Michigan football has had some of the best defenses in the country, especially in the College Football Playoff run from 2021-23, but what Jay Hill wants to do goes even beyond what Mike Macdonald and Jesse Minter had.
Since 2021, when the Wolverines had the 27th-rated rushing defense, allowing 127 yards per game, Michigan has never been ranked lower than 19th (2025). In fact, the run defense got better every year until this past year, having gone from seventh in 2022, to sixth in 2023, and then fifth in 2024. But in none of those years, did the Wolverines average 85 yards rushing per game allowed. Sure, there were plenty of games where that was the case, but to keep teams consistently that low when it comes to running the football? It's difficult
to do.
So difficult that in the national championship year of 2023, Michigan allowed more than 85 yards rushing in eight of the 15 games.
BYU under Jay Hill improved dramatically in run defense, but never quite got to that number either. But when defensive line coach Larry Black said on Tuesday that that was the defensive front's goal every game, it seemed lofty. Yet, as Hill says, that has to be the benchmark, along with winning the turnover battle every game, for the defense.
"If we have goals to be one of the elite defenses in the country, in the Big Ten, you can't give up a lot more than 100 yards rushing," Hill said. "If you're gonna do that, and if we're setting goals to be elite, I think that's where that 85 number comes from -- if you wanna be elite within the country in rush defense.
"As far as turnover margin goes, that's one of those things where it doesn't matter how many turnovers we have on offense; we need to get one more on defense. That's kind of the philosophy: we need to win the turnover margin, and some days, the offense might not turn it over at all, and you get plus one; you still win it, and then some days, if they happen to turn it over two or three times, then we gotta have more than they get. And that's the approach I have to take as the defense coordinator. Obviously, Jason Beck's gonna say no turnovers is the goal every game, but whatever happens within a game, we need to get one more -- at least one more.”
Previous defensive coaching staffs talked about their pillars of success -- effort, block destruction, ball disruption, and communication were the pillars that were part of Jesse Minter's defense, and there was no indication that Wink Martindale deviated from those. While Hill doesn't necessarily have the same nomenclature, he does say that the team has numerous goals that span across multiple disciplines within the game.
And with those goals come concrete numbers, starting with the number seven.
“We have lots of pillars that we hang our hat on, but if you were to ask me, we have a plan to win, and the plan to win is to play great defense," Hill said. "And our pillars off that are going to be how we defend the run -- that's where the 85 yards comes up; having a goal for pass efficiency defense -- which if you're going to be elite, you need to be under 100; and then turnovers and sacks. We want a combination of seven turnovers and sacks each game, so if we're hitting those numbers, we're pretty dang good.
"And there's other things, too, that we emphasize, but those would be probably the things that I talk about the most.”
If you're going by last year's numbers, Michigan won't see an elite offense come to town until midseason when Indiana does, as the Hoosiers were ranked 17th nationally last year when they won a national championship of their own. Though Oklahoma does pose an offensive threat if John Mateer is healthy, the back end of the schedule -- with IU, Oregon, and Ohio State -- will likely test the defensive goals much more than the others.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Jay Hill sets lofty goals for Michigan football's defense
