The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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play instantly. If he remains locked in on what just occurred, whether good or bad, he will not be prepared for his next coverage assignment. It took him time to reach that level of maturity, and his coaches have certainly helped. "You've just got to know that those kind of plays happen ev- ery day," Michigan defensive line coach Greg Mattison said. "You've just got to bounce back and cor- rect them. "When a guy comes to work every day, to practice every day, does all the things he's done in the classroom … he's heading in the right direction." Wi t h t h e P e n n State game firmly in the past, Stribling is locked on his respon- sibility this season. He won a starting job out of fall camp, seizing a role many thought destined for fifth- year senior transfer Wayne Lyons, and has played well so far, recording six tackles, one pass broken up and his first career interception, against UNLV in week three. "He can be a great player," Big Ten Network and TheWolverine.com ana- lyst Marcus Ray said. "He has things you can't coach, which is height and length, and he can run. But what hap- pens with Channing is when the ball doesn't come his way very often, I think he takes some plays off. "He could be an NFL Draft pick someday because they like taller cor- ners with long arms. And he's actu- ally a physical kid and he has a competitive spirit. Potentially, he could be an all-confer- ence guy. But he has to be more productive." S t r i b l i n g s h o u l d have greater opportu- nity to showcase his skills with better re- ceivers arriving dur- ing conference play, and he will soon fig- ure out just how im- proved he is. "My technique and my focus have gotten better," he said. "You don't understand how much effort and focus I have put into this season. I go home and watch football. Eat and watch football. It used to be that I'd go home and chill, but now I watch and think about football every chance I get. "I definitely have raised my expec- tations." "I have always felt like you can't put a ceiling on his potential because there is a competitor there and the size, the speed, the length is there," Hales added. "Channing is a kid that puts a ton of pressure on himself, and I think the Penn State game really hurt his confidence. He felt like he let Stribling said he regularly re- watches the 2013 Penn State- Michigan contest, during which he surrendered 14- and 36-yard pass plays on the game-tying drive of an eventual 43-40 over- time loss, to keep himself moti- vated to improve. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN