Michigan Football: Defense-First Wolverines Arriving Sooner Than You Think

Now that new head coach Brady Hoke has officially got his feet wet, you might wonder if the Michigan football program is headed in the right direction.

Like the last two seasons, Michigan has started the 2011 campaign with a 4-0 record, including a last-minute win over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

There have been two main differences, however. First, the Rich Rodriguez regime was hardly a favorite of media, fans and even ex-players.

Second, Rodriguez was known as an offensive genius, but his Michigan teams struggled defensively.

Poor defense eventually cost Rodriguez his job, and athletic director Dave Brandon was going to right the ship by hiring a coach who would stress defense. “Is there a thought of a defensive-minded head coach?" Brandon quipped. "There’s a thought of getting a defensive-minded everything. I want the ball boys to be defensive minded."

Hoke, who coached defense at Michigan for eight seasons, was Brandon's man. 

After he was hired, Hoke brought in Greg Mattison from the Baltimore Ravens to run his defense.

Check out the scoring stats over the first four games from 2009 through 2011.   

Year   For      Against

So, if the old adage, "Offense sells tickets, defense wins championships" holds any value, Hoke and the Wolverines may indeed be headed down the right path.

During this season's first four games, we began to see big plays happening on the defensive side of the ball: Brandon Herron's two touchdowns against Western,  Brandin Hawthorne's third-down stop of Notre Dame's Cierre Wood and Craig Roh's dramatic hit on San Diego's Ryan Lindley.

Jordan Kovacs, and Thomas Gordon have been solid at safety,  Mike Martin and Ryan Van Bergen are improving each week, and freshman Blake Countess has added depth at cornerback.  

What about the leadership of sixth-year senior Troy Woolfolk, who's faced one injury after another since August of 2010?

Before we go overboard, this defensive group hardly resembles Alabama or LSU.

But Coach Mattison is actually making strides with basically the same players who played very little defense the last two seasons. "We're not the strongest, biggest, fastest defense," Mattison told the press this week.

That, too, is about to change. Michigan has already received 15 defensive commitments for the 2012 recruiting class.

All of this, however, won't help the Wolverines survive the upcoming Big Ten season,  If not this week, Northwestern's Dan Persa will present a full set of challenges the following week. Then it will be up to East Lansing to face Michigan State's Kirk Cousins.

Will this year's defense collapse like the last two seasons, or will it figure out a way to compete during conference play?  It won't be long before we begin getting the answer.

Should a player or two step up each week, and Mattison continues confusing opposing quarterbacks, Michigan's defense might even turn a few heads before the season ends.