The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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20 THE WOLVERINE MAY 2022 he responded. "And that's how I see it." McCarthy will have something to say about that, of course, and redshirt frosh Davis Warren looked good in the spring game, too. He showed off a Power Five arm and great skill. But whoever gets the nod, he'll be sur- rounded by great talent at the receiver po- sition, including junior Cornelius Johnson (627 yards, three touchdowns receiving), third-year sophomore and jack-of-all- trades A.J. Henning (692 all-purpose yards), and sophomores Roman Wilson (420 yards, three touchdowns) and Andrel Anthony (248 yards, three scores). All will be expected to take leaps forward from good seasons. Add freshmen Darrius Clemons and Amorion Walker, who both notched im- pressive moments in the spring game, and you've got a loaded receiver room. "Once we start playing other teams, I'm going to have a lot of dudes to throw to," McNamara said. "As we go into camp, as we're finishing up spring, it's about finding the best ways to get the ball to those guys. "[But] I know what it takes, what a team has to look like. I know what I have to do in order for us to do that. I know the level I think we have to be ex- ecuting in, and also really the critical mo- ments we have to be executing in." If they do it, he said, they can repeat last year's championship season. "Obviously, our goal is to recreate that and do more," he noted. DEFENSE IS A WORK IN PROGRESS The defensive overhaul begins with finding pass rushers to replace Hutchin- son and Ojabo, no easy feat considering they combined for 25 sacks last season. As first-year defensive line coach Mike Elston said this spring, you don't replace elite talents like that — you just hope to find different ways to generate a pass rush with the talented guys remaining on the roster. "They're going to be their own type of player," Elston said. "You're not going to have the same player that Aidan was, or that Ojabo was. We have guys on the team that have skill sets that you know are developing and can add the value they added. "But it's not going to look the same. It's going to be a little bit differ- ent because [redshirt so p h o m o re] M i ke Morris and [redshirt junior] Taylor Up- shaw, they're going to play differently. You hope the production is there. We've got young guys coming on like [sophomores] Braiden McGregor and Jaylen Harrell. It's a great room, but it's go- ing to be different." They're also hoping to generate more pass rush from the interior line, he added. That was a point of empha- sis in the spring, and it will remain that way this fall. Redshirt sopho- more Mazi Smith has added good weight and had an outstand- ing spring, and he's got the potential to get to the quarterback in addition to be- ing an outstanding run stopper. "We would like to generate more pro- duction on the inside," Elston said. "Ob- viously, we're going to need it. We've lost some edge presence, and it has to be generated somewhere, so we're spending time on that. "Mazi Smith is a very capable pass rusher. [Redshirt sophomore] Kris Jen- kins, [redshirt freshman] George Rooks … all those guys are capable of pass-rushing. It's just we need to build it in. We need to teach them, and it goes down to the tech- nique and leveling to the quarterback." Behind the men up front is a pair of linebackers with great athleticism and high ceilings. Sophomore Junior Colson registered 61 tackles in his debut year and showed great speed and instincts at the position, to the point that some believe he's got "Devin Bush type potential." Bush, of course, was an All-American and a first-round NFL Draft pick in 2019, but Colson is bigger and has great speed. The sophomore could also be used to generate pressure with blitzes from the linebacker position. "We've got to find new ways to gener- ate pressure, so everybody's got to buy in, just play as a unit," Colson said. "Last year, we had two crazy edge rushers, so we really didn't have to do that much. But now it's like we're playing as a whole team, playing off each other. "It's going really good right now." Sophomore Nikhai Hill-Green, mean- while, added 50 tackles in 14 games (six starts). He was also extremely active this spring after emerging last year as a spring breakout player. On the back end, redshirt sophomore cornerback D.J. Turner picked it up and was very good after a slower start, while redshirt junior Gemon Green finished strong. True freshman Will Johnson was slowed by nagging injuries but will com- pete for a starting spot, and he's an elite athlete. He'll play and play a lot. Redshirt junior Mike Sainristil, how- ever, was the story in the secondary this spring. The two-way player will see ac- After the spring game in which the Blue squad defeated the Maize 20-12, sophomore running back Blake Corum said he feels "like this team is picking up right where we left off." PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL