Brady Hoke: No Michigan football starter job is safe

All the jobs on Michigan football will be up for grabs. Brady Hoke may be on the hot seat, but it’s not just his job in question. Every day, Michigan’s coach will evaluate if his starters are working hard enough.

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Via SI.com, he looked at talented senior quarterback Devin Gardner, and said: “If Devin Gardner slips up, practice-wise, game-wise, he won’t be the quarterback.” He saw defensive end Frank Clark and inside linebacker Jake Ryan, both All-Big Ten-type players, and said: “If Frank Clark isn’t practicing his ass off every day, Frank Clark’s not gonna be in there. We moved Jake inside and it gives him 50 percent more chances to make plays, but he knows, if he doesn’t play, this other guy is coming in.”

Hoke isn’t traditional. He generally doesn’t wear a headset at games. He’s calling the jobs of his best players into question. But he knows what he’s doing. He’s intentional and he knows his players like it.

“You walk through that weight room and they’re pushing each other,” Hoke said. “They’re competing against each other, and they’re fighting for the same positions, but they’re helping each other.”

So what if people say he’s liable to get fired this season for his outside-the-box coaching methods? Hoke is sticking to his guns, because his record may not be showing it, but he sees his methods working.

“It’s like not wearing a headset, right?” he said. “I don’t worry about what other people think.”

It seems, Hoke will be scrutinized more than ever this season. But he can’t hear them without that headset.

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