UM Football Recruiting - by WM Wolverine

[WM Wolverine]

M has had solid safety play under Brown, other than his first season. He runs a high risk/reward, man with 1 safety high that requires his safeties to defend alot of receivers in coverage. He asks alot of his safeties and puts them in together coverages.
??
He'll need more athletic safeties than say Iowa. I don't see any change in recruiting at viper/safety or even DB.

[WM Wolverine]

*tougher coverages

[Jeff Buchanan]

On the One Hi (The Free Safety) defense Brown runs ........ while that's fundamentally an accurate description for Brown's deployment of the secondary, I think it's more complicated than that. Brown has a Rover or Strong Safety that either drops back into coverage or comes up to run stop. As well one of Brown's LBs is the Viper so this player can be involved in pass coverage as well - you can have this sort of "nickel package" with 5-6 defenders actually in pass coverage mode.

Brown's FS is the guy making the defensive calls too so, yes, there is a lot on his plate.

[Hannibal]

Brown got a lot of heat for the OSU game, but I don't know of any games where his BC defenses collapsed like that.

[lineygoblue]

The MSU recruiting class looks like poop. Dantonio has never been an excellent recruiter but has more than made up for it with excellent coaching. But as he drifts towards retirement, he might not leave the program in good shape.

He may end up doing the same thing there that Carr did with Michigan. After a few banner years, the recruiting tails off, and he leaves the program to his successor with nothing for his successor to work with. A good example is the quarterback situation. Harbaugh is just now getting the QB talent flow back to where it should have been all along.

I was speaking to a rabid MSU fan (a lot of those in my area) the other day, and even he conceded that after this season, Hanni's description of MSU's talent is spot on. It really will be poop. They haven't kept up with Harbaugh's recruiting, and the fertilizer is about to hit the ventilator because of it.

Thing is, I don't see Dantonio leaving any time soon. He's in his mid-sixties, but he seems to be in good health and has shown no indication of slowing down. I think he's there for at least another 3-4 years, and even if the team sucks, he's built up a lot of support and good will in the administration at MSU that should help him survive any calls for his firing.

[Jeff Buchanan]

.......... and even if the team sucks, he's built up a lot of support and good will in the administration at MSU that should help him survive any calls for his firing.

Michigan seems to me to be a team that is finally moving out of the dark ages with it's moats and castles as a form of offense to something a little bit more lethal and in the mode of the modern military of this decade.

Jim Harbaugh's M football has been a hold-out and Dantonio's MSU, along with Ferentz's Iowa continue in that mold insisting Big Ten football played in November, requires it. Welp, no it does not. Ask Ryan Day or any number of modernizing Big Ten football coaches.

Back to back blow-out losses to M (and other teams moving forward with their offenses) will prompt MSU's admin to "encourage" old fart face to retire and move on to "other opportunities." Mark it down.

[Hannibal]

I've doubted Dantonio before and been wrong, so I'm not about to make the same mistake. Still, you can't turn chicken turds into chicken salad forever. MSU's 2020 recruiting class would be a "sky is falling" type moment for fans of a program whose coach didn't have Mark D's track record.

With that said, I don't follow MSU enough to know who they are in on and whether they can close out strong.

[Jeff Buchanan]

MD's success has depended on a reliable pro-style offense that doesn't make mistakes, a solid pro-style QB managing it, a brutally efficient run game, rangy, fast WRs and a really good defense.

DC's are figuring out ways to crack that approach by recruiting and developing DEs and DTs that make it nearly impossible to run that kind of offense efficiently anymore. See Michigan v. even very good, let alone elite defenses ganging up on their unimaginative tactics, played in a 100 square foot box centered around the football, dependent on over-powering opponents.

OC's are getting more and more creative with WCOs, featuring RPO tactics, that seemingly can, at will, mitigate or neutralize whatever kind of hi-pressure, aggressive defenses shows up on any given day.

MSU football under MD is not going to succeed, unless fans buying seat licenses and season tickets think watching a 7-5 team make the Pin Stripe type bowls in December's freezing weather is good football, in the mode they seem to be operating in with declining talent levels at those positions his style of offense demands to be successful.

[hack]

That's Paul Chryst too, basically. I do agree that it seems the margin for error is shrinking when you use this approach.

[Hannibal]

Dantonio's offense struggles mightily, but his defense still shows very few flaws, even against elite offenses most of the time.

[lineygoblue]

Dantonio's offense struggles mightily, but his defense still shows very few flaws, even against elite offenses most of the time.

If Lewerke goes down, or is even just slowed by a nagging injury, watch the bottom drop out. He's basically their only weapon on offense. Can any Michigan fan name MSU's returning starter at RB without looking it up?

Exactly.

And next year not only will Lewerke be gone, but most of that defense goes as well. And the defense is what they are counting on this year, to keep things interesting.

[hack]

Wasn't LJ Scott given another year of eligibility on account of his disability that prevents him from acting like a responsible adult?

[lineygoblue]

Wasn't LJ Scott given another year of eligibility on account of his disability that prevents him from acting like a responsible adult?

That would not surprise me. They tend to run a fairly loose ship over there in EL ...

[Jeff Buchanan]

Yep ..... but as I remember he just wasn't that good despite projections that he would be very good. Maybe the OL was a problem but it seems like it was more of a focus and work ethic thing that held him back from being a star last season.

[*JD*]

Wrong thread, boys.

http://www.detroitlionsforum.com/forums/forum/sports-discussion-forums/university-of-michigan/5215-the-medium-and-growing-formerly-big-ten