Wolverine247 Board

BOOOOOO!

I used to like you Clint.

Countess, Floyd, Kovacs, and Gordon are a C+ secondary?

If Roh, Campbell, Black, and Beyer are a D defensive line, what does it take to get an F? How do you think it compares to the rest of the big 10 d-lines?

Yes that is a C+ secondary as a whole because who do they have behind them? Also, the free safety position is a concern and Floyd has been inconsistent at times. The D-line is easily a D right now because Black and Campbell have not played very well in the past and are now starting. Roh is switching positions and there's a great chance for a lot of freshman to play on the D-line.

Holloway, Richardson, Willson are behind them. Can't you ask who is behind the starters for every team?

Also Courtney Avery and Marvin Robinson, who both saw substantial time last year.

Yeah, with Avery Robinson and furman getting good time in. Then hollowell, it seems depth is no concern. Losing talbott hurts a little because he would really set the depth over the charts.

Also free safety should not be an issue. I think gordon has a break out year this year.

Overall countess is the only perfect athlete for his position. So I can see being skeptical, but its just too much experience to be a C grade clint. Jt Floyd is really my only concern

Couldn't agree more with Clint on everything. For the secondary, experience means nothing if you haven't shown consistent playmaking ability on the field. Floyd hasn't been consistent, Gordon was in and out of the FS position last yr, Countess shows promise but we still have to see it. Only given is Kovacs, but his strength is run support. Then who plays in the two deep that you trust? Are folks forgetting how against Ohio our secondary was torched on big plays, whether completed for TDs or not? In the sugar bowl, our back 5 couldn't get the D of the field as Vtech completed 3rd&long over n over again? Let's not be naive, until our secondary shows me something, I can't be that optimistic to say they are anywhere near a B.

The dline, again its about what I saw. Black got snaps taken from him by a true freshman in Clark last yr, now we are moving him inside. Campbell had moments but no consistency. Beyer we didn't see enough of, and Roh came on late but he is at a new position. Then all the two deep are ash, Washington, and true freshman? I can't argue with Clint's grade until they show it.

Take off the maize colored glasses guys and realize that most of you are thinking in terms of promise of what you hope to see and Clint provided his grades on what we have seen to this point. Don't get me wrong, I think our D will prove that these grades were wrong, but I can't argue against the grades rigjt now. Think of it like a preseason ranking, what matters most is what is done on Saturdays and I believe we will show the grades were low.

Everyone relax...Clint is the man and entitled to his own grades. I happen to think the whole Defense is an A+ but what do I know. All I know is that we'll stop the pass this year better than last year but may not be as strong against the run. If we give up less than 20 pts per game...then we're 10-2 again

Are things getting heated? Simple discussion on a discussion board.

We ranked tied for 85th in INTs. Ok, two bad games but you make it seem like our schedule was murderer's row. Those last two games were arguably against the two most talented teams on our schedule. So just like going against Bama on the 1st, going against talented teams should give us the proper barometer to where we are as a unit and we didn’t show much beyond being average at best in the secondary.

I see your points, but I disagree with downplaying the accomplishments of the DBs.

Michigan had the 16th ranked pass defense in the nation last year, at 190.5 ypg.
Michigan gave up only 12 TDS through the air, with 9 INTs.
In conference play only, Michigan had the 5th ranked pass defense giving up 185.2 ypg, while giving up 8 TDs and having 4 INTs.
The only loss from the back 7 was an injury prone Woolfolk, and a backup in Talbott.
Numbers alone and what little they lost compared to last year, that doesn't sound like an average defensive backfield coming back.

JT Floyd was tasked with lining up with the top WR game in and game out, these included NFLer Floyd, Cunningham, McNutt, Jenkins... He held his own, with 10 PBUs, one off of tying for the conference lead.

As I stated, Floyd is a 5th year senior, and he now has the advantage that everyone of the DBs have for the first time in their career, having the same defense as the previous years. Mattison has talked about how last fall it was like talking a foreign language to the defense compared to guys knowing where to be and why this fall.

Bama was a national champion. You want to use them as a barometer? Like I said C is average. Bama is an A, they are no barometer. You can you them as a barometer to see if Michigan is an Elite team, but that is about it. I am not calling the secondary elite. I am saying they are above average. I do not see how you could argue against that.

Yes!! I'm confused, Who would you use as a barometer if not the best team? Why measure yourself against an average team, or above average team and get inconclusive results. Thats like measuring yourself on a scale thats not calibrated, you won't get the real result. They are the barometer right now because they set the bar as being the best, and based on how well we do against them should tell us how far we got to go to also be considered the best.