The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1525654
28 THE WOLVERINE ❱ SEPTEMBER 2024 BY JOHN BORTON T he 15-0 national champions of 2023 featured college football's toughest defense, hands down. The Wolverines led the nation in fewest average points allowed (10.40) and total defense (247.0 yards per game), while finishing in the top five in a host of other categories. Plenty of the plunderers of opposing backfields have returned for more. So much so that new defensive coordinator Wink Martindale projects at least nine or 10 future pros among the Wolverines' top players for 2024. They face an awfully high bar, if comparisons to the national champions begin. Martindale waves off that talk, knowing there's always a stan- dard to meet. "I think that you're not worth a grain of salt if you don't feel pressure as a coach every year, no matter where you're at," Martindale insisted. "Do you want to be better than that? Sure, you do. But sometimes what you want is not always what you get. There are different op- ponents, different offenses than what they've had. And everything fits just right when you end up being No. 1. I've been around No. 1 defenses and every- thing just fits right that season. "But I think that there's no doubt where the bar is set. There's no doubt we all set the bar, and that's for us to be the best in the country. I'm not going to hide from that, I'm not going to run from that and neither are we as a defense." He certainly sees strong tools with which to hammer foes. Mason Graham, a 6-foot-3, 320-pound junior and MVP of the Rose Bowl, could be the best de- fensive tackle in college football this year. Kenneth Grant, his 6-3, 339-pound side- kick at defensive tackle, isn't far behind. Junior cornerback Will Johnson (6-2, 202) makes all the lists of the top defen- sive backs in the nation. All three could be All-Americans, if they stay healthy and Michigan's defense produces as ex- pected. There's certainly more, with imported junior stud linebacker Jaishawn Barham (6-3, 248) coming to the The Big House via the transfer portal from Maryland. He'll join veteran 6-2, 235-pound Ernest Hausmann — imported a year ago from Nebraska — to form the heart of a line- backing corps expected to help flatline offenses. Michigan's edges up front — 6-1, 245-pound Josaiah Stewart and 6-3, 256-pound Derrick Moore — are ready to become the next QB-torturing tandem in Michigan's ongoing defensive surge. Yes, the Wolverines suffered a ma- WINK AND A SMILE Michigan's Defense Should Be Staunch Again NFL coaching veteran and first-year U-M defensive coordinator Wink Martindale (right) has a cache of weapons on the U-M roster to draw from, not the least of which is junior defensive tackle Mason Graham (left), a 6-3, 320-pound wrecking ball who earned Defensive MVP honors in the Rose Bowl win against Alabama. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL