Metellus Has Become Accountable in Being Best He Can Be
10/16/2018 11:27:00 AM | Football, Features
By Steve Kornacki
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- There is an oft-quoted poem entitled "The Man in the Glass," and it focuses on how you can't fool the face looking back at you in the mirror.
"When you get what you want in your struggle for self
and the world makes you king for a day
Just go to the mirror and look at yourself
and see what that man has to say
For it isn't your father or mother or wife
who judgment upon you must pass.
The fellow whose verdict counts the most in your life
is the one staring back from the glass ...
Bill Parcells recited much of it while speaking to the New York Jets before departing that head coaching job, and pop star Michael Jackson wrote a variation with "Man in the Mirror," about affecting change by starting with oneself.
University of Michigan junior strong safety Josh Metellus has his own version of self-reflection. Metellus gets up one hour before the actual team-initiated alarm in their hotel on game days and begins his preparation by staring into the bathroom mirror.
"I look myself in the mirror and say, 'This is the game you've been waiting for all week.' Growing up, I played a lot of sports, and it always came down to: 'Just do what you can do. Don't try to do too much. You've worked too hard. You did what you have to do in practice. You did what you have to do in the weight room. Just go out there and be you. Be yourself. Nobody can take that from you. Nobody can keep you from doing what you do.'"
Metellus looks himself in the eyes while repeating those self-affirmations.
"It just reminds me of all the things I've been through, all the adversity in my life," he said. "All the little things, all the big things. But at the end of the day, I'm here standing and playing for Michigan. I've got a chance to do something great. We've got a chance to do something great. And that all starts with every guy doing their job. So, I tell myself, 'You've made it here. Take advantage of it. You have the talent. You have the ability. Now, take advantage.'"
Carpe diem, Josh tells himself.
He certainly did that against SMU, making seven tackles, breaking up one pass, and returning an interception 73 yards on a determined run as the final seconds of the first half ticked away.
"As soon as I caught the ball," said Metellus, "everyone on the defense turned to find someone to block. Everyone ran down with me and came to congratulate me. That shows how we grew as a team, grew as a brotherhood."
Metellus also picked off a pass against Nebraska, becoming the first Wolverine with interceptions in consecutive games since current Dallas Cowboys cornerback Jourdan Lewis in 2015. Metellus got another one Saturday (Oct. 13) against Wisconsin.
"We were in a zone coverage," said Metellus, "and I was playing the deep guy. I knew I had David Long under me (in coverage), and I saw a vertical route going right (side) to Lavert Hill. When I saw the ball thrown (by Alex Hornibrook), I thought David was about to catch a pick. So I thought about having to block. But then when the ball came, I saw both of them go up, and I knew there was a possibility he'd get the ball or it'd get tipped. So I tried to square up and make a play on the ball, too, and it just bounced right to me.
"The football gods blessed me right there."
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said of Metellus, who also tied for the team lead with five tackles and broke up another pass: "He had a terrific game this past week. He was our Defensive Player of the Game. ... It was his best game as a Wolverine, and he continues to be a solid tackler and a good coverage safety, and it's great to get his hands on the ball with another interception and create the big play. He's an ascending player."
Pass defense wasn't a strength in Metellus' first season as a starter in 2017, when he didn't make an interception. But he took that to heart and worked diligently to improve under defensive backs coach Chris Partridge, who focuses on safeties, and now leads the team with three interceptions.
"It starts with film work," said Metellus, who has 31 tackles and three pass breakups heading into Saturday's (Oct. 20) game at Michigan State. "But then it's also about how you prepare in practice. It's the little things. In high school, I played a lot of man coverage. But when I came up here, I played differently. It's college now, and guys are better with more technique. And you must watch film to see that when a receiver runs a route a certain way, you are able to react to what you know."
He used 2017 as a learning tool.
"I think I made the biggest improvement in finishing plays," said Metellus. "Last year, I had a couple plays where something happened and I didn't finish the play correctly. I didn't finish the play full speed. So I wanted to finish every play no matter whether I just messed up or did good.
"Every game, before every play, I tell myself, 'Just finish.'"
Why wasn't he finishing plays?
"It was more about being tired," said Metellus. "But that extra fight, it's something I knew I had. But some plays, it got to me, like 'I'm tired.' Or my shoulder was hurting. And I didn't finish the play I was supposed to. Now I take it upon myself not to put that on film. Finish every play.
"Coach Partridge really stressed finishing plays, squaring up my shoulders, being in the right position to play the certain plays I didn't play well last year, and running to the ball full speed. Those big plays turn into smaller plays that way, turn 20-yard runs into seven-yard runs.
"And people think that in our defense the safeties are just in the middle of the field getting help. But in our defense, everybody's one-on-one. The safety group has the same things stressed as the corners. We need to lock 'em up on man-on-man coverage, too."
He also used the offseason to improve physically.
"I shaved my 40(-yard dash) time and got stronger in the weight room," said Metellus. "I came in with shoulder problems and got my shoulder good. I'm squatting 50 pounds more, and my max is close to 500."
He was "pumped" for this season but was ejected for a targeting call in the first quarter of the opener at Notre Dame.
"We practiced from January to September 1 for that game," said Metellus, "and I was pumped. I played literally seven plays and got ejected. Walking off the field, I was thinking, 'Damn, I just wasted a whole offseason.'
"But once I got in the locker room, I calmed down and realized we've got 11 games left and my team is going to need me next week. So, just cheer on your team and get ready for next week."
Metellus made seven tackles, including 1.5 for lost yardage, in the next game against Western Michigan.
"Doing that, bouncing back, was more of a growing up thing," said Metellus. "This is my third year, and I've been in tough spots, starting the Orange Bowl after not playing (much) the whole season. The adversities like that that I overcame helped me to overcome that adversity at Notre Dame."
Metellus has started 21 consecutive games, but his first one was at the hybrid viper position that is mostly linebacker but also includes secondary and even defensive end requirements. Jabrill Peppers, a Heisman Trophy finalist in 2015, was unable to play in the Orange Bowl, and Metellus took his spot, making six tackles with a defensive two-point conversion on a blocked PAT return.
It helped that Metellus played all over the field at Flanagan High in Pembroke Pines, Florida.
"I played everything," he said. "I played corner. I played safety, linebacker, a little bit of D-end on third downs. Coach liked moving me around. At the end of the day, we knew I was going to be a safety in college, but I learned every position. It was easier to be a safety for me. But you're the field general, and you have to make sure everyone's (positioned) right because you're the last line of defense.
"Everything I did in high school helped me become a safety in college."
His high school coach, Devin Bush Sr., was a first-round draft pick safety by the Atlanta Falcons out of Florida State. He played in two Super Bowls, winning one with the St. Louis Rams, and is now a defensive analyst for Michigan.
Devin Bush, Michigan's starting middle linebacker, and outside linebacker Devin Gil were his teammates at Flanagan, where they won a state championship as seniors. Their families also impacted Metellus as surely as his mother, Jheniffer Alphonse, whom he noted for being "such a big influence" in his life.
"It's amazing," said Metellus. "When we first all met each other in eighth grade, we said, 'Let's play together. We're good. We've got chemistry now and we're going to have chemistry later if we get that chance.' And we got that chance here, and it's amazing wearing the maize and blue and seeing my middle linebacker and Will (weak-side) linebacker and knowing we're brothers for life.
"I've known them, and they have my back. I've got their back. It makes you want to play even harder because I don't want to mess up for them, and they don't want to mess up for me."
Metellus plays for Michigan, his "brothers" and to seize the moment. But when he looks in the mirror on game day mornings, he has to also be accountable to himself. And he goes about doing just that.
