As spring football gets going across the country, every program in the nation chases what currently resides in Ann Arbor.
Michigan football officially begins its national championship defense Monday when spring camp kicks off. With any new season comes new narratives, but this year figures to have more than perhaps any season in recent memory (although last year will be tough to beat).
Forget that four former Pac-12 teams are joining the Big Ten to form an 18-team league; the Wolverines also replaced their head coach, entire defensive coaching staff, running backs coach and nearly two dozen major contributors from last year’s historic team.
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There are questions all over the field, and while none are likely as singularly important as who will replace J.J. McCarthy at quarterback, each of these factors will greatly affect Michigan’s upcoming season.
Here are five non-quarterback story lines to watch as Michigan’s 2024 spring camp begins.
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1. Coaching staff continuity
For all the talk of opting for an internal head coaching hire in Sherrone Moore to keep the recent winning culture strong and consistent, there was still a remarkable amount of turnover.
When Jim Harbaugh left for Los Angeles, he took with him defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, defensive backs coach Steve Clinkscale, interim linebackers coach Rick Minter, defensive line coach Mike Elston, analyst Dylan Roney and strength & conditioning coach Ben Herbert. Moore also did not retain running backs coach Mike Hart, while special teams coordinator Jay Harbaugh departed for the same position with the Seattle Seahawks.
On offense, there were a number of promotions and moving parts. With Moore going from offensive coordinator to head coach, Kirk Campbell became offensive coordinator (he’ll continue to coach quarterbacks), Grant Newsome went from tight ends to offensive line and wide receivers coach Ron Bellamy added the title of passing game coordinator. Also, Justin Tress was promoted to head strength and conditioning coach.
There are also new faces altogether. On offense, it’s tight ends coach Steve Casula, on special teams it’s J.B. Brown, and on defense, it’s literally everybody. After two decades in the NFL, Don ‘Wink’ Martindale has followed in line behind his own proteges Mike Macdonald and Minter as defensive coordinator. There’s also new safeties coach Lamar Morgan, linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary and defensive line coach Greg Scruggs.
Scruggs was arrested around 3 a.m. on Saturday on suspicion of operating a vehicle while intoxicated and has been suspended indefinitely pending an investigation.
There are a ton of new faces, new verbiage, and new personalities that will have to mesh. That process has to start immediately.
2. A new wave of big fellas
A lot had to go right for Michigan to 40-3 over the past three seasons while winning three straight outright Big Ten championships (for the first time in program history) and becoming the fourth team in the College Football Playoff era to finish a season 15-0.
None of that would have happened without the success of the offensive line.
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The run of dominance began with Moore’s former unit becoming the first to win consecutive Joe Moore Awards as the nation’s top group in the trenches. Last year, the unit was dominant again, particularly in the second half of the season, as evidenced by six players from the group earning invitations to last month’s NFL combine in Indianapolis.
However, that means an entire starting unit is gone and now a new wave will have to make its mark. Expect Northwestern transfer Josh Priebe to make an impact on the interior at one of the guard spots, though Campbell said U-M will cross-train him at center; look for Gio El-Hadi at the opposite guard spot.
Meanwhile, Greg Crippen should finally start at center after losing competitions to graduate transfers the past two years, and there should be a battle at right tackle with no clear front-runner right now.
Although Campbell said the team doesn’t have any starters penciled in, he did mention the left tackle spot looking like it is Myles Hinton’s to lose after the former starter fell out of favor.
“The guy that right now I’m super excited about is Myles Hinton,” Campbell said. “He, last year, early in the season, displayed a lot of potential. We moved him around. Right now he’s at left tackle. I think we can have a staple there if he continues to prove that.
“The sky’s the limit for him. If he goes out there and pushes himself to achieve what he wants to achieve, he has an opportunity to be a first-round pick, I believe.”
3. Running back room
Gone is the most decorated running back to ever wear the maize and blue, Blake Corum. The program’s single-season (27) and modern rushing touchdown (58) leader leaves a hole big enough for him to scamper through, and it will be up to a handful of different backs to get it done.
Donovan Edwards is the most well-known name; he rushed for 991 yards two seasons ago before finishing off a down year last season with a historic championship game performance: six carries for 119 yards and two touchdowns, each from more than 40 yards out on his first two touches of the game.
Edwards ran 113 times for just 378 yards and three touchdowns in 14 games prior to the national championship, so even though he finished the year with a bang, expect U-M to begin to figure out how to use him in different ways.
“Donovan has assumed a major leadership role on the team, which was needed,” Campbell said. “I saw him walking through the hall yesterday with a cutoff on. He looks good. He looks like he’s in shape. He’s ready to play. He’s got a chip on his shoulder. He’s got a way about him. And I’m excited.
“He’s a guy we got to make sure we put in a great situation to suit his skill sets, right? He’s gonna be different than guys we had in the past and he’s really good at those other things. We’ve got to make sure we put him in those situations.”
That creates more carries as a traditional runner for Wolverines such as Kalel Mullings, who Campbell said has trimmed down and is “due for a breakout.”
There’s also Tavierre Dunlap and Benjamin Hall, who along with Cole Cabana, were the top names mentioned in the room last week.
“It’s a deep and versatile room, which you like,” Campbell said. “You got guys that can do different things that we can put them in different positions. It’s a constant evaluation to see what they can do to help us win on Saturday.”
4. Building defensive depth
Michigan lost seven starters from last year’s defensive unit: three defensive linemen (Kris Jenkins, Braiden McGregor and Jaylen Harrell), two linebackers (Junior Colson and Michael Barrett) and two defensive backs (Mike Sainristil and Josh Wallace), which is bound to impact the team’s depth.
Still, one could make the argument Michigan’s three most dominant defensive players from last year’s team return: cornerback Will Johnson and defensive tackles Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant
U-M also has two highly talented linebackers in Ernest Hausmann and Maryland transfer Jaishawn Barham and a pair of proven edges in Derrick Moore and Josaiah Stewart. And yet the Wolverine who drew the most praise from Martindale, early though it is, was defensive back Rod Moore.
“Rod Moore, he’s the safety that, and I’m not talking about play-wise or anything else. Smart-wise, football knowledge-wise, all that. He reminds me of Eric Weddle,” Martindale said Friday. “He was one of the smartest safeties I’ve ever coached. I called Weddle and told him about it.
“That’s exciting to me because there’s a lot of checks that have to be made on the field and it’s like, well, the head pieces, the earpieces coming in now — which is great because that’s what I’m used to — there’s still signals going to be going on. Rod is like, ‘if they go hurry up, what should we do?’ Call the defense. You can’t be wrong. He’s that smart.”
It may sound crazy, but it appears there’s a chance U-M’s first defensive unit is as fierce as last year’s team, which led the nation in fewest points allowed and yards against. What needs to develop is the depth behind some of the proven names.
5. Turning the page
Once Monday begins, the national championship is officially last year’s accomplishment.
It’s something anybody in the room can be proud of — those who were a part of it know the feeling and those who weren’t there last year were selected by the program to be part of the next wave.
Still, it was last week when Edwards shared the “wise words” at the end of practice — a daily tradition of a team leader sharing a lasting thought for the group at the end of a day’s work — and Edwards’ was about the mentality he feels needs to permeate the team.
“I thought his message couldn’t have been any better about we got to continue to work hard,” Campbell told media. “Just develop and don’t be satisfied with anything.”
That starts Monday.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Top 5 non-QB Michigan football storylines for spring camp
