Oh yeah, and it's a devastating one. There's literally no one in the country (committed elsewhere or not) as good, we passed on a lot of lesser but high end kids because he joined up, and of course this was the only real weakness in Don Brown's defense. So the emotional high of getting him deserved itself.
That's what DB gets for not responding versus OSU, though. Again: he's a great DC, but this is his limitation. He can design and coach an elite defense. And if he's merely out-schemed to a small to "semi-large" degree by an opponent, he's a master at adapting/tweaking within the confines of his initial plan and shutting them diown.
Howeverrrr, if his group is
entirely unready (in scheme), he refuses to design a completely new defense. That's only happened twice in 3 years (PSU-17, OSU-18). And he's still had 3 top 5 national defenses in 3 years. So this is obviously not the worst problem. But whereas it might not,
per se, reduce Michigan's ceiling under Harbaugh, it certainly wastes chances for them to reach a ceiling they haven't touched.
Against OSU, Michigan's defense had three easily schemeable issues, but two of them required an entire rewriting of the defense, which was a bridge too far for DB's brain. We all get that. They entered that game with the nation's runaway #1 statistical D. Such a group probably shouldn't expect to get so punched in the mouth that they have to entirely change, but still:
- Rewriting of the defense: Go zone (because although DBs one and two are handling their guy, DB #3 is a gaping wound in man coverage)
- Rewriting of the defense: Blitz (because suddenly a 4-man rush is insufficient)
- Personnel: Replace BWat with Ambry. Stop giving Gil 50% of Ross's snaps.
That may not win the game, but it certainly won't lead to the 62. And likely not the loss of this class's crown jewel.