Just as the Michigan secondary tries to get back up and dust itself off, it gets knocked back down again.

Before the season, the unit lost its most experienced player, Troy Woolfolk, to an ankle injury he suffered in practice. And during Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez’s weekly teleconference, he announced that the Wolverines’ current No. 1 cornerback, J.T. Floyd, would miss the rest of the season with an ankle injury.

Floyd injured the ankle during practice, and Rodriguez said that the x-rays were negative for a fracture. But Floyd suffered ligament damage that will require surgery.

“The unfortunate part of a lot of it is it’s been in practice and we’re not even tackling in practice," Rodriguez said. “So it’s just kind of one of those freak things. … A guy fell down in front of him and I don’t think he saw it. And he got rolled up. ”

With Woolfolk out before the season started, Floyd stepped into the leadership role on an inexperienced unit. Rodriguez called him the “solid rock” of the secondary, but now senior cornerback James Rogers, plus true freshmen Courtney Avery, Terrence Talbott and Cullen Christian will have to shoulder the load. Rogers is a converted wide receiver who saw little playing time prior to this season, and none of the freshmen have started a single game for the Wolverines.

Michigan’s pass defense has allowed more than 290 yards per game with Floyd in the lineup, and that was only better than three other Division-I teams — ranking 117th in the country.

Floyd started all eight games this season at left cornerback and recorded 66 tackles, four pass breakups and one interception. Rodriguez said that Avery would start in Floyd’s place on Saturday against Illinois, but that he would also like to get a couple of the other younger cornerbacks prepared to play, too.

“I’ve been really pleased with (Avery and Talbott’s) development,” Rodriguez said. "They’re both competitive guys, they’re just young. And we know they’re going to make some mistakes and there will be some growing pains with them. But they’ve done a good job in practice and we’re going to try and accelerate the process as far as getting them ready to play at the level we need them to play at.”

Just five days ago, Rodriguez talked with the media after the Wolverines’ 41-31 loss to Penn State about how young the secondary was. That came after a game in which former walk-on quarterback Matt McGloin threw for 250 yards and a touchdown against the Michigan defense.

Rodriguez has maintained all season that the Wolverines are trying to get their younger defensive players up to that level where they can make contributions — it has become a running theme.

The defeat at the hands of the Nittany Lions was the third loss in a row for the Wolverines. And in those games, the secondary allowed three touchdown passes against Iowa’s Ricky Stanzi as well as 284 yards to Michigan State’s Kirk Cousins.

Floyd’s absence adds injury to insult.

“I think our guys have seen so much stuff, whether its injuries or misfortune or what-have-you, that it’s almost become, ‘Okay, here we go. We’ll hang together. We’ll stay all in,’ ” Rodriguez said. “It’s just another bump in the road. When you see so much of it, I don’t want to say you get accustomed to it or get used to it, but you become resilient toward it. And I think our guys are very, very resilient. And the next guy will come in, step up and play."

Michigan's secondary was already a shell of what it could have been before Woolfolk and now Floyd were lost due to injuries. The Wolverines lost former five-star recruits Justin Turner (transfer), Boubacar Cissoko (dismissed from team) during the past year. And another potential defensive back, highly touted Demar Dorsey, was committed to play at Michigan but was not admitted to the University this past spring.

Redshirt sophomore safety Jordan Kovacs is now the only player starting in the secondary with starting experience prior to this season. Without Floyd, eight of the 11 players listed as a defensive back or hybrid on the depth chart are either true or redshirt freshmen.

“We’re pretty young back there in the secondary — now we’re getting a little bit younger,” Rodriguez said.

Injury updates: Rodriguez said that redshirt freshman Fitzgerald Toussaint doesn’t appear ready to play Saturday.