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C O A C H S P E A K • E X C E R P T S F R O M J A M E S F R A N K L I N ' S W E E K L Y P R E S S E R How much did the bye week benefit your team, and how much time did you spend on Michigan preparation? I think it was really good. We were able to have our Sunday practice, which was good, which is very similar to what we normally do. Monday we spent all day self-scouting. We self-scout every week, but it's probably for an hour or two. We spent a whole day on self-scout, not only the offense looking at themselves and the defense, but across the ball. We had our defense break down our offense and our offense break down or defense. That was really valuable. Tuesday was obviously to get a head start on Michigan from a planning per- spective. Tuesday practice for us was a combination of a little bit of a head start. Excuse me, that's not fair. Tuesday was a developmental practice. Predomi- nantly young guy development, a little bit of Michigan. Really, it was mostly about going back and covering some is- sues that we've had throughout the sea- son. Here is how people are trying to attack our protections. Here is how peo- ple are trying to attack our defense. Here are some areas on special teams that need to get cleaned up. That's really what Tuesday was about. Then young guy scrimmages. Wednesday was Michigan, our first day to get into Michigan, get a head start on those guys with still a balance of young guy scrimmages, still kind of resting our players as much as we possibly could. Thursday, Friday, Saturday were off [days] for the players and recruiting for the coaches. Sunday we gained an advantage because we didn't have to go back and make the corrections on the last game. It was all Michigan for a short practice. I think you guys know our practices on Sunday are pretty short. I'd say the coaches got a few extra days. The players got probably two days. They got Wednesday as a Michigan practice and Sunday as a Michigan practice. You worked with Michigan offensive coordinator Don Brown when you were both on Maryland's staff. What stood out to you beyond the X's and O's? Relentless, aggressive. A lot of different experiences, which I think are really valuable. You're talking about a guy who has been a defensive coordinator for a long time, a head coach, and now has gone back to being an assistant. You're talking about a guy who has worked at I- AA level, I-A level, at schools where he had built-in advantages, schools where he didn't. I think when you come from that type of background, you have to be creative to overcome some circum- stances. I learned a lot from being around Don: how he ran his side of the ball, how he got his players to play, how to practice. I've got a lot of respect for him. Got to know his family. Awesome wife who I hear from from time to time, so does my wife. Just a good person and a really, re- ally good football coach who has been very successful pretty much everywhere he's been. Don's big thing – it shows up on tape – is that they're going to solve their prob- lems with aggression. That's something I remember years ago Don talking about. It still shows up on tape. His answer for the game of football is to be aggressive, be ag- gressive in the way he calls the game, be aggressive in how their players play. They [try to] wreck the decision-maker, try to get to the quarterback as much as they possibly can and either sack him or make him uncomfortable in the pocket, and don't give any yards away, no free-access throws. That's what he believes. He's done a really good job. A lot of the stuff they do is unorthodox. When you watch it on tape for short peri- ods of time, you're trying to make sense of it. But they play aggressive, which is I think the most important thing that they do. They don't miss too many tackles. By contrast, how would you describe Brent Pry as a defensive coordinator? I think Brent has done a very good job. Very successful past history being a de- fensive coordinator when I hired him. Brent is your typical coaching lifer. Not only him and his family, but his father. I think Brent really understands and sees the big picture of the game, understands the motivational aspects of his players, understands morale – staff morale, player morale. Understands how to take advantage of our strengths, hide some of our weaknesses or deficiencies. I think he's a big-picture football coach. He gets it. He connects well with the players. I think the players respect and appreciate and like him, and those things are impor- tant. But he's a wealth of football knowl- edge and experience. He's a good person. Brent is one of my guys when I'm having difficulty with a decision. That's Dwight Galt, as you know. I'll bring those guys in. It's evolved into Terry Smith, really my whole staff. But really probably from the beginning, it's Dwight and Brent. Those guys have been tremendous re- sources. I think a lot of it is because I've known them for a long time and they know me. Just a lot of value. I think one of the things that's going to be great for the fans in our stadium, and I think for people across the country who are watching the game, is that you're going to be watching two of the best defensive coordinators in college football, which probably doesn't get any more Big Ten than that – defensive foot- ball. During the bye week, did you take a look at the offensive line to maybe find some other things they're not doing quite as well as you would like? There was a change in the depth chart at right tackle. Is that because the other two guys are banged up? I knew you were going to ask about in- juries. As you know, I'm not going to an- swer about injuries. I don't really see it as a change in the depth chart. I mean, for really the last couple weeks, we have been playing both Chasz Wright and Will Fries. I think it says 'or'. To be honest with you, I didn't even know that Will was ahead of Chasz or Chasz was ahead of Will. They're both going to play. It's not a big deal. They're both going to play. It's 'or'. I wouldn't make it out to be more than what it is. I think I probably will decide based on how the week of practice has gone. At this point, we haven't even had a practice. We'll have one today. I'll have a better idea late in the week. But no, again, I think Matt Limegrover O C T O B E R 1 8 , 2 0 1 7 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 12

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