Just spoke to the Third Wiseman who has ventured into the burning inferno that is the WHAC this week. His observations are not surprising but worth noting:
The schematic meetings between he and the coordinators have led to the conclusion that in order to get the running game corrected, practices are going to be very very physical during the off week. The staff agreed on the self scouting that was done in regards to us becoming too "pass happy" and the negative effects it has had on our ability to stop the run defensively (namely defeating blocks, staying in your assigned gap, etc.). That yielded as difficult of a practice week as Meyer has had in his tenure as a Buckeye:
Practice began with stretching as normal, but all early "warm up" individual periods were cut and they were replaced with going straight to competitive reps of "good on good" in 7 on 7 and pass rushing drills. Both weren't long and gave way to (drumrollllll):
INSIDE RUN...
Inside Run yesterday was an absolute bloodbath that went on for 30 minutes (normally they do 10-15 versus the backups). Yesterday was good on good and it was very chippy between the lines and linebackers. The usual suspects who have been inconsistent (namely the entire starting OL, but especially the middle three) have had Meyer on them in the worst way, so they are leading the way in the fights with the DL. Emphasis has been on getting those guys to either fire off of the ball, or get somebody new in who will (jobs are not safe). Stud is feeling MAJOR heat, and Ed Warinner's OL at Michigan's improvement has been noticed. Stud has some major major work to do...
From there the team went straight into an hour of straight scrimmaging. This isn't unusual, but the intensity and the hitting has been ramped up due to our consistent poor play. Nobody is being held out (other than those with serious injuries), which is a departure from what has been done in the past. The running game has been a huge emphasis in the full team setting as well, so it is almost an Inside Run 2.0. Normally these are essentially pass/draw/screen periods, but our self scouting has shown that our secondary has more loafs/poor angles than any other season during the Meyer era (missing Kerry Coombs??). Pursuit and keeping the linebackers in spaces they can flow to (will be far fewer "mugged" linebackers since Jeff Brohm essentially said that was a huge point of exploitation). The scrimmage was highlighted by a couple of "brutal" fights between the OL and DL...
Today is another full padded day, along with tomorrow, followed by an early morning workout on Friday...
As Meyer has always noted, if it isn't were it needs to be, put the hammer down until it gets there. Losing is one thing, but a team essentially quitting (the last Rondale Moore TD was the anvil that broke the camel's back in half in terms of judging if the team quit in Meyer's opinion)…
More to come and TIFWIW...
The schematic meetings between he and the coordinators have led to the conclusion that in order to get the running game corrected, practices are going to be very very physical during the off week. The staff agreed on the self scouting that was done in regards to us becoming too "pass happy" and the negative effects it has had on our ability to stop the run defensively (namely defeating blocks, staying in your assigned gap, etc.). That yielded as difficult of a practice week as Meyer has had in his tenure as a Buckeye:
Practice began with stretching as normal, but all early "warm up" individual periods were cut and they were replaced with going straight to competitive reps of "good on good" in 7 on 7 and pass rushing drills. Both weren't long and gave way to (drumrollllll):
INSIDE RUN...
Inside Run yesterday was an absolute bloodbath that went on for 30 minutes (normally they do 10-15 versus the backups). Yesterday was good on good and it was very chippy between the lines and linebackers. The usual suspects who have been inconsistent (namely the entire starting OL, but especially the middle three) have had Meyer on them in the worst way, so they are leading the way in the fights with the DL. Emphasis has been on getting those guys to either fire off of the ball, or get somebody new in who will (jobs are not safe). Stud is feeling MAJOR heat, and Ed Warinner's OL at Michigan's improvement has been noticed. Stud has some major major work to do...
From there the team went straight into an hour of straight scrimmaging. This isn't unusual, but the intensity and the hitting has been ramped up due to our consistent poor play. Nobody is being held out (other than those with serious injuries), which is a departure from what has been done in the past. The running game has been a huge emphasis in the full team setting as well, so it is almost an Inside Run 2.0. Normally these are essentially pass/draw/screen periods, but our self scouting has shown that our secondary has more loafs/poor angles than any other season during the Meyer era (missing Kerry Coombs??). Pursuit and keeping the linebackers in spaces they can flow to (will be far fewer "mugged" linebackers since Jeff Brohm essentially said that was a huge point of exploitation). The scrimmage was highlighted by a couple of "brutal" fights between the OL and DL...
Today is another full padded day, along with tomorrow, followed by an early morning workout on Friday...
As Meyer has always noted, if it isn't were it needs to be, put the hammer down until it gets there. Losing is one thing, but a team essentially quitting (the last Rondale Moore TD was the anvil that broke the camel's back in half in terms of judging if the team quit in Meyer's opinion)…
More to come and TIFWIW...
