Everything Michigan LB coach Brian Jean-Mary said during his pre-Michigan State press conference

On the biggest adjustment for the linebackers from the USC game

I thought we tackled better and got off of blocks. Our eyes were better. I don’t think it was just one thing in particular.

I don’t think anyone felt like they played their best coming out of that game. And just as a unit, I thought we went out there with this sole purpose to play better. Obviously, but individually, I thought they all tackled well and were in better position to make plays versus Washington than they were versus USC.

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On what kind of threat Aidan Chiles presents to the linebackers

I think he’s one of the top dual-threat quarterbacks that we’ll face this year. You see a real athletic, tall player with a strong arm and the thing that’s kind of hidden is the plays with most dual threat guys that don’t show up on the stat sheet, but he’s able to keep plays alive with his feet, and is able to get rid of the ball, whether it’s an incompletion, avoiding the sack or actually throwing it downfield. But like I said, his dual threat ability is something that we’re very well aware of, and we have to do a great job of not just keeping them in the pocket as a passer, but tackling them as a runner when they decide to run him on quarterback runs.

On whether he did or said anything to challenge his players after the USC loss

I think out of everybody in the building, I think I’m about as much of a straight shooter as you’re going to find. If we don’t play well, we’re going to tell them. Even when we’re perceived to play well, it’s our job as coaches to point out the little things that we could be better at or what the next opponent is going to see. I think there’s a lot of pride in this building. I don’t think anybody, coaches or players, felt like, that was our best effort versus USC. So there wasn’t a lot of, you know, rah-rah speeches or anything like that.

I think when you’re a good defensive football player, I think after a performance that wasn’t up to standard, I think you can get yourself going. And I think that’s kind of been the standard in this building.

On who would wear the green dot if Ernest Hausmann was unable to play

All three of them have used the green dot so far this year. We’ve actually had Troy Bowles — ehat we do, which is probably not unique, in practice, because the linebacker position has to be kind of the group that communicates because you have to communicate with the DBs in the front. I think all four of them, and I say all four of them, all six of the guys that potentially could play practice with a green dot helmet. So when one is out of the game, because we rotate, we’ll have one of them with the green dot.

So last game, and I think every game, it’s been Cole. It’s been Jimmy. It’s been Troy Bowles a time or two. And Ern has been the main one. But they all get it, which really helps them in practice because they can communicate with Wink during the play. And then so in the game, it’s not foreign to them when we have to do it. So they’re all comfortable doing it and have done a good job for the most part.

On where Cole Sullivan is with his game compared to a year ago

Just maturity. You know, he came in as a raw player. It was kind of an offensive and defensive player. I didn’t think he had a defined role coming out of high school. But you could see the athleticism the minute he got here. And he had to learn to play linebacker. But he’s a gym rat. He’s always up in my office. He’s always watching tape. He asks the right questions. Very, very humble kid. But you can tell he’s very confident as a player and wants to keep getting better and better.

If he doesn’t, if he’s one of those kids kind of like to your question, if he felt like he didn’t do it right, he wants to do it again to make sure he does it the right way and up to the standard that we have. So I think the best is yet to come for him. I think he’s still developing as a football player.

I still think he’s developing physically. I still think you won’t even recognize him a year from now, once he gets another year with Coach Tress and those guys in the weight room. But we’ve always kind of played a lot of guys since I’ve been here. And we look at him as a starter and a guy that we could put in any situation and can go out there and be effective.

On defending the screen game being an emphasis

Screens are, you know, for offensive purposes, they try to use what you do best, which we run to the football. We think we run to the football at a high level, and we want to play aggressive. So we try to use that against you. Last year, we got more screens than probably most teams in the country. That’s just because of the nature of what we do. We have to do a better job of recognizing them and being aware that teams are going to run a lot of screens on us.

And that anticipation part is going to really, really help us. But we also don’t want to take away from what we do well, which is being aggressive, trying to play physical, and those things. We just have to do a much better job, especially in our zone coverages, of going to match the receivers. And if you feel the screen, you have to go and get them. And the last thing you want is to have all five or six guys that should be rushing the passer sitting at the line of scrimmage and waiting on the screen. Then you guys will be asking me next week, where’s the pass rush? You know what I mean? So there’s a give and take. But we have to do a better job of recognizing them and understanding that’s how people are going to attack us.

On Jaishawn Barham’s move to EDGE impacting his position group

I think to us, like we have said, we talked about Jimmy being our third starter, so he hasn’t changed at all. He’s getting a little bit more plays as far as the game goes, and that goes for Cole, too. But they played a lot before we moved Jaishawn because we had that type of faith in them and believe in their ability. They’re playing a little bit more.

It’s really opened the door for Troy Bowles. He’s kind of gotten a couple more plays in the rotation, but I haven’t seen any difference in those guys. Jimmy slid right in as a starter and has been playing very, very well these last couple of weeks. And then Cole’s been the same. Instead of a five-man rotation or a six, it’s just gone to one less. So it hasn’t been much of a change. Like I said, I think those guys are extremely confident in the type of players that they are, and they were excited about the opportunity.

On players like Derrick Moore making life easier for the linebackers

Great players, yeah. They make everybody’s life easier. Derrick does a good job. He’s one of the really grizzled veterans on our defense. And you can see when he’s playing at a high level and is able to not only rush the passer, but he’s able to help us control the line of scrimmage and makes us better. I’ve always said, if you ever see a really good linebacker unit, there’s probably a D-lineman keeping the blocker off of them or getting the attention of the offense.

Whether it’s the offensive line or the tight end or running back to allow the running back to allow the linebacker to go make a play. So that’s always a big part. Those guys, I tell you all the time, those guys should be thanking that D-line every time they make a play, that probably was a D-lineman involved that did something unselfish.

On coaching instincts in linebacker

Like I said, it depends on the play. Some plays, like you said, like we just talked about with the screens, you want to be a little slower so you can read them and be able to get to the football. But then there’s certain times when it’s a certain run or a pass play when it develops. That’s when you want the instincts to kick in, and you want to be able to not waste a step and get to the football. So, like I said, it depends on the play. You don’t want to see hesitation when it’s a developing run and it kind of opens up, and you want them to be ahead of the blockers.

So in that instance, of course, you want them to trust their instincts, trust their coaching, trust their eyes, and get to the football. But there’s other times, like I said, probably mainly in the pass game, screen game. You don’t want them to be as aggressive, so they’re not overrunning the football or taking themselves out of the play. I don’t know if that answers your question, but it was a good question. No bad questions that we tell our players all the time. If you’re afraid to ask a question, you’re not goingmto get the answer. You know, we can work around to getting the right answer. So there is no bad questions.

On what the conversations are like with Troy Bowles about his playing time

I grabbed him last week. I thought we should have got him in the game a little earlier. Just with the flow of the game and the way it was going, we weren’t able to get him in. And then, of course, he gets in later in the game, and the two plays he’s in as a fourth down stop interception. You know what I mean? It’s just — which we’re happy about.

I just told him to keep working. The best coach in the world is competition. I’ve always said that you want a room full of highly competitive guys that are really, really good football players, because that makes them come out to practice the right way. Every time they get an opportunity, they know they have to be at their best. So we want those types of conversations with players all the time. That means we’re doing a great job with the guys that are in there, and they’re making plays, and the guys that are behind them.

They’re hungry to get in there. I think that’s a great room and a highly competitive room. And we want to keep getting the best players on the field. And it’s a blessing to have choices. I know some places where they don’t.

On Troy Bowles’ dad having an impact on his playing potential

And even now, I mean, it’d be hard to not have a big impact. Dad was a really good NFL football player, and has probably been a part of the NFL for a good, you know, 35, 40 years. I can’t date how old he is, but, you know, unbelievable man. One, you know, first off, a guy that’s coached with some of the legends in the game. I know Bill Parcells considers his dad like one of his sons, and when you get a chance to talk to him, if you guys ever do, he’s probably the most humble guy walking this building.

We never know about the accolades that he has. I think that’s kind of followed Troy, where Troy comes in. He’s not going to be the loudest guy. You’re not going to know what his background is and what his family, what his dad does. He just comes in and goes to work. And I think that’s one of the biggest things that his dad has instilled in him, is it’s still going to come down to what you do on the field. What I’ve done and where I am right now doesn’t matter. You have to kind of blaze your own path. And I think he’s done that.

Like I said, if you don’t ask him, you have to pull out of him who his dad is and what he does and everything like that. That’s not something he wears and tries to let the whole world know. And I think that’s just a testament to who he is. He wants to earn everything that he gets. And I think he gets that from his dad and the type of player that his dad was.

On whether Bowles went to the Lions game on Monday

I’m pretty sure he did. I know on Sunday, I mean, he’s going to probably be mad. I tell you, I know Sunday I saw him and he said — it was a day off. He’s like, coach, this is our day off. I said, you’re not going to see your dad? I know they just flew in on Sunday.

He’s like, no, I just might have to catch him on the next go around. Well, of course, we know a lot of people. Dave does as well as I do. And I was like, yeah, Troy was down here on Sunday night. I said, yeah, parents always going to win out on that one.

On the pass coverage with the linebackers

It’s once again, it’s the defense. When you say over the middle, I’m assuming you mean in that 20-yard area over the middle where linebackers drops could be? It’s all dependent on the coverage. We are a big part of that. And we do play a lot of zone. So we have to be able to match up in that area.

I’m not going to say we’re not the culprits in some of those situations, but there are some communication things and other things. I know to the naked eye, it might look like it’s our guys all the time, which I get that. No, no, no, no. You’re not the only person to ask me that question. So that’s why I’m answering for everybody else that thinks the same thing. But now I’m saying that the underneath coverage, when you’re playing zone, we are a big part of that.

And it’s not always, you know, us, as it might seem. But we have to do a better job there. We’re not where we need to be in that part of our coverage. Now, when we are in position, a lot of times they don’t throw the ball. So you won’t know that we were in position. Well, we need to be there when they are throwing it and it gets completed.

That’s something we will continue to keep working on for us to keep going to the level that we want to get to. We have to do a better job in some of our coverage aspects, too, because they’re not throwing it over our head. And I think that’s a good thing. We’re not giving up the big, big explosives, knock on wood. But we can’t give up those 20 to 30 yard chunk plays that keep drives going and give the offense momentum. And we’re a big part of that.