Jim Harbaugh appeared on the Michigan football program's weekly radio show, Inside Michigan Football, on Monday evening.
The eighth-year head coach had a lengthy conversation with Jon Jansen on the offense, defense, and everything in between.
Harbaugh took a deep dive into the roster's makeup, divided into two segments for the offense and defense.
We already covered the offense.
Haven't read it yet? Click here.
Here is everything the Michigan head coach said about the team's defense leading up to Saturday's first game against Colorado State.
On Jesse Minter's impact on the defense:
"I’ve seen a real progression of guys running to the ball. That’s something that started out, I think Jesse and the staff have done a really good job of amping that up every single day. That’s what you want to see out of your defense. Game 1, we want to come out of that stadium like, man, that Michigan defense really flies around and gets to the ball. Constant hustling. It’s hustle at all times. With some new guys at new positions, that’s been a process. But I’ve seen it elevate each day. And plenty of talent there has the license and ability to go out there and be a heck of a defense."
On Eyabi Anoma:
"Eyabi is somebody that I recruited out of high school, and I really enjoyed being around him every time I talked to him or made a visit. I got a text from him midway through camp that he was graduating in a couple of days and asked if we would be interested in having him come to Michigan, and I said yes. Well, no, I didn’t say yes. I said I couldn’t talk to him until he was in the portal due to NCAA rules. After he went into the portal, then I was able to have a phone conversation with him. And, yeah, he wanted to come. He talked to Blake, Nikhai, and Derek. I guess they had already been talking to him, too. “what do you think of Eyabi? “Yeah, we really liked him as a teammate,” “that’s how I feel about him as well.” Since he’s been here 10-12 days, he’s a great guy to be around on a day-to-day basis. Excited for him. Excited to see what he can do as early as Game 1 or Game 2. We’ll see what happens. Got him on special teams and at edge rusher. I think he’ll excel."
On the process of preparing a new player like Anoma in the middle of camp:
"He’s a pretty experienced player. He played at Tennessee-Martin last year and had 11 sacks. Knocked the rust off the first couple of days. He was in acclamation mode and could only wear a helmet. But it was probably Day 3 or 4. As soon as he the pads on, in some non-tackling drills, you could see there’s some real talent there. Every day he’s been here, he tells me he loves it. You see his demeanor. He’s a popular guy. There are guys that are on a football, and he’s one of them. It means a lot to him. He’s really into football. Great guy to be around."
On Mazi Smith:
"Grown so much. Great development. I think from last year to this year, this offseason, I see him playing harder. Playing harder every single down. I think he’s going to have a huge impact. He’s definitely a leader on our team. Voted a captain by his teammates. One of those kind of leaders, almost a papa bear type of leader. Guys listen to what Mazi says. They seek out his advice. And he likes talking to people. He likes talking to everybody. He’s not one of those guys that’s yelling and screaming or peeling the paint off the locker room walls. When he talks, people listen. He’s always been a deep, kind of old soul type of guy. I think that’s why he and I have always gotten along so great. We get into these good, in-depth, philosophic conversations. I can’t spell philosophic but we get into those conversations."
On replacing defensive production left behind by Hutchinson, Ojabo, and Hill:
"Starting in the back end. Dax was so, so good. So fast. He could cover up a lot of mistakes by himself, and did. He was all over the field. I see surging guys at the safety position: RJ Moten, Makari Paige, and Rod Moore, who started games last year. I consider those three guys your starters. I already see Makari Paige as somebody who has great potential and great talent. He’s always shown it from the time he was a midyear freshman. Sometime during fall camp, it would fall off a bit. Not this year. He’s surging. That’s why he earned that starting safety status."
Continued:
I see a bunch of improvement in the interior of the line. When you look at Mazi Smith. Kris Jenkins is, I predict, would probably be the surest bet to be like David Ojabo was last year: “Who the heck is Kris Jenkins? Where did he come from? How is he this good?” He’s kind of a beast type of guy. Infectious, a great attitude as well.
Continued x2:
The edge rushers. I’m looking at Taylor Uphsaw, Mike Morris, Jaylen Harrell as three guys that have the chance to give similar production that we had last year. Maybe it’s not going to be exact. We can hopefully get close. With the improved interior part of that line — Mazi, Kris, Kenneth Grant is surging, Mason Graham is surging, Dominic Guidice is really doing some good things — and Rayshaun Benny, you look up from one practice and three practices later, you’re seeing the same good play, better and better and better. I mean, guys do get better. They improve by playing football. They get some confidence. They get a counter move, and they get another counter move. They got the ability to knock someone off the ball or knock someone back. Rayshaun can do that, Mason Graham can do that, Kenneth Grant can do that, Kris Jenkins can do that, and Mazi can do that. It’s really good. Derrick Moore would be somebody that’s an edge rusher who also may surge as the season goes on. It could get to the point where he’s unblockable because he’s so strong and fast. As soon as he gets the motor of a Chase Winovich, Aidan Hutchinson, or a David Ojabo, and another counter move, and a second counter move, he could be unblockable. So there are some exciting things going on on that defensive line.
On former linebacker Josh Ross:
"Josh Ross is another guy where you go, “that was a really good player.” We can go back to the Ohio State game and talk about the sacks from Aidan or Ojabo or Taylor Upshaw’s. But there was a stop in the third quarter, big 3rd & 4 maybe it was, that Josh made a tackle in the backfield on an incredible play. Came around the guard and center, got skinny ducked, got into the backfield, and made a huge stop when it was a one-score game. Resulting punt, we drove and made it a two-score game. So that play was as big as any. Really exciting news, my brother said Josh is going to make the team (Ravens). I meant to tell the team that today. He’s doing great. John really thought he would make the 53. Ravens have a record of 18 or 19 years of an undrafted player making the team. He thought that Josh’s special teams ability but his linebacker ability made him a Godsend for a team that needed him at a position they really needed it. What separated him from the beginning was his special teams play. That he had been in a pro punt system. It was a huge advantage for him to be in a pro punt system like he was here at Michigan, the way Jay taught him. It was second nature when he got there, and he played his way onto the roster."
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