Everything Michigan DL coach Lou Esposito said during his pre-USC press conference

On coaching his players to deal with the lack of holding calls

I mean, you got to play with your hands, right? Like, if they’re going to hold you, we talk about running away from blocks. You got to do it all the time. I do feel like holding in general is becoming decriminalized across college football. So, everybody deals with it. It goes both ways.

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So, we’re going to do a good job of using our hands and running away from blocks and disengaging and creating separation because that’s the only way you get off of it. You can talk about it all you want. It’s not going to change the outcome, right? So, people are going to do it. People view it differently. We’re going to go do what we have to do to get off the blocks.

It’s still the same thing. Get off the block. Run away from it. Don’t walk away from it so they can’t hold you. Do a good job with your hands, and normally we get off those.

On whether he feels like other teams holding is a way to equalize Michigan’s good defensive line

Yeah. I mean, I felt like it was the same thing last year, too, with the two guys we had inside. I don’t remember many holding calls we got against us.

So, it’s one of those things that we’re just going to have to deal with. Everybody’s going to play with it. Everyone’s on the same playing field there, and we’ve got to do a great job, like I said, using our hands and getting off blocks.

On what Trey Pierce has done to earn starts

It kind of started throughout spring ball and camp. He did a great job in the summer of getting himself in shape, and he played with the physicality and knockback that we talk about all throughout camp. And the first couple weeks of the season, he’s been great at that.

So, he’s been doing a great job, and he consistently gets better. And I think the unique thing we have in our room is we have a bunch of guys that are all really good players. So, iron sharpens iron. And those guys are in constant competition with each other, but are constantly with each other. And those guys do a great job of being around each other. They like being in the room.

They like being part of the team. They like to try to compete against each other. So, it’s been really good. But Trey’s done a great job of getting himself in that position by playing with knockback and physicality.

On what Pierce maintaining a starting role says about him

I mean, yeah. He’s graded out top three every game. So, for us, it’s the best guys. The guys that practice the best are going to play the most. And it’s been unique. It’s been a 180 from last year to this year.

You’ve got all the guys. I mean, Rayshaun takes the most snaps every week. And then it’s Trey Pierce, Payne, Tre Williams, Enow. And those last four, I mean, you could kind of flip those. And then we’ve had Manny get in a little bit. So, I feel good about where we’re at right now. And we just keep sending waves at guys. I think you watch the second half of us playing defense, and it’s not just the D-line. We’ve played a lot of bodies.

So, that’s something that you watch. We’re fresher in the second half because we’re playing so many bodies in the first half, which has helped us a lot. I don’t know what the stat is, but I think we’ve been pretty good in the second half.

On USC’s offensive line

Well, I think the biggest thing, their offense is super explosive. I think they’re top 20 rush offense, top five pass offense. And you can’t do any of that without a good offensive line. So, it’s going to be a great challenge for us. They had their center, got banged up in the Illinois game. The kid that came in, number 50, did a great job. You watch them as a group. They’re super athletic. They’re big. They move well. You know, it’s going to be a great challenge for us.

On what he’s seen from Cam Brandt

Yeah, I mean, he’s like what Coach talked about with the linebackers. He might not be a starter as the first guy in, but we view him as a starter. He’s physical. If you watch him in all our sub packages, he can move inside. He plays outside. I think Cam Brandt just has a quiet confidence about himself.

You watch him. You watch the way he works. You watch how he studies. You watch how he practices. He does a great job. And when it comes to game days, it’s like he’s gone through it time and time again, and he has that quiet confidence about himself.

He’s an elite football player for us, and he’s been doing a great job. And that’s why he plays with that physicality that we talk about. And this game is going to be that. It’s going to be a physical game for us, and we need him to be at his best.

On Brandt’s versatility something he came with or has been developed

Well, since I’ve gotten here, he’s been able to do both. And I think the thing you’ll learn in our defense, it’s a flexible defense. Coach talks about it all the time. It’s a positionless defense. I think that’s why we get so many elite players that want to come play in it. Because, yeah, you might be labeled as an edge, but if our best route of winning is to put you over the guard, we’re going to put you over the guard.

And I think that’s what’s great about our defense. It’s positionless. One week we could be playing four interior D linemen, and the next week we could be playing four edges. So that flexibility gives us the ability to attack people in a bunch of different ways.

On whether Jaishawn Barham works exclusively at EDGE or also practices with the linebackers

Yeah, we work him at both. He’s an elite player. And I think him playing edge more has let him just go attack, go attack, go attack. And Coach Phee and Coach Wink and Coach BJ, they’ve done a great job with him. And for us to be successful, we need him attacking the football the way he’s been doing it. It’s been great for us.

He’s a game wrecker. He’s a guy. He’s a dude. You’ve got to make sure that you know where he’s at. So it helps us in a lot of other ways, too. And just his presence closer to the football gives us that opportunity to be able to make some great plays with him being there, which is good for us.

On whether he believes Barham’s addition to the defensive line has taken the group to another level

I mean, it’s definitely helped our defense. And what’s done is when we talked about playing a bunch of guys, Cole Sullivan and Jimmy Rolder were playing at a high level, so now he comes in, and now those guys can play, too. And again, it gives us the flexibility to play more bodies, to be fresher in the second half, and ultimately win the game. That’s what we’re trying to do.

On avoiding slow starts on defense on opening drives

Was that the first time we gave up a touchdown on the first drive of the year? Oklahoma. Oh, Oklahoma. So it’s the second one. I think what offenses do, right, they start in 15, their first 15. They have an opening script.

So they practice those plays all week. And we got to do a good job of, if you watch that game, of settling down early. Going into that game, there was a bunch of funky formations and tackles over, and I know for us up front, we were looking for those formations, and we weren’t settled.

And I think Wink did a great job when we came off the sideline. He’s like, listen, relax. If we’re aligning wrong or something’s wrong, just go hit the guy in front of you. Right? Play with knockback, play with physicality, and everything else will be good. And that’s kind of what we did, and it helped us.

Yeah, you want to obviously not let them score on the first drive. But we settled down. I thought we did a good job after that. I don’t know what the stat was. I know we went – we had 7 3-and-outs in the game. So if you look at the first drive and you look at the last drive, it’s over 60% of their offense.

So we just settled down, and we got to fight that first 15, right, because they go through their first 15 scripted plays. And then we go back to the drawing board, make some adjustments, and go from there.

On not letting Jayden Maiava extend plays with his legs

Yeah, I mean, you watch him. He’s elite. He’s a great athlete. He probably doesn’t get enough credit on how athletic he truly is. Different than the kid from Oklahoma. The kid from Oklahoma is going to run the run. He’s going to run the throw.

Like, he doesn’t take his eyes off downfield. He’s got a quick release. He does a great job. He naturally steps back when he throws. So when you play a quarterback like that and you’re pressuring him, he feels comfortable throwing it that way. So we got to do a good job of obviously keeping him in the pocket and then taking our chances.

There’s not a quarterback that likes to be hit. So we got to try to hit him as much as we can and keep him in check that way because that will help everybody else. Yeah.

On Damon Payne’s progression this season

Well, I think the biggest thing for him is he’s done a great job of really buying into the system and playing with great effort. I think when you see a lot of those holds, it’s that second and third effort too. Like, you create separation.

You get off the block. And as you’re trying to get off their hold, and you’re here. So that extra effort that we talk about, it’s one of the pillars we talk about is effort and angles. And he’s done a great job with that, and he’s bought in. He plays hard. And the other thing at that position is like many positions on our defense right now, there’s a lot of guys there.

So if you’re not playing hard, you’ll be sitting right next to me on the sideline, and no one wants to do that. Everyone wants to play. You work to get to game day, and everyone wants to get in and play. So he’s a good player for us, and he’s been doing a great job of the things that we need him to do he’s been doing.

On how he much he feels his position group will determine the outcome of the game against USC

I mean, it comes down to – it sounds like a broken record, right? Like, it sounds like football talk. But the reality is this. If you win in the trenches, your chances of winning skyrocket. So for us to win in the trenches, we’ve got to be physical at the point of attack. You’ve got to make them one-dimensional.

The problem with them is when you try to make them one-dimensional and it’s passing, they’re really good at it. So we’re going to have to take our chances with some of the things we do. We’re going to take our shots at some of the things we do. We have to make the quarterback feel uncomfortable. And I think that’s every game, right? Like, you’re physical at the point of attack.

You want to shut the run down, and then you want to get after the quarterback. And I think that’s what we have to do to be successful as a team. And toughness travels. Like, at the end of the day, when you’re going on the road and you’re playing in a great environment, it’s a historic stadium. The place is going to be packed. Toughness travels.

You fall back on your training when things get crazy. When all that noise and all that pressure is on you and you’re sweating and it’s a long drive and you need to stop, toughness is what’s going to come back and win. You’re going to fall back on your training, and that toughness is what wins on the road.

And that’s what we’ve got to do. We’ve got to play tough. Like, at the end of the day, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. The toughest team is going to win this game. Not the team that looks the prettiest. It’s the toughest team that’s going to win this game. And that’s what it’s going to take to win on the road.

On Barham has picked up the nuances of playing at defensive end

I think it’s been riding the bike for him. He just gets on the bike and rides it. There’s some things in the run game that Coach Phee did a great job helping him out with. But he is a great player. He’s played at EDGE some, which helps us. He’s been in the defense as a linebacker, so he knows what the D-line does, where he fits, how he fits. So it’s been a seamless transition for us. It’s been really good. And he’s not just going to play there.

Like, he’s still going to play some linebacker. And you watch him. He did it in the game versus Wisconsin. He’ll do it versus USC. We’ll do some different things with him to help us put ourselves in the best position to win.

On what goes into a player grade after games

Yeah, I mean, obviously everyone talks about the same things. You got your assignment. You got your alignment. And then you got effort, right? Those are the three that you start with. But then it’s like throwing your hands or you’re running away from blocks.

Are your eyes bad? Like, D-line, I say it all the time. It’s so simple, it’s hard. Because if you put your eyes in the right spot and you throw your hands and you create knockback, you’re normally going to be in a good spot. You’re normally going to grade out well. Well, guys get bored with that, right?

Like, guys say, oh, I got in. It’s the first time I’m getting in. I got to go make a play. So my eyes immediately go in the backfield. And now I play high and I let somebody get underneath me. Football hasn’t changed up front since football started. Low man normally wins. The guy who’s playing with great technique normally wins. And consistency gets boring until everything changes, right?

You’re consistent, consistent, consistent. And it’s like, hi, I’m not going nowhere. I’m not going nowhere. And then all of a sudden you look back and you’re like, man, I just made four plays, right? So the consistency part of playing D-line is important. And I think that’s where guys, the guys that buy into it and when you see guys that have played a bunch, they kind of know it.

Like Rayshaun Benny, like you watch him play. He’s reading his triangle. He’s looking at the tackle. He’s looking at the tight end. He’s looking at the running back. And then when you see young guys get in, it’s like, oh, my God, I’ve got to be lined up right here. I’m going to put my hand down, and my alignment is going to be perfect. My assignment is going to be perfect. And they play good, but they don’t play to their ability.

And I think that consistency of just throwing your hands, being low, running your feet, playing with a good base, like all those things matter. And I think when we grade the film post-game, those are the things we look at. And then obviously production, right?

Like you do all this. You have to be productive too. Now, at my position, sometimes production is I’m holding a double team and I’m knocking a guy back so the ball bounces. That stat never shows up. Like you talked about Damon Payne before. Damon Payne has more knockbacks than anybody.

Now he doesn’t have more tackles than anybody, but he has more knockbacks at the point of attack. Trey Pierce, knockbacks. Rayshaun Benny, knockbacks. Like all those guys play. Tre Williams, knockbacks. Enow, knockbacks.

Like those guys, we have to play with knockback to be consistent in our defense and force the ball sideways because we want to play with a run wall. And when we do that, we’re pretty good. And when you don’t, you can see it. It’s like glaring.

On whether Wink Martindale is calm while coaching

Unbelievably calm. The most calm person I’ve ever been around in my entire life on game day because it’s crazy. I think I’ve seen him get emotional one time the entire time I’ve been here. And he talks about it all the time. Like that calm Wink is the same Wink you’re going to get all the time, which calms everybody else down. And we talked about those situations where things get hectic and crazy.

And every game, there’s a point in that game where it happens. And he is like a calming voice. He settles everybody down. And it was great. Like that first drive coming off the sideline, no one was yelling and screaming. No one was going berserk. No one’s throwing chairs. Hey, these are what we got to do to fix it. Here are the four things we got to fix the next time out there. Boom. Done. And he does it all the time.

He sits. He watches the iPad. He says on the headset, these are the things we need to change. Maybe once in a blue moon, we’ll bring the guys up. And that’s it. We’re ready to go. He’s in constant communication. He has a knack of being great at communicating with the players. Like when we’re in the huddles, he’s talking about if they come out in this, this is what we’re doing.

If they come out in this, this is what we’re doing. So what it does as a player, it lets you set your feet. You’re calm. There’s nothing that’s going to happen that you’re going to lose your mind over. And you see when guys lose their mind, they don’t make good plays. So we try to put those guys in the best situation possible. Physically, obviously, but mentally, too. And he’s great at that.

On the magnitude of the game against USC

I mean, it’s USC. We’re going there. It’s a road game. It’s a massive game because it’s the next game for us. I still think there’s really good — like that Washington team beat us last year. There’s really good teams left on the schedule. For us, this is a huge game because it’s the next game. And we’re going on the road. And we’re playing USC.

And it happens to be the next time that we get to play a Big Ten opponent. So for us, we’re ultra excited about it. They’re a really, really good football team. It’s going to take our best to win that game at their place.

On Maiava’s quick release

I think the biggest thing with Wisconsin is they got the ball out fast, but they also max protected with seven or more 17 times. Like that’s hard to rush that. So that’s where the part where it sometimes gets frustrating. But our guys never blink. They just keep going, keep going, keep going. That’s why we got great players here.

You know, play the hand that’s dealt to you. And that’s what they did. I think the release and what USC does is different. Wisconsin is going to pack you in. USC is going to spread you out. So I think when you have a quarterback that’s a little bit more experienced, a little bit more athletic, sometimes they like to be spread out because they can see everything.

So I think that’s what they’re going to do. He creates a huge, huge challenge for us because of the – not just him, he’s a great player, but the people around him. Like the receiving core, the tight ends, the running backs, the old line. Like they’re really, really – it’s why they’re one of the best offenses, if not the best offense in the country. So it would be a big challenge for us.

On what he’s picked up from Wink

I think the one thing is the calm presence. And I think he lets us have an opinion. Like he always is constantly asking us, hey, what do you guys think here?

What do you like? And then when he goes into the game plan, like he does a great job of, like I said before, communicating with the players and having the players prepared. He’s in constant communication with those guys. Talking about situational football, too. Not just, hey, this play, this is what you’re going to get, but a bunch of situational football stuff, which he does a great job, better than anyone I’ve ever been around.