ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The Michigan football defense hasn't perhaps been quite as good as fans and the media anticipated before the season, with some issues seemingly popping up every game.

The Wolverines have struggled at times defending the pass and defending the run, but in some games, they're elite at one aspect and not the other, and vice versa. There have been issues on third down and sometimes tackling. But the maize and blue have faced some elite offenses compared to previous years and Wink Martindale is still acclimating to the college game after coming from the NFL.

After the Oregon game and before this Saturday's contest at Indiana, Martindale, the team's defensive coordinator, shared his thoughts on the state of the defense, what's working and where there needs to be improvement. Here is everything he had to say.

Opening statement

Well, I think that you saw two different halves in Oregon, and I like the way we attacked it when we played at Michigan State. And I like the last three games, I think that I've been most proud of is the fight of each and every one of the coaches and the kids in these games, and how they've responded to some difficult situations. With that, I'll open it up to questions.

Being without Will Johnson and Jyaire Hill vs. Oregon

Well, I think that you play with who you got, and that was a really good team who was ranked just like IU is, high on third down. So there's some space plays that we've just missed, and we got to find some different ways to affect the quarterback. But that's hard to do when you're down men and everything else. But it's going to be a challenge for us this week. You know you're playing another offense that has 13 transfers. I think Oregon's quarterback, that was his 58th career start. I think this Rourke, I think it's his 42nd or 43rd career start. So, you got experienced guys back there pulling the trigger, so it's going to be a tough challenge for us.

Defending the deep ball

Well, I think that one of the things that they came into the, looking back on it, their game plan was to throw the ball over our head. And there was a couple times that did get over our head. But I think for the most part, we did a nice job. And LaMar and the secondary guys have all did a nice job of keeping everything top-down in coverage. We took away a lot of shots, too, if you watch the tape, so when you just throw a lot on it, I think there was two that they got us in cover one, I thought Aamir played as hard as Aamir could play. I was proud of him. I was proud of his resolve and how tough he is as a corner. And, you know, we had to move Zeke outside, and I thought he held up pretty well.

Is he surprised at how this season has gone?

Well, I mean, you lose the games that you lose, you're disappointed. But when you also, when you've done it as long as I've done it, there's seasons like this where things just happen, you know? And I told the defense before the season even started, it's going to be a different year. It's going to be a year. It's going to be a different season. And, continue to harp on trying to get our depth to come along. I think there's a couple guys that are starting to step up now, finally, that you don't have to play so many guys for so long, but it's like one of those things that, it's a tough spot for the position coaches, and also for myself, is when the game's on the line, you want Mason, you want K.G., you want your guys in the game. And a lot of these games we played of late, the game's been on the line for four quarters, so it's hard to find that spot, that sweet spot.

And I thought we did a better job of it in the second half, and then also the last couple games, we started making guys come out of the game, so that we could just find that sweet spot with that it would help us. But, from what I expected before the season, you always expect to win. As a coach, you do, but you also know that anything can happen, and that --the thing that I always talk to the players about, losing is learning. And it always has been. Different ways you can do things, different ways they can prepare, different ways we can prepare. And injuries are something that crop up during the season, and that's why, really, I think in college football, you need to be three deep, not two deep, but three deep. And I know that's where our success was the two prior years, is the depth that we had.

You're seeing all the guys that are starting now were backups. I mean, that's facts. And we just got to keep working our tail off to keep bringing depth in here. And, it's like I said, this offense is going to be the oldest offense by age that we faced here at IU. At IU, they hit the trail, they hit the portal, just like Oregon did. So they have just as many portal receivers as what Oregon did and everything else. So it's gonna be a tough challenge.

What gives him confidence about the future

Well, I think that what gives me the confidence is watching the position coaches, which I've told you before, I think they're the best in the country, not only coaching their positions, but in recruiting. And I think that we're going to have to, attack this offseason as hard as we can to turn some spots around and turn some spots over. So it'll be interesting to see how it plays out. But I know they're working their tails off. I know with all the recruits we've had in here, we've had some good recruits. I know I'm not allowed to talk about them. I do know that much. But that gives me confidence, and look at the guys that are in here. But the thing that's crazy now, it's not just recruiting, it's money. So that puts a whole different twist to it.

Is he looking for more ball disruption?

You're always looking for more of that. And I think they come in bunches. We've been really close on some plays. Like Aamir was close, as you saw there on the first touchdown, the ball came out, but it's still called a touchdown. I don't even know what catch is anymore.

LaMar Morgan as a recruiter

I mean, he's just relentless. And they all are. They're just relentless recruiters. They have their two phones that they have in each meeting, and, computers and everything else that they can answer questions. And, that's a little bit different for me, like in a defensive meeting, guys getting up because they got a call. And, I'm used to it now, but initially that was, that was a change. But he's just relentless on getting quality football players, quality people and quality football players here. And, the same thing with BJ, and same thing with Lou. Lou was here till 12:30 last night, talking to recruits.

Was he surprised by money in recruiting?

I didn't even think about it. I mean, I know it's like free agency. That's really easy to say. It's really easy for you guys to say, well, it's this, this and this, and, until this, until there's salary caps and everything else involved in college football, you just don't know what to believe and who's actually getting what. And it's sort of like the wild, wild west, but I know they're getting it. So, it's both portal and the freshman, incoming freshman recruiting.

The team's tackling issues

I don't think that it's been an issue throughout the year. I don't want to lead that off with saying that. I think that we've had some missed tackles. We've had some games where individuals missed some tackles, and I see them working, better with their angles and eyes. We've done tackling circuits the last, really, last three weeks, last four, four weeks.  Get some more focused on their angles and everything else. But I also think there's a part to the game where there's a lot of space out there. That guy's on scholarship too, and sometimes he makes people miss, but I don't see the missed tackles as some other people see it. I think that we've done a nice job of playing hard, and that's been a trademark forever, and it'll continue to be a trademark. But, just keep running the football and having good eyes and good angles, and you'll tackle better.

Is college what he thought it would be and has he considered his future?

Sure. I mean, it's like, I haven't sat down and thought about the long haul. When you're 61 you just try to think about tomorrow. But, yeah, I mean, I'm glad that I'm here. I love the players that we have. I think that it's obviously a different game. But, it's a lot better than being in some places that are 2-7.

Rushing defense issues lately

Well, I think that it's a lot more split safety because of different people you have playing in the game. And then when you decide, when you go into a game, game-plan-wise, like a team against Oregon, that you're going to play top-down coverage and not give up the (big play), because every play they line up, they could have a big play. If you just play single-high safety, and not and load the box up, it's a flip of a coin. They could have a big play because how fast they were in the receiver game.

And I think some quarterback scrambles have hurt those stats. We need to do a better job of keeping them in the pocket.  ? We need to do that against Michigan State, who, I think that quarterback is going to be a really good quarterback as well. So, it's a work in progress. It's going to continue to be a work in progress until we play that last one. And I think we got just the guys for the challenge as far as coaches and players. And, that's what makes me come to work every day and enjoy the job that I have.

Overall thoughts on the defense

Well, I mean, I think that, obviously there's things we can do better, but I think that there's things that we've improved on, sudden change defense, things like that throughout the year. And I'm proud of the guys that we have, so I'm not going to rate the defense where I think it's at, or anything else. I'm just proud of the fact that they play hard. They love Michigan, they love their teammates, and they don't let each other down. No matter what the situation is, we just keep answering the bell. And that's what makes you proud as a coach. That's what makes it worth it to put the work in, is when you see how these kids are and they play hard.

Everybody   wants to talk gloom and doom, but there's a lot of guys that are playing well. Those two tackles are playing at a high, high level. Oh, the whole front four is and, you're seeing improving inside linebacker play. And then, secondary-wise, we knew going into it that we're going to be light. And, once you start getting some injuries piling up there, you can see the lack of experience, and, you're starting to play true freshmen out there and things like that, which is, haven't seen that in a while. I mean, I think the last true freshman to play was Charles Woodson. He was pretty good.

How quickly does money come up in recruiting?

That would be a question for all the position coaches. Really, I'm sort of like the closer. So when, when they start talking money, I just say, 'Yeah, well, we'll get to that.' And I know nothing about it, but let's make no mistake. But I do know this just from listening. When someone says money is not important, money is important and it's important to all of us. I mean, it's not like you -- look it's important to all of us. So, I mean, that's just where we're at, where you can have a guy who's sixth on your list and a school that has no business competing with a Big Ten school -- I'm not just saying Michigan, a Big Ten school can come in and grab him because they're looking at that guy is their top guy to get. Does that make sense? Where you're saying, this is our sixth guy, there's no way we can go that high, but it ends up everybody gets that high. It just keeps escalating.

I think it's unsustainable where we're at right now, and I don't know how long it'll last. So that's when I start thinking about -- who asked me about long term, that's where I started thinking about that.

Are the days of developing freshmen over?

I don't want to say that. I don't want to say that because we have the opportunity to get some really good freshmen. I know I just heard Steve talk about our opportunity scrimmages and things like that. We're still doing that. I think it's, you're going into the unknown because it's going to go to 105 on the roster. And, they're saying they're going to have this rule, they're going to say they're having this rule. And you guys have all covered the NCAA a lot longer than what I've been in it this second time around. And I know when I hear a rule, I don't believe it until I see it -- except the catch rule.

Can this defense be a quick fix?

Oh yeah. Without a doubt, without a doubt.

Makari Paige playing nickel and Zeke Berry playing boundary

Oh yeah. And that's what I'm saying when I said it's it's really easy to come to work here because the effort they put into it. They study their tails off. It's important to them. They're great. They're great, great people, with what Zeke did and Makari doing what -- Makari has done it before, where Zeke, it was fairly new to him, especially this year. And, just to watch him compete that I was proud of, proud for him, happy for him.

This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: What Wink Martindale said after Oregon and before Indiana