Michigan Football: Jim Harbaugh opens up about the depth chart

Defense

Harbaugh also addressed the defensive depth chart. It sounds like Michael Barrett has beefed up to 237 pounds (according to Josh Ross) and he’s going to start the season at inside linebacker, although Junior Colson and Nikhai Hill-Green were both mentioned by Ross too.

The Michigan football coach did talk up the defensive line though and seemed really excited about the development of defensive tackle Mazi Smith and others. Here’s more from Balas after talking to Harbaugh:

"“Harbaugh raved about defensive tackle Mazi Smith, just as Smith’s teammates had earlier in the day. The redshirt frosh has completely transformed his body, Harbaugh noted, and has the potential to be dominant. He’s hopeful transfer Jordan Whittley will be able to take up a couple of gaps with his big body, but he remained non-committal as to his impact. He also praised redshirt sophomore Julius Welschof, noting he’s now 295 pounds.”"

The development of Smith into a dominant player would be huge for Michigan football. Smith and Chris Hinton are going to be among the most important players on the defense in 2021.

The secondary also needs to improve. Gemon Green who came on down the stretch last season has locked down a starting job according to Harbaugh, while Vincent Gray is battling it out with D.J. Turner who has made a move.

At the end of the day, Michigan football does have a lot of experienced players back on defense, they just didn’t perform last season.

These reports are positive but again, it won’t mean much until we see better results on the field, however, at least we have a better idea of what the depth chart looks like entering fall camp.