What tight ends coach Grant Newsome said about Michigan football in fall camp

Really, really good stuff here, going outside the scope of just tight ends. #GoBlue

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — While he may be entering his first year as an on-field coach, Grant Newsome appears as something of a seasoned vet.

The former Wolverines left tackle has long been working as an assistant coach, but this year, he was promoted to oversee the tight ends. He spent last year working with Sherrone Moore and the offensive line, but he’s got something of a holistic view of the offensive side of the ball to this point. And, obviously, he knows this team very well, having been on campus since 2015, when he arrived as a fresh-faced recruit.

On Tuesday, he updated his unit’s progress, but he delved into other topics, including why Jay Harbaugh is an underrated coach, how he relates to players, and how big freshman defensive tackle Kenneth Grant is. Here is everything he had to say.

Alabama Morning Drive: What Nick Saban said following the Tide’s first scrimmage of fall camp

What Nick Saban said following Alabama’s first scrimmage of fall camp.

Good morning, Tide fans! Welcome to our Monday edition of Alabama Morning Drive. I hope each of you had a fantastic weekend as we continue to inch closer and closer to the start of the 2022 college football season.

On Saturday, head coach [autotag]Nick Saban[/autotag] and the Alabama football team went inside Bryant Denny Stadium to participate in the first scrimmage of fall camp.

As is customary, coach Saban addressed members of the media following the scrimmage to provide some quick commentary on the events of the day.

Let’s take a few moments this morning to quickly recap what coach Saban had to say about the scrimmage and the progress he has seen so far through fall camp.

Junior Colson: J.J. McCarthy ‘still doing those Patrick Mahomes throws’ in fall camp

He’s going to be really, really good. #GoBlue

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Back in 2020, when it came to Michigan football’s recruits, the star offensive player had to line up against the star defensive player in a high school heavyweight match.

Now sophomores in Ann Arbor, in Sept. 2020, J.J. McCarthy, then a five-star recruit, took IMG Academy to Tennessee to play Brentwood Ravenwood, home of four-star linebacker Junior Colson.

In the weeks leading up to the game, Wolverines Wire spoke to Colson, asking how he’d react if he had an open lane to his future quarterback.

“I will definitely hold back on J.J. if there’s a wide-open hit on him!” Colson said. “I’ll pull back – I still need him for college. I wouldn’t want him (to get injured). I’ll definitely pull back if I’m (about to get a big hit on him). But the rest of them, it’s all fair game!”

Spoiler alert: he didn’t.

Now, the duo has been on the same sideline for a year now, pulling together, despite being on opposite sides of the ball. So, we needed an update.

Considering Colson has seen McCarthy play dating to their high school days, what’s the same and what’s different about the former five-star? In camp, Colson says that McCarthy is still making ‘wow’ plays, comparing him to the Kansas City Chiefs‘ star quarterback.

“He’s still doing those Patrick Mahomes throws, so you know — it’s awesome,” Colson said. “It’s awesome to see. Right now, he’s having a lot of fun with it. So he’s been comfortable. He’s making a lot of smart reads right now, so that’s the big thing that’s changed. Take the checkdown as well as the deep ball. So I think he’s got a lot of maturity right now.”

At the moment, McCarthy is in a battle for the starting quarterback, as he tries to usurp current starter Cade McNamara. McNamara has an extremely high floor, whereas McCarthy has an apparently limitless ceiling. At the moment, it’s anybody’s guess as to who will win out, should either separate himself during fall camp.

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Junior Colson more comfortable, playing faster as he enters his second season with Michigan football

He’s gonna be a STUD! #GoBlue

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — With all of the talk of Michigan football having a ‘no-star defense,’ there are certainly a few candidates to emerge as veritable stars in 2022.

While all eyes are on Mazi Smith, who landed as the No. 1 ‘freak’ on The Athletic’s ‘freaks’ list, another player is poised to break out. Junior Colson enters his sophomore year after posting an excellent first campaign. He was a freshman All-American and was fourth on the team with 61 tackles — relatively unheard of for a first-year linebacker.

Now that he’s entering his second season, Colson feels much more comfortable this fall camp, having a lot more to offer given that he’s become more acclimated to the defense.

“A lot more confident, a lot more poised in the defense,” Colson said. “I’m just understanding it more, memorizing it some more. I’m understanding concepts — like different coverages, what the O-line’s doing, guys behind me. It’s making the defense lot easier and a lot more fun.”

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We asked if that will allow him to play faster this season, and he simply responded: ‘Yes sir. It allows me be all over the field this year.’ Considering he ran a 4.6 40-yard dash in high school, even at 6-foot-3, 228-pounds, we haven’t yet seen Colson play up to his top football speed.

He’ll have ample opportunities in 2022. With Aidan Hutchinson and David Ojabo gone, the Wolverines intend to deploy a by-committee pass rush this year. That means Colson, like safety Dax Hill did a year ago, will get to showcase that element of his game.

“Yes, I’m getting more opportunities to rush the quarterback. That’s a part of my game,” Colson said. “I love rushing, I love getting back there. I just gotta keep bringing it. You’ll see me this year.”

“We’ve had some great pass rushers thus far in camp. We’ve just gotta keep building — especially at the linebacker position. We’re just gonna keep bringing it. We didn’t bring a lot last year so this year,  so this year we’ve gotta bring a lot of pressure.”

But Colson also wants to become a player who is feared in coverage.

His teammates have said during fall camp that he excels in doing so, taking away the mismatch that a running back or tight end might have on a linebacker. Being adept is one thing — Colson wants more.

The next step for him to add turnovers to the equation, something he’s been working on and feels that, should he accomplish his goals, he can truly be one of the best linebackers in the game.

“You can always improve, you can always improve,” Colson said. “So I want to improve every point of my game. In all aspects, I want to go from good to elite so — I just want to be the best.”

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Back to 100%, Ronnie Bell aims to be better than ever

Can’t wait to finally see him back in action! #GoBlue

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — It was a heartbreaking moment for Michigan football, last year when Ronnie Bell tore his ACL in the first half. It’s been a long road to get back, but Bell is ready to return and make an impact like he never has — which is saying a lot.

And while fans have been excited to see him suit up again, Bell has been waiting longer than most to put that winged helmet on once again.

“We’ve mentioned how the games are probably like, three weeks out, or whatever it is,” Bell said. “And I’m like, man, I’ve been thinking about playing the game for a year now. I’m beyond excited, man, I’m ready to go.”

Of course, the question is, how close to full strength is he? Bell insists he feels as good as he did when he last suited up.

“I would say yes, I do,” Bell said. “I feel blessed. I’m beyond excited about every single day and just — yeah, for real, good. My body feels great. And so, yeah, making plays, and it’s fun as a lot of fun.”

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Still, just because you get healthy and have no more problems with the injured appendage, doesn’t mean that you won’t have issues.

Most of the time, it’s a mental block — something we’ve seen with other players. The difference between pre-and-post injury can be stark, as suddenly a player that was going all out can be somewhat tentative. They overthink what they’re doing instead of relying on their natural instincts.

Bell had those impulses for a moment, but once he went up and made a vintage play a few days into fall camp, all of that internal negativity just drifted away.

“It definitely was the first couple of days (that were) like that. It was very, like — just rusty,” Bell said. “Having people around, guys running around (me) — because I’ve been running routes. I’ve been running routes for months, but I didn’t run routes with people around me. So busting, kicking off the rust of being comfortable with people around you.

“And then I don’t know what day it was, but I finally jumped up and made a play on the ball, one of the early days in camp. Once that happened, it was like the biggest weight was lifted off my shoulders that I’ve ever had. So since then, I feel like I’ve been back and rolling.”

What’s more, Bell feels like he could be better than ever — not just returning to where he was pre-injury.

He set a personal record doing the L-cone drill, doing better than he has in years when he initially set the record.

“I even honestly shocked myself because I had a (personal record) that I’d set a couple of years ago that I couldn’t break,” Bell said. “And I ended up being super excited about that. And yeah, just rehabbing every day, you’re focusing on yourself for nine-straight months.  I told myself whenever it all happened, if I didn’t come out on the other end stronger, I was doing something wrong. So that was the goal for sure. And I’m glad that that’s kind of how it’s went.”

Bell certainly will have to get over the next barrier — actually playing in a game against a live opponent. That will come on Sept. 3, when Michigan hosts Colorado State for the season opener.

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Why RJ Moten believes Michigan football is poised to ‘have the best defense in the nation’

This defense is going to be better than people think. #GoBlue

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — There seems to be a lot of hyperbole coming out of Schembechler Hall in regards to the new-look defense. Now, the defense isn’t new-look due to there being a new defensive coordinator in Jesse Minter, but instead, it’ll be different by virtue of that side of the ball having lost seven starters from last year.

Pundits will tell you that this year’s Michigan defense is doomed as a result — especially considering three of those seven starters ended up going in the first two rounds of the 2022 NFL draft — Aidan Hutchinson at No. 2 overall. What they won’t tell you is that, in a way, the Wolverines return nine players who either were full-time starters last year or that have started games at one point or another. What’s more, every expected contributor that isn’t a freshman has played significant minutes at some point in the past two seasons.

One such player who has started games for the maize and blue but wasn’t one of last year’s ‘starters’ is safety RJ Moten, who’s entering his third season. He sees a group on defense that really could improve upon last year’s 20th-ranked squad.

“We all are confident,” Moten said. “Most of us played in a couple games last year. We got a couple new guys getting ready to play this year. But with the leadership, with the guys that have been in the fire before, I think we’ll be able to all come back as a defense and be better and see bigger than last year.”

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He may be waxing poetic, but Michigan has consistently fielded a top-tier defense. 2021 actually was the second-lowest output via total defensive yards per game given up in the Jim Harbaugh era, with 2020 being the actual outlier. Every other defense since 2015 has been, at worst, ranked 11th overall.

This offseason, Harbaugh has been espousing the notion that this defense will improve upon last year’s output, despite having ‘no-stars.’ Asked about the concept, Moten actually sees it quite the other way around.

“We’re all-stars. I swear!” Moten said. “Everybody, every person that will play this year is a star. I don’t care what the critics say, I don’t care what anybody else says, we will be the best defense in the nation.

“We all know what we’re doing. We’re a lot hungrier. Everybody is chasing that same goal. The obnoxious communication comes along with it. We understand what we’re doing. We all understand our parts and we’re just ready.”

One of the things we’ve heard about coming out of the first week of fall camp is that the defense’s communication has been significantly improved. Defensive coordinator Jesse Minter and co-coordinator Steve Clinkscale calls it ‘obnoxious communication’ — but what does that mean? Why has it changed?

Again, it’s a trait that Moten feels will lead this year’s group to being among the elite from a defensive standpoint.

“The obnoxious communication just comes from everybody understanding —  like I said, what one-11th is,” Moten said. “And you’ll see us out there, our pre-snap communication, we’ll see something that somebody is doing and then we’re all saying, ‘Oh, he’s about to motion. Alright, so what’s that check we’re going to?’ Understanding, but it just seems like we’re all on the same page. We all understand what’s about to happen and what we’re supposed to do. If we have obnoxious communication, I think we could be the best defense in the nation.”

Moten says that while some of the communication was there a year ago, it really is a new thing for this group, that it’s bringing in.

“Freshman year, not really; last year, a little bit — but this year, since I think it’s our second year in the defense,” Moten said. “Everybody’s comfortable and definitely has stepped it up.”

Overall, while there is no obvious No. 1 overall pick on this defense — though Mazi Smith being ranked the No. 1 ‘freak’ in college football certainly gives him an argument — the fact that this group is playing cohesive football, at least through a week of fall camp, gives a lot of promise to a group that was expected to have a fall-off year.

“I feel like everything’s just the way it’s supposed to be,” Moten said. “We understand defense, our tackling has gotten better, our coverage obviously has gotten better. We’re able to put little things in. I really think the whole defense is just like what it’s supposed to be right now.”

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Steve Clinkscale updates progress of Michigan football freshman DBs in fall camp

People are sleeping on some of these new corners and safeties! #GoBlue

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Of all the position groups where Michigan football is bringing in first-year players as part of the 2022 recruiting class, none is more impressive from top-to-bottom than in the secondary.

The Wolverines brought in six defensive backs — five-star Will Johnson, four-stars Zeke Berry, Keon Sabb, and Kody Jones, as well as three-stars Myles Pollard and Damani Dent. While some will play corner and others will play safety, it’s a versatile group that can transcend a traditional role in one or the other.

Johnson is contending for the starting cornerback job opposite DJ Turner, but the group as a whole is performing well in fall camp. However, the bigger question isn’t about Johnson, Sabb, Jones, or Pollard — as the foursome has been on campus since January and participated in spring ball. Of equal importance is how Berry and Dent are acclimating.

In the eyes of co-defensive coordinator and defensive pass game coordinator Steve Clinkscale, so far so good, across the board.

“I think the young men that were here in the spring have a slight advantage as far as understanding the system,” Clinkscale said. “The two other gentlemen who got here in the summer are under academic — they’re in class. So, adding that to their plate with football, still in school right now, it’s a little challenging for them. They’re performing — Zeke (Berry) is especially performing to a level where you can see his instincts. You can see why we recruited him and what he’s gonna be able to do.

“But as far as Will, Myles, and Kody, you definitely see they’re a little further ahead than the freshmen were last year. We were able to get — except for Rod Moore, he was different. Those guys will develop right to where we need them to. We’re going to ask all of them to help us at some point. The capacity is really going to be up to them, what they know, what they understand, how they can execute.”

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Considering that Clinkscale mentioned every other name, we asked him specifically about Sabb, especially considering that he was once rated a five-star — he finished at No. 84 overall in the 247Sports Composite, but he was ranked as high as No. 5 overall in his initial ranking in 2019. He was ranked No. 22 just 13 months ago — which was around the time of his visit to Ann Arbor — before getting passed by a number of other high-profile recruits.

Clinkscale says that he’s liked what he’s seen ranging from spring ball into fall camp, but given that he’s locked into the position of safety, and he’s learning both the free and strong roles, it’s been a little more challenging for him than most.

“Keon’s done a great job. He’s probably got the hardest job of the bunch, of those four, because he has to know both safeties,” Clinkscale said. “He knows what the safeties are doing, now it’s just taking that step forward on the field and applying it. And being able to let loose and make some plays.

“Yesterday, he had a really good practice and he keeps getting better every week and every day. He’s really evolving and he’s really got the biggest load. Playing corner, the biggest responsibility is not getting beat deep. Nickel, you’ve gotta understand the nuances. But safety, he’s gotta know what everybody’s doing, make all the checks. And for him being a freshman, I think he’s doing a great job.”

We’ll get to see what, likely, all of the above look like early in the season, starting with Michigan football’s first game on Sept. 3 against Colorado State.

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Michigan football defense propelled by ‘obnoxious communication’

This is really good stuff to hear. #GoBlue

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — On the ‘In the Trenches’ podcast earlier this week, Michigan football head coach Jim Harbaugh said that he feels the defense is further along than last season’s ballyhooed group at this time last year.

It’s a notion that co-defensive coordinator/defensive pass game coordinator Steve Clinkscale echoes.

“Oh yeah, I agree with it,” Clinkscale said on Thursday. “In the perspective that a lot of these guys have been in the system already, it isn’t something that’s new to them, starting off in the summer last year — even though I had a little bit of a spring previous to last fall camp, we still put in a lot of stuff at the same time. Most of the menu that we have, a lot of our players have already experienced.”

But why has it looked better? The Wolverines lost the bulk of their departees on the defensive side of the ball, thus, most pundits anticipate that Michigan will take a step back on that front.

However, like we heard from players on Tuesday, the biggest step has been communication — which is borne from knowledge.

“Communicating and understanding all the nuances, what’s gonna happen, to predict and anticipate the issues,” Clinkscale said. “If you can coach like that and your players can think like that, it helps them stay further ahead with communication, with effort, with knowing your responsibility.

“I would agree with that, especially as far as understanding the game a lot better.”

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This notion wasn’t explained solely by the second-year secondary coach. First-year defensive coordinator Jesse Minter led off his Thursday media availability by explaining how the coaches have been preaching ‘obnoxious communication’ on defense.

“We always have said a loud defense is a good defense. One of the pillars of our defenses is obnoxious communication,” Minter said. “And so, a lot of our calls, it might be rotation of coverage, it might be where’s the pressure coming from? It might even be just, hey, they’re lined up like this, alert for this. And so I think our group has just bought into that being a foundation of how we want to play defense. I think they started to do that but I think, as they continue in the second year, and have a lot of carryover, that allows them to do that with a lot of confidence.

“The more confidence you have, the louder you communicate. So when you look at the younger guys, sometimes it’s quieter, it’s not as good. And so the more that the more of those guys gain confidence in them, knowing what their assignment is, knowing what they’re doing, the louder it becomes.”

What makes said communication obnoxious? And why is it good? While Minter didn’t elaborate, Clinkscale had answers on that front.

“Obnoxious is good on the football field! And it’s gotta be crazy, like a fire drill, when that siren goes off,” Clinkscale said. “It’s gotta be great communication, everybody knows where they’re supposed to go, what they’re supposed to do so that we’re safe.”

Could that pay dividends this fall? We’ll find out when the season opener against Colorado State comes Sept. 3.

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What Steve Clinkscale said about the Michigan football defensive backs in fall camp

Really, really love his insight! #GoBlue

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — One of the pleasant surprises last fall was how improved the secondary was from the previous year. Granted, there was nowhere to go but up, but new defensive pass game coordinator Steve Clinkscale got his unit ready.

Since, Clinkscale has added the co-defensive coordinator title to his resume. And while he has to replace both starting safeties from a year ago, as well as cornerback Vincent Gray, he’s pleased with the progress of the back end. With DJ Turner expected to star, same with safety Rod Moore, there are some veritable playmakers. But what has he seen from the rest of the defensive backfield?

He shared his thoughts on Thursday, now having had a full season, spring, and now being embroiled in another fall camp. Here is everything he had to say.

Where will Michigan football’s 2022 pass rush come from?

This is certainly an ‘all hands on deck’ type of situation. #GoBlue

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The big narrative for Michigan football all offseason has been: how will the defense perform now that it’s without Aidan Hutchinson and David Ojabo? Of course, there were other players that helped move the defense along, such as Dax Hill, Josh Ross, and Brad Hawkins, but the edge rushing duo was paramount to what the Wolverines were able to accomplish en route to a Big Ten championship and College Football Playoff inclusion.

Chances are, considering Ojabo tied the previous sack record while Hutchinson shattered it — apropos, given that it was his father, Chris, who held it — the Wolverines won’t have a single player who matches up to what we saw a year ago, statistically. However, as far as first-year Michigan defensive coordinator Jesse Minter — who is running Mike Macdonald’s scheme from a year ago — sees it, the defense doesn’t need one guy to step up in pass rushing, it needs the entire team to take some accountability in that area.

“One of the things we’ve talked about is we’re not worried about replacing whoever,” Minter said. “There are certainly some really, really good players. We want to have the best 11 players on the field for the given situation that’s occurring. When our guys buy into that, and they play really hard, they’re not worried about who makes the play, when somebody makes the play, we all make a play. I’ve been very, very pleased with just the mentality in that regard. And then they also know that we’re going to move people around, we’re going to try to create matchups, given the opponent. And I look at it like this, whatever it looks like going into the year, I hope we have a bunch of stars at the end of the season.”

That said, who could play a major role when it comes to rushing the passer? Generally speaking, Michigan has relied on, at least in the Jim Harbaugh era, the edge rushers more than the interior line to get to the quarterback. Mo Hurst in 2017 was the exception to that rule, and Minter is hoping that it will be a group effort from the entire defensive front this year.

“I hope that it’s multiple guys,” Minter said. “I think we have some edge players — Mike Morris, Braiden McGregor, Taylor Upshaw, Jaylen Harrell — that have the capabilities of being good rushers. I think Kris Jenkins, Mazi Smith have the ability to push from inside. I think Mason Graham, Cam Goode — new guy — all these guys have capabilities of being good rushers. It’ll fall into, situationally, who we have out there. But they’re all capable of taking advantage of opportunities. I think it’s our job to just make sure we try to put each guy in the best position to have that success.

“And then, the other thing is, because it might not be one guy, it’s given us the ability to maybe move people around more, maybe a guy that rushes a lot one week, drops the next week, and it sort of changes our tendency. So I think the guys are really bought into that. We want to have a high total at the end of the year. But we’d love it for it to be a lot of different people with multiple sacks.”

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Not only will the defensive front be counted on, but so, too, will the linebacking corps.

With Josh Ross now gone, the only household name comes in the form of freshman All-American Junior Colson, who was outstanding in his first year. But Nikhai Hill-Green has also started games, as has Michael Barrett. Kalel Mullings is splitting his duties between linebacker and running back, but also figures into the equation with the season forthcoming.

That said, Minter likes what he’s seen from all of the above, as he has from the two freshmen at the position.

“I think Junior’s having a really good camp so far — growing, understanding what we expect,” Minter said. “I think Nikhai is having a really good camp. I think Michael Barrett is having a really good camp. Kalel is, as you guys have heard, splitting a little bit of time. But he’s doing well at linebacker. So he’s a guy that can probably play, have roles on both sides.

“And then, the two freshmen, neither one were early enrollees — Jimmy Rolder and Deuce Spurlock. I think they have flashed, and you can tell why they were recruited here. They certainly have a lot on their plate of learning. But I’m pretty pleased with that group right now.”

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