The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/447116
your two corners. If [freshman de- fensive back] Jabrill Peppers can be a man-to-man, island guy, and they find somebody on the other side … if you've got two corners, I don't care who they are. If you've got two corners who can play man, now you've got all kinds of options. "You can throw your linebackers in there into different blitz packages in situations. It's been said that you build a defense from the inside out, like you do on offense. But the other side of the argument is, you build a defense with your corners. "Whoever his secondary coaches end up being, I would look for them to develop guys really fast. It's a luxury to be able to play man-to-man. If you have big, strong, physical guys who can stone people at the line of scrim- mage, and not let them get into their route, it's another advantage of play- ing man. "You just stand at the line and ba- sically just manhandle them. That's what Michigan State tries to do." The Wolverine: What are your feelings as to how this is going to play out in the days ahead? Skene: "Here's the thing about Coach Harbaugh coming back. He knew the program, what he experienced, and the era he experienced, and the coaches that were there then. While he was there, that was a high-level, elite, top- five program every year, competing for and going to Rose Bowls, competing for national championships. "That's his expectation, and that's a good thing. He's been a head coach for so many years now, from San Diego to Stanford to the 49ers, there is a discon- nect that happens. He's 100 percent, head-first into his current job, and he's not been at Michigan. "He certainly understands the lack of success we've had, not living up to the standards of Michigan. That's go- ing to be unacceptable, just like it was to Brady. The difference is, how can he push buttons on these players to get more out of them? "That's what he was brought in to do. Just like the athletic director said, the results weren't there under Brady Hoke, so a change was made. We're looking for results. "And the standard is winning Big Ten championships, and then seeing what comes above and beyond that. It's a great advantage that Jim has, coming in here, to know what he went through. Those are his expectations, and anything short of that, anybody unwilling to meet those expectations, should probably start looking for other schools to transfer to. There's probably going to be a high level of intensity come this spring." ❏ Skene "I would expect an aggressive defense. I don't think they're going to go out and recruit a different style of kids. You've got to have big, strong, athletic defensive linemen, and we've done a good job of bringing them in."