Michigan football defensive coordinator Jesse Minter fall camp

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Pundits across the country are skeptical that Michigan football will be able to field a defense nearly as good as last year’s, despite the 2021 defense being the second-worst statistically in Jim Harbaugh’s tenure in Ann Arbor.

Not only did the Wolverines lose Aidan Hutchinson, David Ojabo, Dax Hill, Brad Hawkins, and Josh Ross, but they lost the architect of the new-look defense in Mike Macdonald.

Though there are some narratives about new defensive coordinator Jesse Minter — who oversaw the 119th-ranked Vanderbilt Commodores last year — like Macdonald, he comes from the Baltimore Ravens coaching tree, where he coached defensive backs. Now he’s had a full spring and is knee-deep into fall camp with his defensive unit — one that Harbaugh recently said is ahead of where last year’s defense was.

Here’s everything he’s seeing from his side of the ball just over a week into fall camp.

The defense’s increased communication, cohesion

We always have said a loud defense is a good defense. One of the pillars of our defenses is obnoxious communication. And so, a lot of our calls, it might be rotation of coverage, it might be where’s the pressure coming from? It might even be just, hey, they’re lined up like this, alert for this. And so I think our group has just bought into that being a foundation of how we want to play defense. I think they started to do that but I think, as they continue in the second year, and have a lot of carryover, that allows them to do that with a lot of confidence.

The more confidence you have, the louder you communicate. So when you look at the younger guys, sometimes it’s quieter, it’s not as good. And so the more that the more of those guys gain confidence in them, knowing what their assignment is, knowing what they’re doing, the louder it becomes.

Jim Harbaugh has called this defense a no-star defense, how have you seen that…