Grades from the First Third: Defense

Before the season began, when this blog was still in its infancy, I decided the best way to jump in to my Michigan football blogging career short of doing a full season preview would be to look at the best and worst case scenarios for each position group.  I called this series "Half full/Half empty" and I used it to lay out what I thought this season might have in store.

Don't get too comfortable with this defense yet,
lest something like this happen again.

Now that we have made it through the first third of the season, it is time to offer some initial reactions.  Since I have already used the gimmick of "Half full/Half empty" I am just going to stay with it   dance with the one that brought you and all.  I will provide links to the original posts in case you feel like reading them for a little background.

Naturally, disclaimers abound.  This is only my estimation of how each position group has done compared to my preseason hopes and fears.  While we have some answers, a lot more will become clear the further this team gets into the Big Ten season.  (Offense Part I, and Part II found here).

Let's start with the defense.

(One note for those unfamiliar with UFRs, I will rely heavily on this performance based recap of the game done at mgoblog.  Any discussion of player performance is incomplete without taking into account Brian's UFR data.)

Half Full or Half Empty? Linebackers

My continuing attempt to look at reasons to feel good and bad about the upcoming season by position group.


If you look at last year's team on paper, one position group jumped out above all others as the strength of the defense.  The linebacking corp returned a two year starter at MLB in RS-junior Obi Ezeh and the previous year's starter at WLB in junior Jonas Mouton.  The two were joined by senior Stevie Brown in the new hybrid safety/linebacker position.  Brown was plagued by mistakes in his time at safety in the previous years and was unsuitable for the defensive backfield.  He was placed at what is now the Spur position as a stopgap.  If he turned in a solid campaign in '09, everyone would be relieved.

Jonas Mouton

But oh how the tables have turned.  Brown turned out to be the best LB of the bunch, leading the team in tackles leading to his going in the 7th round of the NFL draft.  Somehow, Ezeh continued to be on Mel Kiper's top five list (does he watch the games!?) after turning in another disappointing season that saw him get benched late in the season in favor of a 200 lbs. walk-on.  Mouton didn't fare much better, only retaining his weak hold on the starting job at WLB because JB Fitzgerald couldn't step up and take it from the under-performing junior.

What does the future have in store this year?