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The Michigan football season is almost here as the Wolverines will kick things off on August 31st against Fresno State. The Wolverines have a lot to defend this season as they have won the Big Ten three seasons in a row and they won the national championship last year. Obviously, the expectations and goals for Michigan football remain the same. However, it will be incredibly hard to replicate the success as this team is almost entirely different.
Not only did Michigan football lose most of their starters from a year ago, but their coaching staff is also completely different. Jim Harbaugh left for the Los Angeles Chargers, and a good chunk of important staff members left with him. Defensive coordinator Jesse Minter is one of them, so the Wolverines have a new head coach and two new coordinators this year.
Offensive coordinator Kirk Campbell has been with the program for a couple of years, and he is the new OC now that Sherrone Moore is the head coach. Wink Martindale, who has coaching experience with the Baltimore Ravens like other past Michigan DCs, is the new defensive coordinator.
The coaching staff looks very different, and the players that we will see on the field for Michigan are going to look very different as well. The Wolverines lost 10 out of 11 offensive starters last year as tight end Colston Loveland is the only one that is back. On defense, Michigan is in a better position and returns some of their top playmakers from a year ago, but they still lost some elite talent on that side of the ball.
The defense is certainly in better shape than the offense in terms of returning production, but there will still be some newcomers. Let’s take a look at some of the most important position battles that have taken place on that side of the ball this offseason.
MLB
The MLB position is an important one to discuss because the starter there is going to be a transfer. When the offseason began, it was unclear who the starter would be, but if no transfers came in, it more than likely would’ve been junior Jimmy Rolder. However, one of the best transfers that Michigan landed this offseason is at the MLB position, and it is Jaishawn Barham, who transferred from Maryland. He is going to be the starter there.
Defensive line
Kenneth Grant and Mason Graham are back and edge rushers Josiah Stewart and Derrick Moore are all back this season, and that is huge for Michigan football. This defensive line is going to be an absolute force, and one new face that we will see more consistently there is Rayshaun Benny.
We saw Rayshaun Benny play a bit the past couple years and past season he had 27 total tackles, one sack and one forced fumble, but his role will be bigger this year. He has a lot of talent and he will be working with a lot of other elite players.
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Benny went down with an ankle injury last year in the Rose Bowl, but he is doing much better now.
Secondary
The secondary is definitely where the most shakeup will be, and there are a lot of transfers to talk about there as well. Will Johnson, Makari Paige and Quentin Johnson are all back this season, and they will have starting roles, but how will all the transfers work into everything?
Michigan football has four transfers to keep an eye on in the secondary this year: Jaden Mangham (Michigan State), Wesley Walker (Tennessee), Amir Hall (Albany) and Ricky Johnson (UNLV).
Ja’Den McBurrows and Jyaire Hill are returning players that are trying to earn starting spots in the secondary as well, so out of those six players, two will be seeing the field more than the rest. Still, the Wolverines have an impressive amount of depth in the secondary.
Wesley Walker and Jaden Mangham are the most experienced players in the bunch, so it’s likely that we see a good amount of those two this season. No matter what, all of these guys are going to get worked in and they will have some sort of role this season.
This Michigan football defense lost some great players from last year, but this should still be one of the best defenses in the country.
