Everything Michigan TE coach Steve Casula said during his pre-Wisconsin press conference

On the Marlin Klein-Hogan Hansen tandem and whether Hansen is expected to play

Yeah, well, when they are out there together, when they have been out there together, it’s pretty good. You know, I think they can do all the things that we would ask a tight end to do. Each one of them has a skill set that is a little bit different from one another.

But, yeah, I think it puts a lot of stress on a defense when they’re in there together. Because when you play with two tight ends in the game, on first and second down, people typically have to make a decision, especially in our conference, well, how are we going to match personnel? And then third down adds a whole other layer to that.

Is it third and four? Is it third and six? Is it third and seven? Is it third and eleven? And there’s two of them out there. That kind of can kind of constrict and control what a defense is able to do. While we don’t face the same challenge when those two aren’t playing together. I was am hopeful that he is (ready to go), feel good about where he’s at. He’s out there every day. Those two together, we’re pretty good when those two are out there together, certainly.

On Brady Prieskorn’s status

Yeah, he really was fully, fully back maybe two weeks ago, and he’s doing great. He really is. You know, Brady’s had not a tough go of it, that’s not the right word, but he missed the bowl prep, whichmpeople say sometimes that those non-tournament bowl games don’t matter as much. That’s totally not true for the development of a roster in the next year’s team. He missed out on those 15 or however many practices, I think 15 practices, getting ready for the Alabama bowl game.

And then missed some of spring ball, too. So he’s missed some developmental time. But what he hasn’t missed is time in the training environment.

He’s changed his body and has a real deal skill set and has a super, super, super bright future here. And we’re just kind of getting him off the ground right now. But I wouldn’t be shocked if you looked up, you know, it’s a long season in college football. I would not be shocked at all if you didn’t see him at some point this year.

On the ‘secret sauce’ of a D2 program developing high-level D1 players

I would tell you this, having had the honor of working for Coach Anise and coaching at Ferris State, like if you were to go and watch them practice the standard of competitiveness and practice and the things they do in their program, like, forget the colors, forget the facilities, forget the county you’re in. It would kind of remind you a lot of this place in some regards in terms of the competitiveness, the championship standard. I think Coach Anise is now 366 and 66 across all college and high school football.

So, he’s kind of done it everywhere he’s been, but very similar to here. Incredibly connected amongst coach to player, player to coach, and player to player.mI don’t know that young man personally.

I followed his career. He’s a West Michigan kid, I know. But I’ve never met him. But, you know, it doesn’t surprise me, no. I think it’s just similar to what has occurred here over the years. There’s a championship standard and an expectation of winning.

But what they’re doing, what they’ve done, is pretty exceptional.

On his thoughts working with Chip Lindsey

He’s awesome. Working with him day to day, I’ve said this before, he’s fun to be around. He’s an expert, certainly, at what he does.

But is very open-minded in every direction about what we’ve done here or what someone else has done. All he cares about is doing whatever it is that we’re doing on offense the best way, the most sound way. Whatever gives us the best chance to win relative to tight ends.

I mean, if you look at his track record and background, he’s had, particularly at UNC, man, some really, really good ones, super productive ones. So there’s always one, at least one, on the field. He’s committed to getting them the ball and loves using them in the run game. But on a day-to-day, he’s awesome. Game day, he’s like this. Like steady Eddie, steady-handed.

When it goes really good, he celebrates. We have fun up there. So he’s got great energy about him.

I love Coach Lindsey. He’s great to work for. He’s awesome.

On Bryce Underwood’s expanded running game impacting how his group prepares

Well, I think when you start, and we’ve carried quarterback runs in some fashion in every game. But it doesn’t necessarily affect our room, but it does change how you look at the run game because it completely changes the numbers. There’s an old saying, if you’re willing, when you run the quarterback, it’s like having a 12th guy on the field.

There’s an extra gap for the defense to fit. There’s an extra ball carrier they have to account for. So it can change and alter how the edge of the defense is played.

It can change and alter when you’re in certain formations, how many people they stand in or out of the box. So I think it’s another layer the defense has to be concerned about on every down. Because it’s not just a first and second down thing.

It’s not just a red zone thing. But when you start to run the quarterback, and Coach Lindsey’s done that a ton in his past. And then also the quarterback’s created some of his own plays with his legs.

Both still throwing the ball and escaping the pocket to run. Well, that changes the type of coverages you want to play. That changes — do you have to have another person account for the quarterback in passing situations?

So it doesn’t necessarily change our group’s day. We’re going to block the same runs somehow, someway. It’s just that we get to add a hat.

So it’s fun to game plan quarterback runs and get creative with it.

On where he’s seen Underwood grow through four games

It’s like I’ve almost personally, to be candid, have been waiting for this moment to kind of look around like, yeah, well, he is just a freshman. And it really hasn’t happened. He’s handled the emotion of the game well, in my opinion.

He’s handled two really, like, yeah, they’re great environments, but tough road environments. Both in Norman and Lincoln, he’s handled them well. We do a lot on offense.

He’s got control at times at the line of scrimmage. Coach Lindsey and Josh Sinagoga have done a great job getting him ready to play. And they’re kind of waiting for this moment to pick, well, he’s just 18 years old.

And it really hasn’t happened. So in terms of growth, certainly, I don’t know if growth is the right word. But he’s revealed to us or shown us he’s willing to win any which way possible.

He’s all in. He’s a team guy. But he’s really, really good, man.

And I think probably, I would imagine if you were to ask him, the game’s probably slowing down for him in some respect. You get four games under your belt against some pretty good, pretty darn good teams. He’s been great, really has.

On the assessment of the TE room four games into the season

Yeah, so my assessment has been we’ve played really solid. And I don’t want to sound negative at all because I’m pleased with how they’ve played. But I really do believe this, through the first four games and then a bye week, the time for us to go and really get going and playing at a really, really high level is now.

We’ve played good. We have. But I think when we’re at our best in that room, the ceiling’s exceptional.

And to be honest with you, we’re deeper than we were a year ago. Obviously, we lost a generational player in Colston. I actually just got off the phone with him.

We lost maybe the best player I’ll ever coach. But, from top to bottom, I think this is as good a tight end room we’ve had here in some years. The ’22 room was super deep. But they were banged up a little bit, too. So the time for us to go play at an extremely high level is now.

And what does that look like? It’s no bad plays, and it’s making the exceptional ones. You’re not going to make every extraordinary play. You’re not. You’re going to strive to. But we’ve got to make more of those. And we’ve got to kind of limit our ties and losses. Because I think we’re capable of it. I really do.

So we’ve played good. And I’m pleased where they’re at. But to be honest with you, I think the time for us to go play at an extremely high level at tight ends right now.

On how he game plans against a defense that does one thing really well

Sure. So first off, you’ve got to look at, well, how or why is that? And for them, and this is a credit to them, one, it starts with the execution of their scheme and how they fit runs. But also, more importantly, it’s the fundamentals. It’s the defeating of blocks. It’s the tackling in space or close spaces.

It’s how they fit or lever the football to the next piece of their defense. And then you’ve got to assess, like, okay, who are their people that are a big part of that? And they’ve got depth. I’m really impressed by their two inside linebackers. Really good football players. And they’ve got good players up front, too.

But when you – we play in the Big Ten. So we’ve already played, I think, two top ten defenses. You know, it’s early in the year. We’ve already played two of them. God only knows how many more we’ll play. Just like somebody having to get ready for our defense.

So you can’t completely pivot and say, well, we can’t run the ball this week. But you have to be mindful and thoughtful about how you’re going to do it. Every game is not going to look the same in terms of how you approach running the football.

So we’ve worked diligently to put ourselves in the best circumstance this week to run the best runs we got against the fronts we’re going to run them against. But they’re good. It’s not one of those statistics that you turn on the tape and go, oh, that’s kind of surprising. Like, no, yeah, it looks about like 50 yards a game. Like, they’re good. They are.

On allowing Underwood to open up the passing game more impacts preparation in practice

Well, I think it’s like anything else. And much has been made about our Oklahoma game and the games thereafter. I think, first of all, we go into every which game aligned and unified about how we see the game.

And then not every game is the same, and not every game exactly plays out exactly how you think it’s going to. So I don’t know that there’s been this complete pivot or shift in mindset or mentality. But we do know he’s one of our best players, and he’s a really good player, and he can get the ball to other really good ones, too.

So sometimes, you know, hindsight’s 20-20 in terms of how a game went. But this thing’s built pretty sturdy here, where we’re not going to be overreactive to success or failure. Just because one game looked like this and we scored X amount of points or had X amount of yards, I don’t know that you can turn around and say the next game plan’s going to be the exact same.

Because the defense has changed, and the personnel changed. Conversely, just because it doesn’t go good, that doesn’t mean that you can abandon what your identity is. Our identity here is built on the other 353 days of the year in terms of how we want to play football. And does that mean doing things, repeating things that aren’t working? No. That’d be the definition of insanity.

But at the same time, we’ve got a clear vision of what we’re trying to accomplish, and we try not to let our circumstances cloud our vision. If that makes sense. But yeah, I think there has been some adjustment, and we’re getting comfortable with a lot of new players.

And I think week one, week two, week three, you’re still kind of trying in any season, sorting out when you have a new group of guys, 15, 20 guys playing together, exactly what that’s going to look like. But I think we’re hitting our stride, comfortable, feel really good about it.

On Klein’s level of play through three games he’s played in

Marlin’s playing good. He really is. You know, he’s played well in the run game as a pass protector, it’s probably his least talked about skill set. He’s as good as we got, in my opinion, regardless of position. In the pass game, it’s like anything else.

You go and do something really good, boy, your standard resets. So, continually pushing him to make those exceptional and extraordinary plays all the time. He’s capable, very pleased with Marlin. He’s playing well, playing good. But to be quite honest, I don’t want to give off the impression like I’m down on the guys. I’m not at all.

We expect him to, we need him to, and he expects to, and he needs to. So I feel good about where he’s at. But I would reiterate what I said about the group. Time is now for us to take off.

On the leadership of the team

I know that they spoke to the team a time or two like they typically do. Coach Moore has always said this, priority number one here is our players. This is a player-led and player-driven program, as it always has been. So I think we’ve got great leadership. I think you look at Derrick Moore, he’s a guy who’s been here since 2022. He’s done it the right way.

He’s done the dirty work on the defensive side of the ball early in his career, and is now, will leave here as a great, great, great, memorable, memorable player. You look at Rod Moore, he’s done it the right way. Came here when it wasn’t maybe fancy or sexy or popular to come here.

I think Rod might have been our second commitment in that recruiting class, maybe after J.J., maybe Gio was committed to us, too. But Rod committed to us during COVID, and that 2020 year didn’t go great. And Rod Moore showed up here in June, and I’m pretty sure, I don’t believe he was a midyear, showed up here in June, and got himself ready to play, and has battled adversity.

Ernest Hausmann, his experience here, and what he’s done, he’s the right kind of guy. And you look at our leaders on offense, kind of all the same things. Gio’s waited it out, waited his turn, and has done it the right way.

Same thing goes for Marlin, and same thing goes for Max. I mean, we have great, outstanding leadership. And those are just the defined captain leaders. We’ve got other leaders that are great, too. So I’ve always felt strong about our leadership. This is a really good group.

On challenges Wisconsin presents in pass defense

Oh, they’re good in the secondary too. They’ve got a corner who is a second- or third-team All-American in 2023, that’s a really nice player. You can tell that they’re well-coached.

Their defensive staff is exceptional. We’ve coached against Coach Tressel before, obviously, his time at Michigan State. Coach Haynes was there with them, so it’s clear that they’re aligned.

It’s no surprise that a Luke Fickell-led team is going to play good defense. And then we also know their linebacker coach, Matt Mitchell, their D-line coach, EJ Whitlow. You know, these guys have coached against each other before. They’re super well-coached. They’ve got good players. But I think when you get ready for any game, you have some ideas or thoughts about things that we do that we think can put stress on them. I’m sure they would tell you the same thing about us. So it’s going to be a good challenge. They’re well-coached. They’ve got good players.

On the approach to practice after good play the first few weeks

I think when you go into a bye week, I can speak about my position specifically, and you have a sample size of four games both at the micro and macro level, there’s things that each individual player needs to work on, focus on, improve upon. There’s things the unit needs to focus on, improve upon. But you also can’t forget what you’re good at either.

You’ve got to continue to train and sharpen those things as well. So I think it’s finding the balance of not just because it’s becoming mundane or the same. Like, it’s okay to do the same drills a lot.

You know, maybe you change the picture a little bit or what have you. But at the same time, really, the bye week came at a perfect time where we could say, hey, we’ve been doing this for a month. This is what you need to do better.

This is what you need to do better. This is what we need to do better. What can I do better? This is what I know I need to do better, speaking about myself as a coach. So I think it’s both.

On what a Luke Fickell-led program can do to challenge Michigan

Yeah, well, I think it’s like anything else. It’s the same thing that we have access to, our head coach on offense. I would imagine, and I don’t know the inner workings of their program, but it kind of gives you a 10,000-foot view of getting a defense ready, or maybe deficiencies of what a practice looked like, or a specific defensive or offensive calls.

I don’t know exactly how it works there, but I would imagine they’ve got a bevy of experienced guys that have called defense and been head coaches, and I would imagine it’s a great resource for them.