The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/751827
DECEMBER 2016 THE WOLVERINE 33 aggression and plain-talking defiance. If we give up something in a five-man pressure, guess what? The next play, I guarantee you, will be a five-man pres- sure, so you'd better just get used to that, because we're not going to back off. The man they call "Dr. Blitz" has flipped the switches from Hartford (Vt.) High School to The Big House, with a host of East Coast stops in be- tween, including head-coaching jobs at Plymouth State, Northeastern and Massachusetts. He doesn't say this is the most defensive talent he's ever moved around the chessboard, but with an All-American like Lewis at corner, an explosive Swiss Army Knife in redshirt sophomore linebacker Ja- brill Peppers and enough behemoths on the defensive line to invade a small nation, Brown isn't poormouthing anything. Instead, the man who loves the chess match doesn't at all regard Lewis, Pep- pers, fifth-year senior captain lineman Chris Wormley, etc., as pawns. "I told them a story about back when I worked for Carmen Cozza at Yale," Brown recalled. "One of the things he told me is: 'Those players aren't chess pieces. They're human beings, and they want to have a relationship with you. If you want them to play hard for you, develop a relationship with them. Those are the things that are important.' "I took that to heart. The most im- portant thing you do is get those guys to understand that we're all in it to- gether, we're all human beings, we all care about one another. That's in good times and in bad. "It's easy to do when you're unde- feated, and tough to do when you're on the opposite side of that coin. You'd just better remember it. That's an im- portant piece." According to senior safety Dymonte Thomas, Brown perfectly places that piece of Michigan's psychological puzzle. "Besides football, he's been a great role model for us, someone to look up to, someone who does everything right," Thomas assessed. "He's a great coach. "At times, he knows you've got to laugh and have a little fun. He's always cracking jokes, saying funny things to make us laugh. He's a great coach overall." Thomas recalled one such icebreaker involving Brown telling the Michigan linebackers: "On this play, you've got to do this. If you don't do this, you're fired, and I'm going to get fired." They all busted up laughing, but at the same time, Brown got across a point about performance. He's also not shy about making seri- ous, high-decibel points, but there's al- ways some salve along with the verbal wounds, Thomas assured. "When you make a mistake he's go- ing to yell at you, but at the same time, he's going to tell you that he loves you," Thomas said. "I got yelled at a few times early in the season, but he'll say: 'You know I love you, but as a se- nior, you can't make plays like that. We need you to do better. So let's go out here and practice and get better today.' "He says things like that to motivate you to do better and make you want to do better for him." Thomas expressed faux chagrin over not getting named "Dude of the Senior linebacker Ben Gedeon leads Michigan with 84 tackles as of Nov. 18, including 13.0 for loss and 3.5 sacks. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN