The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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NOVEMBER 2023 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 29 tackles for loss — the top seven in that category were on the line, led by senior edge Jaylen Harrell's 5.5 — and sopho- more Mason Graham was emerging as an absolute force. Harbaugh said senior Kris Jenkins' block destruction was as good as he'd seen, and defensive line coach Mike Elston insisted he was as good as hoped. "Kris is a dominant force, both in the run and the pass game," Elston said. "We've got him moving all over the field. There are some teams you're going to play, they make it a perimeter game, they make it a down-the-field game, you're not go- ing to have the kind of production you want in certain games. I think teams have been pretty strategic. They know we're strong up front, they know it's going to be challenging to run the ball inside." Michigan ranked 10th nationally in run defense at 91 yards per game through seven games, and much of that yardage came in the fourth quarter in garbage time. The ends and interior line had done an outstanding job playing together to keep quarterbacks in the pocket. "There's an unselfishness that our guys have that they're going to sacrifice a little bit for getting up the field and cutting it loose, and then just collapsing the pocket on the guy and not letting him take off and scramble," Elston said. LINEBACKERS — A- The top three tacklers through seven games were all linebackers, led by junior Junior Colson's 34 stops. Harbaugh cred- ited coach Chris Partridge for their de- velopment. "Chris Partridge — our young line- backers have made a huge step and a huge jump this year in the way they're being coached and trained," Harbaugh said. "It's been phenomenal." Nebraska transfer and sophomore Er- nest Hausmann has been good, too, with 26 stops, but sixth-year Michael Barrett has elevated his game the most. He had an outstanding game against Indiana with 1.5 tackles for loss, a sack, a forced fum- ble and recovery. He notched 25 tackles through the first seven games. "My favorite thing is watching their hopes slowly go away," Barrett said. "Watching that fight just kind of dimin- ish away from them and just getting to the point where they're like, 'Let's go home.' That's kind of my favorite feeling." They've seen quite a bit of it, thanks in large part to the linebackers. They were still looking for a fourth — Jimmy Rolder had yet to play due to injury, and he was expected to play a role this year — but the top three have been fantastic. SECONDARY — B+ This group was slowed early by injury, with sophomore corner Will Johnson and junior safety Rod Moore missing sig- nificant time with injuries. That allowed some of the young guys, like sophomore Keon Sabb (2 interceptions in seven games), to play more and improve. Sabb might have been one of the team's most improved players in the first half of the year. "I'm just so thrilled with Keon Sabb's development," Harbaugh said. "… He is a real force now in his second year. It's just so exciting seeing the younger players just being developed and popping, knowing the game … knowing what it's going to be like as we progress." There had been a few big plays allowed in the passing game — a long touchdown on the first series against Rutgers, and a few on slants at Nebraska. For the most part, though, the secondary had been solid, and they'd been coming up with turnovers — 7 picks from the defensive backs in seven games. Grad captain Mike Sainristil had been the quarterback of the secondary, pos- sibly the defensive MVP through the first half of the season. "He plays hard, he lines up right and he communicates," secondary coach Steve Clinkscale said. "He plays with passion." SPECIAL TEAMS — A Assistant Jay Harbaugh has proven to be one of those coaches whose units excel no matter what group he is coaching. Grad transfer placekicker James Turner has continued to improve — he's 6 of 8 on field goals with a long of 50 and was U- M's special teams player of the game with 7 extra points and a field goal in the 52-10 win at Minnesota. Junior Tommy Doman has been out- standing on kickoffs, putting most into the end zone, as well as punts. He's av- eraging 44.7 yards per punt, having put only one in the end zone. And punt re- turners Jake Thaw and Tyler Morris have been very reliable, with the latter coming on strong. He's averaging 14.0 yards on 6 returns. "Special teams, we're so lucky with the job Jay's done. He's a brilliant, brilliant coach," Jim Harbaugh said. "All the drills that we do on special teams, they trans- late over to offense. They translate over to defense. We devote a lot of time to it, and so much gets done in those hours we put toward special teams." ❏ Junior linebacker Junior Colson's 34 total tackles and 15 solo stops led the Wolverines through the 7-0 start to the campaign. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL