Don Brown Talks Wisconsin To Iowa Improvement, Glasgow On Goal Line, More

Michigan defensive coordinator Don Brown took some heat for his group's performance at Wisconsin, a 35-14 loss that could have been even worse. The Wolverines struggled with their run fits and got punched in the mouth, but they punched back several weeks later when Iowa tried some of the same stuff.

U-M held the Hawkeyes to one total yard rushing with the aid of eight sacks and made quarterback Nate Stanley’s life miserable.

“Obviously when you’re playing Wisconsin, Jonathan Taylor’s a big difference,” Brown said of the Badgers’ star back. “I think he’s a very, very good player. We got off to a bad start on the road, made some uncharacteristic fits in the run game, and it hurt us.

“Everybody in the outside world in those scenarios questions you. We felt like we’ve just got to go to work and clean up our run fits. I’m not making any excuses, but it was our fourth different offense in four weeks. It has been challenging.”

Part of their upswing involves facing similar types of plays on a game-to-game basis the last few weeks, the coach added, noting that familiarity gives them a chance to defend better. They see the plays, the footwork of the running back, the blocks up front rather than run and shoot one week, triple option the next, followed by a smash-mouth attack like the first few games.

Getting interior lineman and redshirt junior Michael Dwumfour back helped, too, Brown added. Redshirt sophomore Donovan Jeter struggled on the interior against the Badgers and is still working on his game.

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“Mike had a really good game. He texted me the other day, ‘Coach, I jumped some gaps. It won’t happen again,’” Brown said. “The thing Mike brings to the table is the ability to come out of his stance 100 miles an hour. He creates a ping-pong effect in the backfield because he can knock off pullers; he’s athletic.

"For him, he hasn’t played a whole heck of a lot of football lately around here.”

Another week of practice will help Dwumfour with his footwork, the game plan, his fundamentals and everything else.

“He’s benefiting, and we’re benefiting, from his solid play,” Brown said. “His athletic ability … someone posted him running a slant route this summer — and I did crack a smile when I saw it.”

Dwumfour is just getting back to 100 percent after missing parts of last year and early this season. He's getting his conditioning back and is ready to play more.

“More activity in the throw game," Brown said when asked what to expect. "Those snaps in the pass game, when we’re in some of our package stuff, can really exhaust you because it’s, 'on your mark, get set, go.'

"I think you’ll see him more as we move forward. His conditioning level will raise, and you’ll see him more in those scenarios.”

Senior nose tackle Carlo Kemp is playing at a high level. Some have wondered openly if Kemp will be back for a fifth year, having played in only one game as a freshman (before the more recent four-game rule started).

"I hope so. We don’t discuss those things … the man upstairs [head coach Jim Harbaugh] will when the time comes," Brown said. "We joke all the time ... he came here when I came, and he was a Mike linebacker. Oh, my God. That wasn’t going to work. So we moved him to defensive end.

"He went from open-side end to closed-side end to three tech tackle, and he became the nose. He made the complete migration all the way to nose. Now he’s 290 pounds."

One of his plays on Saturday stood out, Brown said. Iowa ran isolation to linebacker Jordan Glasgow, and Kemp’s job was to fit the fullback inside and give room to the safety Josh Metellus.

"He’s getting doubled, then you see his head stick through, and then all of a sudden he comes out of there and he’s involved in the tackle," Brown marveled. "That doesn’t happen every day. That’s 600 pounds of human flesh that he split and makes the play."

Brown took heat from many people on his goal-line defense at Wisconsin when he put Glasgow, the former walk-on and safety, over a guard. As many should have assumed, there was more to the defense.

"I don’t want to really get into schematics, but I can promise you this — we had all the gaps covered," he said. "It was depending on whether the quarterback was under center or in the gun. That’s as far as I’ll take it, but I can assure you, somebody was going to fit the ‘A’ gap.

"It was a half-short yardage, half-blitz fit based on things that happen in the backfield. I’ve run it about 60 times in maybe the last four or five years and had zero- to negative-yardage plays in that scenario 60 percent of the time."

They've gone back to it with success, he added.

"I appreciate people critiquing my stuff, but live and learn, too," he said. "Adjust as we do.”

Defensive ends Kwity Paye and Aidan Hutchinson dominated Saturday, and either could have won Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week honors. Hutchinson did (and was Pro Football Focus' top-graded player in the game), while Paye went out with an injury. He's day to day, Brown said, but is expected to be okay.

The duo call themselves 'Salt and Pepper.'

"Salt and Pepper, huh?” Brown laughed. “Adian Hutchinson, I’m looking at this guy and I'm going, 'He’s going to be a little stiff, going to be this, going to be that. He's just so big.'

"He does not have one ounce of stiffness. He’s very flexible, extremely strong and is an elite athlete. I can’t think of anybody his size that is more flexible than he is. … He is unbelievable.

"Kwity has come a long way since he was at [Boston College] camp as a freshman at 217 pounds."

Paye has become an elite run stopper against the spread, Brown added.

"Recently, we were talking about defending the spread run, the quarterback runs, the pulls, all the stuff we see in college football. He’s the best spread run defender I’ve ever seen," he said.

"Why do I say that? Cause you can't fool him. Zone read, close out the zone, chase the quarterback from the inside out. Check mark. Bluff, now that puller comes back and instead of trying to kick, you out, he bypasses you. Brakes go on, chase the quarterback from the inside out. Check mark.

"He can do all those things like that. It’s uncanny. We’re blessed here with those two guys, and this [graduate transfer defensive end] Michael Danna is a close second."

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