Michigan Wolverines Football: Partridge Calls Safeties “Inconsistent”
Michigan safeties coach Chris Partridge has always been a straight shooter when it comes to assessing his position group. That didn’t change this week.
Sophomore safety Brad Hawkins, for one, has been either really good or really bad — mostly the former, with two big exceptions: a long ball he gave up for touchdown on which he was in great position at Notre Dame, and another on which he lost his man against SMU.
“There are a lot of things that go into that ‑ seeing the formation, what is coming at you off the bat, getting depth right away,” Partridge said of the ND miscue. “[Senior] Tyree [Kinnel] didn’t help him on that one, jumped outside on the receiver, let the receiver inside. It didn’t help that Brad didn’t see the formation and get deep quick enough, and he didn’t play the receiver, he played the ball … he was looking at the ball instead of playing the receiver, then the ball.
It was understandable, he added. It was the first time Hawkins had stepped on the field as a safety in his life.
“He gets better every single day. We’re excited and encouraged about him,” Partridge said.
The second miscue against SMU was a look they saw before and after the touchdown. They just happened to blow that one with a miscommunication.
When they’ve been good, though, they’ve been really good, Hawkins included. He rebounded to play a great second half against the Irish.
“We had some mistakes in the first game, cleaned them up, played pretty well in the second game, played pretty good in the third game overall,” Partridge said. “If you took four or five plays out of the starters, they graded really high - over 90. But the four or five were in there and we’ve got to clean that stuff up.”
Safeties, meanwhile, will continue to have their numbers called in man coverage. It’s just the way defensive coordinator Don Brown plays, and while there will be some help, they’ll continue to work on manning up the slot receivers.
“It’s hard. There’s a lot of space there,” Partridge said. “We do things to try to help them out and stuff, but it’s something where you’ve got to get ready to go. You’re a big, physical safety worried about the run, the middle of the field and all that, and all of a sudden you’re on a guy who is the quickest, fastest guy on the field and you’ve got to cover. YOour technique has to be perfect.”
“You have to have a plan when you start, have to realize their splits and what they’re getting to. Where they line up, if they’re in man, first down, what they’re getting into. Those guys have a lot on their plate. What’s the split of the receiver, and what route are they going to get? All those things go through their mind, then they have to revert back to fundamentals in coverage.”
But he’s happy with the way his group has played, for the most part, and with the trajectory and consistency.
“We’re going to be aggressive, always,” Brown said. “… They’re getting better and better.”
NOTES
• Partridge said they continue to preach not taking penalties. Two weeks ago, Khaleke Hudson got a flag for pushing both Josh Metellus and a ball carrier out of bounds, but Metellus got an earful, too.
“We can’t have penalties obviously,” he said. “The message is we look at a penalty when it’s called, review the film, try to learn what we can do better to avoid that. Whether you agree or disagree doesn't matter. It was called.
“[The WMU penalty] was a little bit of both, and Josh gets chewed out because Josh has his hand under the guy’s shoulder pad clearly in the white. In that situation, the guy is out of bounds, let’s get the arm up, let’s not risk being called … to me that’s just stupidity. It’s not a split reaction play, not his arm grabbed him. You’ve got to be smarter … he deserved the chewing out.”
• Sophomore Jaylen Kelly-Powell is back after three weeks off due to injury and had a good practice Tuesday, Partridge said.
“He’s back now, looked 100 percent yesterday, finaly. He’s been out for about three weeks, almost a month Even last week he played a little but not the normal quick, explosive stuff.
“I was really encouraged by his practice yesterday … hopefully he will get back in the mix quickly here.”
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