Jim Harbaugh offers zero clarity for Michigan football at corner

Michigan football head coach Jim Harbaugh spoke about his defensive backs on Monday and also made things more confusing about who will play.

It’s hard to say if it was intentional or if Jim Harbaugh meant to make the cornerback battle for Michigan football more confusing, but that’s what he did on Monday.

Speaking on the “Inside Michigan Football” radio show, Harbaugh talked about the defensive backfield and added a new name to the cornerback battle: Sammy Faustin.

After Don Brown came out last week and said Gemon Green was the leader in the clubhouse for the starting job opposite Vincent Gray, Harbaugh announced that Faustin had moved from safety to corner in the past week and was also in the mix.

“He’s doing a really nice job the last week he’s been there,” Harbaugh said via MLive.

Faustin, like Green, is a member of the 2018 recruiting class. He’s 6-foot-2, 200 pounds and while he was getting some positive buzz as a third or fourth safety, he’s another name to watch at corner.

Its seems like the only thing we know for sure is that Gray will be one of Michigan football’s starting corners. Other than that, it’s anyone’s guess.

Interpreting Harbaugh’s comments

Daxton Hill has been mentioned at cornerback, even if that’s more of a nickel role and while I still expect him to play in the slot, Harbaugh didn’t mention him in his interview.

The others in the mix are DJ Turner and Jalen Perry as well as freshman Andre Seldon and Darion Green-Warren. However, it is worth mentioning that Harbaugh didn’t mention Perry.

Of course, that could be just an accident, it’s not like Harbaugh has a list and is making sure he names every kid. But it does seem like Michigan wouldn’t move Faustin unless it needed to and that probably doesn’t bode well for Perry or Turner for that matter.

“Versatility is almost always a good thing,” Harbaugh said. “The players that are most talented, give the most effort — the cream always rises to the top and I think we’re seeing that.”

For one, you have to love Harbaugh and his food references. It’s interesting how he’s talking about dairy a lot with his affinity for milk steak. But I digress.

It’s clear that Faustin, whether it’s at safety or corner, has played his way into the mix. At 6-foot-2, maybe Michigan football views him as a big nickel, someone who has the skills to cover but also defend against the run.

That’s pretty valuable in today’s game when everyone is running the spread and defenses are forced into sub packages more than ever.

Green is as talented as they come but the DB from Texas has struggled with consistency and you wonder if Faustin’s move has something to do with that. One would also think the move indicates more positive things about Makari Paige and the confidence in his ability to play right away.

At any rate, there are still a lot of moving pieces it seems in the secondary. My bet is that there will be some rotating early in the season until as Harbaugh said, the cream rises to the top.