ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The Wolverines are coming off of a standout performance on Saturday against UConn.
Michigan is now 3-0 after it demolished the Huskies, 59-0. The maize and blue gained 465 yards of total offense with J.J. McCarthy leading the way and Blake Corum rushing for five touchdowns. But the Michigan defense was dominant for the third-straight game of the season.
Connecticut only mustered 110 yards of total offense and 24 passing yards against the Wolverines’ ferocious defense.
Junior defensive lineman Kris Jenkins believes that his team is in a good spot right now. He said that there are still plenty of things to work on, but he thinks Michigan is in a good position moving forward.
“I think we know that we’re really in a good spot right now,” said Jenkins. “But we still got a lot of stuff to work on. As the season continues, and as the schedule continues to get harder. We know there’s still stuff to work on all across the board. So we’re in a good position right now. But like I said, we still got stuff to build on.”
But after facing three bottom-dwelling teams in a row that have poor offenses, how does Jenkins know that the defense is improving? Well, he sees the improvement in team chemistry. He said that he has seen how the defense has worked on reading formations together and the tendencies of the opposition. He believes the Wolverines will be dominant regardless of who they play.
“I think we know as our like mainly our chemistry as a team, how do we work together, how we identify formations and how teams play and their tendency,” said Jenkins. “I really think our awareness is really improving. I think we’re definitely going to be dominant regardless of who we play. So it’s just identifying technique and stuff like that.”
He went on to say that he loves the intensity of the defense. Jenkins said that one of the main focal points is stopping the run and so far, Michigan has done a great job at doing so. While Jenkins admitted there are still things to work on, he just loves the ‘juice’ that the team plays with.
“I like our intensity,” said Jenkins. “I like the juice we bring to the game and all aspects. I like how we’re able to stop the run. And that’s one of our biggest things canceling a run. So we can be able to do more stuff on pass and open that up. But I think as I said, we need to, we need to really work on a lot of our keys getting set up quicker. Just on all phases, staying on top of that.”
Michigan cannot control who is on its schedule, from a player’s perspective. Jenkins said that is one thing that the coaches hone in on at practice, give the opponent 100% regardless of who it may be. There are always upsets in college football every week and Michigan doesn’t want to be on that list.
“Yeah, that’s the biggest thing our coaches have told us, no matter the matter, the team, no matter the opponent, give them their best, give them 100%,” said Jenkins. “Because, you know, you never want to underestimate a team, or whatever the case, give them your best. Because in that case, you’re setting yourself up for failure. And we’ve seen occasions like that happening this season and in the past. So we don’t want to turn out like that we always want to come with our best and figure out how to work. Progress.”
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