Previously: Quarterback, Running Backs, Receivers, Offensive Line, Defensive Line, Linebacker 

We have made it to the end. The Enemy, Ranked 2022 reaches its conclusion today with defensive backs rankings. As I mentioned in the LB post, I'm counting DB-shaped hybrid space players here, so most teams will have five starters listed, whether that's for a HSP or a true nickel. At the end of this piece, I will briefly drop in special teams rankings and then will wrap this whole series up by reviewing what we learned about the opponents on Michigan's 2022 schedule. 

 

12. Hawaii 

CB	CB	S	S	Nickel
JoJo Forest	Hugh Nelson II	Leonard Lee	Matagi Thompson	Malik Hausman
Devyn King	Virdel Edwards II	Noa Kamana	Meki Rei	Peter Manuma

Hawaii starts at the bottom on all three defensive articles and this one is pretty clear as to why: there are five DB slots and they do not have a single returning starter. Most of these players were not even on the island last season, as the secondary is largely built through transfers. Transfers who barely had roles elsewhere, mind you. Projected DB starters JoJo Forest and Hugh Nelson II are both former or current transfers. Forest arrives from Oregon State after not seeing the field a year ago, while Nelson was Hawaii's #3 corner last season, a year after transferring from Georgia. He did not do particularly well in that role. Reserves are ex-benchwarmer transfers from Maryland and Iowa State and starting nickel Malik Hausman transfers from Arizona after being exclusively a special teams player. 

It doesn't get much better at safety. Leonard Lee was on the scout team the last two years and Matagi Thompson was a 2* recruit in 2021 who didn't see the field that fall. Backups Noa Kamana and Meki Rei also have little experience, the latter a transfer from Washington. It's a DB room that is cobbled together from players who were not good enough to see the field on defense a year ago, either at Hawaii or elsewhere. Several of the transfers didn't arrive until the summer, so to say this will be a messy patchwork is an understatement. It's likely going to be brutal. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: A defensive article where Iowa ISN'T #1?]

 

[UCONN Athletics]

11. Connecticut 

CB	CB	S	S
Kaleb Anthony	Tre Wortham	Durante Jones	Malik Dixon
Chris Shearin	Myles Bell	Stan Cross	Alfred Chea

The Huskies have some very solid returning production, which is nice to see. They return most of their starters, players who were pretty bad last year but hey, here's to getting better! Kaleb Anthony is the only player who is not a returning starter and even he got 179 snaps as a true freshman in 2021, and Stan Cross is essentially a returning starter, moving from CB to S. All of these players are very young; Phil Steele has them all listed as sophomores based on their eligibility, so it's reasonable to expect improvement from all as they gain experience and shake off the freshman yips. Will this group be good in an FBS sense? No. Will they be able to cover Michigan's receivers? Also no, not at all. But they should be better than last year and that is enough to put them above Hawaii's stinking pile of garbage. 

 

10. Colorado State 

CB	CB	FS	SS	Nickel
Chigozie Anusiem	D'Andre Greely	Angel King	Henry Blackburn	Tywan Francis
Greg Laday	Robert Floyd		Jack Howell

CSU has gone the route of Hawaii in trying to cobble together a secondary room through transfers. Jay Norvell brought his free safety, Angel King, with him from Nevada, who was a decent MWC starter. He also imports two starting corners, Chigozie Anusiem, a rotational player at Cal who PFF graded very poorly, and D'Andre Greely, from the JUCO market. Henry Blackburn and Jack Howell were co-starters at safety last season and would seem to be in line to do so again this season. Both were freshmen in 2021, so they should see improvement. Tywan Francis is the only senior member of this group and PFF has not been too kind to him. 

This group is not good either, but they graded out similarly to UCONN's batch, and these players were competing against a harder schedule (except for the JUCO guy), which gives them a slight nod. But the non-conference collection of DBs is very bad. 

 

[Patrick Barron]

9. Nebraska 

CB	CB	S	S	Nickel
Quinton Newsome	Tommi Hill	Marques Buford Jr.	Myles Farmer	Javin Wright
	Braxton Clark	Noa Pola-Gates	DeShon Singleton	Isaac Gifford

The secondary figures to be the weak spot on Nebraska's defense after major attrition occurred in the offseason. This group loses a very good corner in Cam Taylor-Britt, a star HSP in JoJo Domann, and two veteran safeties in Marquel Dismuke and Deontai Williams. They return only Quinton Newsome, who was probably the worst member of the starting secondary last season. Now he will need to be a veteran leader. To fix the other CB spot, Nebraska turns to Tommi Hill, one of the many players fleeing an ASU program in freefall. Hill played only 59 snaps as a true freshman in 2021. The recruiting profile looks good (solid Top 300 4* recruit) but he's an unknown with so little experience. The other option would be Braxton Clark, who played just 122 snaps himself last year at Nebraska. 

Myles Farmer was the third safety in 2021, so it will be a step up in role but not a massive one. I didn't have too many thoughts on him when I graded Nebraska last year. Marques Buford Jr. was a true freshman last season, while the reserves played 25 combined snaps at the FBS level, with DeShon Singleton being a JUCO transfer in. Even the nickel spot is pretty green, with either Javin Wright or Isaac Gifford taking over and transitioning that job into more of a DB role than the 230 lb. Domann had it. I did note in the previous piece that they won't go with a nickel all the time, as Chris Kolarevic will come on as a LB on some plays. 

The Huskers take last among B1G teams in the ranking because they are the most inexperienced DB room on this list. After losing so many starters, they have to patch the holes with a collection of players who either were not particularly great last season and are stepping into bigger roles, or ones who have never really seen an FBS field. It's a rickety situation and could well determine Nebraska's season. 

 

8. Michigan State

CB	CB	FS	SS	Nickel
Ronald Williams	Ameer Speed	Angelo Grose	Xavier Henderson	Chester Kimbrough
Chuck Brantley	Marqui Lowery	Kendall Brooks	Jaden Mangham

Well, well, well. Not sure anyone is going to be surprised with this ranking. The Spartans had the single worst pass defense in the FBS last season and these guys were a big reason why. In the process, they exposed the shortcomings of PFF's grading system for DBs. All of these players graded out pretty decently in PFF's data, yet they ceded more passing yards than anyone. Huh? The answer is that all the corners were stapled 10 yards beyond the line of scrimmage, ceding chunk gains on basically every play to prevent the big play. It worked as a strategy for the most part. MSU fielded a bend-not-break defense that was good enough to gut out wins against teams that generally moved the ball on them easily by forcing FGs (see: the Michigan game). So, you didn't see their corners get beat all that much, hence the good grades from PFF. The problem is, if you have good corners, you don't give them a giant cushion on every play and cede 5-10 yards a pop every time the QB drops back. Which is the conclusion: MSU's corners were really bad. 

Ronald Williams was the most playable of the bunch last season yet he still had to play with the same cushion as everyone else. Chester Kimbrough is being moved from outside corner to nickel to try and fix the many problems he encountered, while MSU adds Ameer Speed from Georgia, who PFF graded to be the worst Georgia corner to play more than 50 snaps. Marqui Lowery and Charles Brantley played bit roles last season but given that they couldn't get on the field when the starting corners were playing like that, I'm not too optimistic here. In many ways, the biggest question for MSU's season is whether they can even let their CBs attempt to actually cover guys this season. 

The safeties are a saving grace for the unit, though. Xavier Henderson is an excellent run defender who contributed to some of the coverage issues, while Angelo Grose was up-and-down last season, but both shouldered gargantuan loads, almost never coming off the field. The other question for MSU's secondary is whether they can find serviceable backup safeties to let the starters get a breather. 

I know some will wonder why MSU is not last given how poor their secondary was last year, but the fact they do return almost everyone gives them a higher floor than Nebraska and the contributions from the safeties to their very good run defense does count for something here. Even if coverage seems to be a giant Achilles heel again. At the very least, it's hard to be worse at pass defense than this group was in 2021. 

 

[Paul Sherman]

7. Maryland

CB	CB	S	S	Nickel
Jakorian Bennett	Deonte Banks	Dante Trader Jr.	Beau Brade	Tahreeb Still
	Corey Coley	Glendon Miller		Isaiah Hazel

Maryland's secondary was not particularly great last year, but they were also the best part of the Terps' defense in your author's view. While the team loses both safeties, including the athletic Nick Cross, they do roll over all three corners. Deonte Banks, it should be noted, was out for the year pretty early in 2021, but he was a decent player in 2020 and should be back healthy this fall. Jakorian Bennett and Tahreeb Still shouldered the load in his absence, with Bennett being the better of the two. They move Still to nickel and welcome Banks back into the fold. I don't see any of these guys getting stars on FFFF, but they also probably won't be outright cyans either. 

The safety position is an area for concern given the lack of experience. Dante Trader Jr. and Beau Brade both had very small roles last season and now will be asked to do a lot more. That, combined with the lack of depth in the DB room, is the biggest worry for Maryland here. There will likely be some lumps, especially because last year's safeties helped clean up coverage problems when the corners got lost. This year the corners will need to do more of the heavy lifting. No one is scared of this group, but they probably won't be a tire fire either. That's enough for #7. 

 

6. Illinois  

CB	CB	SS	FS	STAR
Devon Witherspoon	Tahveon Nicholson	Sydney Brown	Kendall Smith	Jartavius Martin
Tyler Strain	Terrell Jennings	Matthew Bailey	Kionte Curry	Tailon Leitzsey

The Fighting Illini have to stomach some substantial losses in the secondary, as they lose their top cover corner in Tony Adams and their star FS in Kerby Joseph (3rd round pick). That means it will be a bit of a rebuilding project, although the return of Devon Witherspoon at corner and Sydney Brown at strong safety is a good place to start from, in addition to nickel Jartavius "Quan" Martin. Witherspoon likely will be one of the better corners in the conference, but there are questions about Brown without Joseph next to him to lean on. 

To plug the holes, Illinois is calling upon Tahveon Nicholson, who had a rotational role last season but was a massive downgrade from Adams. Challenging him is transfer Terrell Jennings from Minnesota State, an excellent D2 player but a massive adjustment in quality of competition is needed there. The remainder of this room is very new and inexperienced, which includes projected FS starter Kendall Smith, who played only 39 snaps last season. It is his sixth year in the program, but he has only played 244 total snaps in his career across five seasons, which is not a great sign. The remaining backups are all either true or redshirt freshmen 3* recruits. 

Illinois ranks 6th because Witherspoon is likely going to be a Dude, and they have a couple other returning starters, which boosts them above the three teams below, but there are enough depth and starter questions to hold them back below the next block of teams. 

 

[Marc-Gregor Campredon]

5. Rutgers

CB	CB	S	S	Nickel
Kessawn Abraham	Max Melton	Avery Young	Christian Izien	Rani Abdulaziz
Robert Longerbeam	Shaquan Loyal	Thomas Amankwaa	Desmond Igbinosun	Amir Byrd

Rutgers rolls over most of their secondary from last season, a welcome sight after the heavy losses in the front seven. This is a pretty solid group, if I'm being honest. Kessawn Abraham was a nice cover corner, and Max Melton hasn't been bad over his Rutgers career, even if he had to miss chunks of last season after a suspension relating to a "paintball gun incident". Returning safeties Avery Young and Christian Izien should both threaten for All-B1G honors, and the reserve corners have some seasoning too. Robert Longerbeam saw a lot of time when Melton was out and Shaquan Loyal has played a little bit too. 

The only non-returning starter is at nickel, where Rani Abdulaziz is a veteran who couldn't get on the field for his first four years, transferred to Central Connecticut State to get playing time, and then transferred back. Hard to know what he will be. The depth at safety and nickel is a little worrying, but there are worse places to be when you roll over so much production. Rutgers' defense will likely have a lot of problems up front, but they should be pretty solid in the secondary. 

 

4. Ohio State

CB	CB	FS	SS	Nickel Safety
Denzel Burke	Cameron Brown	Ronnie Hickman	Josh Proctor	Tanner McCallister
JK Johnson	Jordan Hancock	Kyle Stokes	Kourt Williams	Cameron Martinez

The 4-2-5 system that Jim Knowles is installing sees OSU run with three "safeties" who all have fancy names, but functionally they are a traditional FS/SS and a nickel/slot. That last position sees Knowles bring Tanner McCallister with him from Oklahoma State, a quality player in that role. The rest of the defense will be players he's inheriting. Though OSU loses Sevyn Banks and Marcus Williamson, they have a lot of returning production. Former 5* Denzel Burke started as a true freshman and was middling. He should take a big step forward towards star status in year #2. Cameron Brown rotated as a starter with Banks last season and held up okay. Both guys should see improvements just from an upgrade in coaching alone. 

At the safety position, Ronnie Hickman was OSU's old hybrid space player and now he moves to free safety. At SS, the return of Josh Proctor from season-ending injury gives the Buckeyes essentially another returning starter, as he played a sizable role in 2020. Even reserve Kourt Williams logged 182 snaps last season and Cameron Martinez played a similar number. This DB room was not fantastic last year, but they were pretty good (run defense was the bigger issue for the OSU defense) and now most players roll over with a coaching staff that will likely be more competent. I foresee a much better performance from them in 2022 and they could well rise up my rankings by the end of the season.  

 

Riley Moss is usually where you want him to be... unless it's a flea flicker [Bryan Fuller]

3. Iowa 

CB	CB	FS	SS	CASH
Riley Moss	Jerami Harris	Quinn Schulte	Kevon Merriweather	Cooper DeJean
	Terry Roberts	Reggie Bracy	Xavier Nwankpa	Sebastian Castro

Iowa had one of the B1G's best secondaries last season, but this year it has to stomach heavy losses. Don't fear, though, because Riley Moss returns! Moss is the perfect Iowa Cover 2 corner, a ball-hawking INT machine who knows exactly where to pop up in the zone to catch the QB in a bad read. His sidekick Matt Hankins exits, which will be a heavy loss, but Jerami Harris did fine as the #3 corner last season, and rotational option Terry Roberts held up in 168 snaps too. Kevon Merriweather was pretty close to a starter last season as he rotated with Jake Koerner and Dane Belton, and looks ready for the job, with a shot to be an All-B1G level safety. Quinn Schulte is probably the biggest question on the defense in replacing Koerner, but he's a walk-on safety from Cedar Rapids who's been in the program for four years. You know the guy will know how to play the job in his sleep. 

The "CASH" position is shared with SAM LB Jestin Jacobs, but when a DB-shaped person is out there, it will likely be Cooper DeJean, a 4* recruit in 2021 who was seldom used a year ago. It's worth noting that 5* true freshman Xavier Nwankpa is waiting in the wings and will be on the field as soon as he can learn Iowa's defensive scheme. Wouldn't shock me to see him make a Rod Moore-like appearance at the end of the season. 

Iowa ranks #3 on this list because Riley Moss is an awesome player and the reserves who are stepping into larger roles have shown a lot to be excited about before, plus there's real talent. The fact Iowa has such a track record at this position also plays a role. It's not quite the top notch returning production of DL/LB, but this group will still be quality. 

 

2. Indiana 

CB	CB	FS	SS	HUSKY
Tiawan Mullen	Jaylin Williams	Bryant Fitzgerald	Devon Matthews	Noah Pierre
Bryan Lanier	Lem Watley-Neely	Jordan Haynes	Josh Sanguinetti	Jordan Grier

IU might have the best corner tandem in the conference with Tiawan Mullen and Jaylin Williams. Mullen returned to school after an injury-riddled 2021 that saw a decline in his play from the elite status he maintained in 2019-20. With a bill of full health, Mullen will challenge for being one of the B1G's best corners. Williams ain't bad himself, as he received a star on our FFFF diagram back last fall. The depth behind those two guys is pretty creaky but if both are healthy, it's hard to beat that duo. 

Indiana returns safety Devon Matthews, who graded out pretty well in PFF's data, but has to replace Raheem Layne and forever HSP Marcellino McCrary-Ball. Bryant Fitzgerald has a good number of snaps under his belt and he should be okay sliding in as a starter at safety, but the HUSKY position is much more questionable in my view, with Noah Pierre playing poorly in spot snaps last season. The presence of Josh Sanguinetti, a decent rotational safety does help. 

 

Ji'Ayir Brown will be tackling a different Michigan RB this year [Patrick Barron]

1. Penn State

CB	CB	FS	SS	Nickel
Joey Porter Jr.	Kalen King	Ji'Ayir Brown	Keaton Ellis	Daequan Hardy
Marquis Wilson	Johnny Dixon	Jaylen Reed	Zakee Wheatley

While PSU is replacing some important linebackers and DEs, the secondary is the strength of the defense and that's in spite of losing the great player that was Jaquan Brisker. Tariq Castro-Fields also exits (at long last), so there is some turnover here, but the returning pieces are very good. Joey Porter Jr. should duke it out with Mullen, Moss, DJ Turner, and a few others as the best CB in the conference and Ji'Ayir Brown was not as good as Brisker, but he was an All-B1G player himself who snagged six INTs last season. That gives PSU a very high floor and they're slotting in Keaton Ellis at SS, a player who doesn't seem to be on star track like he once was but still has loads of experience. 

A similar story is going on at the other outside corner spot, where former 4*/Top 300 CB Kalen King had a promising true freshman season in 2021 and is an easy pick for breakout star. If he doesn't pop, Johnny Dixon has rotational experience, and a general theme of this secondary is pretty good depth. Daequan Hardy returns at the nickel spot boasting 314 snaps a year ago with stellar PFF grades, which is also a good indicator. 

The #1 slot on my ranking came down to Indiana and Penn State. Both teams return two All-B1G caliber starters (Mullen/Williams and Porter/Brown) and both teams are sliding a known piece into a vacant safety slot. I like PSU's situation at nickel more than I do Indiana's situation at HUSKY, but Indiana returns a third starter in Devon Matthews compared to Penn State with a first time starter in King. That in theory should put IU over the edge, but I do like the depth of PSU a bit more because of their talent level (Reed, Wheatley, King are all young former 4*), which means PSU is more likely to finish the year ahead of Indiana. Moreover, the injuries Indiana had last year showed how important depth can be, which gives Penn State the tiniest edge. But it was very, very close.  

 

Where would Michigan rank? 

I see Michigan a lot like Iowa on this list in that both have star returning corners (Moss and Turner) and then a bunch of players who aren't quite returning starters but have shown enough to believe they will be good to very good this year. On paper, Michigan loses three starters here in Dax Hill, Vincent Gray, and Brad Hawkins, but it's very reasonable to think that strides from the likes of Gemon Green, Rod Moore, and RJ Moten + the arrival of Will Johnson could well make up for almost all that lost production. No one will be exactly what Dax Hill was, but I could see the DB room as a whole being better than last year's. Actually, it feels like a decent bet. Michigan doesn't have quite the returning production of Indiana, where you have two star corners and a returning safety, so I think I wouldn't go that far, but somewhere right around #3 feels appropriate, with a higher finish very much possible.

 

[Patrick Barron]

Special Teams???

I am not doing a full post on special teams because I don't have enough to say, nor will I say a ton here. But these are my special teams rankings so we can include them in the conclusion below: 

1.) OSU

2.) MSU 

3.) Rutgers

4.) Iowa

5.) PSU

6.) Indiana 

7.) UCONN

8.) Maryland 

9.) Illinois 

10.) Nebraska 

11.) Colorado State

12.) Hawaii 

OSU takes the top spot after finishing 17th in the Football Outsiders rankings last year (3rd in the B1G) and then getting everyone back, including their excellent kicker Noah Ruggles. MSU has some questions at K but Bryce Baringer is a great punter and Jayden Reed might be the conference's best returning specialist. Rutgers likely has the top punter in Adam Korsak and they add a transfer kicker in addition to Valentino Ambrosio. A move up from #54 seems very likely. Iowa moves down a bit after losing their great kicker Caleb Shudak and return specialist Charlie Jones, but Tory Taylor is still a very good Aussie punter. 

UCONN shows up in the middle of the pack after finishing #73 in 2021 and returns everything, plus grabbing a punter from Arkansas. I put Nebraska near the bottom because, well, yeah. They do have a formal special teams coordinator for once and add a transfer kicker and a transfer punter. I'm expecting improvement but I can't bank on it yet. 

Oh and of course Michigan would be #1 on special teams if I was ranking them. 

 

The Enemy, Wrapped 

Here is the condensed graphic showing the summary of my rankings in the 2022 The Enemy series: 

The average at the bottom is a decent metric, but it is not all that useful because it's not weighted based on which positions are more important. That said, it does give us a decent guesstimate as to how to rank the opponents. It seems pretty clear that the tiers are: 

1. OSU 

2. MSU/PSU 

3. Iowa/Nebraska

4. Maryland/Indiana/Illinois 

5. Rutgers

6. CSU/Hawaii/UCONN

Not a ton surprising there to me. OSU has the Firebreathing Dragon Wielding A Sword offense and great special teams, but an iffy defense with questions. Iowa has a vile offense but will likely be the best defense on the schedule. PSU and MSU are both balanced, well-built teams who have one flaw (PSU = OL, MSU = DB). It's nice that Michigan gets both at home. Nebraska is in a similar bucket, with a balanced team, but there are a few more weaknesses.... also nice that that game is at home. 

Maryland has some reasons for optimism on offense but poor defense and special teams. Indiana is just mediocre to bad everywhere except for an excellent secondary. Rutgers also has a good secondary and great special teams, but everything else is really rough. Illinois boasts a great rushing game and not much else. None of these teams should seriously threaten Michigan. 

And then the non-conference foes are at the bottom by a country mile. Hawaii has a good RB in Dedrick Parson and nothing else, including a defense that was detonated with an atomic bomb. UCONN has nice special teams and that's about it. Both should be among the 10 worst teams in the FBS. Colorado State is clearly the best of the three teams, even if they don't have one standout position. They have more talent and were only in the cellar at one positional group. All three of these teams should be 30+ point blowouts when they come to Ann Arbor. 

In total, it's a pretty easy schedule. The non-conference is not threatening and outside of OSU, 3 of the only 4 teams who could maybe beat Michigan are at the Big House. Iowa in Kinnick will be tricky, but it remains to be seen what time that game will be (if it's at noon, that's a lift). For the record, based on where I would've ranked Michigan, their average would come out to ~2.5, so a small notch below OSU but right there. The Wolverines are, through the method which I've used to rank teams in this series, better than all but one team on the schedule and that one team represents a matchup that's close to a tossup. Not sure you can ask for much more than that going into the season. 

 

[Patrick Barron]

One Final Note

With that, The Enemy: 2022 is finished. This year's edition of The Enemy clocks in at 28,099 words spanning seven pieces. I have enjoyed getting to delve through the opponents for all of you and I think it was a fun and informative way to preview the schedule, getting you all ready for Preview Week and the season (and getting me ready for FFFF). If you enjoyed it too, feel free to leave a comment and let me know! 

Outside of one piece I have for Preview Week, this is the last I have until I'm writing up the CSU recap in 8 days. It's been a topsy turvy summer in University of Michigan athletics but at long last, football will soon be back and all will be right again. If you enjoyed this series and want to follow along with me on Twitter During Week 0-1 as I tweet updates about the opponents you read about, feel free to join the convo in my mentions (@Alex_Drain). Otherwise, I'll see you all on the other side after Week One. Enjoy your Labor Day weekend and I'll talk to you soon. 

Go Blue.