Michigan Wolverines football redshirt sophomore cornerback Gemon Green, who led the squad with nine pass breakups last season, is the likely starter on one side of the field, while redshirt sophomore Vincent Gray and redshirt freshman D.J. Turner battle it out on the opposite end. That said, the competition is high in the Maize and Blue's fall camp practices.

"The other guys are pushing me, too. So I've just been working every day," Green said Tuesday.

Michigan gave up 250.5 passing yards per game last season, which ranked 90th in the nation. New defensive passing game coordinator and defensive backs coach Steve Clinkscale admitted earlier this month that it's important to build back some of the confidence his corners lost last season. Green revealed that he feels the confidence is at a good level.

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"The confidence is pretty good," he said. "Everybody is pushing each other. You’ve got D.J. and Vince pushing me; they’re pushing each other, trying to get the other starting spot. That’s pretty much it."

Added Green, when asked what each of Gray and Turner bring to the table: "Their skill sets are kind of different, but they can both play the ball, they’re both good, they’re both athletic. We shall see, coming up here."

Green also divulged how excited he is about the team's new defensive system under first-year coordinator Mike Macdonald, who will play multiple fronts and mix up coverages much more than the Wolverines did under Don Brown, who led the unit from 2016-20.

"I love it, because everybody doesn’t just know I’m playing man so they’re going to just throw shots. I get to play off a little bit … a lot of different stuff," Green said. "It's a lot different from last year.

"We gave up a couple of fade balls in the beginning [of the season last year], so they tried to throw shots at me and Vince early on and throughout the season."

Clinkscale is making his mark on the unit, after joining the team early on in the summer following the departure of secondary coach Mo Linguist, who took the head coaching job at Buffalo.

"He’s a very energetic guy. I love that guy," Green said. "He’s kind of different from Coach Mo — two different personalities — but they’re both smart at the game. They keep pushing us every day. They get on us every day."

Clinkscale is staying true to his message that he came in with, too.

"He said he’s going to push us, he’s going to get on our butt every day," Green said. "And that’s exactly what he’s doing every day. He’s making us better."

• Green was asked which wide receivers are causing the most havoc during fall camp practices, and he had good things to say about the trio which is likely to be the first group out there in the opener against Western Michigan Sept. 4. — junior Ronnie Bell and sophomores Cornelius Johnson and Mike Sainristil.

"They’re all good," Green said. "Six [Johnson], Ronnie, Mikey’s very good, very good off the line. That’s who I go against when I get some releases."

• Green said he's improved his overall game this offseason, and the process actually started during the 2020 campaign, when he started every game.

"Oh yeah, I feel like I got stronger, getting reps from last year, over the spring and the other guys pushing me. I feel like I got better," Green said.

"Penn State, I felt like I got comfortable in that game. As the year went on, I got more comfortable."

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