ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Last week, transfer safety Wes Walker, who joined Michigan football this summer from Tennessee, noted how much more complex the Wolverines’ defense under coordinator Wink Martindale is compared to those he’s played in previously. And it turns out it may be more complex than many think.
On Sunday, defensive backs coach LaMar Morgan spoke of the learning curve that transfers and freshmen have when it comes to learning and understanding the defense. But it turns out that there are levels to understanding — not just the defense as a whole or even just your role as a player. But the staff is also working to cross-train players across the defense so that they can play multiple roles in various situations.
“We want to be a positionless defense where guys can play multiple positions — whether it’s you can move a guy in on third down, they don’t know what he’s doing,” Morgan said. “I think that’s something where Coach Wink — he’s been coaching 20 years in the NFL and another almost 20 years in college. I think that’s where his specialty is, finding roles for players.”
We’ve certainly seen that aspect of the defense in recent years. When Mike Macdonald first installed the defense in 2021, the Wolverines were a little more niche, meaning they often had to substitute players given what opposing offenses were doing. That burned them in the sole regular season loss of the year, at Michigan State, because as Michigan was subbing, MSU would take advantage and go quick tempo.
After that game, the Wolverines started utilizing Mike Barrett more at linebacker, as he could also play adequately, essentially, as a defensive back.
Now Michigan has fully embraced that mentality, knowing that corners may have to be nickels or safeties. Safeties certainly cross-train at nickel but may also have to play corner. Linebackers may have to drop back or play up front (that’s pretty normal for the position, anyhow).
Morgan says that instead of simply showing the players their one role at their specified position, they’re engaging the defense conceptually, and that allows for more versatility within the defense, from a personnel standpoint.
“When we start teaching concepts, we just teach with X’s on the board. It’s not like it’s a certain position — this is the corner, this is the safety. So we try to teach the guys different techniques,” Morgan said. “If you’re a half-field player, playing man in the slot, pressing the slot, whoever is at that spot, they just know that technique already. So now when we put a call in the corner is going to be a half-field player, which safeties usually are. They know how to use those techniques.
“So I would say initially, I do think that could be a challenge for some of the players that maybe have not played a lot just because they don’t know it a lot. But I do think our best, our secret weapon here, is our players that play so much. Like Rod Moore is meeting with guys. They got questions. They go to me as a coach, I’m going to ask the guys in the meeting room how they see it. Do you see it the same way I see it? If I don’t see it the same way they see it, why am I not where’s the where’s the gap is? So I do think there’s a lot of conversation, probably more than most meeting rooms that I try to encourage, because it is a lot when you’re playing two or three different positions.”
It will be interesting to see who emerges and where, especially since a few of the truly versatile players from the past few years — like Barrett or nickel Mike Sainristil — have moved on to the NFL. And given Martindale’s recent high-level experience with both the New York Giants and Baltimore Ravens, if players can do multiple things, it will certainly help the defense thrive, as his NFL units have.