How Michigan football bounces back against Indiana and what some younger players could look like if they’re forced into action vs. Indiana.
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After sacking redshirt junior Tanner Morgan five times in their season-opening victory on Oct. 24, the Michigan defense failed to register one sack of Michigan State’s Rocky Lombardi — another redshirt junior — in the upset loss on Halloween.
Responsible for one of the sacks against Minnesota, redshirt senior defensive tackle Carlo Kemp still turned in a solid individual performance in the home-opener, registering five tackles, tied with redshirt sophomore VIPER Michael Barrett for the seventh-best mark on defensive coordinator Don Brown’s unit.
Meeting with the media remotely on Monday, Kemp offered his thoughts on the defensive line’s showing in the battle for the Paul Bunyan Trophy.
“That was a good unit we were facing, and they did some good things schematically to slow us down,” Kemp said. “Watching that tape, you really got to be (critical) of your performance, because it didn’t end up producing an outcome at the end of the game that you wanted.
“So, the things that you did, weren’t as impactful as you wanted them to be. Now, as you watch that tape and go forward, you got to be prepared to see looks like that again, and, when you get in those situations where it’s a look that you’ve seen, you got to do something that you’ve been practicing differently to get to the quarterback and cause some disruption.”
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Kemp, along with bookends Aidan Hutchinson and Kwity Paye, a junior and senior, respectively, all received at least third-team All-Big Ten recognition in 2019. Despite Michigan State holding this potent group in check, the Boulder, Colorado native was not caught off guard by the looks the Spartans presented.
“No, that’s something they had (done) in their previous game against Rutgers,” Kemp said. “Going into it, we were confident about what we were going to see and what we ended up seeing on Saturday.”
But what’s going on with the other side of the ball?
Given that Kemp goes up against the offensive line in practice, he has some insight on two young offensive linemen, redshirt freshman Trevor Keegan and freshman Zak Zinter, both 247Sports Composite four-star prospects in their classes.
“A big thing this year is just always trying to be ready,” Kemp said. “One thing we talked about is this year is definitely unlike any other year before where, at any moment, at any time, you got to be ready to play.
“Keegan, going into his second year here, has definitely developed into a player that is ready to go if his moment comes, if his time comes.
“Zinter, being at the young age he is, coming in as a freshman, kid’s just got better and better since he’s been here. He’s strong enough and he’s a very athletic interior guy, and I’m sure, if his number’s called, he’ll definitely be ready to step on the field and help us.”
Speaking to Kemp’s point of always being ready, redshirt freshman Karsen Barnhart was thrust into action when redshirt sophomore right tackle Jalen Mayfield was forced to leave the Michigan State game after being rolled up on in the fourth quarter.
Based on the praise from their elder teammate, it sounds like, if something were to happen to redshirt junior left guard Chuck Filiaga or right guard Andrew Stueber, another redshirt junior, Keegan and Zinter would be up to the task.
The Wolverines, who dropped ten spots to No. 23 in the latest AP Top 25, will look to return to the win column on Saturday when they battle the No. 13 Indiana Hoosiers at Bloomington’s Memorial Stadium at 12 p.m. EST on FS1.
Owning a 59-9 edge in the all-time series, Michigan has won 24-straight over the Hoosiers, with the last loss coming in Bloomington on Oct. 24, 1987.