Michigan Wolverines football defensive coordinator Don Brown isn’t sure when he’ll have a chance to get hands on with his players again, but he does know one thing — they’ll need time to get ready.

Over the past several decades, strength and conditioning has become an absolute science. It’s evolved to the point that it’s year 'round, with most kids staying through the summer to work with the strength coaches.

Brown said recently on the In The Trenches podcast with former U-M offensive lineman Jon Jansen that getting the kids back by the middle of June would be the ideal scenario.

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“You’d have six weeks where guys can focus on conditioning, training, those kinds of things so they can be in quality shape going into the preseason period ... let [strength coach] Ben Herbert sink his teeth into them,” Brown said. “Six weeks … I would be pretty pleased with that.

“However, I can remember when I was in IAA, Division III, you had three weeks to get the guys ready and then it’s time to go play football. We just have to be smart on how we handle the players in terms of their time on task, give them a chance so don’t have a lot of soft tissue injuries. Let the professionals take care of those guys, get them right so we can have a healthy football team in the opener.”

Whenever that may be. There’s already been talk that the Washington opener will be rescheduled with a more regional game, and the A.D. is preparing for all scenarios.

That includes the players, who have continued to work out on their own for when they’re called to duty.

“No matter what they’re doing, it’s not going to be as optimal as it is when Ben is overseeing them with the strength staff,” Brown said. “Obviously, it’s going to take some time to get the guys up and running at an elite level. That’s what we’re searching for — to get them to the elite level so you can go ahead and get them ready to play football games.

"Each guy’s situation is different. One young man may have a weight set downstairs, a lot of equipment he can utilize, another young man may have none. Ben did a good job of backpacks, throwing rocks in them, giving guys creative ways to condition. They just have to be prepared. He’s going to have to take them from A, B, C back to the elite level so they can function at a high level.”

This year will be as key as any to develop depth, he added, given the questions about strength and conditioning.

“It’s an absolute must,” Brown said. “You’re hitting on a huge point … something obviously we were able to pay attention to, to some degree, last fall where we had a surplus of talent. For example, Khaleke Hudson, Josh Uche … we were trying to keep Uche fresh on some of the pass downs he was so elite at.”

Getting the players back is the first step, and it remains to be seen how quickly that will happen.

NOTES

Seeing Uche go in the second round was one of Brown’s highlights of the 2020 NFL Draft.

“He and I have a long history. I recruited him when I was at Boston College,” Brown said. “He obviously made the flip here.

“The interesting thing with Josh, he was the 60th player in the NFL draft, 707th rated player coming out of high school. That guy certainly maxed his opportunities and his ability. He just signed for $1.5 million on a $5.9 million contract with the Patriots. He certainly maxed his ability, went from 212 to 213 to 245 pounds.

“I selfishly tried to get him to come back, thought like Josh Moore from Kentucky he could become a first rounder, just continuing to be more veteran as an outside linebacker, but obviously you can’t argue when he’s in the second round, for sure.”

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