Michigan Football: Answering 5 key questions heading into 2019

Will Hill start immediately?

Michigan football’s most highly touted recruit from the 2019 recruiting cycle is undoubtedly safety Daxton Hill. Hill is a five-star monster and was ranked nationally at 14. He was also the No. 1 player from Oklahoma and the No. 1 safety. Daxton is also the younger brother of Baltimore Ravens running back draftee Justice Hill who, like Daxton, is a speed demon.

The question here is, will a star like Hill – who 247Sports ranks as the 8th best recruit to commit to Michigan since 2000 – sit out his first year? Will he get some playing time? Or will he start right away?

To answer that, let’s start with a few comparisons. If you look at the list of top recruits, you will see Rashan Gary and Jabrill Peppers on the list and you can see that they both received significant playing time during their first years.

Next, consider who this Michigan football team lost in the offseason. First, there’s David Long who was an outstanding defensive back during his two-year stint starting for the Wolverines. Long was drafted in the third round back in April. UM also lost safety Tyree Kinnel who went undrafted but was signed by the Bengals.

The returning starting safety is Josh Metellus but who will play opposite him?

J’Marick Woods, Brad Hawkins, and Hill are the guys Don Brown has as the top candidates based on what the coaches are saying.

“I want to see him (Hill) play safety,” Harbaugh said, overtly not answering the question at Big Ten Media Days.

While there is no exact answer to the question, Hill is by far the highest-rated among the three and is the favorite to get the start according to several members of the media. I think it’s going to be a combination of starting and rotating in depending on how Hill adjusts to the speed and size of collegiate receivers.