The national narrative when it comes to Michigan football in 2022 is that last year was great, but that was essentially a once-in-a-lifetime scenario — now Ohio State will return to glory and the Wolverines will revert to typical disappointment.
Not so fast, Jim Harbaugh says.
Fall camp is underway in Ann Arbor, and the maize and blue have completed four practices thus far. Harbaugh acknowledges that yes, the defense lost a lot of players to the NFL, but from what he’s seen, this could be a better unit altogether, despite those losses.
“When you lose players like Ojabo, Aidan Hutchinson, Dax Hill, Josh Ross, that’s gonna be the first question: how are you gonna replace those guys?” Harbaugh told Jon Jansen on the ‘In the Trenches’ podcast. “I think its potential, and I think you’re kind of seeing it develop before your own eyes, I think that our defense could be better. A no-star defense. I’ve been a part of many of them that were the great defenses. It creates more competition within the position, guys are more hungry. Upshaw, Julius Welschof, Mike Morris, Jaylen Harrell, Braiden McGregor, I mean, right there. We’re talking EDGE guys, that’s quite a group.
“And then young guys, too — TJ Guy, Kechaun Bennett, Derrick Moore, Micah Pollard — liking the things I’m seeing from him. I think the position is gonna be good. I know I judge with our own team — we go two-minute, get into the competitive period. The EDGE rushing felt the same as it did this time last year. They’re tough to block. We’ll keep at it, but there’s some real good signs there.”
[lawrence-related id=61309,61297,61301]
But Harbaugh went beyond just saying that the defense could be better this year.
Discussing Mazi Smith and the interior defensive line, he broke down not only why he feels like the interior line is better, but why he feels that the pressure off the edge could — despite the personnel not being as exemplary as last year — could equate to or surpass last year’s group.
“Really high. Again, you judge against your defense against our offense. And really, offensive line is same guys as it was last year, and they’ve improved,” Harbaugh said. “I see the EDGE pressure being almost as good, or as good as it was last year, but much improvement on the inside. Much improvement with Mazi Smith, Kris Jenkins has continued to just be very, very, very strong, fast, and quick and he’s improved a ton. That inside group being bolstered by George Rooks — feel like he’s really coming on. Dominick Giudice is coming on, Rayshaun Benny is coming on. Then there’s Ike and the two freshmen — Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant — it is better. We seem better on the inside of the defensive line, as well.”
When those in Columbus share why they believe the Buckeyes have the opportunity to come back up, they cite last year’s lack of experience compared to this year. But Michigan is in the same boat, returning nearly the entire offense, in particular.
Yes, the personnel losses on defense were great, but we pointed out on the Locked On Wolverines Podcast that every presumable starter, save for freshman Will Johnson if he wins the cornerback job, has ample playing experience, if not starting experience. Harbaugh also notes that this team has 19 fifth and sixth-year players overall and 24 fourth-year players. Regardless of playing time, that’s a lot of experience overall.
Harbaugh feels like that gives Michigan something of an advantage, because, as he always says, players of football get better at football by playing football.
”I think it does, yeah. Guys that are — they know the program, they’ve excelled,” Harbaugh said. “There’s something they really like about it, and they can pass those messages, things that they’ve learned down to the younger players. Even the sophomore class. There’s exactly 36 players in the sophomore class, and the freshman class is exactly 36. So freshmen to sophomore, we had no — nobody left. That’s another group. Every class right now is solid and going about their business, taking care of their business and — to my eye, thriving in the program.”
Of course, Michigan having what appears to be a breeze of a nonconference schedule while hosting all but two tougher in-conference opponents at home also adds to possible advantages. Once the Ohio State game comes around, this will be an experienced team, beyond what it already is. We’ll just have to see if that matters come late-November.
One other thing to note, however, when it comes to last year’s defense: the 2021 group ranked No. 20 overall in total defense. For as much praise as it’s garnered, that’s actually the second-lowest finish in Jim Harbaugh’s seven years with the program, with the 2015-18 defenses all finishing in the top five, while the 2019 defense was No. 11 overall. 2020 was an outlier while 2021 was more of a return to normalcy — but still not at the overall level as its predecessors.
[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbzardvge799bm2 player_id=01f5k5y2jb3twsvdg4 image=https://wolverineswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]