Devils, I agree on the safety in the box making it a hybrid 3-4m but you need the athletes to run it. Michigan lacks sure tacklers so it looks abysmal. They should run a 4-3 and put Campbell next to Martin to close the middle. Then you can run some blitz packages to take some heat off of the secondary who struggles so much. Big Ten still is a very physical conference. Playing speed D against teams that run straight at you is recipe for disaster.
Campbell was moved to OL about 7-10 days ago and Q. Washington was moved from OL to DL.
I hate the 3-3-5 if for no other reason that it provides less consistent pressure on a passer and you have weakened your ability to defend the run. UM has very little experience in the D backfield yet more depth and exp. on the D-line so I don’t know how it plays to UM’s strength-answer it does not.
I notice most 3-4 base teams, like Saban, have a 4th man on the line 99% of the time. His nickel is a 4-2-5 as well usually.
Re: Joe Lee…I definitely remember him. He was one of the only guys at the time who coached from the sideline. He ran multiple fronts during his most successful days at Miss State (98,99,00). He called it 3-3-5 but he would use 4 down some and double eagle front a lot as well. He had the number one defense during one of those years. Great athletes made him look good too. He had some NFL corners at that time and some NFL linemen so his man and man free coverage on every down could work then. After 2000 when the replacement juco players didn’t pan out on the line and in the secondary his defenses sucked.
His base defense secondary looked like this: 2 corners, one free safety, 2 DOG safeties which were hybrid olb/safety types. The Dog safeties played right on the los 99% of the time and at least one rushed the backfield almost every down.
Pretty cool that defense originated with him pretty much. I think why it was so popular with spread coaches was because when the spread started getting popular in the early 2000’s he probably stopped them as well as anybody.
Just like we said earlier in the post, Michigan has alot of followers but alot of them dont know whats really goin on behind the scenes. Speedcoach and Esti do, they work with athletes from there. Granted Im from msu but I live near alot of alumi from the football team and they told me alot of stuff that Rich rod has done to piss off alumni and faithful followers. We wont mention Barwis cause we all know he’s stupid. The point is as soon as Michigan shows some promise alot of arrogant wannabe wolverines start talking smack sayin they’re the best thing since slice bread. Keep in mind during the begining of the season they played nobody (alot of D-IAA schools or smaller D-1 schools) so of course they’re gonna look good. D-rob was gonna win heisman, they were gonna win the big 10, all that jazz. NOW LOOK AT THEM!
As soon as they started playing REAL BIG 10 TEAMS the truth came out and now the wannabe fans wont even look at me when I have on a msu track shirt or something similiar :(. There’s no hate being said cause there some good athletes on the team ( i may be training 1) its the fans that ruin wanting to like mich or cheer for them. Arrogance is not tolerated at MSU.
Lr400, Pioneer
Not to hijack the thread, but great call (LR) on Joe Lee’s time at Miss State. When I coached, we basically emulated the set up that you described.
Pioneer, the 3-3-5 was the ONLY was we ever got consistent pressure on the passer. I believe that if you have good tendencies on your opponent, it can be great against a spread-type/one back O also. Bottom line, to quote an old Keith Jackson line “You gotta have the horses or you can’t run the race” 
Very true Devils. Bad choice D with the horses that U of M has.
UM in order of talent, depth, and experience probably goes DL first, LB second and DB’s last. So I definitely don’t like seeing them with 3 DL except in certain situations. As a base D then you better be pretty good in the back 7-8. UM is not-hence my dislike for this D as it does not play to their strengths.
Agree Pioneer. I think if they had put Campbell in as a run plugger, Mike Martin could avoid double teams. He is a dangerous player and could wreak havoc. I would do all I could to protect my secondary by getting as much pressure as possible on QB. RR hasn’t been to smart on D. He needs to let D Coordinator do his job. They need to quit recruiting O players and get some bodies on the D. Barwis needs to pull his head out and understand that what he is doing doesn’t work anywhere and especially not the Big Ten. Maybe if he spent less time doing interviews and more time learning how not to over train his kids, he would be better off. They have loads of issues and I honestky have no interest in watching the football team put up and give up Basketball scores. Guy needs to quit talking about how fun it is to watch. I wanted to puke at the complete lack of D on both teams part. That was ugly, but it was a win. Dave Brandon needs to tell him if he wants to keep his job, he needs to hire a D guru and stay out of his way. Period.
Michigan got pushed all over the field yesterday. Wisconsin was able to run the ball more than 24 straight snaps in the second half with little resistance. Compare recruiting classes and the level of recruits that the two schools get year in and year out and it becomes obvious the difference is coaching and development of athletes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6uuVVTLmHA
I can say from first hand experince that Wisco’s S&C is doing the right things in the weight room.
Ben Herbert is a GREAT guy. He’s been down to visit Buddy and myself and he’s truly a super guy.
I could not agree more, I hold a huge amount of personal and professional respect for him and his methods with the fooball team.
Now if you can only get the diehard michigan fans here in the state to realize this.
I guess the final word is now in on U of M for 2010 season. Not a very good football team. Offense is okay, but too inconsistent. QB gets hurt too often. Like I said at start of season, too small to take Big 10 pounding. WR drop way too many balls. RB’s below average at best. O line solid. Defense is a joke. Mike Martin and Kenny Demens, and Jordan Kovacs are the only gamers. The rest need to be coached on fundamentals like tackling and pursuit angles. Special teams are a disaster. It just isn’t Michigan football. Sad! I hate to pile on but the Barwis effect is a joke. That is unless getting run by, over, and through is what the desired effect is. Way too many injuries for a guy who claims to address so many facets of training. I want Jim Harbaugh so we can be proud of the Wolverines again.
They are terrible. Harbaugh…welcome back.
Some schools just need to play a certain style of ball - physical D and physical offense, explosive but not able to be physically dominated. Bama, USC, Oh State, Mich. That’s their game. Not sure a 170 lbs. QB can get it done week to week in SEC or Big 10, probably not Big 12 either.
Now the question is are they goin to continue in there trip down mediocre lane or are they gonna go back to what put fear into other teams in the big 10?
I am just curious if he came around or if he still thinks U of M is good. I am not bagging on the guy, but he was pretty cocksure that RR and crew were the real deal. Guy needs to go back to the Big East. His O is gimmicky and only put up good numbers against inferior opposition. His D and special teams are absolutely atrocious. How does a program of Michigans caliber not even have a guy who can kick a 30yd FG?? As for Barwis, he has also failed miserably by any S&C coaches standards. Michigan got physically manhandled all year long. The team lacked sped according to RR. To top that off, they were easily the most injured team in the Big Ten. Those things directly and indirectly tell me that Barwis failed at his job. I would fire myself if that was the end result of my tenure. I just hope Michigan can return to the days of glory. I am getting sick of them getting their a**es kicked by OSU every year. Can you say John Cooper! Here is a novel idea, how about try to beat MSU at recruiting in state instead of chasing all these runty Florida kids who are undersized, but “sure are fun to watch”. Please turn this thing around.
Is UM really that weak, as in lacking in physicality?
Dawgs are a very physical team. Miss State has played Newton, Mallett, Aaron Murray, the two kids at Florida. Miss State and Bama controlled Newton better than anyone all season.
Does UM have anyone other than Denard on offense? We are pretty good at stopping a one dimensional offense.
Our QB is a poor man’s Cam Newton.
Our S&C coach is a former Florida guy so he leans more toward hit style but does incorporate Oly lifts apparently. They play physical and strong. Makes me wonder if the style of training in the weightroom with some these gifted guys even makes a difference. In Miss it is probably ok because its probably better than what thye have been doing in high school.
Since you are the guru maybe they should hire you. Those guys are doing a great job!!
Ir1400, to answer your question, YES! They are physically incapable from stopping my 2 year old niece from running for 100.
Rb34, cmon man, lets keep it real. The proof is in the pudding. Barwis sucks, everybody on this forum that knows strength&conditioning know that.
Personally if Michigan State performed like U of M’s Defense (meaning cant stop nobody) I’d be embarrased to say Im from there. Granted in the past msu hasnt done well at times but at least you knew you were gonna get hit. I know kids that played against mich and they told me they were SOFT! Like muffin soft! Id be pissed if someone called me that. They didnt even have to hit the cold tub after the game which most guys do. Yep, thats SOFT!
Also just to give you some history, speedcoach turned down a pro job in the past so he would be 10 times better than your friends at U of M.
I don’t repeat don’t want to be a collegiate S&C coach. I have never wanted to be one. I have achieved much of what I wanted to in this field. I have made a lot of money, met some tremendous kids, and owned 2 gyms worth close to $1 million . I have trained pro athletes and olympic athletes. I had the pleasure of working with Charlie and Ian King. I have met many wonderful people in my life in this industry such as Highlander and ESTI. I have been doing this job since 1995 full time. I am now moving on to work as a Physicians Assistant, a noble and lucrative profession. I do so because I choose to spend more time with my family, specifically my 11 month daughter. I hope you have a wonderful career, just a word of advice. Be careful who you use as role models. I am sure Mike Barwis is a good guy. I just don’t think he has showed anything to anyone in terms of performance or methodology. You crack me up with all the typical “well if you’re so good why don’t you do it?”. I have been lucky enough to be around long before Mike Barwis came along. I have trained with athletic prep coaches who make him look inept so I think I may have at least some perspective on what I see. Ian sent me his new book called Barbells and Bullshit. Perhaps it would open your eyes toward this industry, perhaps not. I don’t buy into hype, I look at the results. So far Michigan has been bad. They have been shown to be injury prone, poorly coached, and look poorly prepared physically when they got beaten down by every good team they played. I guess me being honest about that upsets you. You were the guy telling everybody how Michigan was going to do beat MSU and such. I said, lets see. I believe I am correct in my assessment. Sorry if you disagree, but I guess that is the spirit of this forum. We can disagree, so long as we are respectful and don’t get personal.