The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/873137
28 THE WOLVERINE OCTOBER 2017 We want to win up front, and that's the first thing for a Big Ten team. We want to be able to run the ball and stop the run." Harbaugh said Hurst was the best of the players up front against Cincin- nati, but added that Gary had one of the best games of his career. LINEBACKERS Brown was nervous after one play of the Florida game, when officials went to replay to see if sophomore linebacker Devin Bush should be ejected for targeting. "Holy moly. We had [fifth-year senior] Mike McCray up the tunnel [sick], too," he told 97.1 The Ticket in Detroit. "I was looking at it like I could be down my starting Mike [middle linebacker] and Will [weak- side linebacker], guys that took every snap." It was ruled that Bush was not tar- geting, and that was a good thing be- cause he was dominant all over the field and Michigan's defensive MVP after notching seven tackles, 2.5 stops for loss and 1.5 sacks in victory. He recorded seven more tackles and a sack against Florida, and trailed fel- low sophomore Khaleke Hudson by just half of a sack for the team lead. Brown's schemes allow for fast linebackers to make plays, and Bush and Hudson have answered the bell. They were a big reason the 3-3-5 stack worked so well against the Gators. "It was not necessarily [the game plan]," Furbush said. "We were defi- nitely going to run that package in the game, wanted to see how it worked. It worked out really well." Furbush was a big part of it, too. He played some rush end and outside linebacker with his hand down, with Winovich on the other side, moving Gary inside. Hudson spent time cov- ering slot receivers and was also deep in coverage at times. "When we execute, we light up," Bush said. "That just goes to tell us that no matter who knows what we're running or what they've seen on tape, as long as we execute, we're going to be hard to stop." McCray struggled in coverage and in space at times against Cincin- nati, but he was still the Wolverines' fourth-leading tackler behind junior safety Tyree Kinnel (15), Bush (14) and Hudson (10) through two games. Now, though, it's about develop- ing depth. The defense looked a bit slower when Bush came off the field for a bit due to injury against Cincin- nati, but speedy sophomore Devin Gil has made strides and played well in the first series against the Gators before McCray returned to the field. "He didn't even know he was start- ing until I grabbed him by the throat and said, 'Let's go baby … you're up,'" Brown noted. Gil graded out extremely well on that series, providing hope that he'll be able to provide valuable minutes. Sophomores Josh Uche and Elysee Mbem-Bosse, as well as former walk- on and fifth-year senior Mike Wro- blewski, are all vying for more time, and all provided some good moments in the first two games. "There are a number of different things we can do … I'm not going to tell you everything we can do, but there are all kinds of different things, and we're going to use them all through the course of the season," Furbush said. DEFENSIVE BACKS Playing with four new starters in the defensive backfield isn't ideal, and cornerbacks coach Mike Zordich didn't provide any comfort a week be- fore the first game when he expressed concern that his group still had work to do. Sophomore Lavert Hill had risen to the challenge to claim one spot, but sophomore David Long and redshirt junior Brandon Watson had been inconsistent, he said, and the coach was growing frustrated. Through two games, however, both position groups — corners and safe- ties — had been very good. Sophomore viper Khaleke Hudson has picked up where Jabrill Peppers left off and continues to make the position one that stuffs the box score — including his three sacks through two games which was tied for the Big Ten lead. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN