Michigan DBs know matchup with Washington passing attack is ‘gonna come down to us’

HOUSTON — Once the opening handshakes concluded Saturday morning at the George R. Brown Convention Center, Steve Clinkscale didn’t break another smile. He was too locked in.

Michigan’s defensive backs coach and passing game coordinator is in the middle of the biggest assignment of his life this week, designing a game plan to stop the nation’s most prolific aerial attack.

While there are many factors which will decide if Michigan football or Washington wins the national championship at NRG Stadium on Monday night, the matchup that seems to be at the top of the list is U-M’s elite secondary against Washington’s star-studded wide receiver group.

“It’s why we do this,” Clinkscale told the Free Press. “I think this is the most talented receiver group we’ve faced. Yes they have a star, but I think they have three stars. … We gotta do a great job of keeping them in front of us, challenging them when we need contested plays, leveraging the perimeter and making plays so we can win this game.”

Michigan defensive back Mike Sainristil speaks during national championship game media day at George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas on Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024.

PRACTICE OBSERVATIONS: Rayshaun Benny still out in Houston, Makari Paige participates

Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. is among the most talented in the nation. U-M is familiar with the sixth-year senior who once starred at Indiana and was the Heisman Trophy runner-up this season after completing 66.7% (336 of 504) of his passes for 4,648 yards, 35 touchdowns and nine interceptions.

Most of those touchdowns were caught by the aforementioned three stars — Rome Odunze, Ja’Lynn Polk and Jalen McMillan — each of whom possesses different skills and has numbers that look like they came out of a video game.

Odunze, 6 feet 3 and 215 pounds, is the team’s top…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/michigan-dbs-know-matchup-washington-004438982.html

Author : Detroit Free Press

Publish date : 2024-01-07 00:44:38

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