For Greg Mattison, spring ball boils down to two things: improving his starters and developing depth.
For Michigan football’s Greg Mattison, spring ball boils down to two things: improving his starters and developing depth.
Mattison, who has coached the defensive line at Michigan for the past three years, is well-known for rotating players in and out of games. It’s not a novel concept; doing so keeps his starters fresh throughout all four quarters. The process, though, is variable. Some years, it takes longer to develop quality depth at all four spots along the line. Other years, Mattison has a good idea of his depth chart after spring.
This season might be more of the latter.
Mattison believes he’s found several young defensive linemen who have earned the right to playing time. Players given praise included fifth-year senior Lawrence Marshall, who has moved all over in his time at Michigan and redshirt freshmen Donovan Jeter and Luiji Vilain, who missed all of last year with injuries.
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But there were five who earned extensive amounts of praise from Mattison: Aubrey Solomon, Phillip Paea, Carlo Kemp, Kwity Paye and — chief among them — Michael Dwumfour.
Kemp, a redshirt sophomore, is rotating at multiple positions and has been taken under the wing of junior end Rashan Gary.
“Carlo is doing really well,” Mattison said. “Another guy that is really starting to show signs is Phillip Paea. Phillip is really starting to come on. And Aubrey is Aubrey. Aubrey’s going to be a very talented player, I already consider him one of the guys.”
Paye, meanwhile, has made significant strides in the weight room. According to Mattison, the sophomore is now “250-some” pounds, up from 230, his weight when he arrived in Ann Arbor.
“He’s a lot stronger, and he hasn’t lost any quickness at all,” Mattison said. “He’s playing like a guy that’s been here before, not like a freshman. And I’m really looking for good things out of him. He has a summer in that weight room with these guys, watch out. I think we’re going to find someone that you’re really going to be excited about.”
To Mattison, that constitutes a “really, really good spring.” What constitutes “one of the best springs” that Mattison can remember? Dwumfour’s performance thus far.
“Dwumfour, he’s so quick off the football,” Mattison said. “He has a lot of Mo Hurst in him. There’s times when you see him come off the ball and you just go, ‘Whoa, that’s really good.’ And he’s a little bit thicker and a little bit bigger.”
Added Khaleke Hudson: “He’s a great player. He had an awesome practice (today). He went off. He was playing his butt off. He’s a great player, he’s a hard worker, and that’s not surprising to me, how he’s coming along.”
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Mattison hasn’t just been pleased with Dwumfour’s physical improvement. He also believes the sophomore has matured significantly. That overall maturation could be a hint that Dwumfour won’t only be in the rotation — that perhaps he’ll fill the spot opened up by Hurst, the player he’s most often compared to.
“(Dwumfour’s) always shown flashes. But now all of a sudden he’s getting more mature,” Mattison said. “(There were) times when he’d play really good, really good, really good and then all of a sudden take a play off or he wasn’t ready to take that next play. He’s not doing that now. He’s pushing himself way past where he usually would, and that’s a real good sign for us.”
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