The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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going to be out there playing," said Mattison, who then explained how that could work. "Jake could be a Mike or a Will, and Cam could be our Sam. "There are a lot of different ways to get the best players on the field. Our older guys are at the point now that they have been in our scheme for two years, so to take a guy like Jake and play him at the Mike, it isn't like, 'Oh my goodness.' He would say, 'Fine, I've got you coach.' It should be second nature." Ryan earned second-team All-Big Ten honors in 2012 after leading U-M in tackles (88), tackles for loss (16), sacks (4.5) and forced fumbles (four), and while he most likely stays put at Sam, he could play inside. "I didn't say it's definitive, but obviously if you put a guy like Jake in the middle, you're putting him at a position where offenses can't run away from him anymore," Mattison said. "When you're a Sam, you can run at him or run away, and when you're in the middle, now you're a sideline-to-sideline player. And everybody knows that we love to blitz Jake, and now we'd have a chance to play run and pass with him and really disguise what he's going to do." Michigan's three best linebackers, whoever that happens to be, will earn the most snaps, which makes the Mike, Sam and Will positions fluid. Junior Desmond Morgan is a two-year starter on the weakside, for instance, but could move to the middle. Sophomores Joe Bolden, James Ross III and Royce Jenkins-Stone will all battle, too. "The thing that all of those guys give us, and it's kind of a message throughout the entire front seven, is a lot more movement, a lot more athleticism," Mattison said. "What you're going to see is we'll always play hard. That's going to be at Michigan forever, but you're going to see a lot more speed, a lot more activity out of guys in the front seven that can run to the football." Replacing Michigan's Team MVP In one of the shockers of the 2012 season, the Wolverines voted safety Jordan Kovacs the team MVP over quarterback Denard Robinson. Kovacs contributed significantly to the success of the secondary and the defense overall, and didn't miss time like Robinson did due to injury, but still his selection was a surprise. Beginning this spring, Michigan must now replace the on-field and off-field impact of Kovacs, a fouryear starter who became the first U-M defensive back in school history to accumulate 300 tackles (334). "You hope that the people behind him are ready to step forward," Mattison said. "As well as he played, I don't know if you ever say Jordan is gone. Jordan's spirit and his example of how we want to play are always going to be there. That's why he was voted captain and MVP of this team, and you expect the guy that takes that position over competes and plays up to the standard that Jordan set." Fifth-year senior Thomas Gordon has been a two-year starter alongside