Michigan Football: Predicting Wolverines defensive depth chart in 2021

Michigan football has most of the guys that it will head into the 2021 season with on the roster and here’s a prediction for the defensive depth chart. 

While it’s possible and maybe even likely that Michigan football adds a defensive player or two through the transfer portal, for the most part, the Wolverines have their roster heading into 2021.

Defensively, Michigan football got a nice boost to its 2021 recruiting class on national signing day with the additions of Rayshaun Benny and George Rooks, two four-star defensive tackles ranked in the top 300 of the 247 sports composite rankings.

Benny is a 6-foot-5, 275-pounder who is a more of a true DT. Rooks is a defensive end/defensive tackle but he’s a skilled pass rusher. Junior Colson and Jaydon Hood are two other four-star recruits that could potentially make an impact next season.

The front seven was a weakness last season for Michigan football, there’s no doubt that the Wolverines need to be better up front. With new defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald, U-M is also likely to run a 3-4 defense, although I’d expect it to be multiple.

That’s sort of what makes a depth chart prediction kind of hard, so we’ll do our best to go beyond all the traditional spots and give a realistic depiction of what the two-deep looks like heading into next season.

It’s certainly possible there are some changes to the roster following spring practices too but based on who the Wolverines have right now, here’s the projected two-deep for 2021.