ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Way back in August, a month before the start of the season, Michigan edge rusher Mike Morris talked about how the defense would fare this fall without a few of the standouts now in the NFL. Mostly, though, he talked about Mazi Smith, the man in the middle and the rock of the Wolverines' defense.
Smith, Morris said, told the defensive players this group would be about all 11 on the field and wouldn’t funnel through a couple of key players.
“I’m quoting Mazi Smith: 'Mazi wants us to be a more cohesive unit,'” Morris said at the time. “It’s 11 people working in a cohesive unit to be the best defense that it can be.”
