Michigan Wolverines football second-year freshman linebacker Nikhai Hill-Green made the first start of his college career Saturday in U-M's 47-14 win over Western Michigan, and he was so "locked in" that he couldn't even hear the 109,000-plus fans in attendance.

The Pittsburgh, Pa., native notched four tackles in his starting debut and contributed to a defense that held WMU to just 4.6 yards per play. However, his overall PFF grade of 43.4 was the lowest of any Michigan defender, and he knows there are aspects of his game he can clean up.

"I felt ready. I felt like I could’ve played better, but that’s how you always feel," Hill-Green said Monday. "I definitely felt ready — our preparation gave me confidence. It was just surreal; I dreamed of this for a long time, so when it finally came to fruition, it felt great."

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He and redshirt junior Josh Ross, who tied atop the team with six tackles, have become a solid inside linebacker duo. The key to their chemistry is communication.

"Little stuff like talking about what we see and talking about certain formations — what I’ll do if they do something," Hill-Green said of the cohesiveness between he and Ross. "Communication is a big part of it, and just knowing each other.

"I’ve seen great reads from him, pre-snap indicators. He was basically telling me what plays we were getting, when he could, and just running to the ball, being explosive. Big hits, just being Josh."

Following the win, head coach Jim Harbaugh said the Wolverines weren't "in love with" the win and that there were improvements to be made. While Hill-Green feels it was a good performance from the defense as a whole, he's taking on a similar mindset.

"Overall, we played solidly," Hill-Green opined. "We ran to the ball, we played physical. There’s always stuff we can improve on, but we’ll just make our adjustments and clean it up and get ready for Washington."

The Wolverines get a Washington team that lost to FCS school Montana in its opener, an almost identical situation to last season, when Michigan, which had just notched an impressive win over Minnesota to begin the year, took on a Michigan State squad that had lost to lowly Rutgers the week prior.

"We’re chasing perfection, and every game is its own game," Hill-Green said, brushing off the notion that the Wolverines could come into Saturday's primetime contest overconfident. "We’re just taking it one week at a time, and we just want to dominate every week. Really, last week doesn’t matter. Now, we’re on to Washington."

• Hill-Green played high school ball with running back Blake Corum, who broke out for a 111-yard rushing game with one touchdown on the ground and one as a receiver.

"I’m so proud of him," Hill-Green said. "Just all the hard work he put in throughout the offseason, it paid off for him. I hope he carries it on throughout the season."

• Michigan sophomore safety Daxton Hill had six tackles while playing primarily at the nickel spot, closer to the box than he was last season, when he mostly roamed as a free safety. That means the linebackers have to be on the same page as Hill.

"Every play," Hill-Green said of how frequently the linebackers communicate with Hill pre-snap. "He tells us what he sees. We communicate it back to him. He just helps us get aligned. But yeah, we talk to Dax almost every play."

• First-year defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald made his debut, and the reviews were positive. Not only did he instill confidence into his players, he made some mid-game adjustments that paid off.

"Coach Macdonald, he gave me confidence just because of our preparation, but pregame he told me, ‘Just play loose. Be you. You earned it.’ So that gave me a lot of confidence going in," Hill-Green revealed.

"After the first touchdown, we adjusted and he said, ‘Just play our stuff. Don't really react to them. Make them react to us.’"

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