Michigan Football: Secondary Play Has Made The Wolverines Defense Even Stronger To Beat

Michigan doesn't have the No. 1 scoring defense (6.7 PPG allowed) for no reason. The Wolverines haven't played a world-beating schedule, but you can tell that to teams like Georgia who allowed 21 points to UAB, USC allowed 28 points to San Jose State and 41 to Arizona -- you get my point.

But the Wolverines haven't allowed a team to score more than 10 points in a single game in 2023. Michigan has a stout run defense that rotates some run stuffers up the middle.

While the Wolverines' run defense is good in 2023 and has been elite for a few seasons now, the one thing that has made the Wolverines tough to score on is the elite play from the secondary.

Michigan has recorded seven interceptions in six weeks and the craziest stat is the fact the Wolverines have returned three of them for touchdowns.

Will Johnson, Mike Sainristil, and Keon Sabb have all recorded pick-sixes this year.

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7 interceptions total, 3 returned for scores#GoBlue pic.twitter.com/R8zBhpCRcc
— Michigan Football (@UMichFootball) October 13, 2023

Michigan is tied with Arkansas with scoring three times off interceptions in 2023 and there is little doubt it won't happen again.

What's eye-opening about it, is the fact Michigan didn't have Will Johnson, Rod Moore, or Makari Paige healthy during the first four weeks of the season and the Wolverines' secondary was still elite. Steve Clinkscale has done a wonderful job with the young, youthful Wolverines like Keon Sabb.

Now that the maize and blue appear to be fully healthy in the secondary, it's possible the play only keeps getting better and better moving forward.

Michigan enters Week 7 against Indiana boasting the second-ranked pass defense in the country allowing 142.5 yards per game.

Michigan had zero pick-sixes in 2020, one in 2021, and one last year in 2022.