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Greg, two-parter. First, as a defensive coordinator, preparing for JT Barrett. Secondly, as a defensive coordinator, looking at what Joey Bosa’s able to do and affect offenses.
“Barrett is an outstanding quarterback. He’s very, very talented. He can throw the football. He can run it. He runs that offense very, very well. We’ve played against some great quarterbacks so our guys will be ready and we know what we have to do and we’re looking forward to the challenge of doing it.”
Is he your biggest challenge?
“I always look at the next challenge as being the biggest challenge so this is the next one so yes, it is the biggest challenge. It’s the next one, whoever you’re playing next. That’s the way we look at it and we’re excited about it.
“Joey Bosa, I recruited him. I’ve seen him as a youngster. He’s an outstanding football player. He’s like some of our guys. He’s a good football player. He’s young. He does some really good things, and it’s fun to watch him.”
What’s the single best game that sticks out in your mind in the series that you’ve been involved with, and what do you like about the challenge of going into that stadium and playing?
“I’m very, very fortunate to have been in this rivalry a number of times, and there are a couple of them. Every time we play is great. I was very fortunate the five years prior that I think our record was 3-1-1, and I remember going down there in ‘96, I believe, and they were second in the country and we beat them 13-9 and I remember that very well. I also was part of another school that had a pretty good game against them, too, at one time. I remember that one too and I still felt pretty good about that one too. Going down there’s special. To me it’s the greatest rivalry in college football. There’s nothing better. It’s two great programs and we are very, very excited to be part of it and we are excited to take our guys down there and see if we take the next step, and I’m looking forward to it.”
Brennen Beyer seems to step up a little more each week, and you’ve had him the whole way through. Talk about how you’ve seen him develop and what he’s doing for you this year.
“Brennen Beyer’s a Michigan football player. I mean, Brennen Beyer, I said to him before the game, and I couldn’t- I told him, I said, ‘I will not look at some of you guys because if I look at you I’ll fall apart seeing as how we all came together.’ I remember Brennen Beyer as skinny little guy and we came walking in the office and he was guy that the last staff recruited and I coached him for a number of years, and just to see the man that he’s become. He’s always been a man, but he’s what you hope every young man that goes to college becomes. He’s an outstanding football player. He gives it everything he has. He’s played through injury. He’s played through ups and downs, and he comes out every day and does his best in the classroom, off the field, everything. He’s just why Michigan is Michigan, and he’s just why it’s great to have an opportunity to coach him.”
[After THE JUMP: Mattison’s Monologue]
You mentioned Joey Bosa was fun to watch. Could you elaborate a little bit more what you like about him? Secondly, you said you were fortunate to be a part of this rivalry. Given the week, Thanksgiving, Ohio State week, the seniors going out, what’s that message right now within the program for these guys?
“You first part [was] about Bosa? He just plays hard. He plays like I expect. He plays like defensive linemen that play. I think Willie Henry plays like him. I think Chris Wormley plays like him. I think guys that do a good job and do what they’re supposed to do, that’s how they play. They play hard. They do their technique. They run to the football, and that’s what he does and that’s what he’s coached to do. He plays excited and we’ve been fortunate to have some guys here and some young guys now who are starting to do that, so it’s fun to be a part of that and fun to watch them. What was your second part?”
The second part was the seniors, it’s Thanksgiving, you said you were fortunate to be a part of this. Just your message for those guys going out there for their final game.
“Well, the biggest thing is just this is one of the reasons you play at Michigan. You play at Michigan because you get the opportunity to play in this great rivalry that has had the very best football players to ever play college football play in this game, and you are part of it. You, because you chose Michigan and you are in the Big Ten and this is always the last game of the season and this is what it’s all about. This is what you dream about when you’re a kid, and these guys have the opportunity to go down there and play in this game.”
During your long and illustrious coaching career have you ever had a year like this where resignations, suspensions, dismissals, everything seem to be happening except the talk doesn’t seem to be what Michigan’s doing on the field, it seems to center on what Michigan’s doing off the field?
“No, I haven’t, and I talked to my wife about it and talked to other people about it and I’m not so sure it’s not today’s society. I’m not so sure that that isn’t everywhere. I’m not so sure that- you know, it used to be that- people are never totally with happy with how you do. I understand that. It’s coaching. I don’t really care about that. All I know is Brady and our staff go in every day and say, ‘I’m going to make you a better player. I’m going to do everything I can to make you a better football player today’ and we do that. I always say don’t read and don’t listen and all that stuff, and I’m not saying anything about [you guys]. You guys got jobs, that’s your jobs. You guys do a great job. I wish someday I could sit and watch and read the stuff and hear the stuff and all that. Maybe I’ll do that. I don’t even listen to it when I’m driving and you hear some of these syndicate [shows] on the radio driving home late. All I know is I’m really, really proud to be here and really proud of these kids.
“You say ‘has this been a tough year?’ In a lot of ways it’s been the most fun I’ve had coaching a group of guys because I’ve seen where they’ve come [from] and there are a lot of them now, believe me, a lot of them that when you watch the tape you say, ‘Man, this kid’s becoming pretty good.’ Now, it hasn’t all come together yet. It hasn’t all- and the thing about football, when the scores are tight and games are really close and the margin of error is very, very small it makes it a little harder to be able to say, ‘Yeah, go ahead’ but it’s close. It’s very close. I mean, there are some guys out there now that, when you watch those games like I do on film and you critique yourself like I do and you critique this team, you say, ‘Man, there’s some good things here now.’
“And then you look at the graduation ceremony and I look and I go, ‘Wow. Brennen. Delonte. Jake. Ray.’ That’s three guys [Ed.(A): uhhh…]. Everybody else is back, man. They’re all back, and they’ve all played a whole bunch. I’ve been at other graduation ceremonies where you’ve looked and saw there are 15 seniors who were starters who walked across and you say, ‘Oh boy, how are we gonna stop anybody next year?’ Well, I looked at this one and there’s four [Ed. (A): aaand we’re good]. You say, ‘Has it been hard?’ It’s been great because we’ve got some really, really good young kids that are going to be really good.”
I just wondered,when you have a year where the offense has struggled the way that it has do you feel any more pressure to try and pitch a shutout or anything like that? Do you try and do more to compensate?
“That’s a great question. It really is. Your pressure and our pressure as a defense is to be perfect. It is! I don’t care. Bo would have said it. Bo did say it. Mo did say it. Lloyd did say it, and I remember it and I’m lucky, fortunate to have been with those coaches because that’s where you learn football and that’s where I learned football. And you know what? I remember constantly saying, ‘No matter what, if they don’t score you can’t lose.’ Okay. Okay then. That’s what a defensive coach is supposed to do, and that’s what a defensive player is supposed to do and it doesn’t matter how many times you get the ball in the red zone. It doesn’t matter.
“That’s why this last game, I feel bad about this last game. We played so many great quarters and so many great minutes and then at the very end we just couldn’t do it, and that’s me. That’s us. We’ve got to do it. That’s where the next step [comes in]. That’s the next step. We’ve got to be able to do that.”
MGoQuestion: We haven’t some guys like Willie Henry very much in recent weeks. Do you anticipate any more rotation along the defensive line [this week]?
“Well, Willie, Willie’s coming back from a bruised knee or something. Willie, that had nothing to do with [him]. Willie was doing great, and I’ll be looking forward to Willie getting back in there.
“No, our thing in rotating [is] you have to earn the right to rotate, and we’ve got a lot of guys that have earned the right to rotate, and it’s really funny because sometimes I’m not with them everyday because I’m with the ‘backers and I’ll look over there and I’ll see the game and I’ll say, ‘Why is he in there?’ Well, because he’s just about as good as the other guy, and that’s kind of a good feeling. Willie’ll be back, and I think the good thing is we’ll have our whole group going into this game. Our whole group is ready to go in this one.”
Greg, you’ve talked so passionately the last few weeks about Brady. I know you said you don’t read anything, but you know there’s a lot of speculation about Brady and his future here. Why is he the right guy for this program, and what has he done the last four years that makes you believe that?
“Well, first of all, because the way he put together these players. Graduation rate I guess, they tell me, is the most important thing, yes? Yes, I think it is, isn’t it? We’re at college. We’re not in the NFL. I believe our seniors are 100%. 100% graduation rate. Now, I’m not being sarcastic. I’m being- this is what they told me when I came from the NFL back to college that this is what you’re supposed to be doing, because there’s a lot of ways- you can go out on the street and get some guys that may be a little bit better, maybe. Maybe. And I don’t think you’re going to want that.
“Second thing. I’ve been with a lot of head coaches. This guy here truly, truly takes kids from down here [/motions below podium] to here [/motions above podium]. If they’re in Ann Arbor and you live in Ann Arbor and they’re in Ann Arbor, you’re going to be really excited to see them in Ann Arbor. You’re going to be excited to know that they were Michigan football players, and you’re going to be excited to know say, ‘Yeah, that guy played at Michigan.’ You’re not going to say, ‘Yeah, he played, but wow.’ And that’s what he’s developed.
“The next thing, the thing that- I’ll tell ya, if you don’t believe anything I’ve ever said just look at what’s coming back. I mean, look at what we came in with and look at what’s coming back. My goodness. I mean, I remember Chris Wormley, sitting in his living room when he was a 280 lb. basketball player. Now he’s a 300 lb. man. Willie Henry; it was Pittsburgh or us. Willie Henry’s going to be a top draft choice. I mean, I can go on and on, and these are all the young kids that you say, ‘Why do you get excited about coaching?’ Because these are the young kids that we’ve seen as puppies. We’ve seen them as young little guys that have taken their bumps and bruises, that have taken- all of them. People say, ‘You’re not good enough. You’re not this. You’re not that’ and they come to work every day and they say, ‘We’re going to be good enough. We’re going to be good enough.’ They believe in him as much as we believe in them.
“I’m not up here trying to speak for a head coach, because I’ve been with other guys I wouldn’t say that about. I’d say that about him. I’ve said it before. If you saw what we do in recruiting…when you recruit a kid you’re really his parent, and you’re saying to them, ‘Please give him to me and I promise you, when he’s done I’m going to give him back to you as a great student. He’s going to have his degree, and he’s also going to be a great football player. And you know what? I haven’t seen too many of them that’ve come through here that are a year or two away- you wait and see. You wait and see.
“I mean, think about it. How many guys have been drafted here? When I was here five years ago, I mean, it was seven [or] eight a year. Now, somebody said, ‘Well, you don’t develop ‘em.’ [/scrunches up face] Develop them? You’ll see development. When I talk to these pro people right now and they start saying, ‘Who’s that kid? Who’s that kid?’ Well, these are the guy’s we recruited. These are the young guys. No, you can’t have them yet. We still get them for a couple years. But that’s the difference. That’s the difference.
“When it all comes down to it, the very- why should he be here, you say? Because he’s a winner. He’s won everywhere he’s been! The guy’s a winner! Now what’s the timetable? We win our first year? How’d that happen? Man. I dunno. Something right happened. Now, was it loaded that first year? What, we have two guys drafted? That wasn’t a mirage. That was Brady Hoke who did that. I mean, let’s be really, really honest. That was him who did that. Now, since then we’ve lost some close games. We’ve fought. I don’t think we’ve embarrassed anybody. I think we come out every day as a Michigan football team, and that’s the way it will always be.
“You asked and that’s all I can tell you. I mean, I just- see, I’ve been lucky. I’ve done this a long time. I’ve been with a lot of head coaches. I’ve seen a lot of them. You don’t know how lucky you are here. I’m just telling you that. But, we got to go win. We get to go play a great game. I’m excited about it. Now let’s go do it.”