ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The Michigan football defense was expected to be the strength of the team in 2026, and through three games, that's absolutely been the case. Defensive coordinator Jay Hill came in after four years at BYU, and his unit has looked as advertised -- a spiritual successor to what Jesse Minter had perfected in 2023, even without having the same talent as Minter had.
But how does Hill evaluate his defense through Week 3?
The Wolverine defense is ranked 10th in the nation in yards allowed per game, is 21st in scoring, with the 31st rushing defense and eighth passing defense. They've also been adept at getting to the quarterback with 10 sacks -- 10th in the nation. As Hill sees it, it's been mostly good, but there are a few things he recognizes
need some improvement.
"So overall, I'm pretty happy with where we're at," Hill said. "I think we've done a good job for the most part of getting out of drives. I think we've been very dominant at times, like swarming at times. Coverage has been sticky for the most part, and I think for the most part the defensive line has dominated like we thought they would.
"We do have some things to clean up right now. We've given up three touchdowns in three games, but all three of them were off-blown coverages, which are very uncharacteristic of us. Just somebody coming off coverage when they shouldn't, so we've got to clean that up a little bit. We can clean up some of the gap integrities at times in the run game. And I think right now, for the most part, we've been really, really good at times, and then the mistakes have been a little more costly than normal, and so we do have to clean that stuff up.
"I am happy with the buy-in. I'm happy with the way the players are trusting the system right now. Now it's go time."
What about players who have surprised him? Hill was relatively mum on players who have taken a big step forward, but he pointed out several who have met or exceeded expectations.
"I mean, I think that's pretty unfair to point out just a couple guys," Hill said. "I would say, in general, I think the whole starting group is playing at a high level. We've had some guys that have really flashed, like Sug has really flashed at times. I think Enow Etta has really flashed at times -- Troy Bowles, Jonah Lea'ea last week, Dom Nichols, John Henry Daley.
"I mean, I could go on the list as to the number of guys that have flashed is pretty big. I think the safeties have played really good this year. Smith Snowden has been a great cover guy, so I mean, I can go down the list of guys that are playing at a high level."
While all has been mostly good, there is one element he'd like to see Michigan improve upon.
After being near the top in takeaways at BYU the past two years, Hill isn't sure why this team isn't doing quite as well just yet. Currently, Michigan is 82nd with just three takeaways through three games -- with two against Oklahoma and one against UTEP.
But Hill feels like they're coming. And he's hopeful that they come in a big way with takeaways compounding in each game.
"Right now, uncharacteristically, we have not forced as many turnovers as I'm used to," Hill said. "Over the last two years, BYU's had as many interceptions as anyone in the country, so for whatever reason right now, they're not coming our way. But that might be a great thing because usually when they do, they come in droves, and we're expecting that they'll come. That's just how it goes sometimes.
"Sometimes you don't have very many, and then all of a sudden you have four or five games where you get three or four in each game, so we're hoping those come at the right times."
We'll see more about how the Michigan football defense will fare with a revamped Iowa offense coming to town. Kickoff is slated for 3:36 p.m. EDT, and will be broadcast on CBS.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Jay Hill assesses Michigan defense, identifies biggest area to improve
