Michigan LBs coach weighs in on matchup with Texas, on high alert for 'home run shots'
ANN ARBOR – Michigan Wolverines football heads into its Week 2 matchup with Texas (noon, FOX) as a touchdown underdog and a juxtaposition of one of the most explosive offenses in the country against one of the most athletic and dominant defenses.
Michigan linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary spoke to the media on Thursday and shared what he’s seen on film from the Texas offense, which is going to look to create confusion in pursuit of explosive plays. The Longhorns beat Colorado State 52-0 last weekend.
“They have a high-level quarterback in [Quinn] Ewers,” Jean-Mary said. “With Coach Sarkisian, he’s going to make you play from sideline to sideline. He’s always going to try to scheme up and try to take the home run shots. Obviously, they have great skill there at the wideout position. And even does a great job with the running backs getting them out in space. He had the [Bijan] Robinson kid who was dynamic in space a couple of years ago. And I see the same thing with the running backs. I know they’ve had some injuries there. But the kid who’s starting for them is electric in the open field, and runs hard. So they’re going to make you play sideline to sideline and are going to really test you as far as the defense and trying to stretch the field vertically also.”
The Michigan defense was dominant in its 30-10 win over Fresno State in the opening-weekend victory, but this will be a matchup of potential College Football Playoff teams that pits strength against strength. There are things to clean up on the U-M side of things, and Jean-Mary expects it to happen.
“I think you guys all hear the phrase, I think most coaches say it… you see the biggest improvement from week one to week two,” Jean-Mary said. “So I think the week two opponent, no matter who it is, you expect to see some improvements. This could be a bigger challenge because of the team and the offense that it is. But we expect some things we didn’t do well, that they would get corrected now that we’ve had a live and a real game.
“We don’t get the preseason games like the NFL where they’re able to work out a lot of the issues that they have in the preseason. Week one, you’re always working out kinks. So we expect some of the minor things that we didn’t do well against Fresno to be better at vs. Texas. But obviously, Texas presents a different type of game than Fresno with no disrespect to Fresno, because I thought they did a great job versus us. Texas puts a little bit more stress on you with some of the things that they do and the players that they have.”
Jean-Mary has experience coaching at Texas, so Saturday’s game will be a bit of a reunion for the former Longhorn assistant. Now in his second stint at Michigan, he’s looking forward to the challenge of helping prove the sustainability with the Wolverines.
“It’s unique. I’ve been blessed to be a part of two tradition-rich programs that obviously are staples in college football,” Jean-Mary said. “So obviously it means a lot to me just because I was there and still know a lot of people there still got a group text with some of the players that I coached at Texas that I’m not answering this week.
“When you get to iconic programs like this, it’s always going to be special and not just for fans, but especially for the coaches.”
