Jay Hill breaks down 'attacking' defensive philosophy, Michigan defenders who can be 'elite'

Michigan Wolverines football is known for great defense, and coordinator Jay Hill is tasked with upholding that standard under new head coach Kyle Whittingham, who he has loads of experiences working with.

Hill was the defensive coordinator at BYU over the last three seasons, and led a turnaround project there to become one of the top coordinators in the sport. The Cougars finished top-20 nationally in scoring defense each of the last two years.

In an appearance on the ‘In The Trenches’ podcast with host Jon Jansen, Hill broke down his defensive philosophy, explaining that he wants his group to dictate the terms of the game.

“Attacking,” Hill said. “And that means so many different things. First and foremost, you’ve got to stop the run, but we want to stop the run by being in different spots that the offense doesn’t know where we’re at. I don’t want O-linemen teeing off on our D-linemen. We’re going to play straight up sometimes, we’re going to stunt, we’re going to blitz. And we want to attack weaknesses of players, we want to attack weaknesses of scheme.

“But I don’t want quarterbacks sitting back in the pocket knowing where we’re at. I don’t want them run checking and getting their best runs always to where we’re weak at. I don’t believe in that. I think we need to make it hard on the offenses for what we’re doing schematically and what we’re doing with our personnel.”

While Michigan added some transfers Hill has coached in the past, implementing the scheme won’t be an easy endeavor.

“If we had to go play next week, we could come up with something,” Hill said. “Ideally, you don’t have to do that ever. But I think it will only get better and better. My understanding of who they are as players and what I can put on their shoulders is going to grow. We’ll for sure be ready come fall.

“But I think this is something that you need to see them through winter conditioning, you need to see them through spring ball, you need to see them through the summer and then fall camp, to really have an idea of where I can push them and the positions I can put them in to be successful.

“I would say we run the most complicated scheme in the country. We have more calls, we do more things with fronts and coverages. So, this is not something that they just pick up in a day. We’re going to need all of spring, we’re going to need all of summer, we’re going to need all of fall camp to get us ready to go for the first game. And, by then, we’ll be ready to go.”

Having good players helps, and Hill is excited about the personnel he inherited at Michigan. He had high praise for senior defensive tackles Trey Pierce and Enow Etta in the front seven.

“I believe we have two of the best defensive tackles in college football right now in Enow Etta and Trey Pierce,” Hill said. “Those guys can play. I think they’ve been very well-coached. [Senior] Cam Brandt — really, really good defensive end — and [junior] Dom Nichols. There are some guys in the front I’m excited about.

“I see young talent in the linebacking group and not a lot of experience, so I’m excited to see how that group continues to grow.”

Pierce was a starter last season, while Etta was in the rotation as a backup. Etta entered the transfer portal this offseason but ultimately returned to Michigan.

The defensive backfield is where Hill may be most excited, with two returning starters at cornerback in senior Jyaire Hill and graduate Zeke Berry, along with graduate Rod Moore at safety, following his recovery from knee injury complications.

“I think we’re going to be good in the secondary,” the Michigan coordinator said. “We need to get some guys back, like a Rod Moore helps us drastically. We need ‘Sug’ [Hill] to play and play … what I see in him in runs and conditioning right now, I think that guy can be elite, elite. Zeke Berry — obviously, having those two corners back is a big deal. I think there are a lot of really good pieces. We need to build depth and we need to continue to get our philosophies engrained.”