[Bryan Fuller]

Previously: Podcast 10.0A. Podcast 10.0B. Podcast 10.0C. The Story. Quarterback. Running Back. Wide Receiver. Tight End And Friends. Offensive Tackle. Interior Offensive Line. Defensive Tackle. Defensive End. Linebacker.

Depth Chart

 

Boundary Corner	Yr.	Field Corner	Yr.	Nickelback	Yr.
David Long	So.*	Lavert Hill	Jr.	Brandon Watson	Sr.*
Ambry Thomas	So.	Myles Sims	Fr.	Gemon Green	Fr.
Vincent Gray	Fr.	Benjamin St Juste	Fr.*	Jaylen Kelly-Powell	So.

Last year, Mike Zordich stepped in front of the assembled media and more or less pulled the Incensed Ralphie on his charges. Michigan's cornerbacks were dortin' no good dang nipple crisps who didn't practice, pronounced "gif" like it was peanut butter, and supported exclusionary zoning. Your author bought it and spent last year's preview worrying that the two second-year mega-recruits were going to flame out and leave Michigan in the lurch.

Fast forward a year:

A year ago in August Mike Zordich implored us to write his critiques so his corners would read them and learn.

Now?

‘Tell them I love them.’

— Nick Baumgardner (@nickbaumgardner) August 15, 2018

If Zordich didn't also help the very much non-touted Brandon Watson become the third good-to-superb cornerback in Michigan's deepest secondary in living memory, one might be cross about the headfake. Since he did, huzzahs all around and someone call Ambry Thomas a nipple crisp. Sounds like a job for Ace!

CORNERBACK: WE ARE LEGION

RATING: 5!!!

If you haven't seen this graphic from PFF you have been industriously avoiding football content all offseason:

Those CBs up in Ann Arbor are something else pic.twitter.com/PfYzEbUnT9

— PFF College (@PFF_College) August 26, 2018

I be like dang.

Some caveats do apply. Michigan's ravenous front seven forced a great variety of bad-idea throws and another great variety of passes technically targeting one of Michigan's CBs that were wild, unanswered prayers. There are stats, which can lie, and grades, which are less likely to. The above is a stat. PFF doesn't actually think Michigan had the two best corners in the country. The only think the next guy is the best returning CB in college football.

[Bryan Fuller]

Junior LAVERT HILL was hyped up as the second coming of Jourdan Lewis. This was a precisely correct take, perhaps the most accurate in the history of offseason Michigan hype. Hill, like Lewis, is the variety of 5'11"-ish corner who's so agile that he's in the hip pocket of his man on almost literally every snap. Like Lewis, Hill is comfortable getting his head around and making a play on the ball. Like Lewis, Hill will be of great interest to the NFL when he decides it's time to be of interest.

Hill's stats are great and get better when you drill down. He played almost 90% of Michigan snaps and was only targeted 29 times. Michigan's other corners were targeted about 50% more frequently on a per-snap basis. On those 29 targets Hill gave up 12 catches, had 7 PBUs, and 2 interceptions. His havoc rate (PBUs + INTs / targets) of 26% is second-best amongst returning CBs.  The passer rating stat above doesn't quite cover it; Hill was also studiously avoided by the opposition. And no wonder:

Hill was not just a man-to-man maestro. In addition to the coverage events above he also flashed his talent in zone coverage. Here he demonstrates a Countess-like ability to read what is coming and productively fall off the guy he was nominally in coverage on:

That's an interception if it's accurate. I didn't clip any other zone positives or negatives; a glance through the archives suggests that's because Michigan barely ran any.

Meanwhile the one time he got extensively tested on the ground, against Air Force, he came through with flying colors:

... Hill [was] particularly excellent. He's got a blocker here and doesn't just force it back but makes a critical zero-yard tackle that is a first step towards an Air Force FGA:

#24 CB to top of screen

He'd add to that resume a bit later in the year by chopping down a flare screen. The nature of Michigan's defense—all press all the time—limited the number of run-support events the corners endured by shutting off perimeter screens; in the limited opportunities provided Hill excelled. PFF graded him as "exceptional against the run." The cherry on top.

UFRs contained occasional mentions of an open guy here and a double move that got a little air there, but only as the "BUT!" section that I find mandatory since I am a person who writes on the internet who has to intercept many criticisms. Serious complaints were nonexistent.

In 2018 the main question about Hill is about his deployment. He was outstanding as a nickel corner, and it seems likely that Michigan will drift towards deploying him there when possible. When Michigan added a defensive back it was Watson (or Long, same difference) and Hill would kick down with predictably Lewis-like results.

His general coverage chops allowed him to stick with WRs when he went from slot to outside:

And the one time he faced the Dreaded Slot Fade he dominated:

If I was Michigan I'd give serious thought to expanding the definition of a passing down and expand the nickel package accordingly. Second and ten? Sure. Second and seven? Sure. Any down that seems likely to produce a third down of any variety even if the opposition runs against a nickel should be fair game. I believe the slot fade stuff will be better defended this year since it had to be a major offseason priority; I believe it will be better defended still if those poor saps are trying to get one over on Hill.

The deployment issues are the only thing worth speculating on. Hill will be an All-American, or close enough. He was already playing at that level a year ago. Michigan would be extraordinarily fortunate to get him back for a final year.

[After THE JUMP: three more of that?]

[Eric Upchurch]

Hill's sidekick and the guy who gave up snaps to Watson a year ago is DAVID LONG. He is also the player who set a PFF record for lowest passer rating when targeted:

CBs lowest passer rating when targeted during the PFF era:

1. David Long, Michigan - 11.9 (2017)
2. Gareon Conley, Ohio State - 14.0 (2016)
T3. Mark Fields, Clemson - 18.8 (2016)
T3. Caleb Williams, Ga. Southern - 18.8 (2015)
5. Jaire Alexander, Louisville - 19.9 (2017) pic.twitter.com/kz5XFFP4GX

— PFF College (@PFF_College) May 24, 2018

The phrase you're looking for is "embarrassment of riches."

Long was not quite as ubiquitous and dominant as Hill and the grading captures that; he was maybe a half-step behind. He and Watson were both on the field for about 60% of Michigan's snaps instead of Hill's 90% and everyone got about the same number of targets—the opposition was less fearful of non-Hill corners.

This says more about Hill than his compatriots. When Purdue decided to test the nominally weaker link, Long got his hand on the ball on three straight fade attempts, the first two of which were nearly identical:

The last one ended up one of those completions where the ball gets dislodged but hangs there for the WR—ie, one of the events that improved the opposition's passer rating when targeting Long was a PBU that bloody fate decreed would also be a completion.

Long and Watson drew the Simmie Cobbs matchup when the Indiana game rolled around and held him to under four yards per target. By the second half Cobbs was visibly frustrated:

#22 CB to bottom of screen

That is the same guy who lit up Denzel Ward in week one. Meanwhile, Hill got knocked out of the Maryland game, leaving Long the job of covering future first round pick DJ Moore. While it must be noted that Maryland was down to an Air Force transfer the size of a tamagotchi, Long had an interception while falling off his man...

...another PBU, and a +7 – 0 UFR day.

The 2018 version of Long is up nearly 10 pounds and has "shown increased speed and agility," per Isaiah Hole. All righty then. He hasn't shown up on any early NFL draft radars just yet but that should change as he turns in another year on par with 2017. He'll probably still be a wee bit behind Hill and will sacrifice snaps to the two guys up next but will certainly be an All Big Ten-level performer and could also push to be an All-American.

BACKUPS: MY OTHER BROTHERS DARRELL

Behind the two NFL-quality starters are two more players who project as good or better Big Ten corners. This is more quality depth than Michigan has had since I've been paying detailed attention, and given the great historical arc of football probably ever.

[Bryan Fuller]

Backup-type-substance number one is BRANDON WATSON, who was bar-none the most pleasant surprise on last year's defense. Terrifying giant person Simmie Cobbs? Enjoy this sideline.

Michigan "gave that work" to Cobbs, as the kids say. Everything he attempted was heavily contested except for one late dig on which Long got beat. All else was a struggle. Watson kept in contact on slants, materially impacting his ability to catch the ball. Watson got singled up on Cobbs with nobody in the galaxy around to help him; Watson forced Cobbs into the sideline on that would-be 62 yarder:

I don't think he even pushes the guy. His arm's out as more of a guide; Cobbs goes out on his own in an attempt to get around Watson. That should have been illegal touching and that's a win for the CB.

Top-150 recruit Freddie Swain on a fly route? No chance.

These incidents were Watson taking his 2016 press-you-for-real flashes and turning them into a reliable aspect of the defense. Even when someone did get a chunk of him it was often just one of those things. This completion ceded to MSU 1) saw Watson grind his man to the sideline and 2) was a PBU that turned into a fluky catch:

Part 1 is probably more important here. You can see Tyree Kinnel flash through the background because Watson's mauling gave him time to get over the top; at the very least he should have separated WR from ball. Earlier in the year Florida got a chunk on him on an improv incident after he'd dominated Tyrie Cleveland's initial route. These are shrug-worthy occurrences.

Watson's numbers are barely different than the two starters: 26 targets, 10 receptions allowed, 5 PBUs. They are a half-step behind but only that. And... uh... he actually got more snaps than Long last year. Co-starter? He's a co-starter.

It would be hard to oversell this transformation. Watson came to Michigan as a three-star cornerback who did one thing and one thing only in high school: press coverage. Brady Hoke and company immediately moved him to safety because reasons. This struck me as a very bad sign, and it was a very bad sign, and Michigan sheepishly moved him back. A couple of nice plays in a spring game brought him back onto the radar; subsequent season moved him back off. By last year's preview this was his status:

...would have played about zero meaningful snaps last year if not for Jeremy Clark's torn ACL; as it was he got just over 100. He was bleah in those snaps, mostly drawing UFR mention because he'd tackled immediately after someone caught an uncontested slant. ...topping out as a guy who is trying to survive.

Grim! Depressing! And wrong. Instead he was good enough to swipe a significant number of snaps from Long with no ill effect on the defense as  whole. Mike Zordich clearly did some work with the guys above the fold, but Watson is his masterpiece. Watson also had something to do with it:

Zordich says Watson has come further than maybe anyone else on the roster in his time at Michigan. Given he was a Brady Hoke recruit and not necessarily the size or type of cornerback the current staff would prefer to recruit, he has worked hard and earned his way into consistent and important playing time the last two seasons.

"Wow," Zordich said when asked about Watson's continued progress. "He has been unbelievable growth-wise. It was not easy on him our first year here as a staff. He is a totally different guy from the time we got here until now. He finishes plays. He works his tail off and he's good. Hats off to him for sticking with us; I don't think he really liked us when we first got here. We were a little tough on him. I was tough on him. I had to be. I had to get him up to snuff to get him to where we want him to be and he answered the bell. Last year, he played his ass off. He's playing his ass off again. I hope it all continues."

Same. Watson should be a guy you can put in press on a backside receiver with confidence and may be of interest to the NFL himself if his testing numbers come out right.

also also Jourdan Lewis [Bryan Fuller]

The fourth cornerback in the pecking order is a massively touted recruit reputed to be the Next Jourdan Lewis entering his sophomore season, i.e. the exact player Lavert Hill was a few months before he was an All Big Ten corner. AMBRY THOMAS [recruiting profile] is Lewis 3.0 and Hill 2.0; in almost any other secondary he'd be the highly touted recruit everyone was pumped about pushing through.

In this one he's a super-promising guy trying to find snaps. Offseason reports have mentioned him with frequency despite the three guys already covered in this section. Wolverines Wire related that guys close to the team were calling him a "beast" and relayed an extremely optimistic quote from Belleville head coach and local corner encyclopedia Jermain Crowell:

“Lavert was faster than Jourdan and probably a little quicker than Jourdan, but Jourdan was a better playmaker. I think that [Thomas] has a combination of both. He’s almost just as fast if not a little faster than Lavert. He’s got JD’s type of playmaking ability. The sky is the limit for him.”

While Thomas chatter this offseason has been frequent and convincing (as it usually is when there's no reason to hype a guy), it does sound like he's still a work in progress:

“The long ball – they’ve got a couple on him. But only because of his technique at the top – he gets all turned around and if he just stays calm and he’ll be in good shape. ... In his footwork – at the line of scrimmage, with all the man we play, we’re very peculiar about our technique, and at that part of it, he’s gotten better. We’re hard on him. We’re really hard on him about our technique, because we play so much man. We’ve got to be really good with the fundamentals, and that’s where he’s getting better.”

Thomas is going to get as much run as is reasonable as Michigan preps him to take over next year, when Michigan will be fortunate to get one of their top three corners back. That might not be that much time; Thomas's playing time probably depends more on the offense than anything else.

but why?

Corners past Thomas are unlikely to see meaningful snaps. That didn't stop CASEY HUGHES from transferring in from Utah for a grad year. Hughes started 11 games at corner for the #14 S&P+ pass defense last year, so he's got to be at least decent. In context, transferring to a secondary that returns literally every major contributor is nuts; hopefully Hughes is in Ann Arbor because he's getting a serious master's degree or enjoys lentil soup.

Michigan's bounced Hughes back and forth from safety to corner since he showed up this spring; the positional moves combine with necessary positional unfamiliarity to suggest he's probably Wayne Lyons 2.0. Since everyone has eligibility left save Kinnel he'd have to be obviously better than someone on the two deep to see time; that doesn't seem at all likely.

The rest of the depth chart consists of giant freshmen. BENJAMIN ST JUSTE [recruiting profile] redshirted last year, which was expected since he's a Canadian who stayed in Canada. St Juste became a major recruit by locking guys up at the Opening a couple years back but has rather fallen off the radar. His size and NFL-level shuttle will keep him in the intriguing category for another year or two; given his background I wouldn't read too much into the lack of chatter about him.

Sims is lanky; get in line

This year's class of DBs comes in exactly one flavor: lanky 6'2" guy. We're filing a couple of them as safeties because we've seen a depth chart, but these guys are close to interchangeable and any early proclamations should be taken with a grain of salt. The two guys who have gotten the most early talk are both filed as corners right now. MYLES "SPIDER" SIMS [recruiting profile] is the most highly touted of the five incoming DBs and enrolled early, which gave him an edge. Karan Higdon picked him out as a breakout player at Big Ten media day:

“He’s a freshman, but he’s come in and put in extra work and I think he’s a guy that can definitely be a complement to David Long and Lavert Hill.”

Unfortunately for him the recent returns have been less encouraging:

“He’s coming,” Zordich said. “A little surprised he wasn’t more ahead of the other guys this fall, this fall camp. He’s just – he’s young. He’s gotta take the next step and understand that this is Michigan, and there’s talent around him. He’s gotta answer that bell. He shows it, but he’s got to be more consistent with it.”

"Unfortunately" may not be the right phrasing since recent history indicates that being the subject of a 30-minute Mike Zordich insult-comic set is perhaps America's most reliable path to superstardom, but we'll take that at face value for now since Zordich isn't trying to whip up immediate results given all the gents already tackled in this post.

GEMON GREEN [recruiting profile] and VINCENT GRAY [recruiting profile] are the other two 6'2" guys we choose to file here; Green was a bigger deal as a recruit, grabbing solid four-star rankings and a Texas offer before going off the board to Michigan. Gray was a late flier in the "oops we need some bodies" phase of the most recent class but has actually been generating more talk than his 2017 DB classmates so far:

[Gray] “has been balling” and “has shown a willingness to hit.” ... has been getting run with the twos lately over his higher-rated freshman position-mates.

There is a 0% chance that is relevant this year. Early returns on Gray are nice to have since he was the most tenuous take in the most recent class. This is still an "ask again next year" situation, and then some.