Michigan won 10 games again last year but faded down the stretch in three of the four games, losing them in the last moments. Conference foes on both sides (wins and losses) spoke off the record on the Wolverines, one of our more popular features of the year …
Here’s what they had to say:
On Jim Harbaugh:
Player 1: “If I could play for another coach, it would be Coach Harbaugh, just to see what he's like. He's here with his hat on ready to go, he's handing stuff to the Pope. I just want to see what he's really like and what it would be like to play for a guy like that.”
Player 2: “Some people say he’s annoying … I don’t think so, at all. He may always be in the media – Nick Saban is always in the media, too. None of that really bothers me.”
Player 3: “I think he's a cool dude. He's got his own wave and has his own unique style, and I honestly respect that.”
Player 4: “I don’t know Jim Harbaugh, so I don’t have anything to say about him. He’s in the media because he wins, so I have respect for him.”
On quarterback Wilton Speight:
Player 1: “He was what just what we saw on film. We tried to rattle him with different looks, but he seemed to pick up everything we threw at him, just like our coaches said he would. He’s not fast, but he’s elusive … he seemed to know where the rush was coming from. But he also missed some passes that really would have hurt us.”
Player 2: “He’s a load. There were times we should have had him, or did have him, and he’d slip out of there because we couldn’t bring him down. It’s like trying to tackle a tight end.”
On the defense under Don Brown:
Player 1: “Just great coaching. They did their film work and everything and knew what they were doing ... what we were doing. They had all-around great athletes … tremendous athletes. They flew to the ball like crazy, knew how to attack the ball and the flow to it and they did their film work on us.
“When you see certain formations and tendencies, sometimes you can figure out what’s going to happen. They scouted us real well, and it showed on the field.”
Player 2: “Mike McCray is a great player. He put a huge hit on me the first time I touched the ball, and he never stopped.”
Player 3: “They had a hard-nosed defense, and physical. They had a sticky defense. It was one of the best defenses I’ve faced since I’ve been in college. You had to earn everything against them.”
Player 4: “They had a really good front seven. Their defensive line and linebacker group was one of the better ones we played. Their line they made it hard to run the ball, but also made it hard to pass the ball against a defense like that. There was not a lot of time back there [for the quarterback].
“It was pretty much what you saw on film, you got in the game. They stuck to their guns, and there was nothing we could do about it.”
On Michigan’s offense:
Player 1: “They were physical at times [on the O-line] … other times, they weren’t. We saw on film that they would make some mental mistakes at times, and we got them with a few of our twists, a couple at a few big points in the game. Our line against theirs was an advantage for us.
“They could change things up whether Jabrill was in the backfield or not, and they had a lot of different formations and things that could happen. They ran it with him, could sit back and pass, and you didn’t know what to do with some of their formations. Until it started with the first snap, we weren’t sure what was going to happen.”
Player 2: “We kept hearing [from our coaches] how well-coached they were [on the offensive line], but the weren’t one of the top lines we played. They had a lot of the same guys making the same mistakes they made in the past. [Mason Cole] was the best player on the line, and it wasn’t close, even though he wasn’t the biggest or strongest guy out there. He’s always in the right place.”
Player 3: “We didn’t see much of their best back [Chris Evans] that we watched in the Bowl game. De’Veon [Smith] was a hard runner, but [Evans] could be a great back. Their fullback [Khalid Hill] was a truck. Nobody wanted to get in his way at the end of the game, and that’s what we saw him do to other teams [on film].”
Player 4: “They were creative. They always had Jabrill [Peppers] in the wildcat. They would run different wheel routes and things like that, and we knew they were going to condense the sets and try to out-leverage us in the run game and on the perimeter and go to the wildcat package with Peppers, but we had too many mental lapses. It’s hard to defend.”
On the most intimidating place to play:
Player 1: “I’ll give two answers — Penn State and Michigan. When we were at Michigan, it was third down at the 20 and going in, and while we were watching film later on, it was literally shaking. That just left a lasting impression on me, because I’ve never seen film shake. It’s a film camera, so it’s just a stationary camera, but it was shaking.”
On Michigan being sponsored by Jordan:
Player 1: “I'm a guy that supports people who do their own thing. Michigan was the first to ever have Jordan gear in football, and I think it looks good.”
Player 2: “Honestly, I don't like their Jordan logo stuff. It's weird seeing a basketball player on football uniforms. I think it looks weird, and I just don't like it.”
Here’s what they had to say:
On Jim Harbaugh:
Player 1: “If I could play for another coach, it would be Coach Harbaugh, just to see what he's like. He's here with his hat on ready to go, he's handing stuff to the Pope. I just want to see what he's really like and what it would be like to play for a guy like that.”
Player 2: “Some people say he’s annoying … I don’t think so, at all. He may always be in the media – Nick Saban is always in the media, too. None of that really bothers me.”
Player 3: “I think he's a cool dude. He's got his own wave and has his own unique style, and I honestly respect that.”
Player 4: “I don’t know Jim Harbaugh, so I don’t have anything to say about him. He’s in the media because he wins, so I have respect for him.”
On quarterback Wilton Speight:
Player 1: “He was what just what we saw on film. We tried to rattle him with different looks, but he seemed to pick up everything we threw at him, just like our coaches said he would. He’s not fast, but he’s elusive … he seemed to know where the rush was coming from. But he also missed some passes that really would have hurt us.”
Player 2: “He’s a load. There were times we should have had him, or did have him, and he’d slip out of there because we couldn’t bring him down. It’s like trying to tackle a tight end.”
On the defense under Don Brown:
Player 1: “Just great coaching. They did their film work and everything and knew what they were doing ... what we were doing. They had all-around great athletes … tremendous athletes. They flew to the ball like crazy, knew how to attack the ball and the flow to it and they did their film work on us.
“When you see certain formations and tendencies, sometimes you can figure out what’s going to happen. They scouted us real well, and it showed on the field.”
Player 2: “Mike McCray is a great player. He put a huge hit on me the first time I touched the ball, and he never stopped.”
Player 3: “They had a hard-nosed defense, and physical. They had a sticky defense. It was one of the best defenses I’ve faced since I’ve been in college. You had to earn everything against them.”
Player 4: “They had a really good front seven. Their defensive line and linebacker group was one of the better ones we played. Their line they made it hard to run the ball, but also made it hard to pass the ball against a defense like that. There was not a lot of time back there [for the quarterback].
“It was pretty much what you saw on film, you got in the game. They stuck to their guns, and there was nothing we could do about it.”
On Michigan’s offense:
Player 1: “They were physical at times [on the O-line] … other times, they weren’t. We saw on film that they would make some mental mistakes at times, and we got them with a few of our twists, a couple at a few big points in the game. Our line against theirs was an advantage for us.
“They could change things up whether Jabrill was in the backfield or not, and they had a lot of different formations and things that could happen. They ran it with him, could sit back and pass, and you didn’t know what to do with some of their formations. Until it started with the first snap, we weren’t sure what was going to happen.”
Player 2: “We kept hearing [from our coaches] how well-coached they were [on the offensive line], but the weren’t one of the top lines we played. They had a lot of the same guys making the same mistakes they made in the past. [Mason Cole] was the best player on the line, and it wasn’t close, even though he wasn’t the biggest or strongest guy out there. He’s always in the right place.”
Player 3: “We didn’t see much of their best back [Chris Evans] that we watched in the Bowl game. De’Veon [Smith] was a hard runner, but [Evans] could be a great back. Their fullback [Khalid Hill] was a truck. Nobody wanted to get in his way at the end of the game, and that’s what we saw him do to other teams [on film].”
Player 4: “They were creative. They always had Jabrill [Peppers] in the wildcat. They would run different wheel routes and things like that, and we knew they were going to condense the sets and try to out-leverage us in the run game and on the perimeter and go to the wildcat package with Peppers, but we had too many mental lapses. It’s hard to defend.”
On the most intimidating place to play:
Player 1: “I’ll give two answers — Penn State and Michigan. When we were at Michigan, it was third down at the 20 and going in, and while we were watching film later on, it was literally shaking. That just left a lasting impression on me, because I’ve never seen film shake. It’s a film camera, so it’s just a stationary camera, but it was shaking.”
On Michigan being sponsored by Jordan:
Player 1: “I'm a guy that supports people who do their own thing. Michigan was the first to ever have Jordan gear in football, and I think it looks good.”
Player 2: “Honestly, I don't like their Jordan logo stuff. It's weird seeing a basketball player on football uniforms. I think it looks weird, and I just don't like it.”
