The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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NOVEMBER 2026 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 21 sion, defensive disguises and quarterback confusion into a strong mix. Hill recently commented on Michi- gan's personnel allowing the Wolverines to play plenty of man-to-man coverage — although not as much as the casual observer might believe. "I would say 50-50 right now," Hill stressed. "We're a little heavier man than we were at BYU. We're about what we were when I was at the University of Utah and Weber State. I think those per- centages are very similar. We have good corners here, so we're going to put those guys in coverage and rely on their ability to cover. It fits the system of Michigan, with our defensive line, our ability to cover on how we've called it thus far. "We change things up, too. In the Oklahoma game, everybody was think- ing we were just sitting back in man, man, man. We were playing all kinds of different combination coverages and zones and stuff to try to confuse the quarterback. It wasn't just all man." Whereas he enjoys slugging it out against power teams in the Big Ten, he looks forward to Michigan being a prob- lem for pass-heavy offenses. "Remember, I played DB, so I like games that are aired out," he said. "I like scheming against quarterbacks who think they can chuck it for 400 yards and shutting them down to not much. So I embrace both sides of this thing. We have to be super physical. We have to play Michigan-style defense. And we've got to be able to stop the run. But you'd better be able to stop the pass, too. You can't give up a couple of cheap ones down the field." ESSENTIALS TO SUCCESS Before the season ever began, Hill ap- peared on the KSL Sports Zone in Salt Lake City, on the DJ & PK morning sports radio show, hosted by David James and Patrick Kinahan. Hill spoke at length about how he views his job, along with some still-to-come essentials when it comes to Michigan football. "I believe you've got to be able to stop the run," Hill assured. "No matter what the offensive scheme is — because they're all different — you've got to be able to stop the run. I believe in man coverage when you can do it. Now, I'm not going to force man just to force man, but I do believe in man coverage, because it forces quarter- backs to throw into tight windows. And if you do it properly with good technique, everybody should be covered. "Beyond that, I believe in keeping quar- terbacks on their toes and not knowing what's going on in the secondary. We do a good job with disguises. And then I want to keep them on their toes by them not knowing whether we're in man, or cover two, or cover three, or whether we're blitzing. We try to do a good job of dis- guising and a good job of mixing it up. "If you're asking me what I believe in, I want to keep quarterbacks guessing about what's going on, you've got to play some man coverage and you're got to stop the run." He also believes in developing good depth, and he's certainly getting there on the defensive line, with strong fresh- man efforts behind established veterans. Michigan's linebackers have been better than many anticipated prior to the season, and the Wolverines' secondary made the big interception to turn the Oklahoma game early on. There's work to do, in the back half of the season and beyond. And having the depth coaches really want gets tougher every day, it seems. "We believe we'll get here and recruit at an elite level, as good as anybody in the country," Hill said. "We will not be dealing with depth issues for very long. But I can say this — across the country, nobody has the depth, even at the highest level, that they used to have. Ten years ago, when Nick Saban was at Alabama, his threes could probably beat most teams' ones. And they never left because you weren't getting more money somewhere else. Why would you leave to go somewhere that wasn't winning as much? "Nick Saban and some of those teams back then were just loaded. Ones, twos, threes — their depth was just unbeliev- able. Now, it's harder for teams to keep your depth, because someone who is sit- ting as a backup in Alabama, you might be able to leave for somewhere and make maybe $300,000 or $400,000 more by going and being a starter. What's created an issue with depth is money. It's harder to keep your backups. They can go some- where else to be a starter and make starter money." Hill also noted nobody wants to win more at Michigan than they did at BYU or Utah. The spotlight's just brighter. "Is there a difference? Yes," he said. "Does the process change? Absolutely not. At Utah and BYU, you're playing high-caliber, big-time football. Those guys can go into any stadium in the coun- try and win. Both programs. I don't think the process changes. "Now when you're at Michigan and you're going to play at Ohio State, you're going to have 100 million viewers. That's different. There are things that are differ- ent. There are expectations that outside people, the media and everybody else put on programs like Michigan. But do the fans at BYU and Utah expect to win every single game? Absolutely. Do the coaches go into every single game expecting to win? Absolutely. "It doesn't matter who we play. We're going in with the game plan and the pro- cess and the thought that we're going to win. That doesn't change from place to place." Columbus awaits, with its Michigan helmet thieves, cold showers at the op- posing team hotel and occasional bomb- sniffing dogs. But countless hours of prep have already been made for that one, be- fore the season ever started. In the mean- time, there's a season to save. ❏ THE NUMBERS ARE BETTER THAN ADVERTISED Michigan's defensive numbers are strong. A closer look reveals they're better than they look on paper. The Wolverines surrendered 15.8 points per game over the first handful of contests. But without a 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Iowa and short fields aplenty caused by U-M turn- overs on offense, the stats would be more lights out. No fewer than a half-dozen scores by opposing teams occurred directly after Michigan offensive turnovers or on the aforementioned special teams letdown. Opponents scoring "drives" included the following: minus-1 yard, 17 yards, 18 yards, 36 yards, 4 yards, 34 yards and 35 yards. Michigan's scoring defense, with the defense actually on the field and when making the opposi- tion go at least 40 yards to score, allows just 8.8 points per game. — John Borton