Published Sep 23, 2019
Michigan Players Talk McCaffrey Hit, Glasgow At The Goal Line, More
Chris Balas  •  Maize&BlueReview
Senior Editor

Several Michigan players met the media Monday ... here's what we learned.

Fifth-year senior Jordan Glasgow was up first, and we asked him about lining up at the goal line agains a 330-pound guard. That was by design, he said, and in response to what they thought the Badgers would do (they had something in mind with him where he'd get some help, obviously), but Wisconsin switched it up and scored over him.

Glasgow said he felt he failed ... that it didn't matter who he was lined up against — he failed to do his job. Nobody else felt that way, of course, and the message from defensive coordinator Don Brown afterward was simple ... they'll make their fixes.

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There were many to make. Glasgow and head coach Jim Harbaugh both talked about the fits more than anything. The focus was lacking, and while the Badgers had their way up front a lot of the time, the running lanes that were there wouldn't have been many times had guys just handled their responsibilities, Glasgow said.

He missed some, too, and he refused to call out his teammates who also did ... or those who were going through the motions at times in the effort areas, as Harbaugh mentioned. They're keeping that in house.

Glasgow insisted there was enough talent in the room to win a lot of games, and redshirt freshman Jordan Anthony — who has played well in limited time — is one of them. He was coached up by junior Josh Ross, who went out with an injury ("but is doing well," Anthony said) ... they are roommates.

Anthony (who is all of 5-10, perhaps 5-11, but plays with great heart) said Brown's message to the team was that opponents would study that Wisconsin film and find out where the breakdowns occurred and try to replicate it, and it was their job to make sure they watched that film repeatedly and corrected every mistake. There were a lot of "focus" errors Saturday, and Harbaugh said that would be fixed.

Fifth-year senior offensive tackle Jon Runyan Jr. has already watched the film four times, he said, and he's clearly not happy. He gave the Badgers credit for their aggressive 3-4 front, but he noted they ran a lot of the same twists, etc. they ran last year and the same line had no problem with them.

He wouldn't go into specifics either about the effort areas from some of the guys, though he acknowledged there were some, and said that would be handled in house. They know they should be better than what they showed.

Runyan was asked about the Wisconsin shot on McCaffrey. He said his first instinct was to go and see his quarterback and how he was doing ... he didn't believe there was "malicious intent" on the hit (there probably was), but did note that the Badgers' players "took their shots" when they could get them.

He took responsibility for that and noted it was on the line to stop them from taking liberties on their quarterbacks.

Finally, senior linebacker Khaleke Hudson's message was simple — they just need to get better in all areas, and that includes focus and effort.

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