Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Western Michigan's Defensive Coordinator: Steve Morrison


The defensive coordinator for the Western Michigan Broncos has a familiar name to most Wolverine fans. It's Steve Morrison, who played linebacker for the Michigan Wolverines between 1990 and 1994 under then Wolverine head coach Gary Moeller.

Here's Mr. Morrison take on the Broncos young defensive secondaryquoted from Yahoo.com's Western Michigan Team Report:

“You can, as coaches, try to prepare them and put them in situations, and that’s what we do. We try to get them in as many negative situations and see how they respond. But certainly it’s still going to be that first time they line up and the first time something goes bad—and it will. And how are they going to respond to that?”

The Broncos secondary this fall will feature mainly upperclassmen, including safeties Mario Armstrong (Jr.) and Jamail Berry (Jr.) and cornerbacks Josh Price (So.) and Andy Dorcely (Sr.). However, Mario Armstrong is only player with significant game experience and statistics, with 64 tackles and 1 interception recorded in 2008.

Sources from inside Michigan's practices this week indicate that the Broncos' secondary will very likely face Michigan freshman quarterback Tate Forcier on the first offensive series for the Wolverines on Saturday. The other two Wolverine quarterbacks, Denard Robinson and Nick Sheridan, are also expect to rotate in during the course of the contest.

Western Michigan's historical football team record over the last 20 years on opening day can be described in only one word: abysmal. In fact, despite a tremendous overall record in Kalamazoo, Bill Cubit is 0-4 so far in season openers since coming to Western Michigan in 2005.

The last time the Broncos won their season opener was in 2004 versus Tennessee-Martin 42-0. The last BCS (Division I) opponent that Western Michigan defeated on opening day was in 1997 versus Temple 34-14.

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