I recently published my post-spring depth chart for the Michigan defense. You can read that here. My biggest struggle putting that together was trying to layout the positions of the defensive line. Since the hire of Mike Macdonald, there has been confusion around what exactly Michigan's defense is. There were many comments about how Michigan is switching to a 3-4 and replies of repulsion when some suggested it was a 3-3-5 and caused Rich Rod era flashbacks. Macdonald insisted upon his arrival that the best term for Michigan's defense was "multiple".

With Macdonald out and Jesse Minter in, continuity was always going to be the theme. Now that we have seen some of that, let's take a look at what exactly Michigan's defensive front philosophy is.

As I said, when mapping out the two-deep I struggled to peg someone like Kris Jenkins as a DE or DT. He is hardly the first player who can move inside or play outside, but Jenkins played 5 shades on the defensive line in the spring game. In the spring game. The NFL's Aaron Donald began to revolutionize the DT position with his ability to line up in multiple techniques. Now, recreating Aaron Donald is impossible but replicating the scheme that allowed him to succeed is not.

So much of defensive alignment was about gap assignments. So while 3Tech identified where and how the player would line up, what mattered was that player was responsible for the B-gap. Running the ball can be broken down to 1 on 1 matchup and whether an OL or DL beat their guy. Simply put, the offense needs to be a cohesive unit moving in the same direction, while the defense needs to adjust to that, beat their direct opponent, and fill gaps to stop the run. Stopping the run has always been the most important part of defensive football until it wasn't.

The success of dual-threat quarterbacks in college was impossible for the NFL to ignore and the style of play made its way to Sundays. Young innovative coaches getting hired left and right. Heisman-winning QBs who may have been previously asked to play WR are being drafted in the top 10 of the NFL draft. The answer for Mike Macdonald and Jesse Minter's Baltimore Ravens answer was simple, pass defense over the rush defense.

It is elementary to say the answer to explosive pass offensive is pass defense, but how the Ravens did it was unique. It was about changing fundamental alignments and focusing on pass defense in a way where you are willing to sacrifice the Gap technique. What Mike Macdonald brought from Baltimore to Ann Arbor, and it appears Jesse Minter will continue, is pass defense focus on early downs.

It's a simple risk analysis. The defense wants to prevent long runs but even with a run defense call, the risk is still there. If you can play a rush defense that is built to confuse a quarterback in the passing game, that same confusion should impact the offensive line meaning broken assignments and run stops. Bend don't break.

This is done by changing the way we look at positions. Michigan saw this for a few years under Don Brown with the Viper position. Turning the SAM into an S/LB hybrid allowed players like Jabrill Peppers and Khaleke Hudson to impact the passing game but still react and get tackles for loss. The benefit of a Viper is easily outweighed by the fact there is only one of them. Offenses can shade away from the player or attack them with mismatch nightmares like a pulling guard who escapes to the second level.

What the Ravens did was turn all of their safeties into Vipers, and play three of them often. In Michigan's first year with this defensive scheme, we saw Daxton Hill used in this way. Hill could be a true safety, the nickel back, or a hybrid LB who could blitz from the 9T. Michigan did its best to hide Hill with overlapping coverages and a misaligned defensive box. What Hill was on any given play begins the confusion for opposing quarterbacks.

Michigan has recruited with this scheme as a priority. Speed and physicality with the ability to cover. Whether you play corner, safety, linebacker, or all of the above. Ja'Den McBurrows is a physical sophomore cornerback. Freshman Will Johnson, Keon Sabb, Zeke Berry, and Myles Pollard are all defensive backs with above-average height or size for their cover skills. Sabb was already utilized at LB during Michigan's spring practices.

Macdonald played to the strength of his players and adjusted, something Minter committed to as well. This saw Josh Ross playing linebacker despite not having the type of speed this defense would typically want. Now, Michigan and Ross excelled in the new scheme with Ross the leading tackler by a significant margin. In 2022, Junior Colson and Nikhai Hill-Green are the leading contenders at linebacker. Both bring speed to the physical position and allow Michigan to continue to enhance its versatility in pass coverage.

So with a secondary equipped to defend the pass but with a physicality capable of attacking the run game, the defensive front is now free to present and morph in and out of schemes. Offensives naturally have the advantage because all of their players know what play is being run, and in the past, they knew what role each defender had based on their alignment. Offenses began taking further advantage of this with calls coming from the sideline after teams aligned for a snap.

So, how do you combat pre-snap adjustments? With post-snap adjustments. Michigan's defensive lineman don't care what the offense sees because nothing is revealed until after the ball is snapped. Michigan will show a 2-4-5, so two down linemen, four linebackers, and five defensive backs. They can show 3-4, 4-3, over and under. What they often do is what I would call a 5-2-4 and this is what I designed my depth chart to.

The confusion for offenses comes from the fact Michigan's 5 defensive linemen are not what they appear. Mike Morris is a defensive end who stands up and blitz put his hand in the dirt and plays the 5T in a NASCAR package (4 DEs). Opposite him is Taylor Upshaw, another DE who can play like a stand-up LB or even move inside like DT. Next to either of them could be Jaylen Harrell, an EDGE rusher who can impact the run game or play a true SAM LB. My favorite unicorn is Kris Jenkins. Maybe he is a defensive tackle or a defensive end, or maybe he drops into the flat to deflect a quick slant.

Just like in secondary Michigan is recruiting to this new scheme on the line, with physical guys like Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant, and EDGE players like Derrick Moore who can already do a lot of the same things guys like Jenkins and Upshaw can.

Michigan can line up 6 guys with any number of them standing near the line and blitz all of them or send only two. This defense finds a way to flip the script where instead of the defense being forced to read and react to the offense, the offense needs to try and predict what any number of defenders will do post-snap. It's almost like an option defense.

So when I get asked, "Is Mazi Smith the nose tackle?" I always say, "Sometimes."

"Is Mike Morris the one to replace Aiden Hutchinson?" I say, "In a lot of ways, yeah. But so is Upshaw. And Harrell. And Jenkins."

Michigan is going to adjust its defensive scheme to the talents of its players and not try to force players into a system they don't fit. Still, in what Minter called "year 2" of this defense, Michigan has enough players to begin to adapt to the morphing system they hope to fully utilize. It's still about taking back advantage. In 2021, Hutchinson and Ojabo were that advantage. In 2022, Michigan will need a collective unit of players to create that advantage. Early returns suggest players are working to meet that challenge, and developing quickly as a team thriving on versatility, speed, physicality, and disguise.

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