Is Michigan Football’s Vincent Gray ready for Rashod Bateman?

It sounds like Vincent Gray is a huge part of Michigan football’s plan to defend Rashod Bateman, so how will that work?

There are a lot of questions marks at the cornerback position for Michigan football as the season gets ready to start Saturday, but one player who has been solid all along is Vincent Gray.

Last year, Gray, a redshirt sophomore, established himself as the No. 3 corner and with the loss of Lavert Hill, as well as Ambry Thomas, who opted out, he’s the No. 1 guy and that’s been the case throughout the offseason. He has been the constant. He also had five passes defenses last year.

While D.J. Turner, Jalen Perry, Gemon Green, Sammy Faustin and Daxton Hill have all played corner at some time or another, Gray’s spot has been settled and when the Wolverines take the field against the Gopher, it sounds like he will be on Rashod Bateman duty.

As Orion Sang of the Detroit Free Press tweeted, in terms of covering Bateman, Brad Hawkins, a starting safety said, “That’s definitely Vincent Gray’s task.”

Now people took that to mean Michigan football was going to singe cover Bateman with Gray. That could be the case and with Don Brown’s aggressive nature, I’m sure there will be some one-on-one moments, but I have a hard time believing Gray will be on island by himself.

Is Vincent Gray up to the task and will he get help?

In his weekly meeting with the media, Jim Harbaugh raved about Bateman and as far as offensive threats for Minnesota go, he’s the top guy. Tanner Morgan is very solid and the Gophers have other solid receivers, but Bateman can’t be allowed to go off in this one.

During the offseason, Brown did talk up Vincent Gray and said he believes he has NFL potential, the kind of potential that could keep him at Michigan just one more year.

We’ll see if that’s true and Saturday will be a huge test. Obviously, Brown has allowed safeties to wind up covering players one-on-one deep in the middle of the field, so there will surely be times that Gray is all by himself.

However, you have to believe that Gray will be playing man underneath and trying to jam Bateman with some safety help over the top.

It seems to me that Hawkins could have meant that Gray will be the guy lining up across Bateman all game, instead of throwing different guys at him, which is smart.

If none of the other corners have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are starting material, then the one guy who has, should be on Bateman.

But unless the pass rush is off the charts, Brown and Michigan better be careful, as Bateman averaged more than 20 yards per reception last season and is capable of changing the game all on his own.