The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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scrimmage, and when you watched film, you just said, 'Wow, that's really impressive.' "After that game, he started say- ing, 'I can do this all the time.' And from that game on, he has knocked the line of scrimmage back and is playing with better technique and pad level." Through eight games, Washington ranked third among U-M defensive linemen in tackles, with 20. Ahead of him, Roh and senior defensive tackle William Campbell each had 25 stops. He also had two tackles for loss and a forced fumble. While Washington's numbers may not seem impressive, a nose tackle isn't always asked to make the tackle. His contributions lead to better num- bers for others, including 157 com- bined tackles by Ryan, Morgan and middle linebacker Kenny Demens. "Quinton keeps improving every game," defensive coordinator Greg Mattison said. "Quinton is playing lower, he's playing with the tech- nique that I always talk about, and he's getting better. You can see it. There's times now where you see him play a block and you go, 'Boy, that's perfect! That's exactly how to do it.' "And like any player, now he has to do it play after play after play. It's got to become a habit. That's what your goal is for every player on that defense. Quinton has really worked hard. He's bought into everything. I'm happy for him." The other linemen have taken no- tice, as well. proved a ton," Roh said. "He's freaky strong, and he's figuring out how to use his strength with good tech- nique, with what he's being coached to do. He still has so much more to improve, as do all of us, which is re- ally the exciting thing about it." Directly next to Washington, Campbell is another player who needed to step up for the Wolverines this year. With the lack of depth at defensive tackle on the roster, there was no one but him to do the job. "At the end of the day, he didn't have an option. He is what we have, so he has to play to our expecta- tions," Montgomery said. "You could see it start to sink in last winter, during offseason condi- tioning. The guy was training harder "Quinton is a guy that has im- 26 THE WOLVERINE NOVEMBER 2012 Defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery's group helped the U-M defense improve sta- tistically in the four games in October com- pared to the season's first four contests. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL Brings Better Defensive Numbers Improved D-Line Play defensive tackle Will Campbell, redshirt junior nose tackle Quinton Washington and sophomore rush end Brennen Beyer. The lone returning starter, senior de- fensive end Craig Roh, was starting his first game at five-technique end (lining up on the outside shoulder of the offensive tackle) after playing the rush end position in 2011. The Wolverines opened the season in Dallas against the Alabama Crimson Tide. Along the defensive line, Michigan was breaking in three new starters: senior Across the line of scrimmage, Ala- bama boasted perhaps the best of- fensive line in the country, with three players (guard Chance Warmack, cen- ter Barrett Jones and tackle D.J. Fluker) projected to be selected in the first two rounds of the 2013 NFL Draft, ac- cording to DraftSite.com. "To go in and play an offense like that, it was tough," defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery admitted. "And we struggled. Going from that to play Air Force — anyone who plays those guys is going to give up 200-300 yards rushing. That's just because they run the ball 90 times a game, so that's just to be expected. the Wolverines surrendered an aver- age of 185.7 rushing yards per game, while tallying a total of 16 tackles for loss and three sacks. But those numbers have drastically In the first four games of the season, " improved. In the four games in October (Pur- Montgomery will concede the numbers his defense gave up in the Air Force game; the Falcons' tricky triple-option offense is tough to prepare for, and the Wolverines actually held them well under their season total (290 yards, com- pared to 366.3 yards per game, No. 2 nationally). But Montgomery believes the defensive front seven would be more able to due, Illinois, Michigan State and Ne- braska), opposing teams averaged just 108.2 rushing yards per contest. compete against the stout Alabama offense now. "The Alabama game, I think we would be a little more prepared to play that front now," he said. "I don't know what the outcome would be now, but I know we'd be more prepared. Each week, the kids have gotten better, and that's what you want as a coach." FIRST FOUR GAMES VS. SECOND FOUR GAMES Opponent Alabama Air Force COMPARING DEFENSIVE STATS, Illinois First Four Games Total 743 16 Purdue Massachusetts Notre Dame Michigan State Nebraska 1 7 6 2 Second Four Games Total 433 105 112 160 56 22 6 9 1 6 Rush Yards TFL Sacks 247 290 112 94 2 0 1 0 3 2 3 1 1 7