Every day Tony Gibson’s secondary seems to be getting younger.

The assistant coach has watched his top cornerback from last year go undrafted in the NFL Draft, two prospects — one a five-star — not qualify for the program and another top recruit defect to West Virginia after his redshirt season.

And that was before senior cornerback and defensive leader Troy Woolfolk went down with a season-ending injury.

“It’s like having kids all in diapers right now,” Gibson joked at Michigan Media Day.

It’s enough to make Gibson feel a whole lot older than he did when he arrived at Michigan.

Woolfolk’s absence has left Gibson with two total starts between all of his cornerbacks, both of which belong to redshirt sophomore J.T. Floyd.

But Woolfolk’s immediate replacement has been the least of Gibson’s worries, as Floyd has impressed the coaches with a good summer with his poise under pressure.

“Right now J.T. is the only guy in my room that’s got any game experience,” Gibson said. “He’s kind of the leader at this point. But he’s done a complete turnaround (this offseason) … he started against Michigan State and Ohio State, so he knows the fire. “

Two games may not be much, but coaches say Floyd’s become capable of locking down one side of the field. Whether he could fit the mold of Michigan’s lengthy pedigree of dominant corners — one that includes Heisman Trophy winner Charles Woodson and eventual NFLers Marlin Jackson and Leon Hall — remains to be seen.

Floyd knows the accomplished group before him, and he embraces it.

“I love watching all the greats that played here, the Ty Laws, the Charles Woodsons,” Floyd said. “I’ve tried to look at all their games of all the people who played here to incorporate some of the things I learn from them into my game.”

The spot across from Floyd is what’s really giving Gibson more wrinkles this offseason. Woolfolk’s absence forced Floyd up the depth chart, leaving the other cornerback position a proverbial black hole of young players.

Even Floyd, in his third year at Michigan, notices the youth.

“I look around a little bit and go, ‘I’m a redshirt sophomore, and I’m the old guy,’ " Floyd joked.

Senior James Rogers is expected to heavily compete for the position, and with his rangy length and time around the team (not much on defense), he could develop into a capable Big Ten corner. But Rogers has twice switched positions—to different sides of the ball — and is a bit of a journeyman as far as the last few years go.

Aside from Rogers, there’s an infusion of youth at the position with freshmen Cullen Christian, Terrence Talbott and Courtney Avery expected to get the lion’s share of time. Guys like sophomore Teric Jones could see the field at the corner position as well.

With such an inexperienced group, Gibson and defensive coordinator Greg Robinson have been forced to simplify the playbook, going with easier coverages more often in order to quicken the young corners’ transition into college football.

But even those simplifications have their limits, and Gibson knows teams will have their eye on the Wolverines’ secondary as a possible weakness to exploit.

“If we get any more simple, I don’t know what we’ll be able to do,” Gibson said. “We can’t just play one-coverage … These are scholarship kids … they’re gonna come after us with everything they have.”

Gibson and Floyd remain positive, however, that even without their star corner and defensive leader, they can pull their own weight on what many hope to be an improved Michigan defense in 2010.

“It’s hard to replace a kid (like Woolfolk) that had game experience, was a starter for us, with the senior leadership we lost,” Gibson said. “But we can’t sit around and feel sorry for ourselves. The next guy has got to step up.”

“Not having a Troy Woolfolk is going to be a tremendous loss to any team,” Floyd added. “But I think we have a whole group of shutdown corners ready to prove themselves.”