One of the biggest reasons for optimism regarding the Michigan football team this season is defensive coordinator Jay Hill.
Kyle Whittingham, the first-year Michigan football head coach, hired Hill away from BYU to be the Wolverines' defensive coordinator. It felt like a home-run hire at the time, and hopefully, that feeling proves to be right this season.
One of Michigan's issues the past two seasons was that the defense struggled to slow down elite quarterbacks. There was the famous win against Ohio State in 2024, but outside that, Wink Martindale's defense left a lot to be desired.
One glaring issue was that Michigan football forced just 1.3 turnovers per game last season. That's not terrible, but it's not great either. In 2023, Michigan forced 1.8 takeaways per game. It was 1.5 in 2024.
BYU wasn't quite as elite at forcing turnovers last season with 1.7 per game. But in 2024, the Cougars forced 2.2 takeaways per game. BYU also had more interceptions over the past two seasons than any other defense in college football.
Hill has been compared to Jesse Minter. The strength of the defense tends to be the secondary. That doesn't mean that his teams haven't been strong in the trenches; Michigan is expected to be strong there in 2025, but it's something that should translate to Ann Arbor. Hill is at least confident that it will.
Jay Hill's Michigan defense expects to force a lot of turnovers
"I think we'll fly around as good as anybody," Hill said via a recent video posted on X. "We'll have speed. We'll have toughness and physicality, but we give more looks than the big majority of the defenses out there. That's in the front. That's in the secondary. We're used to getting lots of turnovers, so I would anticipate that that continues."
Hill said his defenses are "used to getting lots of turnovers." That's something that needs to translate to Michigan this season. It will help that the Wolverines have Jyaire Hill, Zeke Berry, Smith Snowden, Rod Moore, and others in the secondary.
Chris Bracy, a transfer from Memphis, is another name to know. Mason Curtis could also be a contributor, along with some younger players. The point being, Hill's defense won't lack talent. Michigan is loaded, especially in the secondary with next-level players. It also has projected All-American John Henry Daley, along with other talented players on the D-line like Trey Pierce
That should make Hill's defense, and his emphasis on the backend, mixing up coverages and confusing quarterbacks, as Minter used to do, a perfect fit for the Wolverines.
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