On how he made his way to Michigan

The offseason was kind of crazy. I think every year as a coach after the end of your season into the next season maybe kind of around spring football, you've gotta focus on what makes sense for you and your family. I think the opportunity here was awesome for me as you're able to take a step back and grow, come to a place like Michigan, you're watching on TV all the time. I'm really good friends with Jesse Minter. I just think it's crazy. You get a lot of assistant jobs maybe that you get called about as a coordinator, especially at the G5 level that don't make sense. If I left being coordinator, I wanted to go to an elite place, like top two or three in the country. If it's not that, I wasn't interested. That's kind of why I thought Michigan made sense for me and my family. I know a lot about the program, I talk to Coach Minter all the time. Work with him so I'm just really excited about the opportunity to come here.

On what stood out to him about watching Jesse Minter at Michigan

As y'all know, y'all probably asked him, they got this guy from Vandy who was 2-10 as a DC at Michigan. How the hell did that happen, right? I was part of it. Sometimes you think that all the work that you put in doesn't show on the field sometimes, it's a building process. From afar, just being able to watch Michigan, I saw toughness, blue-collar. It's not just blue-collar, a lot of people say blue-collar is not talented. It's a blue-collar mentality with talented players. I think that's the unique thing about Michigan when I'm watching on tape. Also, I think everybody is on the same scoreboard. Media, fans, coaches, it's all on one scoreboard. Everybody is doing their part to win on Saturdays. Y'all do a great job. Media, nutrition, everybody here is pulling in the same direction. I think that's unique. A lot of places that I watch and cover, I try to watch a lot of football, it doesn't feel that way. That's something I found out being here for a short time. Also, talking to Coach Minter and all those guys, you just see each and every day throughout the building.

On whether he had met Sherrone Moore before his interview

I met Sherrone one time out recruiting Texas, one day I met him. I worked with a couple coaches that have worked here before when I was at Vandy with Coach Franklin. I met him on the road. When you get an opportunity, you try to call people about people. I got a beautiful wife and I got a lot of little ones running around the house, four of them. You always want to ask. He's just as genuine as y'all know. He cares about your family, he cares about your kids. He wants to know their names, he wants them in the building running around. Me seeing him on the road recruiting talking to him and remembering him, getting up here and having an opportunity to talk to him a couple times and then getting to interview, he hasn't changed. Being here for a couple of months, he's the same guy I saw on the road. Genuine, cares, wants to know who you are, what you're about, very unique individual.

On Will Johnson and the DB depth

To me, I think Will Johnson — everybody sees Will Johnson on the field and he plays. Really, if you're at practice, Will Johnson is like a freshman that just got here, early enrollee trying to earn his respect from his teammates. Everytime somebody makes a big play and if Will is not on the field, he's running into the endzone with everybody. The dude cares about his teammates. He's the ultimate teammate that I have ever been around. Really, that's his parents. His parents do a great job, his sister that works with us now, they're just first-class people. The dude just cares about his teammates. He's very genuine, he always wants to learn, he always wants to coach each other. I learn a lot from him. You've got a new coach coming here and asking you to change some techniques, he's open. He's just a very unique player, man. That's what I think people don't realize, the dude truly, truly cares about his teammates and he works like he's just trying to earn a spot on the bus every single day. I think all the corners are doing a good job now. You've got Sug Hill, he's doing a good job. DJ Waller, (Kechaun) Harris. We've just been trying to throw a lot of guys with the ones and twos and rolling reps. That's what I believe in. You can't tell guys you will give them an opportunity and then never get reps at it. Just trying to get the guys as much reps as they can, being able to have a big sample of what these guys have done all spring and once it gets down to fall camp, summer and all that, we can make an adjustment of who we can put out there on the other side of Will.

On evaluating the overall talent on defense

I think we have a lot of talent here. I've got Coach Rod Moore, I wouldn't say Coach Moore. When he got injured — let me talk about Rod real quick. The guy gets injured and the next day he's the first guy at the front seat at every meeting. He hasn't missed anything. He's asking questions, he's just unbelievable. That's the culture that we have here. On top of that and the talent that we have here, Makari in the back and Will, a lot of these young players I think are really talented, they've just been sitting behind a lot of guys. To me, we have a lot of talent, we have a lot of talent that is proven and y'all know their names and there's a lot of guys the last couple of years that has played 10-12 reps, 10-15, as coach, that's why they call me Coach Morgan, I've got to get those guys better. I do think we have a lot of talent on defense. I think you have a lot of guys that have roles. You look at the front four in the last championship game, the last four that was on the field at the same time is the same four that's here. Makari and Will and a lot of guys like that. I do think we have a lot of talent, I do think we need to develop some of the guys that haven't played and also it's important for us to do that. To make sure this place continues to grow, it's not a one hit wonder. That's something we have to work on as coaches every single day. I think that's what Michigan is. It's a developmental program. Get elite talent and develop them. I think that's kind of what I hand my hat on as a coach. That's what I want to be known for. Developing talent. Will, I hope Will gets better this year and continues to get better and I hope, if you talk to him, he's saying, hey, I'm getting better throughout spring. That's something that I am very passionate about.

On the prognosis of Rod Moore and how you replace him

I'm not going to get into the exact on the long-term with Rod but I know one thing, whatever is in front of that kid, he'll be better, Whenever he gets back on the field, he'll be better than the last time he was on it, for sure. Rod is a very unique player. He's a leader, he's at every practice coaching. We're going to miss here. It's going to be hard for everybody here who covers him to say we're not going to miss Rod. A lot of guys are going to step up and I think Rod, once he gets back and is doing all the things he has to do to get back, he's going to be here every day at practice coaching and stuff like that with us. I hate that he got hurt but I am really excited about his future, man. He's going to be a stud. I'll give you a quick example. We're in a meeting room, Coach Wink calls Eric Weddle and he gets him on the phone and say, hey, Weddle, I've got a guy here that's going to be a really special player just like you. Weddle is like who the heck is he? He wants to talk to him and stuff like that. It's just unbelievable when you have someone like Wink Martindale as the DC who can call somebody and compares Eric Weddle that's a Super Bowl winner to Rod. It's hard to miss someone like that and it's hard to get over it but, right now, we're just trying to be with him at every turn. Whenever he has to get the surgery and all that stuff we will be behind him. The whole program and everybody is excited about that.

On whether he has a safety that can call defense like Moore did

I think Makari is going to step up. I know Makari, y'all talked to Makari sometimes, he's a quiet guy. Makari is going to step up and he's going to do a great job, I'm excited about him. You've got Q back, you got B-Hill (Brandyn Hillman), you've got Zeke Berry, we've got J-Mac (Ja'den McBurrows) playing some nickel and playing corner. I think there's some guys in that room that are young players that are ready to go or they were reserves, they played 30-40 snaps a game. Now they have to step it up. I think that's something that is on my plate and I have to make sure these guys are ready to represent the university when they get the opportunity to seize it. There's really no depth chart right now. There's a couple guys that are cemented as starters. Y'all know, just like we know. There's a couple guys but those guys we're talking about, Will Johnson, he works like he's trying to earn a spot every single day. That's kid of where we're at. Always evaluating. We're going to try to always put the best 11 on the field, whatever combination that is.

On the fine line of introducing new things to the players compared to what they've already learned

The advantage I have is we were in the defense. Jesse Minter, it was the defense that him and Mike were around. Everybody has a different spin on how they run the defense. I reached out to the DB coach of the Giants, talked to him a lot. Jerome there. Just about how Wink's spin on the defense is and how he does things. I just try to give kids a toolbox. I try to give Will a toolbox of different things he can do. There's going to be some times where he can choose whatever tool but there's going to be some field zones, some down and distances that he needs to play it this way and he's open to that. Will wants to get coached, he wants to get better, he wants to get challenged. He's going to ask you what did I do right and what did I do wrong. I think that's what makes him unique. He's been open about it. The first thing you come in here and ask an All-American you need to change two or three things and he's like, yeah, you're right, I probably could work on that a little bit. He's always working. He has this illusion of how people think he is but y'all know since y'all cover him, he's very genuine. He's always thinking. He's always trying to improve. It's been a joy to coach him. I'm just trying to get him better and make sure he continues to get better here and represent the university well.

On replacing Mike Sainristil

I love Mike, man. Mike asked me a couple times out here, he's getting ready for his combine prep and all that stuff and then he got back from the combine, he caught me at a bad time, it was right before practice, but he wanted to get indy drills. I didn't even coach him last year, that's how Mike is. It's going to be hard. Mike's a leader. He was the leader of the defense last year, especially in the secondary. I. think a guy who has really stepped up is Zeke Berry. I think Zeke Berry is going to be a unique player for us this year. Still young and still gotta develop him but he has a lot of those traits. One thing Mikey did, as y'all know, Mike was never in bad position. Ever. You think he's out of phase and he turns his head around and he intercepts the ball. Every time I watch TV, I'm like who is Mikey when i got here and then I saw him walk in and it was unbelievable. He's just a really good athlete. With the ball skills and all that stuff, that's going to be hard to replace with Mikey but I think Zeke has done a really good job of being a guy that we can move around at different spots and hopefully he has a really good end of spring and does a really good job in fall.

On the exchange of ideas in the defensive room with coordinator experience

To me what's unique is when you have a room full of coordinators, sometimes people can say that's a bad thing but the way that I see it is everybody knows how hard it is to call games on Saturdays. What you have now is a group of guys who can take stuff off Wink's plate and help him with things that he doesn't have to deal with. We can handle it. Sometimes in those meetings everybody has suggestions but they only do it for their position. Oh yeah, we just do this, it would be great for the DBs. Well, if you have coordinator experience, I think that allows you to look at the big picture. I think when we throw out ideas, it's well thought-out all the way through from the D-line to the back end that we're not trying to sort through all these things. As the amount of experience that Wink has being in the NFL for 20 years, all the guys that he has coached, he's very open to new ideas and new ways to do it. He doesn't care who's idea it is, he just wants to get it right. He wants to execute and he wants to win. I think that's the most humbling thing I have, a guy that's been in the NFL like that. I'm big on trying to grow and learn, being here for a short time with Coach Wink has been awesome just learning what they did with the Giants, what they did with the Ravens, all this different film I get to watch. All these techniques and verbiage I get to be around now with Coach Wink, I think that's been refreshing every day just learning. We never have all the answers. The day that any of us has all the answers, you need to go do something else. I'm just really excited about growing and learning and I think that's what all the coaches on defense feel right now.

On his family adjusting to life in Michigan

I gotta find a place to stay. I'm at an Air BnB for a while but that's fine. I've got a beautiful wife named Jazen, she's awesome. Unbelievable. Tough as hell. I've got four little ones. I've got a six-year-old, two four-year-olds and a nine-month-old. Two boys, two girls and they're excited. First day we got up here there was some snow, they were outside rolling around in it having fun. I told them that's not really snow so you'll see it later. That's kind of where it's at. I'm really excited to be here, my wife is awesome. I've got a great support system, I've very spoiled. My wife means a lot to me, I talk about her too much I'll get emotional. I love my wife, I love my little ones. They're really excited about being here. One thing my wife went to TCU, it is what it is. I had to get the rule no red. The last schools I've been at, you wear red. No red in the building, had to throw away all my clothes and I've just been wearing workout gear all the time. No green, too. That's kind of where it's at. I had to tell my wife, don't let the kids come up here with those red shoes or Sherrone is going to get rid of me. That's kind of where we're at.

On why he wears a bowtie

I don't know how to do a regular tie. I never learned. My wife gave me one when we were dating a long time ago, a bowtie, and it took me two hours to learn how to do a bowtie. I was so proud of myself, my wife shows me all the time the picture. It was an orange and blue bowtie, she gave it to me. Ever since then I always wear a bowtie. I can take a regular tie and make it a bowtie as well but I don't know how to do a regular tie. That's kind of where I'm at with that. Growing up, really didn't have a lot growing up. Whenever you get an opportunity to wear a suit with a tie, I'm going to represent my mom and my family back at home.

On Wink's defense

I think we're going to run whatever we gotta run to win the game. We got man, zone, coming after you, dropping eight, four-man rush, we've got everything up there. That's kind of been the volume. I think spring ball is just a snapshot of what the tools are. I think each week we're going to try and see what we need to do to try to win here. We also know what the guys do really well. The guys that they had last year, they might've been more of a whatever in the back end. We've got to see what this group does and that's what we're going to call. You are right, they did run a lot of the junk Tampa 2's with Jesse, some teams they played man, some teams they didn't. A lot of simulated pressures that he got. A lot the verbiage, some of the tools we use are the same, but a lot of the coverages, pressures and stuff, they're different. When we do install meeting, we might do some of it, it could be one call, it could be Michigan film, it could be the Giants and then it could be the Ravens film. Sometimes there's a lot of stuff that we didn't run here so it's Giants film and Ravens film. We try to intertwine it a lot of try to get all the guys to see different stuff. These guys are going to be professional. The average in the NFL is 2-3 years as a defensive coordinator so just think about somebody who signs a five-year deal, Mikey is gonna get drafted high and is going to do a great job, he might have two or three DCs by the time he finishes. That's something where these kids come here for a pro system, we need to make sure they have all the tools and all the techniques they can learn. Hopefully, it looks a little different to y'all but hopefully we get the exact same results. That's what we're really excited about, what's our spin on this defense.

On whether the plan is to go two-high at safety

I think the quarterback, if you look at quarterback, a lot of teams back in the day used to do full-field reads. Everybody does so many disguises now that sometimes guys are picking a side and reading half. I just think we have to look into games and see what is this quarterback seeing and that is what we're going to run. I know everybody wants to know the answer of what we're running. I'm just being honest, you'll see. We got split-field safeties and playing some like Jesse did the last few years. We got some two-shell, some man stuff we gotta do to get after people on certain down and distance. We have good d-linemen, we have the best d-line in the country. You've gotta give those guys an opportunity to affect the quarterback as well. That's kind of the balance. Everybody here, the system is to try and highlight our best players. That's kind of what we're trying to build. It's still a work in progress. We're trying to learn what they did, what we want to do, morph it together and try to have a really good product.

On how different it is being in a group of new coaches versus being the one new guy

I kind of actually like it. I like it because everybody kind of got here at the same time. I know we had some transition here and there, I think you just really get to know people. When you're the only guy, everybody has the same questions. What's the good food spots in town? Where do y'all go, where do you go to do this? I just think that's kind of cool with everybody there. The other thing that's kind of unique, everybody has their own input now. When you come in as a staff, like Jesse did here. Jesse came here and inherited a whole room and Jesse probably asked a lot of questions, what did y'all used to do? They ask me, I don't know, BJ doesn't know. No one knows. We have to look at what they did and have to get that all together. What they did for the players but, also, we get to put our spin on it. Everybody feels like their voice is being heard and I think that allows you to be it's your defense. It's part of what you're doing. I think that's what we do here. The players are always in the building and I think that's the culture of a really good place when the players, they just walk buy and say, hey, what's up coach? You need anything? Nah, just saying hello. It happens all the time. All kinds. All the time throughout the day. After practice, whether it's a good or bad practice, they're in the building and they're trying to get to know everybody. I just think us coming here at the same time, it really helped us. We're leaning on each other, all trying to learn together and all trying to do our part to try and get a championship here. When I was at the last job, I inherited just me and everybody was already there. I think that's always a challenge when you do that. I think that's been cool when everybody gets to be here and I know the guys on offense are more familiar with each other because they've been here. I think on defense besides BJ being here before. It's been challenging but it's also been rewarding for all of us.

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