Wolverine Digest

Michigan football DB leads all college football corners in this key stat

The experienced Michigan corner has played well in the Wolverines' secondary in 2025

Seth Berry

Michigan defensive back Jyaire Hill (20) celebrates a sack of Central Michigan quarterback Joe Labas (2) during the first half at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025.
Michigan defensive back Jyaire Hill (20) celebrates a sack of Central Michigan quarterback Joe Labas (2) during the first half at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025. / Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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The Michigan football secondary is a unit that has been a bit banged up in the early part of the season, but now with its leader, safety Rod Moore, back in the fold and healthy, Michigan's back end could be in a position to be playing their best football in the games ahead.

Even with some inconsistencies in the pass defense to this point in the season, junior Jyaire Hill has elevated his play to help defensive coordinator Wink Martindale's unit achieve success. According to Cam Mellor, the Chief Analytics Officer of Pro Football and Sports Network (PFSN), Hill has been the best cornerback in college football at forcing incompletions, via data from TruMedia/PFF.

Hill is forcing incompletions at a 35.3% rate among corners with at least 15 targets. He leads Toledo's Avery Smith by 2.5 percentage points, who comes in second on the list with a 31.8% forced incompletion rate.

The continued development of Hill and guys like Zeke Berry, Shamari Earls, Jayden Sanders and Jo'Ziah Edmond will be important for the Wolverines if they wish to continue to trend in an upward direction, especially with a front seven that seems to be coming into form as the midway point of the 2025 season approaches.

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Seth Berry
SETH BERRY

Seth began writing on Michigan athletics in 2015 and has remained in the U-M media space ever since, which includes stops at Maize N Brew and Rivals before coming onto Michigan On SI in June of 2025. Seth has covered various angles of Michigan football and basketball, including recruiting, overall team coverage and feature/analysis stories relating to the Wolverines. His passion for Michigan sports and desire to tell stories led him to the sports journalism world. He is a 2020 graduate of Western Michigan University and is the former sports editor of the Western Herald, WMU's student newspaper.

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