Sophomore defender favored to start for Michigan this fall

Chris Breiler | Aug 18, 2024

A Michigan football helmet on the field during warmup at the spring game at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Saturday, April 20, 2024. / Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Michigan defense is expected to once again be one of the best in the nation in 2024, but there are still some position battles taking place at key spots, primarily at cornerback. Although Will Johnson is widely recognized as the top corner in all of college football, the opposite corner spot remained wide open heading into spring ball following the departure of Josh Wallace to the NFL.

During the spring session, we began to hear a name pop up time and time again: Jyaire Hill. The sophomore corner was mentioned frequently by both coaches and players as someone to keep an eye on, and he looked solid during Michigan's spring game back on April 20. Then, during his appearance at Big Ten Media Days back in June, head coach Sherrone Moore once again singled out Hill.

"Feel great about the depth," Moore said on the secondary during Big Ten Media Days. "Obviously, you've got Will Johnson who is the best corner in college football. Opposite of him it could be a number of guys. The guy right now looks like Jyaire Hill, but Aamir Hall, Ricky Johnson has come in, Myles Pollard is making a push to get better. We're excited about all those corners, we've got a lot of depth there."

Jyaire Hill breaks up a pass during Michigan's spring game / Christopher Breiler

A little over two weeks into fall camp, it sounds like Hill remains the frontrunner to start at that corner spot opposite Will Johnson. Meeting with members of the media over the weekend, defensive backs coach LaMar Morgan indicated that Hill is still leading the pack.

"Well, I think right now, you would say the early favorite would be 'Sug', Jyaire," Morgan said. "I think he's done a great job. He probably has a little bit of an advantage over some of the other guys that are in the program, just by getting all the reps he got this spring football and now fall camp. But I think there's a constant battle. We've got two weeks for guys to continue to make moves. I'm really excited about the group. We're going to have to develop some guys that maybe you all don't know about yet and I think that's a challenge and encouragement as a coach. It's going to be a young group. I know everybody knows about Will [Johnson], but all the guys behind him, there's going to be a lot of guys that's going to play hard for this university and do a great job."

Here's a quick look at some of his accomplishments during his freshman season, courtesy of MGoBlue.com:

Freshman (2023)

• Appeared in four games as a defensive back; made eight tackles including 1.5 for loss to earn his first varsity letter
• Named Defensive Freshman of the Week for his debut performance against ECU and at Nebraska
• Made his U-M debut playing defensive back with four total tackles and a shared tackle for loss against ECU (Sept. 2)
• Made two tackles including one for a nine-yard loss as a defensive back and special teams contributor against UNLV (Sept. 9)
• In action at cornerback, made one solo tackle against Bowling Green (Sept. 16)
• Assisted on one tackle at Nebraska (Sept. 30)

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