Michigan Football: Competition at Corner Will Be Fierce

While much of the attention is on Jourdan Lewis, the Michigan football team is going to have a fierce competition for playing time at cornerback this fall.

When it comes to having a great defense, two things are essential: A great defensive line and a ball-hawking secondary. This season, the Michigan football team appears to have both.

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Of course, Jourdan Lewis is the star of the Michigan secondary. The senior cornerback racked up 20 passes defensed and two interceptions last season and if he had declared for the NFL draft, he would have easily been a first-round selection.

I do not mean to leave Jabrill Peppers out of the mix, but with all the positions he could play next season: linebacker, safety, corner, running back, etc, it seems best to leave him out of the cornerback discussion, especially because the position is pretty settled thanks to Channing Stribling and Jeremy Clark.

With Stribling and Clark, who had two and three interceptions, respectively for Michigan football last year, the Wolverines have flexibility with Peppers. Sure, they could play him at corner, but he can fill a bigger need at linebacker or safety, while still making the same impact.

Truthfully, there are few question marks about the Wolverines’ defense and corner isn’t one of them. With Lewis, Stribling and Clark, Michigan is set. The biggest question remaining is simply who is going to start opposite Lewis?

Both Stribling and Clark, who are the top competitors for that job, have good size at over 6-0 and possess above-average athleticism. They can both play press-man coverage and are not afraid to be physical with wide receivers.

Both players are also coming off productive seasons. Clark had 21 tackles, three picks and three passes defensed; Stribling had 17 tackles, two interceptions and three pass breakups.

“That’s my boy,” Stribling said of Clark in a recent intervew. “We try to push each other every day. (Former defensive coordinator D.J.) Durkin always told us, in order to play in the league, you’ve gotta be able to take a grown man’s job. So we tell each other that every day, like, ‘You’ve gotta take my job,’ or, ‘I’ve gotta take yours.’ That’s only going to make us better.”

Of course, Durkin was Michigan’s former defensive coordinator, however, it didn’t take long for Stribling to impress the Wolverines’ new head honcho on defense Don Brown this spring.

Stribling was the first Michigan football player to earn Brown’s “Dude of the Day” award for his three-interception performance during a spring workout in Florida and he continued to look strong through spring practices, which may have given him a leg up for the starting job.

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Trying to decide between Stribling and Clark will be a difficult decision, but at the end of the day, both players will play and play a lot. Brown should just be thankful that he has more than a few “dudes” capable of playing corner.