The talk of the offseason surrounding Michigan football was how it could produce on defense after losing multiple starters. But mainly, how could the Wolverines get pressure on the opposing quarterback after losing Aidan Hutchinson and David Ojabo to the NFL draft?
But through six games this season, the Wolverines are tied for fourth in the nation as a team with 22 sacks. The maize and blue are averaging over three sacks-per-game. Michigan had a couple of weeks where it appeared to struggle to maintain pressure on the opposition’s signal caller, but the Wolverines are starting to really wreak havoc in the backfield.
It all starts with Mike Morris. Morris is tied for 10th in the nation with five sacks in six games. The senior edge defender says his confidence keeps growing game by game.
“I think it’s just my confidence every game, just feeling it out more,” said Morris. “And then just more success I have, the more believing in myself, the more confident I am when I go out there. And the team looks at me as like, ‘We believe in you, Mike’. So that’s, that’s another confidence booster. So I’m just getting more and more confident each and every week.”
Morris was asked if the rotation of the defensive line wears down the opponent’s offensive line while keeping Michigan fresh. But Morris believes that the Wolverines have too many guys for the opponent to key in on. The Wolverines have 11 players that have a least one sack or more this season.
“Never thought about that,” said Morris. “But I think you go against me, going against Eyabi, against Jay and everybody else. It’s like, you’re getting so much different stuff from so many different people. So it’s like, I feel like you really can’t settle in on just one guy. So you really can’t get comfortable. I feel like that’s the advantage we have in a lot of different people.”
Second on the team in sacks is Eyabi Okie with three. Okie has gone from being a situation role player to getting more and more snaps every game. Morris says that it’s nice knowing when Okie is in the game, he is going to dominate.
“I feel like it’s nice, definitely having someone like him come in and affect the game,” said Morris. “I feel like we’re all affecting the game at the same time. But Eyabi comes in and dominates so when he’s in, gotta feel comfortable, but when everybody’s in, I gotta comfortable as well. So I feel like we just got to keep stacking days.”
The Wolverines’ defensive line has been bolstered this season with the help of true freshman Mason Graham. Graham has tallied 11 tackles and 1.5 sacks through six games this season. Morris says that both Graham and Derrick Moore are more mature than their age and it’s insane how far along they are in their development.
“Oh, he’s a dawg man,” said Morris. “I keep saying this, him and Derrick (Moore) are just freaks they they look like they’ve been here for years. They act like they’ve been here for years and they feel like they’ve been here for years. It’s like I feel like they weren’t in high school they probably were in JUCO somewhere or like they transferred in somewhere like they just — they’re just grown men and like in just it’s the age is the difference.”
The Michigan defensive line will have a test this week going up against the 33rd-ranked rushing offense that Penn State has. You can watch the game at noon EST on Fox.
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