First-year Michigan football defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald admits he came in blind to the situation in Ann Arbor, not really sure what to expect. He’s having the time of his life, though, having led the Wolverines to the sixth-ranked scoring defense in the country through five games while playing a totally different system.
Gone is the constant pressure, press man system Don Brown employed (often with great success). Instead, the Wolverines pick their spots on defense and attack in different ways other than just bringing extra men.
“Our general philosophy is to try to apply pressure to the offense. That doesn’t necessarily mean blitzing every snap, but changing the looks for the quarterback, trying to make him question what he’s seeing on a per play basis,” Macdonald told former U-M lineman Jon Jansen on the Inside Michigan radio show Monday. “Our zones, we have different stress points in the zones we want to change that we’d like them to figure out after the ball is snapped rather than before the snap.
“Then, obviously, we also have enough blitzes in our back pocket at any given time that we can get anywhere from a three- to seven-man rush. If you apply pressure to offenses over the course of a game, in theory that’s when they make a mistake and then you hope you can capitalize.”
That was the case last Saturday at Wisconsin. Michigan’s defense forced two turnovers, one a strip sack by David Ojabo and another a Dax Hill pick, with straight pressure, but it was a blitz at the right time that helped change the game. Hill knocked quarterback Graham Mertz from the game with a third down sack to start the second half in a 38-17 win, and the Wolverines used the momentum to pull away.
U-M needed it after giving it away before the half, a three-play, 15-second scoring drive set up by a questionable squib kick. They’d practiced it all week and had Hill in position to make plays, but Mertz threw two great passes for the score.
“We made a couple corrections with some of the personnel groups they were running there at the end, but the things we talk about during the week … there was going to be adversity at some point during this game,” Macdonald said. “Our message was, 'it’s going to plan' … everything we said was going to happen was happening.
“There’s no room to panic. Let’s go out, a big series … let’s stick to the game plan and rock and roll, understanding a three and out to start the second half was going to be big for us. We had that pressure sitting on the table there, dialed it up and the guys executed it well.”
That’s been the case most of the year. The Wolverines’ stars have played like stars, led by Aidan Hutchinson and Hill. Both are projected as first-round NFL Draft picks next year, and they’re both leading by example as well as in the locker room.
“Any time you have all three levels on lock down in terms of guys that can lead the room and really take your directive from a coach, help you spread that through their room, it makes it a lot easier,” Macdonald said, noting the communication stream had been seamless … “Give them the spirit of the calls, too, it definitely helps out when you’re trying to get creative on third down just to give them the opportunity to get off the field.
“The sky is the limit for Dax. Talking to scouts and pro guys that come around here, I say, 'look — he can do anything you want. It’s just a matter of how he fits in your scheme.' But he can do anything — play outside, free safety, nickel, move him in on third down. He can do it all. … and I wish I could take a lot of credit for all the things Aidan does, but he’s a special player. We’re trying not to get in his way, trying to get him near the ball as much as we possibly can and have him going forward.”
They’ll continue to move him around so teams can’t focus on him, but he’s been disruptive even when he’s drawn double- and triple-teams. That’s due to the understanding of a defense that has been outstanding through five games but faces bigger challenges.
The schedule is about to get tougher, starting Saturday night at Nebraska against an improving team. At the same time, Macdonald has had his guys prepared on a weekly basis
“It’s been adjustable enough where we’ve been able to do what we’re supposed to do every week,” he said.
There’s a new challenge Saturday with an extremely mobile quarterback, but odds are he’ll have them ready. Through five games, this looks like a home run hire.
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