The Michigan defense is coming off of a huge game against Colorado State where it sacked quarterback Clay Millen seven times and it also recorded 11 tackles-for-loss.
The Wolverines not only have a new defensive coordinator (Jesse Minter) but they hired Mike Elston to be the defensive line coach. Elston previously coached at Notre Dame where he achieved plenty of success.
On Wednesday, Elston talked to the media about losing both Aidan Hutchinson and David Ojabo from the 2021 team. While he didn’t coach them last year, he knows the type of production they brought to Michigan. The coach says there are guys that can fill the role, but it’s going to look different. It’s more of a committee approach rather than two individuals.
“The great thing is that there are guys here that can fill into those roles,” said Elston. “They’re going to look different, they’re going to be different, there’s going to become different opportunities for guys to get the production in a different way, let’s say. Like you saw on Saturday, we’re doing some different things up front to create some disruption and pressure, and hopefully, that continues to carry on, and we’ll continue to grow those things.”
“But yeah, it’s a huge challenge to replace the No. 2 overall draft pick and another first-rounder or, you know, early second-rounder,” said Elston. “But the challenge is there. And I think that as a staff, we’ve handled it really well. And I think as a group, the guys understand the expectations, and they’ve handled it well. And I think it’s only going to get better as we move forward.”
Elston said he was pleased in Week 1. He said that his unit played hard and physical. The defensive line coach commented about rotating players in and out. Elson said that he loves to do that to keep guys fresh. He believes that production will go up when Michigan is able to rotate.
“In game one, what we felt like we did well was played hard, ran to the…
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