Michigan junior defensive end Rashan Gary hasn’t played in weeks due to a shoulder injury, but there’s hope he’ll be back for U-M’s Nov. 3 game with Penn State.
Gary didn’t feel like he could go against Michigan State, head coach Jim Harbaugh reported Monday, though he did practice last week. The bye week will give him time to rest and rehab, and hopefully practice some in preparation for the Nittany Lions.
“We’re trying desperately to get Rashan Gary back. We’ll see where that takes us with the bye week looking down the barrel,” defensive coordinator Don Brown said while subbing for Harbaugh during Tuesday’s Big Ten Teleconference. “We’ll see if we can get that young man healthy.
“But the development of [sophomore lineman] Kwity Paye has not gone unnoticed. He’s really becoming a stalwart for us. [Junior] Carlo Kemp continues to grow as an inside defensive tackle, and I think [fifth-year senior] Bryan Mone had his best game for us at nose guard.”
And Chase Winovich was Chase Winovich. The fifth-year senior was all over the field against the Spartans.
“Chase, I don’t know what you call him, but he’s a crazy man who just plays with his hair on fire all the time,” Brown said. “I think he has a tremendous effect on our football team because of his energy level.”
Gary’s presence, though, would be huge down the stretch. When he’s on the field, Brown said, it makes an already fast defense even faster.
“Kwity Paye, we’ve done so many things with him along the front. We can move him inside, and it certainly just makes us a faster front,” he said. “He can kind of adapt. If people want to go big, we can get big. If they go 11-personnel and spread us out, we can go fast with them."
They’ll continue to tweak, he said, to try different approaches to keep people off balance. They seemed to blitz less against the overmatched Michigan State offensive line in Saturday’s 21-7 drubbing, and that was by design.
“The one thing we’ve tried to do, and I think we have, is we’re trying to play up front with four-man rushes and mix at a higher level if we actually think we can present a formidable four-man front rush or get into all our pressure stuff,” Brown said. “It really depends on the strengths and weaknesses of who we’re playing which way we’ll go. The nice thing is we can attack based on what we feel their strengths are.”
The Spartans had no strengths against U-M’s swarming defense, finishing with only 94 total yards.
“The good thing about that is we had a specific plan going in, and obviously we were going to ride that plan as long as it was effective,” Brown said. “We were able to ride that for all four quarters.
“I thought the guys handled switch-offs in coverage really well. Josh Uche, Chase and company did a good job keeping the quarterback in the pocket because Brian Lewerke can hurt you with his feet, as well.”
That’s a challenge the Wolverines will face with Penn State quarterback Trace McSorley in a few weeks, as well, only McSorley is an even better passer.
“The thing we have to pay attention to is they still have the ability to run ball effectively,” Brown said. “ One of the main reasons is McSorley gives them an extra dimension in the run game because … he can be so effective. Couple that with what Coach [James] Franklin wants to do offensively, especially in the throw game and with the number of great players they have to throw to …
“It’s a healthy balance trying to stop the run, pressure them in that respect, trying to get after them in the pass game and a decent amount of coverage. That’s the challenge, the cat and mouse game. That’s the fun part of coaching.”
Especially when you have so many pieces with which to attack.
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