ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Michigan Wolverines defensive back TJ Metcalf said he and his teammates reflected on their upset loss to the USC Trojans and the path forward for the defense and the team down the final six games of the regular season.
Metcalf said the team needs to come together more than ever after two losses as the Washington Huskies come into the Big House on Saturday, (Oct 18).
Recommended Videos
“We can’t really just harp on that,” said Metcalf. “We just need to figure out what we need to do to get better and keep improving on this upcoming Saturday.”
Tackling
Tackling angles and confusion were noted as issues during the USC game, which Metcalf acknowledged as the main area of improvement.
“We just got to come more prepared,” Metcalf said. “I know we’re going to get better at it.”
Regarding tackling practice, the team works on it almost every day except Fridays before games.
“We can’t do that every day because we got a football game to play on Saturday,” Metcalf said. “But we do work on tackling a lot.”
Metcalf shared his goals for the rest of the season: “Just keep coming in with a mindset of getting better every day. Focus on guiding my left and right. Be a great teammate each and every day.”
When asked about challenges facing up-tempo offenses with frequent rotations like the Huskies have, Metcalf said it’s not really challenging as long as players know when to adjust.
“We got the guys in the room for that,” Metcalf said.
Metcalf said tackling USC was challenging for multiple reasons, but emphasized the need to “put our bodies on guys and make people feel us.”
On the topic of secondary players rotating positions, Metcalf said it did not cause confusion.
“I think we are prepared to know any other spots,” Metcalf said.
Finally, Metcalf acknowledged the team still has goals despite two losses.
“We just got to keep getting better every day if we still want to accomplish those goals,” Metcalf said.