On his takeaway of year two from spring ball

Just really like where we're at. Last year, the talk was the second year of the same system which was really good familiarity for the players. Now, my own second year, I think the comfort level between us is really high. I think we understand each other's expectations, each other's personalities, each other's goals and what we're trying to accomplish. Really, really pleased with the spring overall. Pleased with just about everybody's performance overall. Excited to go into that next phase, get them with Coach Herb and let him do his thing with them. Excited to see them again this summer.

On whether he's identified anything in year two that he would like to do differently

The first thing that jumped out to me, studying ourselves and watching late in the season, we talk about having four pillars on defense that are really controllable things. Effort and angles, being the first one, block destruction, ball disruption and communication. As simple as that sounds, the emphasis on those four things on a daily basis has gone to a whole other level for us whereas in the first year for me specifically, it was so much scheme-driven. This is what we've done and this is what I think we can do. Now, to be able to feel really, really comfortable with the scheme and the system to really hone in on the technical pieces on the game that we can control. That's been fun to see, fun to see the players buy into that. Our assistant coaches have done a tremendous job in those regards. Schematically, I think anytime you have some success, people are always chasing you and people are always studying you. It's imperative that we continue to add, continue to tweak, continue to find a better way to do certain things. That's an ongoing, always, process. Just excited to see where we're at heading into this year.

On the advantage of designing defenses now that he knows his players

It's a huge advantage. The biggest thing going into last season was a little bit of unknown. Had been through spring and fall with the guys but we had, especially key positions, new faces in there. Now, I know how Kris and those guys are going to react in big-time environments. I know what their strengths are. I know some things that they need to continue to work on. I know what our strengths are as a whole a little bit. I think it's always trying to take anything that might be perceived as a weakness and turn it into a strength, so to speak. Very, very nice to be somewhere, second year, have a really good relationship with all the players and a really good understanding of what they can do well. Certainly tailor the defense to that.

On the secondary

Really, really high expectations. Tremendous group at the safety position. Just feel really good about Rod Moore, the amount of snaps he's played here, the big plays he's made in big moments. Makari Paige, the jump he took this pasts season. RJ kind of being a jack-of-all-trades for us. You throw Mikey in there and his versatility to play, really, all the spots back there. I think that itself is a major, major strength. The safeties are always the traffic control cops. To have experience there and to have older guys that have played and played a lot, know what it takes to communicate at a high level is a major advantage. Then you have a guy like Will, so proud of Will and the process that he took throughout the season last year and how he evolved. Knew he was really talented, I think everybody knew he was really talented. He really trusted the process and played his best ball when we needed him to play his best ball. Just really excited to see him evolve and go into year two now with real confidence. I think when you come in as a freshman, you have, 'Oh, I'm this highly-recruited guy.' Will was always pretty humble but now he has tangible evidence that he can cover. Truth be told, the other spot, that's the big question mark right now. We had a lot of guys battle for that spot throughout spring. Amorion certainly has—What I say, he has the traits, the skills to be able to play the position. He hasn't played the position enough to be really comfortable yet. He might not like me saying this but I think one of the best things to happen to him was the spring game and going through a little bit of adversity, having guys make plays. The toughest part, and I've always been a DB guy, the toughest part about being an elite corner is really the mental side of it. The down after down, locked in, mindset that it takes to be an elite corner. In a game, there's 70 plays, they might throw the ball at your guy six times. If you're relaxed on one of those, it could lead to a bad play. If you can't handle the bad play, it leads to another bad play and that's where the snowball effect occurs. Good that it happened now. We've got a lot of time between now and Septemeber to continue to work with him. He's really got a chance to get a lot better between now and then. I thought Ja'Den McBurrows had a good spring, I thought Keshaun Harris really stepped up and had a good spring. I thought Myles Pollard made some plays in spring. I thought Jyaire Hill is going to be a guy. I don't know if I'd put him on Will's track but I think he's going to be capable of helping us this year. Just a really, really good competitive mindset that it takes to be successful at the position. I'm excited to see that battle continue. I wouldn't say that there is anyone written in stone right now. It will be our jobs as coaches to put the best combination of five players on the field when we have five DBs on the field and that can be, really, any combination of those guys. The safeties we spoke of, Mikey we spoke of, give us versatility to maneuver the best guys on the field for us.

On Mike Sainristil's second year in the defense and Amorion Walker

My expectations are for Mikey to be one of the top DBs in the whole country. He's talented enough, he's skilled enough. He's got the right mindset, he's made plays. What a move. Coach Harbaugh, all the credit in the world for that one. I'm really excited about him. Truth be told, he probably would've been picked. He would've crushed the combine, he would've had a great pro day. He has really, really high goals for himself and that's what makes him the type of player that he is. Excited about him. The difference of the two is that Mikey had played in a lot of big moments on offense. Even just the understanding of what it takes to be successful at this level as a player, that's probably the biggest thing Amorion hasn't quite experienced. He played a few snaps, maybe, throughout the year on offense but hasn't been that guy, counted on in big moments. I think that's a bigger adjustment than sometimes the skills to play the position, which I know that he has in there. Mikey can be a huge resource for him and throughout the process of changing. Truth be told, you're gonna have to go out there and do it in front of 110,000 people. So early in the season, there's going to be some good moments, there's probably going to be some moments that are very teachable and learnable. Tell him about Will all the time. First game of the year. the team throws a touchdown on Will. He probably doesn't like me saying this either but that was probably the best thing that happened to him. You need those growable, learnable moments. Amorion had that experience in the spring game. It'll probably happen again when the real live bullets start flying. I'm confident that as we go and as we progress, middle of the season, late in the season, that he'll be capable of doing the things we need him to do.

On the linebacker position

I've seen unbelievable progress from that group throughout spring. We also have a new position coach there in Chris Partridge who I think has done an unbelievable job with those guys. Junior has high of a ceiling as anybody on our defense. We've had a lot of talks about that. I think it's time for him to become—not just he's a good player and flies around and he makes some plays, he needs to become the guy where everybody knows who he is, where he is. That he can wreck the game. He's capable of doing that. I'm confident that he'll continue to rpogrress to that standpoint. Michael Barrett is a tremendous return for us of an experienced player for us that has made a lot of big plays. Has played all over the field throughout his career which has made him a better linebacker. Very excited to have him back. Ernest Hausmann is a great pickup. Difference there, in our stadium he's made big plays. He's played in a game there, he's played in a lot of the Big Ten venues and played at a high level at Nebraska. Couldb't be happier about the addition of him. I think, No.1, Junior and Mike are as incumbent starters, they feel him. He's right behind them. He's not slowing down so it makes those guys have to play better, have to study more, have to do everything they have to do to keep their job. It makes Ernest, who is a really, really good addition just from mentality. He's chasing them and he's not going to back down either. The return of Nikhai is huge. I thought he progressed well this spring. I think he's not necessarily to get healthy but to regain all the way back to where he was and surpass where he was. He knows he's got a lot of work to do still. The fact that he was able to make it through and get reps kind of provides the value we know that he can provide. Those four, feel really good about. Jimmy Rolder, Micah Pollard, Jaden Hood, those guys are all developing, progressing, trying to get to that, OK, who is trying to be the fifth guy? Who are we giving snaps to? Tremendous competition. Overall, I would say the weakness of ours last year, not the way Junior and Mike played, but the lack of depth at that position throughout the course of the year. Truth be told, it probably came back to bite us later in the year. Those guys got a little banged up, I don't think we were full strength when we needed to be. Really excited to be able to roll guys in there a little bit more, take a few snaps off the top couple and see if we can play really, really well at that position.

On the depth at linebacker allows the defense to be more creative

There's a lot of chess pieces on this defense right now. Different guys that can be successful doing different things. Sometimes, even if there is one position, right now, everybody is like, hey, who is the other corner? Mikey Sainrsitil is really, really good. There might be times where we might have to put somebody else on the field to allow us to use Mikey in certain areas. I think we have the pieces, the complimentary pieces, to be able to do that. Really excited about the options there.

On how good Derrick Moore can be this season

Derrick can be as good as Derrick (can be). The best part about Derrick is that he has the mindset to be a really, really high-end, dominant, player. His skill set and his physical tools match up with that. He has a chance to be high, high, high-end draft choice one day. High-end player. Productive. He's just gotta stay on his process, stay on his progress that he's on. Coach Herb does a great job with him. He's completely focused and has a really good mentality of where he wants to go and he takes it out on people on the field. It's really exciting to see him along with the rest of the group.

On Jaylen Harrell

Jaylen is one of our most consistent, complete players of how he plays down after down, play after play. Versus the run and the pass. Very technical. I was actually meeting with him earlier today, he is one of the most self-made players in our program. He was a MIKE linebacker in high school. Moved him to the edge and the work ethic, the way he trains, the way he goes about his business, the way he studies other players, off the charts. Unbelievable. He became a force for us last year. It doesn't always show up in stats but his consistency, his ability to set the edge, his ability to be really disciplined in moments like that. That play (the fourth down play against Ohio State) turned that game. Gave us a little bit of momentum on defense which we were lacking early in the game. Allowed us to get to halftime just with a chance to regroup. Whereas if that thing is more than a three-point game, it could've gotten away from us a little bit. Huge, huge play. Anytime a guy makes a big play like that, his confidence comes up. He comes back the next play and completely dominates the Big Ten Championship game as a rusher. You kind of see the versatility and the capability that he has. If he continues on that progression, I expect another big, big year from him as well.

On any other EDGE players that have stood out to him

Braiden McGregor, first off, him and Derrick play the same position. I think the two of them are just tailor-made for what we ask of that spot. Have the skillset to be really, really high-end players. I've talked about Braiden before. Derrick is a guy who comes in and gets snaps as a true freshman, Braiden is a guy who comes off a severe injury in high school, is behind Aidan Hutchinson and all these guys. He has trusted the process, worked really, really hard. I thought the second half of the year last year, he was playing some of his best ball. He made three or four plays in the Ohio State game that were game-changing. He's a guy where I think he's taken that confidence into spring, had a really productive spring. Josaiah Stewart, I'm really excited about him. Transfer portal addition. Coastal Carolina, true freshman year, 12 sacks. Second year, they moved him. The D-coordinator at Coastal is a good friend of mine, they moved him to a different position and he had some injuries that he battled. Second year wasn't quite as productive but when you watch his tape, he plays the way you want guys to play. Really, really physical. In a baseball term, he's our change up in the sense of he's six-foot, maybe six-one. Not as big and long as our other guys but he has a different skillset as a rusher. When a tackle has to block Braiden one play, Derrick the next play, Jaylen the next play, throw Josaiah at them, there's some good versatility there amongst those four guys. I was really happy with his spring. How productive he was. The thing that I really enjoyed about him was that he and Mikey had a previous relationship but that kid just dove right in. Unbelievable mindset. Worker. Has changed his body already since being here. Just fits the culture here really well. Same thing as Ernest, both news guys from a culture standpoint are unbelievable additions. There's two other guys in that room that I thought made jumps this spring. Kechaun Bennett is one of them and TJ Guy being the other. I call it the Michigan deal, by the third year you're all of a sudden a monster. Get with Herb for a couple years, no one knows about you and all of a sudden both of these guys are going into their third year, wasn't sure what to expect out of them going into spring and both of them made enough progress to be like, OK, who is the fifth guy? Who can take enough snaps off these guys? Happy with their progress and where they're at. Really just excited about that group overall.

On the interior defensive line

I see five really, really capable players. It's hard not to start with Kris Jenkins, he's a monster. He gets bigger and bigger every time I see him. His work ethic. The thing about him is the way he plays is the way we want all of our guys to play. He plays really hard but he does all the little things right play after play after play. His consistency, his physicality, I think we'll see him make even more plays this year. I think we'll see him get more opportunities as a pass rusher this year which would be awesome to see. Mason Graham, everybody knows about the freshman year that he had. Excited about him. Another guy that just gets better and better on the field. A guy that might be the most improved since I've been here, Rayshaun Benny. He's a guy—I thought he made some big plays late in the year. He gets pressure on Stroud that causes him to throw a pick. All these guys have now made some plays. There's just a different level of confidence they have every time they go out there that they can make plays. I think Kenneth Grant is gonna be a name everybody is going to know about. He's a monster in the middle and has a chance to be a really, really dominant type of player here. I've really been really proud and really excited about Cam Goode and the improvements he's made since the end of the season. He's putting himself to be in a position to be a contributor here as well. Five really good players that could all play at a lot of schools across the country. They're really bought into our ability to rotate and keep guys fresh. They kind of drive our defense. I think this program, the reason we're good, is we're built on the o-line and d-line. We're driven by those guys. Some programs it's the quarterbacks and the receivers. I think here, it's the o-line and the d-line and I think that's what makes us good on both sides of the ball.

On what he learned from the interview process with the Eagles

The biggest thing is I learned is the respect for Michigan Football out there is real and what's been done here the last couple of years. I think both sides of the ball, schematically, we do a lot of good stuff. I think all of our coaches have probably been approached by people. I also think you learn how much you appreciate this place so when you go visit another place or go do an interview, it's interesting and you learn a lot about the process and that type of stuff. Number one, it's like, wow, how much you appreciate Coach Harbaugh for how he operates our program. How much you appreciate the players here. Really couldn't be happier to be here with these guys for, hopefully, a lot of years. There's really something special about the culture here, the people in place and I think anytime you look at other things, you just appreciate that even more.

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