The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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������ michigan football football Notebook An Anomaly Of Success �����The Michigan defense ranked fifth nationally in 2012 in passing yards allowed per game, permitting just 169.5, a feat more impressive considering the Wolverines recorded pass breakups or interceptions on just 21.2 percent of their opponents��� 132 incompletions. Florida State led the country in pass defense this past year (161.9 yards allowed per game), recording 59 pass breakups and 11 interceptions. The Seminoles were responsible for disrupting 30.2 percent of their opponents��� 232 incompletions. Among the NCAA���s top-10 pass defense leaders, BYU got its hands on the most passes, physically disrupting 45.7 percent of the opponents��� 164 incompletions. Alabama was second with 42.2 percent. Overall, the average among the nine other teams in the top 10 was 37.3 percent. U-M, meanwhile, had just seven interceptions this year, tying the program���s single-season record low set in 1961, 1958, 1941 and 1938. Michigan���s starting four of safeties Jordan Kovacs and Thomas Gordon and cornerbacks J.T. Floyd and Raymon Taylor combined for only five interceptions and 10 pass breakups. ���We had some opportunities this past year to do that and didn���t get our hands on enough passes, especially late in the year, and we have to improve,��� secondary coach Curt Mallory said. ���You have to practice it because you get what you emphasize. That���s something we���ve emphasized in the past, but we���re going to make a huge press to get better at that in the offseason.��� Role Model ��� Offensive lineman Logan Tuley-Tillman enrolled early with the hope of competing to land a spot on the two-deep in 2013. He might have even had a chance to vie for a starting job at tackle if Taylor Lewan had declared for the NFL, but Tuley-Tillman sees much greater benefit in Lewan���s decision to return to Ann Arbor for one final hurrah. ���Taylor Lewan coming back is a real big deal for us as a program, and especially for me to get the chance to learn from him because he���s one of the best tackles in the nation,��� Tuley-Tillman said. ���Maybe there would have been an opportunity to compete for a starting job, but it���s better for the team overall for him to come back and help lead us to the Big Ten Championship.��� The 6-8, 309-pound Lewan was a first-team All-American and the Big Ten Offensive Lineman of the Year in 2012. ���We���re going to coach our young kids up and develop them, but when you