What the Spring Game Told Us About Jay Hill's New Michigan Defense

The Maize team took on the Blue team in Michigan Spring Game earlier today, and ended up winning by a score of 7-6. the Maize team scored the winning TD in the final minutes to put them over the top.

The first quarter was just a 'thud' period, where they just wrapped up on defense but the 2nd-4th quarters were full on tackle. Bryce Underwood and a lot of the other Michigan starters played in just the first quarter before giving way to the 2's and 3's for the rest of the game. This was the first look at the Kyle Whittigham era, and fans got a chance to see what the two new schemes would look like for both the offense and the defense.

On defense, new defensive coordinator Jay Hill is bringing his 4-2-5 multiple style of defense to Ann Arbor. While they didn't blitz at all in this game, they did do quite a few stunts with the defensive line and they showed a few different looks on both the front and back end of the defense. Jay Hill has said his goal is for this defense to look like Michigan's National Championship defense from 2023, and at least in terms of being multiple and showcasing a variety of looks, they did just that in this Spring Game even without blitzing. Let's dive more into what Jay Hill's new Michigan defense looked like in this Spring Game below.

Multiple looks

The biggest takeaway I had from this Spring Game in terms of the defensive scheme was that they showed multiple different fronts and multiple different coverages on the back end. They used everything from a 4-2, a 4-3, a 3-4, a 3-3, and a 5-2 up front in this game and that's fun to see them be able to use that much variety already in just 15 spring practices. It can be hard to college defenses to really execute multiple types of fronts but in this Spring Game they were able to do that and it means they should be in a very good place once they get into next season.

On the back end, it was a little more standard in terms of coverages but they did use both split field safeties (cover 2 and cover 4) as well as single high safety (cover 1 and cover 3) looks at different times. Again, it can be hard to keep college defenders from playing a bunch of different types of coverages without busting frequently and they were able to at least show different things on the back end of the defense as well as the front end in this Spring Game.

No big plays

My other biggest takeaway with Jay Hill's defense in this Spring Game was that the offense had a tough time getting guys open. There were a few broken tackles that led to some extra yards, but the defense overall did a great job of making the offenses earn every yard in this game. They really forced the Michigan split-squad offense to execute and they were just not able to do so consistently. It's a big credit to both defenses in this game for how well they played, especially considering it's a brand new scheme for all these players to learn. It sure looks like Michigan's defense will be very good this fall.

The defensive line looked really good

In terms of which unit impressed me the most, it has to be the defensive line. Granted they were going up against a split-squad look from the Michigan offensive line, but both defensive lines were able to create havoc and get pressure on the quarterbacks in this game. Nate Marshall in particular looked like a future star at defensive end with multiple pressures and sacks in this game, and he's not even currently a starter on the projected depth chart for next season.

Given that he defensive line was a bit of a question mark on paper coming into this game, it was nice to see them really dominate and control the line of scrimmage all game long. Jay Hill certainly has to be happy with how the defensive line played in this Spring Game.

Overall, it was nice to get a good look at how Michigan's new defense will look under the direction of Defensive Coordinator Jay Hill. If this Spring Game was any indication, Michigan's defense will be very multiple in their fronts and coverages, the will force their opponents to earn every yard, and the defensive line could end up being the strength of this Michigan defense come next season.

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