Michigan football isn’t just in the middle of a revamp; it’s working to bring the new product to market on September 5, when the new season opens up. A revamp isn’t a rebuild, after all, not in today’s college football landscape. And that’s the challenge that Kyle Whittingham and staff have to endure.
One of the areas where the Wolverines are solid, with returning starters but not much depth, is at cornerback, as Jyaire Hill and Zeke Berry return, while Utah starting nickel Smith Snowden has come to Ann Arbor for a change of scenery. Snowden, in particular, is familiar with the system, though it’s not a big departure for Hill and Berry, as it’s similar to what they ran under former defensive coordinator Jesse Minter.
There are some key differences, and one of the big ones is that under defensive coordinator Jay Hill, there’s less zone coverage and more man coverage. So when cornerbacks coach Jernaro Gilford arrived in Ann Arbor this offseason, he recognized that he’s inheriting one thing, but having to work on another.
He shared with Jon Jansen on the In the Trenches podcast the first things he noticed when he got to observe the room firsthand.
“Talent. I’ll be a hundred percent honest with you, we have some talent,” Gilford said. “We have probably half the group that can play-play, you know what I mean? The thing that we had to work on most is playing man-to-man, you know what I mean? Just different techniques that we have to teach and a different mindset of not letting your man catch the ball. And you’re going to have to compete. And I think that was the challenge mentally because guys were getting up and catching the ball. But that’s man-to-man.”
It’s a great thing that he has the talent to work with, but the hardest part, in Gilford’s estimation, is getting players to be competent in man coverage. But there’s another component to it that is somewhat underrated.
Gilford is pleased with his unit’s progress, but he shares the toughest aspects and what they need to do to rise above.
“Man-to-man coverage and having that short-term memory, knowing that guys are going to catch the ball sometime,” Gilford said. “I mean, of course, I want them to get irritated when they give up catches, especially when they know what was coming and they’re prepared for a certain concept. That’s when they get irritated a little bit because they’re like, ‘Damn, coach, I knew it. I seen two go inside. I felt it.’ Trust it. Trust it. Because that’s the hard part of actually trusting what you see if you haven’t done it.”
Michigan is off in the month of May but will return on June 1 for summer conditioning. Fall camp will begin roughly eight weeks after they report, with eyes on the season opener against Western Michigan.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Why man coverage is the new challenge for Michigan football corners
Reporting by Isaiah Hole, Wolverines Wire / Wolverines Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
