Michigan defensive coordinator Jesse Minter met with the media on Wednesday for the first time since being hired by Jim Harbaugh as he previews the program his defense has made during spring practice.

For everything Minter had to say, check out the full transcript below.

On whether the program is in year two of the defense

I think that’s fair. I think one of my goals with the players was for those guys that feel like it was year two, probably one of the reasons I’m here. And so I think there’s a lot of continuity in the system. You want the guys to feel comfortable. So I think anytime you go from one to two, whether it’s whether Mike was still here, or I’m here. You know, there are steps you can take. There are tweaks that you make, but definitely, definitely year two of the system.

On the debriefing process by Mike Macdonald

We’ve had a lot of conversations. Mike’s a friend of mine. And so we had a lot of conversation throughout the season, just being friends and having worked together for the previous four seasons. So we’ve talked a lot. He sort of kept me in the loop of what was happening with him, and then all of a sudden it sort of steamrolled into what was happening with me. So we definitely have had some conversations.

On strengths and weaknesses of his personnel

I think there are guys that have played some, that have played some roles, and now it’s time for those guys to step into the bigger roles. So I think there are enough guys that have played that have experience. I think there’s, at every level, there are guys that have played some snaps, and so it’s figuring out who the best players are. I think our system is flexible enough to take advantage of the playmakers. Last year, the playmakers were the edge guys, you know, it was pretty clear. And so the defense was built around that. And, you know, hopefully, that we have edge guys come on. And I think we have to have enough options there. But I also think it’s figuring out who the best players are taking advantage of each of their skill sets. So I like what we have coming back.

On playmakers standing out

I think upfront and starts with Mazi. I think he has the potential to be a dominant player for us. He’s played a lot. He’s played a good amount of snaps. He’s been in a role in the defense where he was asked to do some things have taken up blocks and all that, and he’ll still do that. He’s tremendous at that. But I also think there’s an opportunity for him to become a playmaker and use his skill set. I think he’s quick, fast, big, physical, it’s what you want in a nose. Mike Morris, Taylor Upshaw are guys that have had good springs that I think will be guys that can make plays for us. I think Junior Coulson has a chance to be an elite linebacker here. And then in the backend, I think there’s a really good core of experience, guys that have played enough snaps. And we’ll get Rod back in the fall. But I think there’s a good group of guys there that just from their experience, and how the amount of snaps that they’ve played, that we can put together a good secondary as well.

On replicating last year's pass rush

To say that there’s a Hutch or Ojabo in the room right now, time will tell. There’s some options. I think there’s schematically some things that you may have to create rushes more, maybe more than last year and one of the things, we got Mike Elston is our D-line coach. His track record of having high numbers of sacks with his D-line, he’s never had maybe a true elite guy there and has done a really good job of mixing in stunts and games and things like that to create rushes. And I think that’s something that we’re gonna have to be good at. But time will tell, you know. I think there’s a lot of options. There’s a lot of guys that, you know, maybe felt held back a little bit by the big presence of the last two, that now will get a chance to step out into their own. And I’m excited to see how it goes as we go.

On the balance between what he's learned and continuity with the defensive system

I honestly think it’s like year one is just the first step. And so, you know, year or two, I think you always look at things you can do better, maybe look at tweaks you can make to the system. And so there’s ideas that things that I’ve done, things that other coaches that we have on staff have done in previous places. And so we’ll always look to find a better way to do things. I think that’s what a good coach, what a good staff does is always try to take that next step. So, there’ll be some things that may look different, but I think a lot of them look the same.

On whether he's a college-minded coach

That’s certainly how I came up. You know, my dad was good college coach for 35-40 years. Sort of how I grew up in the locker room, grew up in college programs. So I enjoy the college game I enjoy the development piece of it where you take you get guys that are 17,18 years old, try and help them get where they want to go. Enjoy the recruiting piece of it. In the NFL, you get one first-round pick. And in college, if you really work at it, you work at recruiting, you can get a lot of guys, so I enjoy that piece of it and just enjoy the continuity that comes with college football, the pageantry. Excited to coach in The Big House, all that type of stuff. I would say this is where I fit.

On the biggest piece for him moving back to college

Just keeping up with scheme trends, I think. I do think there’s a lot of carryover in NFL and college, nowadays. But I think in college, there’s a tempo aspect of things that certain teams run. There’s much more variation week to week of, you know, in the SEC, we, you know, you played Mississippi State one week who run the air raid, you played Georgia the next week, who’s gonna line up and 12 and 13 personnel and try to run the ball down your throat. So the variation and having a versatile scheme that can match up on all that. There’s unbalanced things in college that you’re allowed to do that you’re not even allowed to do in the NFL that we had to sort of see see what the trend was there. Mostly that type of stuff.

On his father being on the staff

He’s analyst here, he’s my dad, he’s who I’ve learned the most from in football. He’s always been a resource for me wherever I’ve been at. He lived in Nashville last year. And so we spent a lot of time together. So I’m thrilled to have him here and glad Coach Harbaugh was able to offer him an opportunity and appreciate his presence and his wisdom, just not only for me, but for the rest of the defensive staff as well.

On getting his players to trust him

I think trust is just built over time. I think it’s built on relationships. I think it’s built on honest feedback. And so I think a strength of mine in my career has been the ability to build relationships with players. It’s not something that happens overnight. So you can’t just walk in the first day and expect them all to trust you or, especially when you’re replacing the guy that did a really good job. But I think it's just built over time, relationships, and I enjoy that aspect of it. First of all, it started with the coaches, I was here, maybe two and a half weeks before spring ball started. These guys were all looking at me, I’m new to them, too, and so I had to build relationships with the staff. Then to start building relationships with the players. I think in the post-spring world after seeing all these guys practice and being around them, we’ll be able to dive even deeper into that and be ready to go in August.

On keeping the defense playing at a high level

Anywhere you go I think expectations come with the job. I don’t think anybody has higher expectations for how we can play than me. So I embrace it. I think our players embrace it because I think, everything that’s been said and talked about this offseason is everything that we’ve lost. So I think as a group, we have a chip on our shoulder. We have a legacy to continue. And then we got to build our own legacy. And I think you just do that by not necessarily proving people wrong, but sometimes the approach of expectations is lower because we’ve lost a lot. Well, we have extremely high expectations and we expect to uphold our end of the bargain.

On Matt Weiss and the offense

I got tremendous faith in our offensive staff, starting with Coach Harbaugh and Sherrone. As a defensive coordinator that’s been at some places, in Baltimore, I wasn’t a coordinator, but I was there with an offense that was built to help the defense, the running game, the style of play that makes you better in practice. So I have tremendous confidence in our offense. I’ve known Matt, obviously, for a long time and I think he’ll do a great job in his role.

On Will Johnson

First impressions of Will are just a great, great kid. You know, highly recruited, decorated. Really earned all that just by his play and his attributes. I think he’s done a really good job of just diving in and learn how to be a Michigan football player. Humble, works hard. Has a skill set that we really like, and so I think time will tell but I think Will will earn himself onto the field this fall.

On Mike Sainristil's transition to defensive back

It was Coach Harbaugh. I think he does a tremendous job. He’s a very big picture, roster, and probably because of his NFL background. And so, when I got here, they were like, ‘Hey, we’re gonna try this player, this particular player,’ I didn’t know who he was at nickel. And you know, Jay Harbaugh, who’s our safeties coach now, raved about his ability just as a tough, physical special teams player, also a blocker on offense and obviously good with the ball in his hands, too. So it was a little bit intriguing at first, like what’s it gonna look like? Mikey is a tough, smart, cerebral football player. I think he could — he’s, he’s small in nature, but he’s a type of guy that can play anywhere. He just has the right mindset. We’re very excited about what he’s brought to the table on defense, not only just from that position but even just as an older guy that knows how to play when we did lose some leadership and stuff like that. I think he’s a guy that the players trust. And, you know, we’re excited to see how he continues to develop in that role.

On who will be calling the defense

I think in college it’s a little different than the NFL, where you have a signaling system where everybody gets the call. So I think in any defense, your linebackers have to do a good job of echoing the call setting the front. I think we have four guys capable of doing that. And then I think the safeties also control a lot once they get the call. What’s the rotation? What’s the coverage check? So, just the linebackers and safeties in general. But also think that we have a smart group. these guys love football. They’re smart, deep thinkers. So all the guys once they get the signal, I think have a pretty good understanding what we’re trying to do.

On the defensive identity

I think it’s a relentless, competitive group that thrives in situational football, plays with an edge, plays with a chip on our shoulder. I think it’s going to be a team defense, where you do what’s best for the team, but also where we’ll try to do things to showcase different guys every week. And maybe a little bit more versatile in that regard, where you don’t have like that one guy that’s going to get 12-15 sacks or the two guys. So I think it’s just going to be a strong camaraderie of guys that play for each other and play really hard and play really fast. And hopefully, that’s something that the fans enjoy watching.

On why he coaches defense after playing receiver in college

it’s just in my blood, I believe. Probably wanted to play defense, maybe just wasn’t good enough. But I started right after—my first graduate assistant positions were all on defense. So just sort of got the ball rolling that way. I think that’s how my brain has worked. I think one of the best experiences I had, my first full-time job after I was a GA coach running backs for part of the season. Learned a lot about pass protection and how the O-line in the running backs work together in that regard, which I think in turn makes you a better coach on defense. So I think on our defensive staff, between Jay, Mike Elston, when I knew Mike, he was actually on offense as well. So just having the versatility of the coaches, I think it gives you a great background on offense what they’re trying to do. And then when I think as a defensive play call or trying to put the big picture together, the more you understand about what they’re trying to do. Think the better you can handle it so it was good experience.

On getting the call from Jim Harbaugh

Just humbling, honestly. You know, I was enjoying a good situation at Vanderbilt, a totally different situation. You know, working with Coach Lea, who I have just a tremendous amount of respect for, in the first year of really a major like rebuilding situation. And so, coach called me, I was actually on the road recruiting when we had our first conversation. So it was humbling knowing kind of what the situation was and what he was looking for. Felt like I might be a good fit. Sort of took the process from there and it worked out, worked out well.

On Harbaugh's flirtation with the NFL

I’m trying to remember the timeline. I knew Mike was leaving there was a little bit of the potential with Coach Harbaugh. Once that was out of the way I had a pretty good idea that this was the direction is gonna go.

On any offensive players he wants on defense

There’s a lot of them. This is a tremendous offense with tremendous skill with a tremendous offensive line. It’s a huge advantage for our defense to go against our offense every day. And not only just from a scheme standpoint but from a skill standpoint, the running backs we have the tight ends we have the receivers we have. So it’s a lot of those guys could probably play both ways if Coach Harbaugh may let them down the road.

On the rivalry with Ohio State

It’s a huge piece of this position. It’s beat Ohio, I think we talk about it every day. We do drills that are dedicated towards trying to win that game and I’m excited just to be a part of it. And I think the players, it was great for them to get that feeling and get to know what it felt like to win that game and certainly what it did for the season—catapult them into the Big Ten Championship, into the playoff. So yeah, the rivalry is a huge piece of college football and you don’t back down from it. So there’s a couple on the schedule that we got to make sure we handle our business.

On teams going tempo

I definitely got a taste of it. Tennessee, Ole Miss, man, those guys go really fast. But it makes you prepare that way, possibly tweak a little bit ways of how you call defenses in. You got to have the ability to make a one-word call that tells all 11guys what they’re doing. So I think a background in that helps, just overall background, have a little bit more of a college background. Even in the Sun Belt five, six years ago, that was a big deal. So hopefully, hopefully it helps, and hopefully, we can keep that from being becoming an issue.

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