Michigan Wolverines Football's Mike Macdonald: 'Time For Talking Is Over'
Michigan Wolverines football has a new coordinator in Mike Macdonald, brought from the Baltimore Ravens in the offseason, said Thursday he's never been more excited about a fall camp than this one. It will be his first season running a defense, and he's ready for action.
Macdonald received high praise from Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, one of the reasons Jim Harbaugh hired him to replace Don Brown. He hit the ground running in the spring and hasn't stopped since ... other than to get married this summer.
"I’m ready to roll. It’s time for ball," he said with a grin. "I love talking to you guys [in the media], but time for talking is over. It’s time for us to go do it, and I think our guys are ready to go do that."
The install schedule is based on what they were able to accomplish in the spring, Macdonald noted, and it will build on itself when guys start to understand what's being taught. They'll spend 10 to 12 days implementing, revisit and see what needs improving and then move on.
After day four or five, he added, all the concepts are in.
"It’s not like you’re in a hurry to get all that stuff done. You’re just trying to introduce those things that you can build on over time," he said. "We feel good about it."
And while he'll take a lot from the Ravens defense he helped build, it's not nearly as complicated as everyone believes, he said.
"I think that’s the misconception — you look at the Ravens defense and what [coordinator] Wink [Martindale] has been able to do and the rest of our staff the last few years," he said. "You’re like, 'man — guys are flying all over the place.' That’s kind of what we’re trying to create here.
"I think the secret sauce is that it’s really not that complicated. Again, just different concepts layered together. We’re trying to create complexity to an offense, really trying to make the offensive [coordinator's] life a living nightmare."
He's found himself to be a perfect fit in the Michigan culture, one that — not surprisingly — matches the Baltimore culture to a 'T.' He's not used to the low expectations accompanying a program, but he's embracing that, too.
"I like being the underdog," he said. "We’ve got a lot of work to do and there’s a lot of noise out there, and this is time in training camp that, okay, if you don’t like what they’re saying, this is the time to see how good we can get.
"We’ll go out there ready to rock."
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