ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Multiple Iowa offensive players have made comments this week about how excited they are for the opportunity to go up against Michigan football and Jay Hill's defense, because they anticipate they'll see pretty close to sole-man coverage. However, Hill insists that's not exactly what his defense is.
Sure, there's been more man coverage this year, with cornerbacks on an island against the wide receivers they've faced. But the defense has mixed things up this year, perhaps more so than people are giving the secondary credit for.
"I would say, I don't know, 50-50 right now. We're a little heavier man than we were at BYU," Hill said of mixing coverages. "We're about what we were when I was at the University of Utah and at Weber
State, so I think those percentages are very similar.
"We have good corners here, and so we're gonna put those guys in coverage and rely on their ability to cover. I think it fits the system of Michigan with our defensive line, our ability to cover on how we've called it thus far. But I will say we change things up, too. Like in the Oklahoma game, everybody thought we were just sitting in man, man, man, and we were playing all kinds of different combination coverages and zones and stuff to try to confuse the quarterback. It wasn't just all man."
So the ratio isn't quite what many believe it to be, with zone coverage mixed in. But what's more, that's not the sole basis for what the defense is predicated upon.
Hill says that for some games, the secondary may be more in man. But in others, you may see more zone coverage, like what the Wolverines have run mostly since 2021.
It's all game-dependent, on how the defense feels it can attack best.
"It's a philosophy because I think we have the corners that can do it. It's also a matchup thing, and we change every week," Hill said. "I mean, if there's one guy to stop, we might change the way we're covering him. We might lean the free safety or do something in our scheme to just take care of certain individuals. And there's times where certain quarterbacks are better against zone than they are man, so we play more man. Or if you're playing a quarterback that likes to throw against man coverage, then we might play more zone.
"It's gonna change from week to week based on what we feel we need to do to put the players in position to be successful."
While the Michigan vs. Iowa matchup may be all about the trenches and which team can be the most physical inside, Hill also loves the challenge of slowing down opposing pass games.
A former cornerback at Utah in 1998 and 1999, Hill takes special pride in being able to slow down prolific passers. Now, Hank Brown is not that -- not yet, at least -- but given that the Hawkeyes are entering Saturday's matchup with a bit more confidence that they can move the ball through the air compared to previous years, don't underestimate Hill's desire to make things as difficult on Iowa offensive coordinator Tim Lester and Brown as he can.
"I think it's gonna be a super physical game," Hill said. "I think the most physical, most prepared team will win, so we get super excited about it, but remember, I played DB, so I like games that are aired out, and I like scheming quarterbacks that think they can chuck it for 400 yards and shut them down to not much.
"And so I embrace both sides of this thing. Like, we have to be super physical. We got to play Michigan-style defense this week, and we got to be ready to stuff the run, and that's kind of been our philosophy and MO throughout the thing. But you better stop the pass, too, because you can't give up a couple cheap ones down the field."
Michigan and Iowa will kick off at 3:36 p.m. EDT at The Big House, and the game will be broadcast nationally on CBS.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Jay Hill reveals Michigan coverage philosophy Iowa may not expect
