Michigan football had a stellar year in 2021 after it won 12 games which included the beating of Ohio State and Iowa in the Big Ten Championship game. The Wolverines not only had a great running attack, but they had a stout defense which ranked No. 8 in scoring defense (17.4 points-per-game) and 20th in total defense (330.9 yards allowed-per-game).
The only knock on the defense, that lost eight starters from last year, was the lack of turnovers it created. Michigan ranked 98th last year in the fact it only created 1.1 turnovers-per-game. The Wolverines finished 2021 with eight interceptions and eight fumble recoveries.
Now that we are onto the 2022 campaign, Jim Harbaugh has stated that he believes the defense could be just as good as last season, if not better.
“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,” said Harbaugh on ‘In The Trenches’ podcast. “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.”
While Michigan is replacing ample amount of starters along the defense, the Wolverines still return an abundance of experience. In the secondary, Michigan is replacing three starters, but you might as well say Michigan returns two starting corners. Vincent Gray, who declared early, started all season in 2021, and Gemon Green were the starting corners when 2021 began, but eventually DJ Turner became the starter in place of Green.
On Monday, Gemon Green talked about how he thought about forgoing his eligibility but injuries hampered him in 2021, so he wanted to come back and play with his team another year. He stated that he has had a great camp, and with the younger corners pushing him, it has made him have a great camp in order to be named a starter.
“You’re right. I had a great camp”, said Green. “You know, just getting back in the playbook and trying to stay focused. I’m having the young guys like Will (Johnson), Myles Pollard, DJ Turner all pushing me and stuff. So that’s pretty much why I had a great camp.”
Green had one interception last season, but in this three years of playing in Ann Arbor, that has been his lone interception. The senior told the media Monday that he has really focused on adjusting his head when the ball is coming his way, and keeping his eyes on the ball.
“Oh, for me, personally, I just adjust my head back and get my eyes on the ball,” said Green. “That’s what I’ve been working on this all fall camp and spring ball as a whole, you know, our job is to play faster, know our keys. Everybody execute their jobs and everbody do thier one-of-11.”
The Michigan secondary is looking to force more turnovers this season. This is the second season that the secondary has worked with Steve Clinkscale, and both Green and DJ Turner says that the focus has been on creating more turnovers this season. Since Harbaugh has said that he believes this could be an even better defense in 2022, Green quickly said to meet his standards, Michigan must get more interceptions — which the speed of the 2022 team may help.
“Well, to meet that standard, I think we need more picks to be honest,” said Green. “We need more turnovers as a whole as a defense fumbles and picks. To be honest, I think we felt we were a lot faster than last year. So it’s gonna be a lot of it’s gonna be a big difference from last year.”
Fellow corner, DJ Turner, amplified what Green said on Monday. He noted that the main thing in camp has been creating more turnovers, and he feels that Michigan will be playing very confident on that side of the ball.
“I would say get turnovers will be the main thing that we’ll be focusing on this year,” said Turner. “More interceptions and just play confident that’s the thing and I feel like that’s what we’re gonna do going into the season.”
This will be the third season now that Green and Turner have been on the field together. Earlier, Green said that the younger guys have really been pushing him in camp, like Turner. He says that when he’s having a bad day, Turner is there to ger him going again, and when he see’s Turner make a play, he wants to make a play. In other words, the two feed off of each other.
“Just like pushing each other like at practice and everything,” said Green. “Whenever I’m having like a bad day, he turned me up. Sometimes it makes me go crazy. We have some time you make a play, I want to make a play. So like we just bring each other like together.”
Turner was also asked about the relationship the two starting corners share. Turner said that they both share three strong qualities, and they both talk things out together — like teammates should do.
“Both of us are physical, both of us are fast, both of us love to compete,” said Turner. “I mean and we just always try to help each other out. Like we were going to the sideline, I ask him what did you see, what did I see, and we always just try to mix and match to try to you know make the best of both worlds.”
While it appears the two starting corner spots are filled for the time being, Jim Harbaugh has said that Mike Sainristil is going to be starting in the base package at nickel. Sainristil was a corner in high school, so the position isn’t new to him, and Green said on Monday that the converted receiver is a playmaker on the defensive side of the ball.
“He learned the defense really quick,” said Green. “He started playing defense in the spring. And he got on the playbook fast. So he’s been a playmaker, he’s gonna be a dog. And him being a captain, you know, he gives us that energy every day as in the DB room and as a team. So he’s in a great place.”
Michigan will kickoff the season this Saturday, Sept. 3 in Ann Arbor against Colorado State. With the depth and speed at the corner spot, it will be intriguing to see if this team can get off to a hot start forcing a turnover or two.
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