The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/873137
OCTOBER 2017 THE WOLVERINE 27 by-position breakdown of the early returns for the Wolverines: DEFENSIVE LINE Proof that stats often don't tell the whole story of a player or game — fifth-year senior tackle Maurice Hurst's line through two games. Hurst had notched eight total tackles, tied for fourth on the team, one tackle for loss and no sacks, and though he wasn't credited with a quarterback hurry, the Florida game film showed him in the backfield plenty of times. He was so quick on one play that he blew up a wide receiver comeback screen before the pass catcher could make it back to the line of scrimmage. Brown predicted Cincinnati would come out "throwing the ball all over the lot," and he was right. They did it with quick passes and screens to try and negate U-M's advantage up front, quarterback Hayden Moore heaving it 40 times. Sophomore end Rashan Gary, meanwhile, took up two, sometimes three, blockers against the Gators in doing his part, and though he only finished with a half sack, he was very good. The entire line was, according to head coach Jim Harbaugh. "Our guys were really relentless," he praised. "Rashan, Mo Hurst, [red- shirt junior end] Chase Winovich, [redshirt junior nose tackle] Bryan Mone really played relentless up front." Brown mixed it up, too, in going with a three-man front — a 3-3-5 de- fense that put more speed on the field and seemed to catch the Gators off guard by replacing Mone with a more athletic defender. It was complicated during camp, Brown said, praising his group for being able to handle it. "We've been together for a while. This was not an easy camp for young guys, not pretty," he noted. "It was very demanding. Coach [Harbaugh] always puts together a camp where we develop character, a callous. But we challenged them on four-down [linemen] and three-down concepts. "This defense is smarter than I thought, to be honest. Our guys take pride in doing things the right way. We're not perfect. At the same time, we're playing a lot of concepts. In some of those pieces with pressure scenarios, if guys are in the wrong gap, bad things happen. It's impor- tant we function as a group … one guy not doing it right causes prob- lems." Winovich has benefited from Gary's added attention to bring the heat on the other edge. His hit and forced fumble, recovered by redshirt junior linebacker Noah Furbush in the end zone, capped the scoring in the win over Florida, and the Wolverines started developing depth in playing freshman nose tackle Aubrey Solo- mon, sophomore end Carlo Kemp and redshirt junior tackle Lawrence Marshall. Marshall recovered a fum- ble in the Florida game by running to the ball, a big play in the game. They all played a huge part in hold- ing the Gators to 11 rushing yards, and they were good again against Cincinnati in allowing only 68. "That's Big Ten football," Hurst said. "We're always a team like that. The statistics note sophomore defensive end Rashan Gary has just six tackles and two quar- terback hurries, but he has played better than that line indicates. Head coach Jim Harbaugh said game two against Cincinnati was one of the best of Gary's career. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL