Deadly duos on the defensive line

The 2006 Michigan defense was the catalyst for the Wolverines success last season. The defense finished #1 in the nation in rushing defense. The "D" was led by All-American DE LaMarr Woodley and All-Big Ten DT Alan Branch. In fact, Woodley was awarded both the Lombardi Award (top lineman in the nation) and the Ted Hendricks Award (top defensive end in the nation) for his standout performance last season. Woodley and Branch made a lethal duo on the line that gave opponents fits all season as the Wolverines rolled to an 11-2 record and a trip to the Rose Bowl in 2006. Woodley and Branch formed an unstoppable tandem on the defensive line the likes of which Wolverine fans had not seen in over twenty years. Which brings me to the 1985 tandem of Mike Hammerstein and Mark Messner.

The 1985 Michigan defense featured All-American DT Mike Hammerstein and All-Big Ten DT Mark Messner (a future two-time All-American). The 1985 team went 10-1-1 and finished the year ranked #2 in the nation largely on the strength of the play of the team's defense which was anchored by the line play of the tandem of Hammerstein and Messner. In 1985, Hammerstein registered 19 tackles for losses (#4 all-time best season at Michigan) for -101 yards (tied for #5). The defense was among the nation's leaders in scoring defense as it yielded only 8.1 pts. per game in 1985. DT Mark Messner was the hero of the Fiesta Bowl game that season as he registered nine tackles, forced a fumble and recovered another in the Wolverines' 27-23 win over Nebraska. He was named the game's MVP for his efforts. Messner (So./Fr.) also led the team in 1985 with 9 sacks (for -88 yards). Hammerstein (Sr.) had another 8 sacks that season for -59 yards. Messner's totals in his redshirt freshman season of 1985 during which he tallied 9 sacks (#6 all-time best season) and minus 105 yards in tackles-for-loss yardage (#3 all-time) ranked him among the Wolverine greats right from the start of his career. By the time he finished in 1988, Messner was Michigan's all-time leader in sacks (28), tackles-for-loss (61), and tackles-for-loss yards (-335 yards).

The numbers of Hammerstein and Messner are obviously very impressive but the play of the four players cannot be measured by merely reviewing statistics. In particular, DT Alan Branch often had a significant impact on games last season in ways that did not show up in the stat line. Standing at 6'6", 330 lbs, teams had to double-team Branch and to devise schemes to block him which freed up the All-American Woodley on the other end of the line to wreak havoc. Woodley set a Michigan record by logging 12 sacks in 2006 and much of Woodley's success is attributable to the teamwork of Branch. Each of these dynamic duos were outstanding and I just hope it is not another twenty years before the Wolverines get another terrific tandem on the defensive line that can rival these pairs' performance. Go Blue!

*Note: Photo of Alan Branch (80) and LaMarr Woodley (56) from 9-16-06 Notre Dame game by John T. Greilick/The Detroit News
*Note 2: Middle Photo of Mike Hammerstein from Michigan Athletic Dept.
*Note 3: Bottom Photo of Mark Messner from Michigan Athletic Dept.

Alan Branch is big but is still a kid at heart

Angelique S. Chengelis (a/k/a "The Angel of the Big House") did an oustanding profile of Alan Branch in yesterday's Detroit News. In the article, Branch states that he watches cartoons throughout the day and he has completed five coloring books this past year. The 6'6", 330 lb. Defensive Tackle did not state, however, whether he would declare for the NFL draft by the January 15th deadline. He states he has not yet made up his mind whether to return next season for his senior year. It is possible that the 2007 Rose Bowl game will be Branch's last game in a Michigan uniform. Let's hope not. Go Blue!

Alan Branch will be having Sack lunches on Saturday afternoons this fall

Yesterday, at Media Day, Alan Branch was quoted as saying the following: "Our goal is to be the top sack team in the Big Ten. Myself, I want us to have the most sacks in the nation, but that's a hard thing to do in the Big Ten. It's a reasonable goal to be the top sack team in the Big Ten."

New Defensive Coordinator Ron English spoke to the Detroit Free Press' Mark Snyder at Media Day and was quoted in the article as saying, "We want to play hard, we want to play fast, and when you play fast, you're going to play great defense," he said. "If we get them to do that, we'll have it licked."

With these quotes it sounds Coach English will be employing a more attacking style of defense than was used during the Coach Herrmann regime. In 2005, the Wolverines' defense registered 24 sacks for a loss of 187 yards. The 24 sacks was only the sixth best total in the Big 10 and earned Michigan a ranking of #64 in the entire NCAA in the sack total category. This was actually a slight improvement over 2004 when the Michigan defense registered 21 sacks for a loss of 146 yards and finished ranked #8 in the Big 10 in the sack total category.

Last year, Branch (5 sacks) and team sack leader LaMarr Woodley (7 sacks) combined to account for exactly one-half of the Wolverines' sack total. Thus, if the 2006 team is going to achieve the goal of becoming the top sack team in the Big 10 then both Branch and Woodley will have to shoulder much of the load to make that happen. I expect that both of these phenomenally talented players will have break-out years this season with Branch making All-Big 10 and Woodley making All-American. Whether they can lead the Wolverines' defense to the Big 10 sack title though remains to be seen. Go Blue!

Wash Me!

The 3rd Annual Carr's Wash 4 Kids was held today at Michigan Stadium this afternoon and the event appeared to be very successful. It was great weather for it and the team was highly efficient in getting the cars through the line. This was the first time I had ever attended Carr's Wash 4 Kids and I was impressed with how they have this process down to a science. The other thing that struck me is that although the players were obviously having a lot of fun the coaches were still "on top" of the players even at an event such as this car wash. The event ran from 12:30 p.m.-2:00 p.m. and I arrived at almost exactly 1:30 p.m. and there was a steady stream of cars but no waiting. What follows is a blow-by-blow (or wash-by-wash) description of my somewhat surreal trip down the Carr Wash line:

• I pulled into the Stadium concourse through Gate 9 (North endzone) and headed for the east side of the stadium. I was immediately welcomed by Scott Draper (Assistant Athletic Director) who thanked us for coming and who sent me up the concourse to a bevy of helpful volunteers to part with my charitable contribution.
• Charitable contributions could be any amount but $25 got you a t-shirt w/ your car wash while $50 got you a hat, t-shirt and your car wash. I decided to be a big spender and give $50 meaning I got a hat and what they said was the last XL t-shirt.
• While driving on to the next station, I saw a series of signs that instructed patrons to "Please stay in their cars." I figured (correctly it turns out) that I was not really going to get a chance to take photos.
• On my right was the WTKA radio broadcast platform and while I was still looking back at it all of a sudden my Jeep was getting blasted by water from hoses on each side of the vehicle while my window was still down from when I had paid. I had driven into the first station (the hose down station) without even realizing it. Johnny Sears was on the driver's side of my Jeep and he accidentally nailed me with water through the open window as he didn't realize my window was down. I was scrambling to put my window up while he was laughing when offensive coordinator Mike DeBord came over and he was fuming at both of us. Man, I tell you what. I was scared and this was just a car wash. You NEVER want to make Coach DeBord mad.
• Coach DeBord led me to the next station where all of a sudden 6-10 players descended on every square inch of my Jeep and soaped it from top to bottom. He then told me to drive up to the next station. The only problem was that I couldn't see out my front window.
• I drove crawling along to the next station where Alan Branch guided me to a stop. I kept thinking, oh great, I'm going to hit Alan Branch and he is going to be out for the year with an injury he suffered at the car wash because I couldn't see out my soapy window. However, I managed to stop in time. While the other players proceeded to wash the soap off my Jeep, Alan stayed in front of my vehicle and he started dancing to the music that was playing. It was a sight to behold!!! Alan Branch is 6'6", 330 lbs. and that man can move. Before we drove to the next station I bumped fists with him which I think he thought was a little dorky but he went with it. (*Photos of Alan Branch from The Wolverine)
• As we proceeded to the next station Coach Carr came up to the car and shook my hand and thanked us for coming and we then drove to the final station (towel dry).
• As the players were towel drying my car they started hooting on my passenger for wearing a MSU t-shirt so I rolled down my window and Assistant Head Coach Erik Campbell told the players not to dry the side of the car the MSU person was sitting on but that they could dry the driver's side of the vehicle. The players were laughing hysterically. They loved it.
• Before we left the concourse, we bought some lemonade (which was quite good) at a lemonade stand and waved to a few final players who thanked us for coming.

So there you have it. My 5 or so minutes through the Carr Wash. I would recommend it to someone who is considering attending next year but I would caution you that this is not an event where you will be able to take a lot of pictures. I didn't take any as I had my hands full with driving. Nevertheless, it was for a great cause and everyone had a lot of fun. Go Blue!

*Note: The photos used in this post are from The Wolverine. I used them because they are representative of what was going on when I got my Jeep washed. I did NOT take these pictures. If you want to see great pictures like these and read fantastic articles about Michigan sports you should subscribe to The Wolverine (Rivals.com).