ANN ARBOR, Mich. — It was news last week when sixth-year Michigan football safety Quinten Johnson said that the offense beat the defense on the first day of pads in fall camp.
Conventional wisdom has been that the offense would take a major step back in 2024 after losing so many playmakers. J.J. McCarthy, Blake Corum, Roman Wilson, Cornelius Johnson and the whole starting offensive line moved on to the NFL. That meant the Wolverines would lean on the defense early in the season. By all accounts, the defense could be one of Michigan’s best of all time, yet the offense is still winning battles.
If that holds form into the actual season, Michigan might be in better shape than many anticipate.
Now slated to be one of the leaders of the defense, junior defensive tackle Kenneth Grant insists the defense is not ahead of the offense in fall camp, saying it’s about even thus far. That has caused a little strife for those on his side of the ball.
“I’ll say 50-50, still,” Grant said. “I mean, like the other day, the offense gave us a run for our money. Coach Wink kind of got on our (expletive deleted) about that! He got on our (expletive deleted) about that. So, the offense is still giving us a run for our money. So, yeah, definitely.”
When that happens, how does new defensive coordinator Wink Martindale respond?
One of the fears of many traumatized Michigan fans is Martindale, who influenced the defense installed by Mike Macdonald and Jesse Minter but is known to be more aggressive, will look like Don Brown in his later years, when solid offenses were able to uncharacteristically gash the Wolverines due to his simplicity and over-aggressiveness. Martindale denies that’s the case, but when it comes to his players, he corrects them in what Grant calls “keep it real” meetings.
“He’s not much of a big yeller. But when he’s mad, you can tell he’s mad,” Grant said. “He turns into more of a stern voice — stern voice. So, it’s just (that) he brings it up. We have (a) ‘keep it real’ meeting, just to see what he sees and what we see out there. So, just being able to have those ‘keep it real’ meetings and to understand what he wants and to understand what we have to do plays a big role.”
To make the College Football Playoff for a fourth year, Michigan will need the defense to live up to its potential. And if it is the case that it is playing up to potential in fall camp and the offense is just better than people realize, there’s even perhaps a chance that the maize and blue could repeat as national champions — despite the crowded field.