Michigan Football: Why Daxton Hill should move to corner

Reason No. 2

There is an argument to be made that Hill will have less impact on the game at safety than corner. At safety, Hill can patrol center field and come down in the box and be a factor in stopping the run. While at corner, teams can stay away from him by not throwing to his side of the field. However, Hill could help the team more by moving to corner.

Michigan has recruited safety as well as any position on the roster and is certainly better than corner. At safety, Michigan has an experienced option in Brad Hawkins, who has made 17 starts among his 42 appearances. In addition, the Wolverines signed three four-star in its 2020 class, RJ Moten, Makari Paige, and Jordan Morant.

I was extremely high on RJ Moten as a recruit because of his explosiveness, striking ability, and versatility. It sounds like the light has come on for Moten this spring and he is ready to emerge as a factor this season.

Paige took some freshmen lumps as most young safeties do, but that should help him this year. He has exciting potential as a rangy free safety and his length could make him a matchup weapon against tight ends.

Morant was ranked the highest as a recruit, but he did not play last year while recovering from a Lisfranc injury. When healthy, Morant could emerge as a valuable chess piece for Mike MacDonald. A forgotten man in the safety room is Quinten Johnson, a four-star recruit himself in the 2019 class. Johnson is about 6-foot and 200 lbs, has 4.4 speed, and is a big hitter. If called upon, he could emerge as an option as well.

By moving Hill to corner, Michigan football could put out its most talented lineup in the secondary in its base defense: Hill, Moten/Paige, Hawkins, and Green. While teams could throw away from Hill if he is covering their top wide receiver, the ball is going to find his direction at some point. If opponents do try to avoid him, it will make them predictable to defend. Michigan could also shift more coverage to the other side of the field.