The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/751827
34 THE WOLVERINE DECEMBER 2016 Day" in the spring, Brown's label for a player who stood head and shoulders above the rest. Brown used to tell his players, "Be a Guy," and that eventu- ally morphed into being a "Dude." "When I left Boston College, some of the BC people said, 'He's stealing our Dude of the Week,'" Brown said with a laugh. "Wait a minute. That was my Dude of the Week. I let you borrow it. It's mine." The "Dude" label represents another relationship-building gesture and a moti- vating verbal reward. Brown acknowledges his passion for scheming defenses and solving football problems with on-field aggression. He's also honed the means to that end. "When you're in the meeting room, everything is about trying to get your guys in the best position possible to make plays, or in some cases, put them in the least chance for negative results," Brown said. "You want your guys to have a chance to be successful. That's where the chess match is. "We're in there a long time. Bet- ter be able to laugh a little bit, talk about life a little bit, talk about each other and share one anoth- er's company. Relationships are all there is in this game." A FORMIDABLE FRONT The relationship of Michigan's front seven to opposing quarter- backs has been about as innocuous as that of a grizzly bear to leaping salmon. It's not just the 33 sacks the Wolverines recorded through 10 games, an average of 3.3 per contest to tie for No. 8 nationally. When Michigan defenders ar- rive, they do some damage — lit- erally. While not being accused of anything over the top, the Wolver- ines have shortened the QB rosters of two opponents. Colorado's Sefo Liufau hit the sidelines with a high-ankle sprain after getting repeatedly blasted by oncoming defenders. Michigan State's Damion Terry departed af- ter getting the wind knocked out of him in a three-player crush, while Brian Lewerke suffered a broken leg late in Michigan's win at MSU. Others have been temporarily sidelined by U-M's relentlessness. Michigan's front includes not only Wormley, but fifth-year senior tack- les Ryan Glasgow and Matt Godin, redshirt junior tackle Maurice Hurst, senior end Taco Charlton and others who are able to bring the heat. Along with them, linebackers Ben Gedeon (senior), Mike McCray (redshirt junior) and Peppers all cause havoc, especially Peppers coming off the edge like a cruise missile. "You see four big guys like Chris, Taco, Glasgow, Godin, all of them up there; as a quarterback you would be scared, too," Thomas said. "Those are some big guys, and they make the job easy, because they're always creating pressure. "When they create pressure, some- times the quarterback just throws the ball up there and allows us to go get it. Sometimes the quarterback doesn't get the ball off at all, and it ends up in a sack. Our defensive line is scary." So scary that the nation's consensus No. 1 recruit in 2016, defensive end Rashan Gary, can fit in as a learner rather than an overly hyped, would-be savior. That's a perfect scenario, ac- cording to line coach Greg Mattison. "I think he's really grown," Mattison said. "It's things that maybe other people don't see, but Rashan has now become a lot more accountable to do what he's supposed to do and knowing what he's supposed to do. "That's as opposed to relying on somebody to say, 'Make sure you do this, make sure you do that.' He's al- ways been really reliable as far as be- ing at meetings on time and being ac- countable in the classroom. "But he might have played on a scheme where he had two defenses the entire year [in high school]. Here, he might have 102. "He's done a tremendous job of picking those up, and he's very intelligent. He has a lot of pride. Whenever he makes a mistake, you can see it really, really eats at him. He knows he's intelligent enough to do it, and he should do it." Wormley, one of the wise old men of the crew, recognizes that Michigan's defense has been good for a while, even before Brown ar- rived. It's still different this season, he noted, in part because the de- fensive coordinator has raised the aggression level even higher. The other element can't be over- stated: for many of them, it's their last shot. "We all understand how good we are, and how good we can con- tinue to be," Wormley said. "We have a special season going so far, and we don't want that to slip up. "We have a lot of seniors on the team and on the defensive side of the ball. We all understand what it means that it's our last season." NO FLY ZONE The same goes for Lewis, Thomas, senior safety Delano Hill and senior cornerback Channing Stribling. That crew has combined Senior cornerback Jourdan Lewis on a message he received from Charles Woodson "He says: 'Keep doing what you guys are doing. You're doing the right thing, bringing back the tradition.'" Senior defensive end Taco Charlton is a key piece to Michigan's stout front and is tied for the team lead with five sacks through the first 10 contests. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN