It's April 11 and Chris Partridge is fired up.

And he really doesn't care who knows it.

"I've got blood in my mouth," Michigan football's safeties coach/special teams coordinator said Thursday. "I don't wake up a day and not think about it."

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The "blood," he says, is the result of how last season ended for U-M. An embarrassing 62-39 loss at Ohio State and a disheartening blowout loss to Florida in the Peach Bowl.

But there's more to it.

After Michigan's program was rocked in a soul-checking loss to the rival Buckeyes, spoiling a 10-1 season at the time, the Wolverines went into the offseason and watched both Greg Mattison and Al Washington leave their respective jobs as U-M assistant coaches for spots on Ryan Day's staff at Ohio State.

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Partridge doesn't want to hold back his thoughts on the matter. He doesn't want his players to be afraid to be upset about it either.

"I want to be candid. Those guys left and it was another shot. It wasn't OK," Partridge said. "That's how I feel. I'm not speaking for anyone else. I'm ultra-motivated and I make sure my guys, whenever I get in front of them, they hear it. ... I want to take this thing, hit it in the mouth and go get it. I just think each person is motivated in their own way, but I know my personal opinion. I'm going to coach harder than I ever imagined I could coach.

"And we're going to try to make sure that scoreboard never looks like it did last year (again)."

Earlier this spring, Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh told reporters he was a bit surprised by Mattison — a longtime U-Mn assistant who has coached with Jim, Jack and John Harbaugh — opted to leave the Wolverines for Ohio State. He said he wasn't going to hold it against him, as his salary basically doubled.

But, he made it clear that the two won't be exchanging Christmas cards.

Partridge, asked if he's talked to either Mattison or Washington since they left, had further thoughts.

"No. No desire to. No desire at all," he said. "I've been here going into my fifth year. I consider myself an alum of Michigan, just like someone who goes to Michigan for four years and graduates. I'm here. I'm for Michigan. I'm 'Go Blue' all the way. So I don't have a desire (to talk to them).

"Nothing surprises me in this business now I guess. ... I just know how I feel. I'm Michigan all the way and that's kind of it."

It's impossible, at this point, to view Michigan's motivation entering the 2019 season as anything but Ohio State-centric.

The loss was easily the most humbling of the Harbaugh era and one of the most disappointing, in terms of what was at stake, the program's had in a championship-type environment. Washington, a Columbus native who had been at U-M for one season, was one thing. But Mattison, who had been at Michigan a combined 13 years, seemed a bit different.

Partridge said he doesn't want anyone to be afraid to embrace their frustration with regard to what happened last year.

Players have listened.

"As players, we see coaches leave pretty often for new or 'better' roles. Roles they feel might be better," fifth-year senior Jordan Glasgow said. "So it's upsetting to see a coach leave. Especially for a university we dislike. A lot. Do I hold anything against them personally? I haven't seen them in person so it's hard to tell how I'd react.

"It's difficult to say. There are a lot of things that go through your head."

Partridge, of course, doesn't mind sharing those things.

"It's odd (for a coach who had been here as long as Mattison to leave for an arch rival), I've never seen it happen before. I'm not going to pretend to understand the reasons," Partridge said. "All I know is we're here. And the people who are here, we're locked arms. Ready to go. Ready to walk down that alley and do what's needed to win and that's all that I care about.

"That was (Mattison's) decision. He made his bed. He's got to lie in it. So here we go."

Contact Nick Baumgardner at nbaumgardn@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @nickbaumgardner. Read more on the Michigan Wolverines and sign up for our Wolverines newsletter.