Michigan Football’s cornerbacks will be a strength in 2022

In our post-spring breakdown of Michigan football’s roster, here’s a look at the cornerback position which will be a strength for the Wolverines in 2022. 

As we have broken down each position on Michigan football’s roster post-spring, it’s hard not to get excited about the upcoming season, which is now less than 100 days away.

The Wolverines are fresh off their first Big Ten championship since 2004 and their first top-3 finish in the final AP rankings since 1997, when they last won the national title.

Jim Harbaugh is now committed to chasing after that national championship and while this doesn’t feel like the team that will break that streak, it does feel like there won’t be much dropoff from last season.

Michigan football had one of the best defenses in college football last season and the pass rush led by Aidan Hutchinson and David Ojabo was the biggest reason why. It was suffocating.

In addition to losing those guys to the NFL, Michigan also lost multiple starters in the secondary including Daxton Hill, Vincent Gray, and also Brad Hawkins.

Cornerback will be a position of strength in 2022

We’ll look at the safety position another day and while there are key snaps to fill there, Michigan football should be even better at cornerback than last season.

DJ Turner emerged as the No. 1 down the stretch last season and he was one of the best cornerbacks in the Big Ten last season. To. me, he looks like a future mid-round draft pick and a dude with day-two potential.

Turner is going to be the No. 1 this season but the Wolverines are stocked full of talent and depth behind him. Gemon Green will be back as a starter. He’s a solid cover guy and if he can just improve his ball skills a little, he could be an NFL player.

But it shouldn’t be lost on Michigan fans that Steve Clinkscale took many of the same players that struggled in 2020 and got them to play well in 2021, so another year of him coaching these guys is only going to make them even better.

Of course, the biggest addition is five-star Will Johnson. He’s 6-foot-2, over 200 pounds, and an elite athlete. He can cover, blitz, play the run, play the ball, and basically do it all.

I believe he’ll have a chance to be the best defensive freshman in the Big Ten conference. And we haven’t even gotten to wide receiver turned cornerback Mike Sainristil who was really impressive in the spring game. Ja’Den McBurrows is another really talented corner and if he’s healthy this fall, he should also make a bigger impact.

Hill essentially served as the nickel back last season so we’ll see if Sainristil takes those snaps, although I wouldn’t mind seeing Johnson there every so often just to blitz and be closer to the ball.

Regardless of the specific roles, which will be developed this fall, Michigan football’s defense is going to be better than people expect. The defensive line and the pass rush won’t be quite as productive as in 2021. That’s just not realistic.

But the cornerbacks are going to be better and if Johnson delivers on the promise he’s shown so far, the pass coverage could be even better than it was last season.