Michigan Football: 5 breakout candidates for Wolverines on defense

CB Vincent Gray

Michigan should be pretty solid at corner in 2020, despite the loss of three-year starter Lavert Hill, who has graduated and will move onto the NFL.

Yet, the Wolverines already have a replacement ready to step up and fill that spot and it’s redshirt sophomore, Vincent Gray. During his first two seasons with Michigan football, he played in 16 games and was limited to just a few as a freshman, preserving his redshirt.

Last season though, he moved into the No. 3 role and was solid. There were growing pains sure, but Gray, a 6-foot-2, 185-pound defensive back has solid man cover skills and that showed last season with five pass breakups. He also had 1.5 tackles for loss and 20 tackles total.

Ambry Thomas will certainly be going into 2020 as one starter, yet the other should be Gray. Michigan has needed big corners to develop and Gray can be that guy. Others are going to push for playing time at corner, potentially even incoming freshmen like Darion Green-Warren and Andre Seldon, however, Gray is going to be a factor and if the Wolverines secondary improves in 2020, he will be a key reason why.