The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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he's one of the guys that is going to be a steadfast run-game supporter, and you won't produce many re- sults when you go at him." Wormley has to keep up his inten- sity and production over the course of the entire season, but he will impact the game plans of Michigan opponents BYU Sept. 26, Maryland Oct. 3 and Northwestern Oct. 10, and he will afford U-M defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin the oppor- tunity to tweak his attack. "Running to his side will be a problem, and for Michigan now you can roll your safety down to the opposite side of Wormley to add another defender to the box against teams that run the ball," Van Bergen said. "I think you'll see [redshirt freshman safety] Jabrill Peppers line up opposite him in passing situa- tions because Peppers has shown he's dangerous coming off the edge also. "You can use that to your advan- tage because offenses will begin to account for Wormley pre-snap. If you don't, and you run at him, he'll cause an issue." At one bookend, Wormley is a ferocious physical impediment to any offense wishing to run to his side of the field or roll out with their quarterback for fear the Toledo na- tive will squash him like a bug — he had two QB hits in addition to a sack against Oregon State. And with Wormley's presence, Peppers could become an even bigger playmaker. If Peppers shows an ability to cre- ate negative plays, offenses will face a difficult decision, asking which of the two they want to avoid more, but neither Wormley nor Peppers has the full body of work to garner that much respect. Not yet anyway. Oregon State chose not to double- team Wormley, but teams will and then the question becomes which of his teammates will step up? In 2006, Biggs, Harris, Branch and lineback- ers Prescott Burgess and Shawn Cra- ble all came through for the Maize and Blue defensively, but so far this season, no one has. Senior rush linebacker/defensive ends Mario Ojemudia and Royce Jenkins-Stone are put in position to, lining up as edge rushers or coming on blitzes out of an upright stance. However, in two games they mus- tered only three total tackles for loss and contributed to half a sack. Redshirt junior defensive ends Willie Henry and Matt Godin, and junior end Taco Charlton possess the best combination of athleticism, size and quickness, but they contrib- uted only 1.5 stops behind the line of scrimmage in two games. If Wormley is due to enter the conversation with Woodley, Martin, Woodson, Messner, etc., he has to find a way to keep producing even as he garners more attention, and for the entire defense to be effective, teammates have to feed off Worm- ley's play and turn in more produc- tive efforts. ❏ Associate Editor Michael Spath has been with The Wolverine since 2002. Contact him at mspath@thewolverine.com and follow him on Twitter @Spath_Wolverine.