Tag: Lou Esposito

Lou Esposito breaks down Michigan football defensive tackle depth

Some exciting names in here! #GoBlue

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — There’s just about no one in college football who doesn’t know who Michigan football will trot out as the top two defensive tackles. Juniors Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant are arguably the best duo of any team up front, but the question is: who is behind them?

Rayshaun Benny, who broke his leg in the College Football Playoff, is expected back by the fall, but considering that the Wolverines had a five-man rotation last year, they’re going to need more than the aforementioned duo and Benny to fill out the interior defensive line in 2024.

New defensive line coach Lou Esposito met with the Michigan media for the first time on Tuesday and WolverinesWire asked him who has impressed him thus far of those who are behind Graham and Grant on the depth chart.

“I think Ike (Iwunnah) has done a great job this spring for us, He’s played a lot of snaps,” Esposito said. “And then Enow (Etta) — we’ve had the ability to move him from outside to inside and inside to outside. He’s a 6-4, 292-pound kid that ran into 11.3 100 (meter dash) out of high school.

“He is a really, really good athlete. It’s just that he has to learn as you get closer to the ball, the hand combat becomes quicker, it gets on you faster. The further away from the ball, it kind of takes a little bit of time, and you can use your athletic ability out there. So I think the biggest thing with him is getting some of those inside reps — it’s really helped him on the edge. Because now when you put them on the edge, some of the weaknesses that he had, he doesn’t have any more in the physicality, because he’s been extremely physical all spring. And he’s a big part of what we’re gonna do moving forward.”

This is the first mention of Iwunnah from anyone on the staff or by his teammates this spring, so the fact that new eyes in Esposito have identified him as a playmaker is promising for his progress. As for Etta, he’s been a mainstay of conversation all spring ball and certainly looks to be a chess piece that Esposito and defensive coordinator Wink Martindale can use this fall.

But one name that got some mention last year that hasn’t really been mentioned this year is sophomore defensive tackle Trey Pierce.

Pierce arrived last fall looking like he could be an early contributor by his physical prowess, but he saw scant time in his freshman campaign. Despite the lack of mention, Esposito told WolverinesWire that he’s pleased with the progress that Pierce — a former four-star out of Chicago — has made in his short tenure.

“He’s done a great job,” Esposito said. “I got to come here, he’s practiced a couple of times, he got dinged up a little bit. He’s come back, I think back up, but he’s he’s really progressing.

“I think the biggest thing for Trey was just realizing what he can do. And I feel like for me, like I constantly talk to him and meet with him about the things he does really, really well. Let’s keep doing those things really well, and then work on the things that we need maybe to be a little bit better. And he’s been great. He’s a sponge. He’s been around almost two or three times a week meeting with me one-on-one.

“So he’s done a great job, I expect him to have a good fall. And we need him to have a good fall, we got to build that depth.”

Coaches and friends Steve Casula and Lou Esposito reunite at Michigan football

For the third time in their careers, the duo are coaching on the same sideline, but in a different uniform. #GoBlue

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — For the third times in their careers, Lou Esposito and Steve Casula have found themselves roaming the same sideline but in a different uniform.

From their shared tenures at Western Michigan, Davenport, and now Michigan football, the duo have always seemed to find each other. And in the latest case, it wasn’t even close to expected.

While Casula, a former Michigan offensive analyst who had taken the UMass offensive coordinator job after the 2021 season, was an early hire by new head coach Sherrone Moore, Esposito was a late addition, a replacement for embattled new defensive line coach Greg Scruggs, who was arrested for operating a vehicle while intoxicated. But the pair have reunited, and considering the relationship they have, it’s a positive that there’s a strong camaraderie between the two.

“So it’s funny, I was with Espo from 2010-12 at Western Michigan, and then 14-16 at Davenport,” Casula said. “My son’s birthday was yesterday. And I remember when he was born like two days later, we played the first ever spring game at Davenport. And now you look up and eight years later, give or take a couple of days where we’ve been coaching against each other again in the spring game at the University of Michigan.

“He’s one of my best friends in the world. Our wives are best friends. He’s living with me right now, which is awesome. But Espo as a coach, he coaches guys hard, loves them harder. He’s very similar to Coach Moore in that respect. But big-time energy, has had a ton of experience. Obviously he’s a Division-II college head coach, coordinator in the MAC.

“I can’t say enough good things about Lou. But I’m the wrong guy to ask probably. I’m biased — he’s family to me.”

Esposito has generally been ahead of Casula on the organization chart in one way or another. At Western Michigan, he was an on-field coach working with the defensive line while Casula got his start as a graduate assistant in 2011 before becoming the tight ends coach in 2012. In 2014, when Esposito was charged with coaching the first-ever football team at Davenport, he hired Casula to oversee the offense.

Now that they’re both in Ann Arbor together, Esposito shared why he hired Casula at Davenport and why he’s excited to work together with him with the maize and blue.

“He connects with guys. He gets the most out of guys,” Esposito said. “The second thing was he’s a tireless recruiter. And he works at it all the time. And he has an unbelievable knack of remembering guys.

“We would be in recruiting meetings and he was a (graduate assistant) and he would say, ‘Hey, coach, player 56, the guy really dipped his shoulder and dipped around the edge there and made a tackle.’ And I’d be like — I know that we just watched 10,000 clips, and he would just regurgitate all that information. So I knew right then.

“And then he’s a better person than he is a coach. Like his family — I’m actually staying at his place now. I just told him I’m the best house guest he’s ever had. I won’t tell his parents that because they’re pretty good. But he’s a better person, like that guy will give you literally give you the shirt off his back. And that’s that’s why I knew from the jump. I want to surround myself with as many good people as you can.”

The odd part for both is that they’re each from the East Coast (Casula is from Delaware while Esposito is from New Jersey) but both have spent the bulk of their coaching careers in the state of Michigan.

Both have coached at Western Michigan, Davenport, Ferris State (though they weren’t there at the same time), and now Michigan.

Michigan football hires new defensive line coach to replace Greg Scruggs

Seems like a solid hire! #GoBlue

It’s been nearly two weeks since Michigan football moved on from former Wisconsin defensive line coach Greg Scruggs, who had been arrested for operating a vehicle while intoxicated in the days previous. Spring ball has been going on without a de facto position coach for the D-line, but that is about to change per a report.

According to 247Sports’ Matt Zenitz, Sherrone Moore and the Wolverines have found Scruggs’ replacement in Memphis co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach Lou Esposito, who came to the Tigers last year after being Western Michigan’s defensive coordinator. Like LaMar Morgan, the new cornerbacks coach, Esposito leaves a defensive coordinator position with his alma mater to join the maize and blue.

Memphis’ defense was less than stellar a year ago, but as Zenitz notes, Esposito has a positive track record when it comes to developing talent. Familiar with the state of Michigan, he’s coached not only at Western, but also Ferris State where he was the defensive coordinator in 2013, and he was the head coach of Davenport (in Caledonia) from 2014-16.

Barring any changes, once again, Sherrone Moore’s first Michigan football staff appears to be set.

Ten Potential candidates to be the next defensive coordinator of Michigan State football

10 possible candidates that can be the next defensive coordinator at Michigan State

With the hiring of Jonathan Smith as Michigan State’s next head football coach, it also means that there will be a new staff coming to East Lansing. While Smith has already gotten a huge jump on hiring his staff, click here to view who has been hired by Smith so far, he has yet to announce who will be serving as the defensive coordinator for his staff.

Smith had two defensive coordinators throughout his tenure at Oregon State, so there are several options and possibilities for Smith to explore.

Let’s take a look at some of the potential candidates that could potentially be in the mix for MSU’s defensive coordinator position: