Learn more about our print and digital publication, The Wolverine

• Sign up for our daily newsletter and breaking news alerts

• Follow us on Twitter: @TheWolverineMag, @Balas_Wolverine, @EJHolland_TW,
@JB_ Wolverine, @Clayton Sayfie and @DrewCHallett

• Like us on Facebook