Defensive Backs Preview: Michigan vs. Virginia Tech

Tag: J.T. Floyd


1Jan 2012
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Defensive Backs Preview: Michigan vs. Virginia Tech

This is Jayron Hosley (#20).  I bet #41 is gonna catch him.

MICHIGAN
Starters: Redshirt junior J.T. Floyd (6’0″, 185 lbs.) started 11 games at cornerback; he was named All-Big Ten Honorable Mention after recording 45 tackles, 8 pass breakups, 2 interceptions, and 1 forced fumble.  True freshman cornerback Blake Countess (5’10”, 176 lbs.) started the final 5 games of the season; he has made 36 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, 6 pass breakups, and 1 forced fumble.  Fifth year senior Troy Woolfolk (6’0″, 191 lbs.) starts at free safety after beginning the year as the starting cornerback; he has notched 29 tackles and 2 pass breakups on the year.  Redshirt junior Jordan Kovacs (6’0″, 197 lbs.) started 11 games at strong safety; he ended the regular season with 64 tackles, 8 tackles for loss, 4 sacks, 1 interception, 1 pass breakup, 1 fumble recovery, and 2 forced fumbles.
Backups: Redshirt sophomore Thomas Gordon (5’11”, 208 lbs.) started 9 games and arguably should have held his starting job over Woolfolk at free safety; Gordon made 59 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, 1 interception, 2 pass breakups, 4 fumble recoveries, and 2 forced fumbles.  Sophomore cornerback Courtney Avery (5’11”, 173 lbs.) started 2 games at nickel corner; on the season he has 24 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, 1/2 a sack, 2 interceptions, 3 pass breakups, 1 forced fumble, and 2 fumble recoveries (1 returned for an 83-yard touchdown).

VIRGINIA TECH
Starters: Junior cornerback Jayron Holsey (5’10”, 171 lbs.) started 12 games at cornerback and was named Second Team All-ACC; he made 59 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, 3 interceptions, and 8 pass breakups. The other starting corner will probably be Cris Hill (5’11”, 180 lbs.), a fifth year senior who has 5 starts; Hill has 33 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, 1 interception, and 6 pass breakups.  Free safety Antone Exum (6’0″, 220 lbs.) was All-ACC Honorable Mention; he has made 85 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, 1 sack, 1 interception, and 10 pass breakups.  Senior rover Eddie Whitley (6’1″, 200 lbs.) was named Second Team All-ACC; he has 78 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, and 2 interceptions on the year.
Backups: Part-time cornerback Kyle Fuller was discussed in the linebackers preview, since he will likely start at weakside linebacker; he’s essentially a nickel corner.  Redshirt freshman cornerback Detrick Bonner (6’0″, 189 lbs.) is the only other significant contributor in the defensive backfield; he started two games at cornerback and has 26 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, and 1 interception on the year.

THE TAKEAWAY
Going purely by accolades, J.T. Floyd is Michigan’s best defensive back, and even he could only manage honorable mention when it came to all-conference selections.  Meanwhile, Virginia Tech has two or three All-ACC Second Teamers in the backfield, depending on where you place Kyle Fuller.  Holsey himself has more career interceptions as a junior (12) than the entirety of the Michigan defensive backfield (10).

As for team rankings, it’s somewhat equal.  Virginia Tech is #17 in pass efficiency defense and #39 in pass defense, while Michigan is #36 in pass efficiency defense and #17 in pass defense.  It helps the Hokies that their front seven (and nickel corners) get after the quarterback and are #11 nationally in sacks.

However, the individual numbers suggest that Virginia Tech has the better defensive backfield.  Their starters have the edge in interceptions (7 to 3) and tackles for loss (27 to 17), as well as all-conference selections.  Holsey is a better cover corner than anyone Michigan has at this point, and the rest of Michigan’s secondary doesn’t make up the difference.

Advantage: Virginia Tech

8Dec 2011
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Michigan vs. Ohio State Grades: Defense

Desmond Morgan struggled with Braxton Miller’s speed but otherwise looks like a solid player for the Wolverines

I once again worked out some grades for Michigan’s defense against OSU (see also: Nebraska).  Grades for each play ranged from +3 to -3 for good/bad reads, filling/missing assignments, and physical superiority/inferiority.

GRADES
MMartin:
+10 . . . Not as dominant as in previous games, but doesn’t get beaten – ever
RVanBergen: +8 . . . More big plays than Martin, but got out of rush lane a couple times
WHeininger: +6 . . . Physically overmatched, but slanting helped him be effective
KDemens: +5 . . . Solid tackler who doesn’t give ground
JKovacs: +5 . . . Decent day but took a late hit penalty
CAvery: +3 . . . Consistently solid and then made a huge pick to seal the game
JBlack: +2 . . . Nice play near goal line to keep his feet and chase down Braxton Miller
TGordon: +2 . . . Beaten in pass coverage but made some nice tackles in open field
DMorgan: +2 . . . Usually in position but not fast enough to keep up with Miller.  Future MIKE?
WCampbell: +1 . . . Didn’t play much but held his ground when he did
CRoh: +1 . . . Had some nice pass rushes but big mistake on Miller’s TD run
JRyan: +1 . . . OSU ran away from him most of the game
BCountess: 0 . . . Got lucky on an overthrow, but mostly tight coverage
NBrink: -1 . . . Unfair to be matched up against Mike Adams but got blown off the ball
MJones: -1 . . . Just isn’t very fast or aggressive
TWoolfolk: -5 . . . Seemed to make some bad reads
JFloyd: -10 . . . Beaten deep a couple times, missed tackle on Dan Herron’s TD run

CONCLUSIONS
It sure seemed like defensive coordinator Greg Mattison was willing to take a lot of risks in this game, in hopes that Braxton Miller would make some freshman mistakes.  He did, but not a lot.  It looked like Mattison realized that his defensive line had been playing extremely well for the last several weeks and his game plan revolved around them dominating the game.  The starters combined for a +25 grade with Craig Roh being the weak link.

DeVier Posey is a great deal better than J.T. Floyd and Blake Countess.  There’s no way around it.  Michigan doesn’t have anyone who can handle him on the regular, so it might have been a good idea to try to force Miller to scramble and look to check down.  Miller probably played his best game of the season when it comes to throwing the ball, because they put almost the entire game on his shoulders.

OSU tried to take advantage of freshman weakside linebacker Desmond Morgan, but he held up pretty well.  Morgan was too slow in the open field to catch Miller a couple times, but it’s no surprise that an inside linebacker is going to be at a disadvantage against a guy like him.  Otherwise, Morgan made some excellent plays inside and blew up fullback Zach Boren a couple times.  He might lack the athleticism to stay at WILL for his entire career at Michigan, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him slide over and replace Demens in 2013.

27Nov 2011
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Michigan 40, Ohio State 34

Denard Robinson made people look silly on this 41-yard touchdown run.
(image via CBS)

This was Denard’s best game.  Ever.  I take back all the negative things I ever said about Denard Robinson.  He’s spectacular.  I want to have his children.  In all seriousness, though, the guy was 14-for-17 for 167 yards and 3 touchdowns with zero interceptions; he also carried the ball 26 times for 170 yards and 2 touchdowns.  The only flaw in his game was the fumble (put the ball in your outside hand!), but he made throws in this game that he hasn’t made consistently in his entire career – his 28-yard pass to Drew Dileo was thrown perfectly.  That was a great way to cap the regular season.

The replay official was Woody Hayes, Jr.  There was no way in hell that Fitzgerald Toussaint’s touchdown run late in the fourth quarter should have been reversed.  It was called a touchdown on the field and, at worst, there was no good angle to reverse the call.  Officials are supposed to have “indisputable evidence” to overturn calls, and if it takes 10 minutes to review the play, then it’s obviously disputable.  That’s not the fault of the officials on the field – it’s the anonymous guy in the booth.  That guy needs to be reprimanded by the league.  Anyway, that play would have put Michigan up by 9 points (presumably 10 after the extra point) with about two minutes remaining, and Ohio State only had one timeout left.  It would have taken a miracle for OSU to score 10+ points in under two minutes; all it would have taken is a little bit of luck for them to overcome the six-point deficit that resulted.  Luckily, Courtney Avery saved the day.

What happened to Michigan’s defense?  I absolutely did not expect Ohio State to have that much success offensively.  I figured Braxton Miller would get a good chunk of yards by scrambling or on designed runs, and he did (16 carries, 100 yards, 1 touchdown).  Michigan shut down running back Dan Herron (15 carries, 37 yards, 1 touchdown).  But there were wide open receivers running all over the place, and Miller actually hit some of them nicely.  I can’t even just pick on one guy – Blake Countess, J.T. Floyd, Thomas Gordon, Jordan Kovacs, and Troy Woolfolk all got beat on deep passes.  Miller finished with 14 completions in 25 attempts for 2 touchdowns and just the 1 interception at the end of the game.  I was high on Miller when Rich Rodriguez was recruiting him out of Wayne High School in Huber Heights, OH, and he’s going to be tough to deal with for the next few seasons.

The game experience was awesome.  It was great weather for being the end of November.  The tailgaters and frat houses were partying hard.  (Thanks to the tailgaters who let me join them, by the way.)  I only saw one classless encounter between a Michigan fan and an Ohio State fan, and both of them were drunk and stumbling.  The only downer the entire day was that the Union hockey team was sitting near me and kept complaining that people in front of them were standing.  Usually “down in front!” is reserved for old people, but these 19- to 22-year-old kids were trying to rest their legs for this afternoon’s game against the Wolverines, I guess.

Fitzgerald Toussaint made dudes look silly.  If you are one-on-one with Toussaint in open space, you might as well lay down and take a nap.  He had 20 carries for 120 yards and 1 nullified touchdown, and that was a pretty solid defense he was up against.  Between Robinson and Toussaint, Michigan had 46 carries for 290 yards.  Yowzers.

Ten wins.  I expected the offense to be pretty good, and they’ve put some points on the board.  I expected the defense to be solid but unspectacular, and they’ve been on the verge of spectacular.  Aside from giving up 34 points to a mediocre Ohio State offense, the defense has been awesome this year.  I did not expect Michigan to end up with ten wins on the season, and they still have a chance for an eleventh.  The coaches and the players have done an excellent job overall and have played with a lot of hustle and intensity.  It’s been a great season, and Michigan seems to be on the upswing after a few down years.

Go Blue!

20Nov 2011
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Michigan 45, Nebraska 17

“Your chances of tackling me are slim.” – Fitzgerald Toussaint
(image via MGoBlue.com)



Thank goodness for Fitzgerald Toussaint.  Michigan’s offensive line didn’t really run block worth a damn, but Toussaint consistently created a few yards – or more – out of absolutely nothing.  Chris Spielman said the words “Barry Sanders” in reference to Toussaint.  Don’t get me wrong – Chris Spielman is kind of a moron – but he might know a thing or two about Barry Sanders.  Sanders was the best running back in the history of football, in my opinion, and Toussaint does have a similar ability to stop and start suddenly.  Channeling my inner Fred Jackson, Toussaint has the cutting ability and mindset of Mike Hart . . . but he’s faster.  I love the way he’s running the ball.

Nebraska looked awful.  Part of the reason the Cornhuskers looked awful on offense and special teams was due to Michigan’s improved defense, but for the most part, they just didn’t play very well.  Taylor Martinez throws like a girl and is careless with the football.  Their kick returners couldn’t hold onto the football.  Seriously, two fumbled kickoff returns in the same game?  It looked like Nebraska had their returners study film of Boubacar Cissoko and Martavious Odoms circa 2008.  And it might have been an entirely different game if anyone but Nebraska’s defensive tackles could catch the ball, because the receivers dropped several passes and so did their defensive backs.

Obligatory discussion of Denard Robinson.  This might have been Denard Robinson’s most complete game of the year, and yet . . . it still left me wanting.  Robinson is more effective running the offense out of a spread look, and it’s about time Al Borges relies mostly on the spread and only a little on his pro-style offense.  Robinson ran the ball a little better and seemed to be more  decisive, but he’s still not hitting the holes as quickly as he should.  Altogether, Robinson probably left 30 or 40 yards on the field because he was trying to get out of bounds, he was tentative, etc.  As far as passing the ball goes, it was all or nothing once again.  He threw some nice passes (an out route to Hemingway, a post to Odoms for a TD, a crossing route to Gallon for a TD) and he threw a bunch of questionable ones, too (the interception to defensive tackle Terrence Moore, a post to Roy Roundtree into double coverage that was dropped by Stafford, a bomb to Roundtree that was played horribly by Dennard and should have been picked, a crossing route to Kelvin Grady that should have been picked, etc.).  He finished with 23 carries for 83 yards and 1 touchdown, which is too many carries for such little return; he also finished 11-for-18 for 180 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 1 interception.  Also, I really wish Robinson would learn how to pitch  the ball on the option.  Seriously, dude.  Pitch it.  I don’t think you’ve pitched it once all year.

Obligatory discussion of J.T. Floyd.  Nebraska’s one huge play was a 54-yard touchdown bomb to Brandon Kinnie, who torched Floyd so badly that all Floyd could do was grab onto Kinnie and hope for a pass interference flag.  Prior to that play, Kinnie had 19 catches for 192 yards and 0 touchdowns on the season.

William Campbell wheeeeeeeee!  It was pretty awesome to see him hustle downfield on a Taylor Martinez run and then turn Martinez into roadkill.  Campbell had a sack on Martinez, too.  Mike Martin is certainly a more disruptive force on the interior and will be missed next year, but Campbell has things going in the right direction with this coaching staff.

The commentators sucked.  I really, really hate when Chris Spielman does Michigan games.  Any commentator who openly talks trash about one of the teams on the field should be banned from commenting on the game.  I tuned in to the game to enjoy Michigan football, not hear a former Buckeye repeatedly mention how long it’s been since the Wolverines beat his alma mater.  I actually like Urban Meyer’s offensive philosophy and coaching decisions; he’s oodles smarter than Spielman.  However, I thought he showed some ignorance when discussing Denard Robinson’s strengths and weaknesses.  Especially early in the game, Meyer was touting Robinson as being excellent at the zone read play.  Robinson makes more bad reads in the option game than good ones.  Last season it looked like Robinson didn’t even have the option most of the time – it seemed as if there were predetermined playcalls for whether he would hand off or keep the ball.  This year it looks like Al Borges has given Robinson more freedom to pull or keep the ball, but Robinson frequently makes the wrong choice.  I agree with Meyer that the quarterback power run bogs down the offense at times, but that’s mainly because Borges and Robinson do a poor job of disguising the play.

I did not expect a 45-17 victory.  That was kind of embarrassing for Nebraska and a pleasant surprise for Michigan fans.  If Michigan’s offense were clicking on all cylinders (i.e. if the offensive line could get a push), it could have easily been 59-17.  And Nebraska got a little bit lucky that Jeremy Gallon didn’t field that long punt at the end of the third quarter.  Gallon could have grabbed it on the bounce but chose to let it die at the 4-yard line.  That somewhat limited Borges’s playcalling and Michigan went three-and-out, giving Nebraska a chance to punch it in for their 17th point.  I’m not even being a homer when I say that blowout score of 45-17 was closer than the game actually was.  Michigan held onto the ball for over 41 minutes, while Nebraska had the ball for just over 18 minutes.  The Cornhuskers were just 3-for-13 on third down conversions and 0-for-2 on fourth down attempts.

13Nov 2011
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Michigan 31, Illinois 14

This was a common sight on Saturday – Michigan’s defensive line swarming the Illinois backfield.
(image via MGoBlue.com)

Thank you Greg Mattison thank you thank you thank you.  For the last few years, people have been making the excuse for Michigan’s defense that “It’s Jimmys and Joes, not X’s and O’s.”  Yeah . . . well . . . not so much.  Michigan has three freshman starters (Blake Countess, Desmond Morgan, Jake Ryan), a couple former walk-on starters (Jordan Kovacs, Will Heininger), and less experience than the 2008 team.  The difference: they’re not being coached by Scott Shafer, Greg Robinson, and Rich Rodriguez.  This still isn’t the most talented defense around, but it held Illinois to 30 total yards in the first half, a 50% completion rate, and 1.1 yards per carry for the game.  They also produced 4 sacks, 1 interception, 2 fumble recoveries, and 6 tackles for loss.

J.T. Floyd was okay for once.  One of the frustrating things about Floyd is that he’s slow to cover underneath routes and come up to make tackles, but he didn’t get beat deep against a receiver that Illinois really wanted to hit deep.  Wide receiver A.J. Jenkins had 8 catches for 103 yards, but the Illini targeted him more than 20 times to get those catches.  That low success rate wasn’t entirely due to Floyd – Michigan’s defensive line put a lot of pressure on the quarterbacks – but when you get thrown at that much, you’ve had a decent day by allowing only 8 receptions.  I was disappointed that Floyd didn’t take his pick to the house, because he was brought down by a pretty weak tackle attempt by quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase.  But I’m not going to complain too much about a 42-yard interception return.

Those referees were horrible.  How many plays went to the replay booth and were reversed?  Three?  Four?  Whenever the game was stopped for a replay, it was essentially assured that the call on the field would be wrong.  The most egregious error was Illinois running back Jason Ford’s fumble (that wasn’t a fumble), which was picked up Courtney Avery and returned for a touchdown (even though Avery’s knee was down when he grabbed the ball).  The replay booth got the call right, but jeez, the head referee was standing right there  and totally blew both calls.  The one replay that wasn’t reversed, which was the tumbling catch by an Illinois receiver, was ruled incomplete on the field but looked to me as if it should  have been reversed.

Fitzgerald Toussaint had a great day.  Illinois eventually figured out that Michigan didn’t want to take chances with throwing the ball, and Toussaint still ended up with 27 carries for 192 yards (7.1 yards per attempt).  He’s clearly taken over the role as the lead back, and this represented his highest career carry total.  The previous high was 20 when he put up 170 yards against Purdue a couple weeks ago.  Michigan’s offensive line didn’t have its greatest effort, either, so Toussaint created a lot of those yards on his own.

This looks like the offense to come.  It seemed clear to me early in the game that the coaches didn’t trust Denard Robinson to put the ball in the air very much.  The game plan was to run run run the ball.  And that philosophy worked, even though it was largely boring to watch.  The Wolverines only attempted to throw the ball 16 times.  Robinson threw 1 interception and fumbled once when he was sacked (plus another fumble on a quarterback run), and he only played until midway through the third quarter, when he was apparently injured on a pass attempt.  At least against defenses that put the pressure on our jittery quarterbacks, the coaches seem to have decided that they would rather keep the ball in the ground.

Desmond Morgan is a truck.  I thought Morgan had his best game yet this season, not least of all because he destroyed Illinois running back Troy Pollard in the hole while getting blocked.  He might only be a freshman, but he’s a thumper.  I wonder if Morgan might eventually move to MIKE when Kenny Demens graduates, but in the meantime, the kid is doing pretty well for a true freshman at the WILL spot.  I have occasionally been frustrated with him getting out of position, but the kid makes tackles when he’s in the right spot.  Even with the vaunted linebacker class coming to Ann Arbor in 2012, it’s going to be hard to push Morgan off the field.

The defensive line had a hell of a day.  It’s hard not to look back and wonder why Michigan couldn’t have produced this same kind of effort back in 2008, with guys like Terrance Taylor and Will Johnson in the middle of the line.  The defensive linemen combined for 20 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, 3 sacks, and 4 quarterback hurries.  It’s rare that a defensive tackle leads the team in tackles, but that’s exactly what Mike Martin did with 9 tackles.

Troy Woolfolk argh.  It’s hard to complain about the defense much, because they allowed only 14 points and 214 total yards.  But on the play prior to Scheelhaase’s 13-yard touchdown run, it was clear that free safety Troy Woolfolk cramped up or pulled a muscle in his leg.  I said the people I was watching the game with, “Get him out of the game.  He’s going to cost the team a big play.”  Sure enough, on the next play, Scheelhaase busted out and Woolfolk couldn’t beat him to the corner of the endzone, and the couch cushion next to me took a beating.  A healthy Woolfolk makes that play.  Meanwhile, backup safety Thomas Gordon – who should be starting – had one less tackle than Woolfolk, added 1 fumble recovery, and broke up a pass.  Woolfolk hasn’t been healthy all season, and Michigan missed a chance to rest him earlier in the year.  Now he seems to be playing at 85%, and it’s hurting the team.  Gordon is a playmaker who has grabbed 5 turnovers (1 interception, 4 fumble recoveries), while Woolfolk hasn’t created even one.