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While there may be a lot of unknowns about the 2024 Michigan Wolverines in football, given the new coaching staff and so much of the personnel departing for the NFL, one thing is for sure: the defense stands to be among the nation’s best.
All that despite the entire defensive coaching staff from a year ago turning over. It’s a whole new staff on that side of the ball, but thanks to the players coming back, there’s a lot of optimism in Ann Arbor.
You have a solid front, with all four of the projected starters having been on the field in that pivotal final play against Alabama in the Rose Bowl. The linebacking corps may be new starters, but with Ernie Hausmann and Jaishawn Barham leading the charge, there’s a lot to like. Then you have star cornerback Will Johnson in the defensive backfield.
Though the Rod Moore ACL injury certainly put a wrench into the plans, the defense is loaded. And ESPN seems to think so, too.
Resident advanced stats guru Bill Connelly wrote for ESPN about the 12 defenses that could change the college football landscape in 2024 (subscription required) and naturally Michigan was among the selected. Noting that while we see coaches leaving college for the NFL, the Wolverines went the other way (after, well, losing most of the staff to the NFL) by bringing in Wink Martindale — which should prove to be a major factor for this upcoming team.
Amid all the Sturm und Drang about stressed-out college coaches leaving for the pros — a phenomenon that isn’t even slightly new, even if being a major college coach in the particularly frontierlike current environment is quite exhausting — a very well-known NFL defensive coach moved to the collegiate ranks: Wink Martindale. The 60-year-old coordinator had spent the past two decades in the pros and fielded maybe the best defense in the NFL with John…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/espn-previews-look-michigan-football-175224633.html
Author : Wolverines Wire
Publish date : 2024-03-31 17:52:24
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