Michigan football DC Wink Martindale excited for 'more depth in every room'
With just more than one month remaining before the 2025 NFL draft, it doesn't take more than a glance at any of a number of mock simulations of the event to show that the Wolverines were loaded with high end talent in 2024.
Michigan football's former defensive tackles Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant as well as defensive back Will Johnson are all widely expected to be drafted in the first round while the team's leader in tackles for loss, Josaiah Stewart, is projected to be a Day 2 selection.
It's led to questions about who will fill in those gaps for U-M this fall and while defensive coordinator Wink Martindale knows it's hard if not impossible to replace any of those pieces one-for-one, it can happen in the aggregate across the board.
“I said this (Monday) in a staff meeting: Do we have any bonafide first-round picks? We’ll wait and see how this season goes,” Martindale said. “But I know we got some next-day draft picks, sitting there, ready to go. I can say that confidently with the guys that we have. And we have more depth in every room.”
It's that last piece of "more depth" in the rooms that truly excites Martindale, U-M's second-year coordinator.
Last year was a learning process from the top down for U-M's defense. On the heels of Jesse Minter and Mike MacDonald orchestrating one of the top units in the nation, the Wolverines defense dropped a level to only good, not great, for the first two-thirds of the year.
A new defensive coordinator (Martindale), defensive line coach (Lou Esposito), linebackers coach (Brian Jean-Mary) and defensive backs coach (Lamar Morgan) led not only to a learning curve with terminology, but with coaches and players learning one another.
The year didn't begin perfectly, starting 5-5 but a 3-0 finish, including upsets of Ohio State in Columbus and Alabama in Tampa, flipped the script on the vibes as they gave up 12.25 points per game over the final four contests.
“It gave people excitement,” Martindale said. “There wasn't anybody banging on the door saying they wanted to transfer. They're excited about this season and where we're going with it.”
In addition to the projected first rounders, U-M also lost experience in Makari Paige and Quinten Johnson, as well as graduate DBs Aamir Hall and Wesley Walker. But the main group U-M needs to build back up is in the trenches.
While there won't be a Graham or a Grant on this group, don't sleep on guys like Rayshaun Benny (who switched his number to Graham's 55), TJ Guy and Derrick Moore to take the next step. Between that and the addition of players like Tre Williams (Clemson, cousin of Quinten Johnson) and Belleville native Damon Payne (Alabama), Martindale feels the group will once again be one of the best in the Big Ten, if not the country.
“I really like the portal guys that we added (at D-tackle),” Martindale said. “It's just not like something that happens overnight. We've been trying to replace them through recruiting and the development of the other guys. ... I feel really confident in the depth that we have in that room.
"More confident now than I did last year at this time with the depth, just starting off initially.”
In the linebacker corps, Ernest Hausmann returns for his third year in Ann Arbor while Jaishawn Barham (Maryland transfer) readies for year two. There are plans to stand him up on the edge and rush him, but they don't want to take him out of his primary position in the middle of the field, coming down hill and filling lanes in the run game.
Behind them, as it feels has been the case for years will be Jaydon Hood and Jimmy Rolder as well as Cole Sullivan.
The secondary could look different, however after the group lost four rotational pieces from last year's team. It's unclear exactly what this group could look like − Brandyn Hillman figures to start at one safety spot and Jyaire Hill at corner − but beyond that there could be "six or seven" players who work in at nickel.
Zeke Berry is one of the primary options, but Martindale also wants to use him as a chess piece with his unique ability to play inside (nickel) or outside (corner). The plan is for Berry to start somewhere, it's just who else earns the other spots, and where does that shift Berry as a result?
Among the secondary names to watch are Mason Curtis, Ja’Den McBurrows, Jaden Mangham (MSU transfer) Ricky Johnson (UNLV transfer) and sophomore Jo’Ziah Edmond and that's before mentioning the trio of transfers: TJ and Tevis Metcalf (Arkansas) and Caleb Anderson (UMass).
That's all in addition to Rod Moore, a captain and former All Big Ten player who missed the 2024 season with a torn ACL, though it remains unclear when he will be cleared for full activities. For Martindale, this is his 41st offseason going into a new year, and if past experience has taught him anything, he's learned one universal truth.
"We’ll wait and see when we go through it in the spring," he said of who he's most excited about. "There’s going to be somebody that jumps out and surprises all of us. We’ve just got to see who it’s going to be.”
Tony Garcia is the Michigan Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan football DC Wink Martindale excited for 'more depth in every room'
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