[jwplayer CTSIdQjK-XNcErKyb]
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — While many are concerned about the state of the Michigan football defense after back-to-back thrashings the past two years at the hands of Ohio State, having a speedy cover guy is precisely what the Wolverines need. And it appears to have just the person ready to take that next big step forward.
This offseason, Athlon had Michigan sophomore Daxton Hill as one of its breakout players of 2020, and according to Wolverines defensive coordinator Don Brown, he’s ready to make good on that prediction.
Hill is presumed to be the starting safety for the maize and blue this season, however, Brown sees him moving all over the field, taking on different roles — because he’s capable of playing multiple positions.
As he sees it, it’s up to Hill and the coaching staff to figure out where he can be utilized best.
“He can fit in anywhere he wants to fit in – that’s how talented this guy is,” Brown said. “Obviously, he’s a safety by trade, but he’s a nickel by trade, as well. And really that was his ‘get on the field’ role last year – was through the ability to get into the extra DB packages, which we do quite a bit. And then at the end of the year, obviously he had to shift gears and make the transition to being one of the full-time safeties. He’s way more accomplished in terms of understanding concept and knowing what to do as an every-down safety. But this guy can play anywhere. If we had any problems at all, he could bump outside due to injury. He could play anywhere in the back end and is much more comfortable, schematically.
“Now, how do you tell if a guy is more comfortable schematically? He plays faster on his feet, primarily pre-snap. In other words, there’s not a lot of indecision about, ‘What’s my alignment? Where or who do I align on? What’s my responsibility?’ He’s just lining up, playing football. Usually all those things – I always tell the guys: 66% of football occurs pre-snap. Obviously, that’s an area – we put him in there as a true freshman and we were gonna live and die with him, and he had veterans around him. Now he’s gotta take some of that leadership role along with Brad Hawkins who’s done a really good job. Sammy Faustin’s done a good job. We feel like we’re much more accomplished on the back end for sure.
“But he’s a talented guy. I’m not sure he’s not the best cover guy in the Big Ten, to be honest with you.”
[lawrence-related id=28408,28398,28363]
But what makes him so good?
We only got a brief glimpse at Hill’s ability and he brings speed in spades. Similar to Jabrill Peppers during his tenure in Ann Arbor, Hill is something of a Swiss Army Knife, who can be put all over the field. Brown has seen how much slower the game has gotten for the former five-star from Tulsa, Oklahoma, and he anticipates that because of how much more ingrained the system is for him, that Hill will be able to shine in multiple roles this year.
“It’s all those things, but it’s funny, the thing we’ve been able to do with our three down, two down – all that – is be able to find guys with unique traits and then let them do it,” Brown said. “Like Josh Uche, for example, is a very, very good pass rusher, who can blitz internally. He could rush the edge. But you also had to be very specific as to where he could play. And then we gave him about 20 jobs a game that he could do differently. You had to try to take what the man is elite at – for example, rushing the passer – and let him do that.
“With Dax, he can cover the slots – let him do it! He can rush the edge – let him do it! Is he a good internal blitzer? Eh, he can. But the guy can cover. And it’s funny – some guys are always around the ball no matter if they know what they’re doing or not. He was one of those guys. ‘Oh, the ball’s over there, and there’s Daxton.’ So even when he was going through the learning curve and we were taking him through that, he was always around the ball. If you ask me what he’s elite at, he’s always around the ball.
“And boy, he can run. Some guys, they run hard and fast and all that, and you go, ‘Boy, is he working hard.’ Sometimes you wonder if he’s working hard – now, of course, he’s working hard. But he makes everything look easy. We all wish we had those traits, right?”
Hill and the Wolverines begin padded practices on Wednesday in anticipation of the season opener at Minnesota come Oct. 24.
[vertical-gallery id=28376]