The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/447116
going to see big, strong, athletic tight ends. That's going to be the basis of that offense. "The defense, I think, probably continues what we saw with Coach [Greg] Mattison, and will be impacted by whoever the new defensive coordi- nator is. They'll develop the defensive line, and Harbaugh knows, if you want to win, you've got to win up front first, offensively and defensively. "It's not a new formula. The dif- ference is, you're going to see more aggressive blocking schemes and hopefully a more aggressive, nastier demeanor out of all the players on the field wearing the maize and blue." The Wolverine: Brady Hoke said he wanted to win up front and be tough on both sides of the ball. How far is Michigan from getting there? Skene: "I think he's a lot closer than Brady was when Brady took over. You've got to remember, that offensive line room and defensive line room, when Brady took over, were pretty thin, and young. Now Jim is going to inherit an offensive line group that is coming into their third years at Michi- gan. "Physically, they should be develop- ing even more than they were. By the time an offensive lineman gets into that third full year, now you should really start to see them take off. "It's unfortunate their development was thrown into the fire so quickly. We've talked about this so many times before — you don't want to take young linemen and throw them out there be- fore they're ready. In Michigan's case, they were forced to. "I think the recipe, and the pieces in place, shape up pretty well. The great unknown is how Coach Harbaugh and his whole staff are able to push buttons on these young men, each individually, to get them to breathe fire and want to rip heads off. That will be the fun part to see." The Wolverine: Harbaugh has always been a fiery guy. Does that get passed along naturally? Skene: "You know the old cliché, that players take on the character and man- nerisms and the style of their coach? I believe in that. The reason I believe in that is because I felt it the same way throughout my career of playing for Coach [Bo] Schembechler, and then having Jerry Hanlon and Les Miles as my assistant coaches. "It was always an attitude of tough- ness, of competition. You live in that atmosphere, it's kind of how you're brought up, how you think. I would expect that to be the case here. "Now, I never played for Brady, and I don't know how he was on a day-to- day basis, out there on the field and in the meeting rooms. I don't know how that was. I can't point the finger and Skene "You can be successful still controlling the pace and the tone and the speed of the game with a dominating offense that runs a little slower, more methodically with ball control."