Michigan Secondary A No Fly Zone Under Jim Harbaugh

Over the past several seasons, Michigan defensive coordinator Don Brown has come under fire as a result of his reluctance to play schemes other than press man coverage often enough, but there is a bit of merit to Brown's madness.

In most situations, Brown employs man coverage to all on-field receiving threats and knocks either one or two safeties back into zone coverage. This strategy allows for a couple front seven players to pressure the passer on a blitz. Sometimes this player is the Viper, other times it's a different linebacker. And while this approach has not always yielded perfect results, Michigan's defenses have produces a batch of defensive backs that have been more than stingy in coverage.

According to Pro Football Focus, the five lowest completion percentages allowed by defensive backs over the past six seasons all belong to Michigan players. In other words, Michigan's secondary has shut down more than a few passing offenses over the past few seasons, and the numbers support the Wolverines' claim to pass defense prowess.

Lowest completion % allowed by a B1G DB since 2014:

1. David Long Jr, Michigan ('18) - 29.0%
2. Channing Stribling, Michigan ('16) - 30.2%
3. David Long Jr, Michigan ('17) - 31.0%
4. Jourdan Lewis, Michigan ('16) - 31.7%
5. Vincent Gray, Michigan ('19) - 32.4% pic.twitter.com/mYM3KMTxdo
— PFF College (@PFF_College) June 22, 2020

As shown, David Long Jr. strung together two consecutive seasons of allowing less than a 32% completion rate in 2017 and 2018. Before that, the duo of Jourdan Lewis and Channing Stribling helped construct a lock-down pass defense for the Wolverines in 2016, and just last year Vincent Gray snuck onto the exclusive lit with a 32.4% completion percentage in his sophomore season.

Interestingly enough, Lavert Hill, who started 38 games at Michigan and was a three-time All-Big Ten honoree, did not make the threshold for Pro Football Focus' list.

Last year, Gray came on strong to end the season and finished the 2019 campaign with 20 tackles, five pass deflections and one and a half tackles for loss. As a whole, Michigan's defense ranked No. 10 nationally in terms of passing yards allowed (2,412) with an average of 185 passing yard given up per game and a 6.99 yards per attempt clip.

This season, Gray is expected to assume a starting position for Michigan, but U-M will also benefit from having Ambry Thomas in the mix. In fact, Pro Football Focus also named Thomas as the No. 21 returning defensive back in the nation ahead of the 2020 season, so a lot is expected from what could be a talented tandem in the secondary for Michigan.

Both Gray and Thomas will be backed up by a safety pairing of Brad Hawkins and Dax Hill, and those two players have already shown that they will bring an aggressive approach to the secondary. In particular, Hawkins and Hill could offer a combination of speed that the Wolverines have not seen from the safety position so far in Jim Harbaugh's Michigan tenure, and that attribute may allow for Gray and Thomas to play tighter coverage on the outside.

Do any of these players have a chance to make Pro Football Focus' list next season for lowest completion percentage allowed? Which members of the secondary have the best shot to do so? Let us know!