TheWolverine.com Chat: Michigan football, hoops, recruiting
Our weekly noon chat — today, we answer all your questions related to Michigan Wolverines football, basketball, recruiting, and more.
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Michigan continues its assault on the non-conference nobodies and UConn is up next. The Wolverines are closing in on 50-point favorites for the game, and quarterback J.J. McCarthy will get his second start to solidify his hold on the position.
We’ll talk about that and more in today’s chat, including other topics, such as:
Michigan secondary coach Steve Clinkscale has a goal
The Michigan secondary hasn’t really been tested this year, but that will change next week against Maryland — probably not Saturday against UConn. The Huskies have been awful through the air, though secondary coach Steve Clinkscale isn’t taking anything for granted.
Clinkscale has been relatively pleased with his group, but he wants even more from the Michigan defensive backs.
“We’re contesting passes. Watching a lot of games getting ready for our game on Saturday, there were a few games where you see defensive backs contesting the ball constantly,” the Michigan assistant and co-D.C. said. “It forces the offense to continue to try to figure things out. A lot of those games, the teams I was watching ended up winning.
“I was telling our guys before the game, we have to contest more passes. Whether we intercept them or not, we’ve got to get our hands around the hands of the receiver. We can’t let them be comfortable catching the ball in open space and running with the ball and trying to make a tackle in the open field. You put yourself in a more vulnerable position.”
We discuss that and more in today’s chat.
Discussing Wolverines basketball
Michigan basketball finished 2-1 in its exhibition games in France and Greece. Assistant Phil Martelli said on the Defend the Block podcast the staff was pleased with the result, especially the team bonding.
“The 10 practices mattered. The bonding — this group just has been different, even with eight or nine new guys,” the Michigan assistant said. “They have stayed connected from the first day we got together. Even their reaction to YoYo [Youssef Khayat] being added in the middle of the trip. They were all in the lobby — they all greeted him like, ‘oh yeah — he’s been with us.’ You’re like, ‘that’s impossible. Physically, he has not been with us.”
“It’s always the same there, and that’s that one percent. We were always loking to be a little better, little better, little better. If someone came back and said did you find the third point guard? No, we didn’t. But that wasn’t on the list of 25 things we wanted to do. Are we a little better as a team that communicates? Are we a little better in transition defense? Yes.”
We talk about that and more in today’s chat.
