Steve Sarkisian previews challenge of facing Wink Martindale's Michigan defense: 'He's going to pressure you'
With Texas rolling into Michigan Stadium for a titanic Week 2 matchup with Michigan on Saturday, it sets up one of the best unit-on-unit matchups of the entire non-conference slate — and perhaps all season — when the Longhorns blistering offensive machine tries to outfox the smothering, physical Wolverines defense.
Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian has been diving into offensive prep head-on this week, getting more familiar with what he’s going to be up against, although it’s not entirely unfamiliar. Sarkisian, as the play caller and offensive guru for Texas, will be going up against longtime NFL assistant and coordinator Wink Martindale, who brings his own aggressive streak to the multiple, Baltimore Ravens-esque defense the Wolverines have deployed over the last half decade.
Having worked with Martindale some 20 years ago when the duo were assistants with the then-Oakland Raiders, Sarkisian knows the Wolverines DC has a clear modus operandi: Heating up the quarterback.
“I think naturally, Wink’s trademark and the wrinkle that you see in it is the pressure packages,” Sarkisian said on the SEC coaches teleconference on Wednesday. “He’s — and he’ll be the first one to tell you. I worked with Wink, I know, he’ll be the first one to tell you: He’s going to pressure you. He likes to cut it up and send DBs and send linebackers and attack protections and things of that nature, so he’s not afraid to do it.”
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Sarkisian continued, and noted that Martindale isn’t just blitzing with abandon, though.
“The thing that makes them unique is that they’re still very sound in the backend,” Sarkisian said. “He’s got his coverage bases really well organized and just because he’s pressuring doesn’t mean they’re playing man coverage. They’re a lot of variation to the coverages, zone coverages, droppers, things of that nature. But I would just say the amount of blitzers and the consistent fashion in which they’ll bring people, the percentages of that is definitely up from the last couple of years.”
While the sample is just one game, the 2024 Michigan defense seems to have picked up in a similar place that the 2022 and 2023 teams left off. In a 30-10 opening win, Michigan allowed nine net rushing yards and nabbed a pair of interceptions — including a highlight reel pick six by star corner Will Johnson — while dialing in the pressure looks Martindale wanted to see.
And while Martindale is certainly keen on attacking protection and blitzing, he doesn’t always bring extra bodies to do so. At various points, Michigan generated free rushers with four players rushing, as certain gaps got overloaded with linebackers or defensive backs coming while defensive linemen who seemed to be ready to pass rush dropped into coverage.
As Sarkisian noted, dealing with the mix of pure pressure and simulated pressure is one of the biggest challenges to suss out, especially pre-snap.
Mixing the aggressive Martindale spin on this defensive scheme with the top-end talent that Michigan has also appears to have the potential to be potent. Up front, the Wolverines have two elite talents on the interior of the defensive line in Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant. The aforementioned Johnson is arguably the best cornerback in college football. Linebacker Jaishawn Barham transferred from Maryland and looks the part of a future NFL player, among numerous others on the Wolverines defense.
That elite talent was one of the first things that stood out to Sarkisian.
“Well they’ve got very talented players on the defensive side of the ball,” Sarkisian said. “They’ve got a very good defensive front, bunch of NFL players. High draft pick players. Three really good linebackers and these guys are NFL players and they’re very talented in the backend. They’ve got great length, they can run, they’re physical. This is a physical defense, I think they play with a lot of pride.”
For as talented, physical and aggressive as Michigan is on defense, Sarkisian surely has various ideas of how to exploit it, both for big plays and to give quarterback Quinn Ewers and the rest of the offense easier looks to keep the chains moving.
But whatever Sarkisian might be planning on doing to get some breathing room, he was playing it coy on Wednesday.
“We’ve gotta coach them, man,” Sarkisian said of his quarterbacks and offense. “We’ve gotta have a good game plan and put them in a position to have success.”