Jordan Glasgow recaps performance, Michigan’s adversity on defense vs. Illinois

The Michigan Wolverines finished their day on the road against the Illinois Fighting Illini with a 42-25 victory, but the win wasn’t always certain. After Michigan jumped out to an impressive 28-0 lead, the Illini scratched and clawed their way back into the game to make it 28-25.

Late in the game, though, with Michigan really needing momentum back on their side, the defense forced two Illinois turnovers that changed the tide and the final score.

“The game got close and I think the defense and the other players on defense really stepped up,” linebacker Jordan Glasgow said after the game.

Linebacker Cam McGrone pointed to execution being a reason that Illinois made things interesting, but overall, Glasgow was happy with how the Michigan D responded. “Some teams are going to have plays,” Glasgow said. “Obviously, with how good we feel our defense is we don’t feel like we should give up any plays to any offense, but it’ll happen from time to time and it’s important how we respond and it’s important that we come out with a win. And we were able to do that, we were able to respond late in the game, get some turnovers, our offense was able to score.”

“We know that we’re never out of a game when we’re leading. We as a defense feel that we can make plays to help our offense and make plays to help us win and the game got close,” Glasgow said. “The defense, we made some great plays late that allowed us to pull away and allowed us to secure the victory.”

Glasgow was a major part of the success Michigan had on defense, and special teams as well, recording a punt block on special teams and a fumble recovery on defense. The punt block for Glasgow was something he’s come close to accomplishing, but today was the day it worked out for him. “I’ve come close to punts in the past but they always seem to kind of go by my arms so I was kind of surprised when it hit actually and then it bounced like thirty yards backwards,” Glasgow said. “Every week we see something that we think we can exploit and it just turned out really good for us this week.”

Beyond Glasgow’s punt block and fumble recovery, he tied Cam McGrone with the team lead in both tackles (11) and solo tackles (8). Glasgow’s performance caught McGrone’s attention. “He was flyin’, man,” McGrone said. “He had a real nose for the ball, got that blocked punt, a great tackle saved my butt and then he recovered that fumble. He had a great game. Fantastic.”

Glasgow will look to keep flyin’ next week when Michigan faces a potent offense at Penn State.