Overheard at Rose Bowl press conference: Michigan not scared of ‘Bama, SEC

LOS ANGELES – The countdown is on for kickoff between No. 1 Michigan and No. 4 Alabama in Monday’s Rose Bowl national semifinal.

Both teams are in California and held their first official bowl news conferences on Thursday. Michigan defensive coordinator Jesse Minter and several defensive players spoke to reporters inside the Sheraton Grand in Los Angeles.

Here are the highlights from Thursday’s interviews:

“It’s really an 11-on-1 mentality. His ability when he drops back to, one, scramble to throw the ball really, really far downfield or to dump the ball off to the speed guys, but also his ability to take the ball himself.

“It’s 11 on 1. We’ve got to do a great job up front with our rush lanes and integrity of that, but at the same time, our guys have to go play fast. I think there’s times where you can over-coach those guys of sitting there waiting to see what he’s going to do, and then there’s times where you’ve got to let those guys roll, maybe have somebody else there if they screw it up. But I’m looking forward to our guys facing that challenge and confident in our players’ ability to go out there and have some success.”

— Minter on facing Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe, who finished sixth in the Heisman voting while passing for 2,718 yards and 23 touchdowns and rushing for 765 yards (not including sacks) and 12 scores.

“It’s funny that I keep hearing everybody say we’re scared because we got ‘Bama. It was more like the shock of not seeing an undefeated Power Five team get picked. We kind of figured that all the undefeated teams were going to come, and we were just debating on who would slip into that fourth spot.

“So not seeing Florida State in there, it was kind of a shock to everybody. It wasn’t really like fear, never that, of any team. It was just more that shock. It’s funny that I keep hearing about it like everybody is, ‘Y’all were scared. I saw y’all in that video.’ OK, it is what it is. Everybody’s going to talk. Everybody’s going to have their opinions.”

— Michigan linebacker Michael Barrett on the viral reaction video of Michigan learning it would face Alabama in the Rose Bowl.

“He says he doesn’t hold grudges but he remembers. That’s the way he lives. He doesn’t hold grudges but he remembers everything. That’s the way we all live by. We remember everything that’s happened, everything media have said, anything anybody ever said, anything anybody’s ever done.

“We don’t hold grudges but we remember. I wouldn’t say it’s a chip on our shoulders. It’s just we know what we can do. We know what we can achieve, so being able to go out there and just put down the line, trust the guy next to you, put down the line because our coaches prepared us the right way, the right mentality that each player has. We all have the same mentality.”

— Michigan linebacker Junior Colson on fighting through adversity and proving doubters wrong. The team was without head coach Jim Harbaugh on the sideline for six games this season and has been engulfed in sign-stealing scandal since October.

“I looked at some calls that I definitely wanted back, but also just kind of how we played. I thought there was times we took bad angles. Fundamentally, there were some things at the line of scrimmage that I didn’t think we did great. Looked back at our preparation and things that maybe we didn’t make a big enough emphasis as we were preparing.

“Once again, you lose, you learn, you try to get better from it. Then eventually you look back and say, man, I’m glad that happened, even though at the time it’s a terrible feeling and you disappoint a lot of people and you disappoint yourself more than anybody. But eventually any adversity is an opportunity to grow, an opportunity to get better. I think if you sit there and say, ‘Hey, we were 13-1, let’s just run it back, it worked out pretty good, then you set yourself up for disappointment. Try to evolve, try to do things to get better. I definitely think there’s a lot of areas that we’ve played better because of that, and once again, just major props and appreciation to the players for them buying into that and believing in the emphasis and working at it, and it’s showed up.”

— Minter on growing from last year’s 51-45 loss to TCU in the semifinals. Michigan ranks No. 1 in scoring defense and No. 2 in scoring defense in 2023.

“If I was a coach, I would say probably some slacks. I would go with a slack and a button down, honestly. Probably a hat. I’d probably be more laid back, probably sweats and a hoodie. I probably wouldn’t do the khakis like Coach Harbaugh. I definitely might throw a hat on.”

— Barrett on what his game day fit would be if he was a coach.

“Everybody knows, overall, they are a good team. They have really good speed. I just think it’s not really a different team that we haven’t seen. I think every team has speed that’s a high-level team that we’ve played. I just think that we’ve just got to stop everybody that’s on their offense.”

— Safety Rod Moore on what sticks out about Alabama.

“No, he keeps it honest with us. That’s one thing. He tells us all of his thoughts. If he’s meeting with the team, he tells us. Or if he’s, ‘Hey, I’m with you guys throughout the year,’ he tells us.

“He’s a man of his words. Everything he say we always trust in him and believe in him. He’s never going to go back on his word. Those things never faze us. At the end of the day, we know we will get our answer from him. He will tell us at some point. He’s not going to hide it and we’ll find it from the media.”

— Colson on rumors of Harbaugh potentially being interested in going back to the NFL.