More Input, Ownership From Michigan Players Helping Pass Coverage Shine
Michigan Wolverines football's new defensive system under first-year coordinator Mike Macdonald features more zone coverage than the Maize and Blue ran a year ago under former coordinator Don Brown, something that suits the team's defensive backs much better, they say.
"We can disguise it a little bit better," redshirt sophomore cornerback Gemon Green said of the less predictable coverages the Wolverines are using. "It helps us as players because that’s what they do in the league, so it gives us a look at it earlier on in college. It takes some pressure off us, but you’ve still gotta play ball."
Green and other defensive backs have admitted that the group's confidence was down last season, when the Wolverines ranked 90th nationally in pass defense, allowing 250.5 yards per game through the air.
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This season, though, he's performing at a much higher level. Green has yielded 12 receptions for 176 yards on 19 targets, with one interception.
"My confidence is a lot better than last year," Green revealed. "Last year, I was trying to get better — the same as this year — but I feel like we prepare better this week than we did last year. Just preparation."
He believes the entire defensive backfield is playing much more poised football, and it's showing up on the stat sheet, with the Wolverines slotting 22nd in the country by allowing just 190.7 passing yards per contest.
"We’re getting better each week," he said. "We still miss assignments sometimes, but you’ve got to learn from those mistakes. Just have better eyes and communicate — that’s what we gotta get good at, communication."
The preparation and communication Green speaks of have been key. There has been much made about the cohesion between the coaching staff, which features four new assistants on defense, and the players, but that's because that aspect has made such a big difference, Green explained.
"We go back and forth. This year, when we feel uncomfortable with something — in a coverage or something — we’ll go to the coaches, and they’ll try to help us out," Green said.
"Last year, we didn’t do that. We couldn’t have any one-on-one conversations about the defense. It was always like, ‘Players, do this.’ But this year, we do a lot of adjustments, even throughout the games. I feel like it’s a lot better this year."
Green said Macdonald and the staff came in with a set plan on what they wanted to implement, but that they made it clear to the players that their feedback will be taken into account. That has fostered a sense of ownership within the group of players. This is their defense as much as it is the coaches', a stark contrast from what was in place in years past.
"I feel like it’s more man on man this year," Green continued. "We can have a full conversation with the coaches this year. I can go in [defensive backs coach Steve Clinkscale's] office and just sit there for like an hour and chop it up with him about anything — football, life. Last year, I didn’t kind of do that, that much … but that was last year.
"I do it all the time, because I’m still new to this coverage, and there’s some stuff that I’m not good at. I try to get better each week at it, but they try to figure out what to do on this coverage to try to help me out, to be a better player or have better vision."
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