Former Michigan and current Dallas Cowboys cornerback Jourdan Lewis held his second annual WR vs. DB youth football camp yesterday in Detroit, and received plenty of help from a few of his fellow Detroiters.
A pair of current Wolverine cornerbacks — senior Lavert Hill and junior Jaylen Kelly-Powell — swung by to help assist the former Michigan star, in addition to another former U-M corner and Detroiter in Raymon Taylor (2011-14).
“It’s just a great chance to give back to the community and to help the young people out,” Hill exclaimed when asked why he enjoys lending a hand at events like yesterday's so much.
It has been a busy few weeks for the senior and the rest of the Michigan football team, who traveled to South Africa earlier this month for their annual spring trip.
The squad experienced both Cape Town and Johannesburg, and was fortunate enough to visit attractions such as Table Mountain and the Apartheid Musuem, before concluding the trip with an African safari.
“It was a very good experience,” the cornerback exclaimed. “I saw a lot of animals and a completely different culture, so it was pretty cool.
“My favorite part was seeing a lion basically come right up next to me — he walked right up to our jeep but didn’t really do anything — he was just chilling.”
Hill missed all of spring ball with injury for a second straight year, but provided an update on his current health status yesterday afternoon.
“Yeah, I’m back,” he said without hesitation. “I’m 100 percent healthy and getting ready for the season.
“[Our goals are] just to win every game possible, and compete for the Big Ten and a National Championship. We’re motivated and will take it one day at a time to get better every day.”
Michigan seemingly has the roster in place to compete for a National Championship in 2019, though it has some notable holes it must fill on defense after losing six starters from last year’s unit.
One of the vacated positions is actually the cornerback spot opposite Hill, which was manned by David Long last season before deciding to depart early for the NFL.
“My former teammate from high school, [junior] Ambry Thomas, is next up,” Hill revealed. “He and I are going to keep doing what we’ve been doing since high school, and just go out there and win."
Though Thomas is expected to emerge as a first-year starter in 2019, Hill mentioned a few other names as well in the defensive backfield that fans should keep an eye on heading into next year.
“[Junior] Brad Hawkins,” the senior said immediately. “He’s a good asset to our team because he’s playing both nickel and safety for us right now.
“[Redshirt freshman cornerback] Vincent Gray, [junior safety] J’Marick Woods and Jaylen Kelly-Powell have all been doing pretty good as well.”
Perhaps the main reason expectations are so high in Ann Arbor is due to the arrival of first-year offensive coordinator Josh Gattis and the no huddle attack he has brought with him.
Hill gave his thoughts of the system from a defensive standpoint, and what he has seen from it so far.
“I don’t know about this whole ‘speed in space’ thing, but as of now, it looks pretty good,” he said with a laugh. “I just can’t wait to cheer them on during the season. Coach Gattis knows what he’s doing, having been at both Alabama and Penn State, so his offense is living up to the hype so far.”
Lewis was asked about the 2019 Michigan State and Ohio State games yesterday and had no hesitation declaring that the latter is “going down” next season and that “Little Brother can speak all they want, but U-M will get the job done no matter what.”
When asked about the emphasis Michigan was placing on each of those games next year, Hill wasn’t interested in joining in on the trash talk.
“Every game is a priority,” the senior insisted. “We’ll take it one game at a time and go from there.”
Former U-M running back Karan Higdon, meanwhile, declared last summer that Michigan’s 2018 season would be a failure if the Wolverines didn’t take home the National Title, and Hill echoed that sentiment in a lot of ways yesterday when asked specifically about it.
“Yeah, you always have to have that mindset,” he explained. “Go big or go home. We have to go out there and just win every game — that’s it.”
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