Big responsibility for the Michigan secondary Saturday, but opportunity, too
Michigan faces Michigan State Saturday night in a game few would have predicted should be close. The Wolverines are 4-3 and coming off a pair of losses to Washington and Illinois that many believe should have been wins — stopping the bleeding against the Spartans will take a much better effort all the way around.
The U-M secondary got carved up at Washington but rebounded nicely at Illinois, even without outstanding corner Will Johnson. Jyaire Hill improved a lot while Aamir Hall got better as the game went on.
The challenge Saturday night will be to stay with the MSU receivers when quarterback Aidan Chiles escapes the pocket or rolls out … up front, it’s to keep Chiles contained.
“The quarterback has gotten better throughout the year,” secondary coach LaMar Morgan said. “I think that’s something that you can watch and see. He’s strong. If you don’t corral him in the pocket and you leave a crease, he’ll go, and you might not catch him.
“I think the receivers do a really good job. They have the freshman [Nick Marsh] that’s really good. They have a senior that really worked – that did a really good job. I think they’re really good on the outside, one of the upper receiver groups.”
That might be a stretch, but Marsh is a problem, especially if Johnson is out. Hill has been prone to some double moves, and he’s been inconsistent. The Spartans also have good tight end play, and their running game picked up against Iowa.
MSU has hit some big plays this year, and Michigan has been given up a few too many.
“A lot of explosives, I know it doesn’t sound as simple as this, but if they have explosive plays, it’s somebody made an error at the end of the day,” Morgan said. “Whether it’s a communication error, whether it’s an eyes error, those different things. So, we’ve just been trying to make sure that we cut down some of the stuff that we’re doing, make sure the guys are communicating, and then making sure we have all the guys on all the same pages.
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“I think that’s where it’s at. I think that’s when a breakthrough happens, right? Whether you’re gassed, whether the series is too long, that’s when some of the breakthroughs happen. Double moves … if you have bad eyes, that’s when it happens.”
But Chiles has been prone to big mistakes, too. He’s been abysmal when pressured, and the Michigan defensive line should have a huge advantage against the MSU front … if they can keep him in the pocket.
“You’ve got to do a great job with your rush lanes, and that’s something we’re going to stress and talk about,” head coach Sherrone Moore said. “You’ve got to do that with that guy because once he gets outside the pocket, he can be dynamic. He can do some things to hurt you.
“So, you’ve got to keep him in the pocket and be really disciplined with your lanes, whether it’s a four-man rush or a five-man rush, where you’re at in the pocket, keeping him compressed. If he gets out, he can make things happen with his feet, and he can make things happen with his arms. So, we’ve got to do things there and mix up different looks for him.”
Do that, and they should force some bad throws, too. Pick one or two, like most teams have against them this year, and the Wolverines should have a very good chance to win.
