Last year with Jesse Minter at the helm of the defense, the Vanderbilt Commodores tied for dead last in team sacks, according to official NCAA statistics, coming in at 118th overall. Minter’s squad didn’t perform much better in total yards surrendered per game either.
Stats like these are jaw-droppingly poor and have provided the frothing Buckeye faithful plenty of fodder for ribbing given the recent successes of their new defensive coordinator, Jim Knowles. But as usual with blather that emanates from Michigan’s southeastern neighbor, this isn’t the whole story. Setting aside the obvious fact that Minter will have a much higher caliber of athlete at Michigan than at Vanderbilt, several figures from last year give room for optimism.