The general public got its first look at Michigan football's new defense under first-year coordinator Mike Macdonald Saturday afternoon in the Wolverines' 47-14 win over Western Michigan, and it was an impressive performance by several who were put in new positions.

Playing primarily at nickelback, sophomore safety Daxton Hill shined in the new system, tying for the squad lead with six tackles and notching one pass breakup. He earned the first mention from head coach Jim Harbaugh when he was asked to give his general impressions of the victory.

"I’ll just start with Dax Hill," Harbaugh began. "He was all over the field, making plays in the secondary, pass breakups, physical tackles, playing behind the line of scrimmage on the screen passes, the bubbles. I thought he had a tremendous game."

RELATED: Offense Notes: Blake Corum Leads Prolific Michigan Rushing Attack

RELATED: Michigan Wolverines Football 47, WMU 14: Notes, Quotes & Observations

"That position makes a big difference for us in the back seven because his disguises play a big role in the quarterback’s checks and stuff like that — whether he’s blitzing or not blitzing, the coverage he’s playing or not playing," redshirt sophomore cornerback Vincent Gray, who had two pass breakups in the win, said of Hill. "They’re pretty much looking at him to see what we’re in, so him moving around and giving them different looks is really good for us in the back seven."

Also in a new role, junior defensive end Aidan Hutchinson was impressive, totaling four tackles, a strip sack and one quarterback hurry while playing as more of a stand-up outside linebacker.

He helped lead a Michigan pass rush that registered six hurries on WMU redshirt sophomore signal-caller Kaleb Eleby and frustrated the Broncos front as the game wore on. Fellow starting outside linebacker David Ojabo, a redshirt freshman, also hurried the quarterback twice.

"It definitely adds up, and it gets in that quarterback’s mind — he can feel it coming," Hutchinson said. "It’s frustrating not getting sacks when you’re hitting that quarterback, but as long as you’re affecting the play, creating havoc, that’s all that matters."

Four defenders made their first starts in a Michigan uniform in second-year freshman linebacker Nikhai Hill-Green, second-year freshman safety R.J. Moten, Ojabo and redshirt freshman defensive tackle Mazi Smith.

Hill-Green posted a career-high four tackles, Moten notched set a career best with five tackles (all solo stops), which slotted second on the squad, and Smith registered one tackle, which was behind the line of scrimmage and marked his first career stop for loss, with two quarterback hurries.

The Maize and Blue held the Broncos to 4.6 yards per play and 317 total yards (191 through the air and 126 on the ground) in Macdonald's debut. After connecting on 64.7 percent of his throws last season, Eleby completed 20 of his 37 pass attempts (54 percent) for 191 yards and one touchdown Saturday afternoon.

Meanwhile, the Broncos churned out just 3.9 yards per carry, totaling 126 yards — their lowest mark since Dec. 30, 2019 — on 32 attempts.

But it wasn't so pretty to start for the U-M defense. Down 7-0 after an opening-drive touchdown by Michigan, WMU marched 75 yards down the field in 10 plays for a quick — four minutes and 17 seconds — answer.

The Wolverines made adjustments and tightened up, forcing WMU to punt on five straight possessions — not counting a kneel-down just before halftime — and seven out of its next nine drives before a garbage-time score on its 10th and final of the contest.

"I thought Mike did a great job mixing the coverages," Harbaugh said of Macdonald. "Right before the second half started, going to more of a two-high shell as we were stopping the run. Played more coverage, which made their quarterback hold the ball a little bit longer, and we were able to apply some pressure."

From the 4:21 mark in the first quarter until the 3:30 mark in the fourth, Michigan was able to run up 40 unanswered points.

Michigan second-year freshman running back Blake Corum returned a first-quarter kickoff 79 yards down to the WMU 21-yard line, setting up a redshirt sophomore kicker Jake Moody field goal from 37 yards out. Corum posted an impressive 212 all-purpose yards (111 rushing, 22 receiving and 79 kickoff return).

Junior wide receiver Ronnie Bell also made a big play in the return game, bringing back a second-quarter punt 31 yards to the WMU 31-yard. Three plays later, Michigan was able to find the end zone and extend its lead to 24-7 with 6:18 left before halftime. Bell left the game immediately following the return.

Hutchinson was credited with a blocked kick, though he admitted he's not sure if he actually got his hand on it. The deflected 40-yard attempt virtually ended any hopes the Broncos still had of winning the game while down 33-7 with 6:01 to go in the third quarter.

Michigan took over on its own 23-yard line, and was able to insert its backups on offense to close out the resounding win.

"Tremendous performance on special teams — the way they were blocking, running and tackling," Harbaugh said. "A tackle inside the 10, a punt return, blocked field goal. Real solid play the entire day."

• Entering Saturday's opener, Michigan's defense had allowed opponents to score at least 24 points in eight straight contests. The last time before Saturday that the Wolverines held a team to under that number was Nov. 23, 2019, in a 39-14 triumph at Indiana.

• Eleven Michigan defenders made their debuts as Wolverines: Freshman defensive tackle Rayshaun Benny, freshman linebacker Junior Colson, redshirt freshman defensive back Keshaun Harris, redshirt freshman cornerback George Johnson, freshman defensive end Braiden McGregor, freshman safety Rod Moore, freshman safety Jordan Morant, freshman defensive tackle George Rooks, redshirt freshman defensive back Andrew Russell and seventh-year senior defensive tackle and Oregon State transfer Jordan Whittley.

• Because of the offense's stellar play, junior punter Brad Robbins only had to be used twice on the afternoon, but he was productive, booting it away twice for 87 yards (average of 43.5) with one pinning the opponents inside their 20-yard line.

• Moody connected on both of his field goal attempts — the aforementioned 37-yarder and a 20-yarder late in the first half — and knocked in all five of his extra-point tries.

• Making his 11th career start, redshirt junior linebacker Josh Ross, who led Michigan in total tackles last season with 53, tied for the team lead Saturday with six.

• Redshirt freshman defensive end Mike Morris notched a half-tackle for loss, the first of his career. His three tackles on the day were the second, third and fourth stops of his U-M tenure.

• Michigan did not force a turnover for the second straight tilt, dating back to last season's game against Penn State. The last Wolverine-caused takeaway came at Rutgers Nov. 21, 2020.

• The 109,295 fans in attendance marked the 294th consecutive game with spectators allowed that drew 100,000-plus fans to Michigan Stadium.

---

• Talk about this article inside The Fort

• Watch our videos and subscribe to our YouTube channel

• Listen and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes

• Learn more about our print and digital publication, The Wolverine

• Sign up for our daily newsletter and breaking news alerts

• Follow us on Twitter: @TheWolverineMag, @Balas_Wolverine, @EJHolland_TW,
@JB_ Wolverine, @Clayton Sayfie and @DrewCHallett

• Like us on Facebook