Michigan nose tackle Mazi Smith looks at double teams as sign of respect: 'You can't be soft'

Michigan Wolverines football senior nose tackle Mazi Smith faces double team after double team, week in and week out. He’s also played the third-most defensive snaps on the team (202), and one can imagine how exhausting that might be.

Tiring? Maybe. Frustrating? Nope.

Smith embraces his job in the middle of the defense.

“When I first got here, when [former Michigan defensive coordinator] Don Brown was still here, the one thing he said was, you can’t have a good defense without a nose. You see it in the league — everybody needs a nose. I think it’s an important position, but we all feed off each other. 

“If the nose isn’t going to do his job, then nine times out of 10, the rest of the line isn’t going to be able to do their job. We’re all working together, we’re all feeding off each other.”

RELATED

• Harbaugh: Michigan offensive line clicks with Trevor Keegan

• Wolverine TV: Jim Harbaugh press conference ahead of Michigan vs. Indiana

Smith is the strongest Michigan player based on a number of different weight room exercises. Watch him play on Saturdays, too, and the same conclusion will likely be made. Per The Athletic‘s Bruce Feldman, who named Smith the No. 1 ‘freak’ in college football heading into the 2022 season, Smith can do 22 bench press reps of 325, close-grip bench 550 pounds, vertical jump 33 inches and post a 4.41 shuttle time … all at 6-3 and 337 pounds.

“You’ve gotta be strong,” the Michigan lineman said of what it takes to play nose. “Me personally, I feel like I can play 3-tech, 2i, head up, 0-technique, shade. If you wanted me to lose some weight and play a 5-technique, I can play all of those things.

“But I just had the most experience at the nose, and I’m a really strong guy. The nose has to be the strongest person on the field. That’s the tip of the spear. You can’t be soft there. You can’t be soft there. They’ll run all over you.”

By no means are Smith or Michigan’s defensive front soft. The Wolverines rank 15th nationally in run defense, allowing just 94.2 yards per game on the ground. Over the weekend, Iowa gained only 35 rushing yards.

Smith is an even bigger part of that than his impressive stats show. He’s fourth on the team with 18 tackles and has added 2.5 stops for loss. There’s much more to his game — or that of any great nose tackle — than statistics. They do the dirty work that doesn’t always get recognized.

“You gotta look at where the offense is running the ball, where they’re attacking,” Smith said of how Michigan tracks his performance outside of statistics. “When you have a good interior, they like to attack the C gap or the edge more. You gotta look at how often they threaten the A and B gaps.

“When you have two guys like last year, me and Chris Hinton, playing two B gaps, primary and secondary, it’s just harder to run up in there. We just gotta take a look at stuff like that. Am I getting moved off the ball? If the play did come to me, would I have made it? Did I do my job? Was I allowing somebody else to make the play? Was I making the ball cut back and setting the edge of the defense from the inside? All that type of stuff.”

Smith said he views getting double teamed as a sign of respect.

“You just gotta keep playing and grow as a player, get stronger, understand leverage, understand hand placement. It’s not frustrating because if you’re not doubling me, you don’t respect what I do,” Smith explained. 

“If they’re not going to double me, they’re going to be doubling somebody else. I’d rather be the one being doubled.”

Mazi Smith, Michigan players have embraced Eyabi Okie

Michigan graduate EDGE Eyabi Okie joined the team from UT Martin in August, 17 days before the Wolverines’ season-opening game. He reportedly had some issues while at his first two schools, Alabama and Houston, but he’s found a home in Ann Arbor, and the Michigan players have welcomed him in with open arms.

“When I first talked to some of my coaches about him, we don’t get a guy so close to the season like that for no reason,” Smith said. “When you get a guy like that, you gotta embrace him and show him the way. He’s a great player. He’s been that; everybody knows that.

“But there is a certain acclimation period to get adjusted to the way we do things here, and he’s done a great job with that. It’s almost like he came in right on beat. It’s kinda his chance to really make something for himself again. He ain’t missed a beat.”

Okie and senior EDGE Mike Morris combined for 2.5 sacks against Iowa and are becoming the Wolverines’ top two pass rushers from the position. Morris has moved around the defensive line and taken advantage of different matchups, which has been a plus for Michigan.

“Look at him. He’s like 6-6, he’s longer than most people and more explosive than most people,” Smith said of Morris. “He’s more fluid, has a more fluid athletic ability. No matter where he lines up, he’s a dangerous guy, and you’re going to have to pay attention to him.”