University of Michigan defensive coordinator Greg Robinson sees progress in his defense

“We’re watching practice, we’re like ‘Dang, that looks pretty good out there. It’s starting to click,’” Martin said. “A lot of times guys don’t say anything about it but you can just sense it, you know.”

Robinson returned to a coordinator’s role after being fired by Syracuse last season, but every indication is that Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez is giving him wide latitude as Rodriguez worries about the offense and the search for a starting quarterback.

It also might be the easiest way to explain why Rodriguez often seems to not be as informed about defensive matters. Yet he believes his team’s defense is progressing.

“I think so,” Rodriguez said. “Greg and I have not sat down and talked at length about where we’re at scheme-wise and all that, but I like what we’re doing. I like some of the things that Greg is teaching and our defensive staff is teaching. Sometimes I get upset at the defense. You get bothered when you give up big plays but sometimes it’s just a matter of an offensive guy really executing and doing pretty well.

“But, we’ve got a little ways to go. As a matter of fact, a long ways to go in a lot of respects.”

The time for those concerns, though, is dwindling.

Rodriguez said he’s going to become more defensively-focused this weekend as Michigan transitions from installations to preparing for Western Michigan. Within the next day or so, the installation will stop. Whatever Michigan’s defense has learned will have to carry the Wolverines throughout the year, save for a few tweaks and adjustments, depending on the opponents.

And whatever they’ve done will have to be good enough to win with.

“For a while there, early in training camp, these guys were drinking out of a fire hose,” Robinson said. “It comes at ‘em, comes at ‘em, comes at ‘em. But it’s slowing down now and as it comes closer, there’s a time where we just kind of shut it off.

“But they’ve absorbed a lot of things.”

Despite all the switching, Robinson sees progress, especially in some of the younger players Michigan is going to need to be big contributors in both its starting 11 and as critical reserves.

“You see glimmers of it all the time,” junior linebacker Obi Ezeh said.

Michigan will need more than glimmers to help fix a defense that was 67th nationally last year (366.92 yards per game) and struggled against the pass, allowing 230 yards a game.

Even though the scheme will change, depth is still a key issue for the Wolverines, so much so that Rodriguez said a couple of injuries on the defensive front and he may look at players to switch positions.

That isn’t going to change the way Robinson has taught his players to attack. He wants to have a defense that will be known as an attacking defense, although his definition doesn’t involve a constant blitz.

“Sometimes that’s taken wrong, that it means everyone is going to blitz every play, but that’s not it,” Robinson said. “We’re going to try and control the tempo on defense and try to dictate to the offense.

“That’s our intention.”

Between Michigan’s youth and lack of quality, experienced depth, it’s tough to say how well Michigan has truly adjusted to Robinson’s scheme until Sept. 5 against Western Michigan and then a week later against nationally-ranked Notre Dame.

It doesn’t mean, though, that Michigan doesn’t believe.

“I know the first game isn’t too far away but there still is a lot of work as far as details on defense,” Martin said. “Just small things but overall, it’s really close to being there. We just have to keep on working and things will come together for us.

“I can’t put a number on it, but we’re pretty dang close.”

Michael Rothstein covers University of Michigan basketball for annarbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558, by e-mail at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or on Twitter @mikerothstein.