At the top of a mountain, it may seem like the only way to go is down. But the Michigan football team’s defense believes that another, higher peak is emerging from the clouds — and the Wolverines want to climb it.
In 2023, Michigan’s defense ranked No. 1 nationally in total defense and scoring defense. It also led the team to a national championship, so it’s hard to dispute that it was the best in the country. Improving on the best is a nearly impossible task, made even more difficult by the Wolverines losing nine high-end defensive contributors. Despite the turnover and steep climb ahead, that’s the goal they have set for themselves.
“I think we know how much of a high standard we were last year,” junior cornerback Will Johnson said Wednesday. “ … It’s hard to match that level or even exceed that level, but that’s just our motivation every day because we know we’re not trying to get complacent and trying to get better every day.”
As Johnson and company strive to surpass their own extremely high standard, plenty of fresh faces have joined the effort. With an entirely new defensive coaching staff, Michigan is sure to evolve in some ways. But with defensive coordinator Wink Martindale in command, the system the players are accustomed to will largely remain the same.
“This system is really so easy to learn once you understand the concepts of it,” Martindale said March 15. “We’re just at the baby steps of it right now, but the players already know the system. … They’ll say things about, ‘Hey, we called it this last year.’ Most of them I’m like, ‘Alright, well let’s just keep calling it that.’ ”
Martindale has certainly made some adjustments to suit his preferences — as he admits, he’s “stuck in his ways” — but the early stages of his tenure have been built by implementing player contributions. If he has to choose, he would much prefer that his players, rather than his staff, are the ones with prior knowledge of his system. And that’s what Martindale got with the Wolverines. He has a group of players who are familiar with his base scheme and a group of coaches who will quickly catch on.
A trademark of former defensive coordinator Jesse Minter’s approach last season was his four pillars: block destruction, ball disruption, effort and communication. Those pillars were the driving force behind the Wolverines’ defensive dominance in 2023. With players like Johnson who turned those pillars into tangible results leading the charge, Martindale continues to implement them with his own spin.
“We still got the four pillars,” Johnson said. “I’d say it’s a little different than it was before. I mean, it’s obviously not going to be the exact same because we don’t have the same coaches that were here for that and knew what that was like. So he’s definitely hard on us on all those four pillars and every day telling us what we need to do to get better.”
For as good as Michigan’s defense was last year, it knows it has areas where it can improve. Its sack numbers, for one, were lower than could be expected from a top-notch defense, ranking 26th in the country with an average of 2.6 per game.
But any deflated stat was promptly wiped from the memory of most when the Wolverines won it all. Nonetheless, Michigan’s returning players remember, and use it to fuel their desire to improve. They want to do their part to carry their team to another prolific season.
“Even the past two years we felt that way,” junior defensive tackle Mason Graham said Monday. “Just from a defensive standpoint, we want the team to be dependent on us to make those plays like we have in the past. I feel like we’re gonna carry it. (We have) a lot of expectations, and we’re excited to meet those and exceed those.”
Despite a plethora of new coaches running the show, the basic system and mentality have remained the same. With the standard set at the very top of the mountain, if they want to have a chance to surpass it, the Wolverines have no choice but to keep climbing.