Opening Statement
I can tell you this. Today I thought was a great day. We’re heading in the right direction. Love just the way Coach Whitt does things, the discipline, the toughness, just everything about his programs. It’s fun to be back around. So good start.
On what appealed him to the Michigan job
Well, the Michigan brand, the Michigan name, being able to recruit in that logo was a big deal to me. They just won a national championship a couple years ago with one of the best teams in the history of college football. So, just the ability to do that, I thought, was appealing. To do it on the Big Ten stage was appealing. And to do it with the players that I knew were coming back to this place. So there were a lot of reasons, you know, Coach Whitt. Anyway, there was a lot of good about it.
On his impressions of the defense
Well, I’ve been super impressed with our ones so far. I think we have a really good defensive line. I like the secondary, especially when we get everybody healthy. The linebackers are really, really taking a step forward, because we lose a lot of key guys in that position. So I think they’ve done a good job of stepping forward. So bottom line, I like the personnel a lot. I think we’re heading in the right direction. I’ll be able to tell you a lot more about that here in a couple weeks.
On marrying a complicated scheme and simplifying it for players
So the better we own it, the more we can do. It’s always a fine line of, I mean, you can outsmart yourself, so we’ve got to be careful with that as coaches. But I don’t want to be so simple that the quarterbacks, you know, they’re getting ready to take the snap and they know exactly what we’re in. So we’re going to change up the fronts. We’re going to change up the coverages. We’re going to change up the pressure looks that we’re giving them. The better we own it, the more we can do. I think that’s the best way to answer it.
On what he wants the defense to look like
So I had a press conference type thing we did a couple weeks ago, and I compared it a lot to the 2023 defense that was here at Michigan. The reason I was familiar with that one is we had a common opponent in 2024 that Michigan had played, or the offensive coordinator. And so I was studying film on this offensive coordinator. Well, sure enough, they had played Michigan in 23. And I’m watching them. I’m like, oh, my gosh, that defense looks just like us.
So I spent the next couple of weeks studying the Michigan film. I think that’s a really good idea of what it looks like. But we want to be multiple in the fronts, three down and four down. We want to be multiple with our coverages, and we want to be multiple with our blitz packages, man pressure, zone pressures, two high pressures, three high pressures. And like I say, the better we own it, the more we can do. It’s not a grab bag. We’re not just grabbing stuff out of a bag, but it’s intentional, and we’re calling things for a specific purpose. And done correctly, I think we can have a ton of success here with the caliber of players we have.
On the roots of his defensive scheme
So this is the crazy thing. I actually played in this defense. This is way back in the late 90s when I got recruited to the University of Utah. Coach Whittingham and his dad were both coaches at the University of Utah, and it’s something that they had developed back when Coach Whitt’s dad was an NFL defensive coordinator. And I’m one of the very few people that’s actually seen Coach Whittingham and how he called it. And I can tell you this, he was the best defensive coordinator or the best defensive mind I’ve seen.
So we haven’t tried to change it too much. Now, there are always tweaks and things that we’re doing as college football evolves. I think we’ve evolved some things, but the roots and the bare bones of the defense go all the way back to those guys.
On his impressions of the linebackers
Yeah, they’re young. They haven’t played a lot, but I see a lot of talent. Troy Bowles has stood out as someone that’s doing some good things. Nate Owusu-Boateng has done some great things. Chase Taylor. Bottom line, the group is going to continue to get better and better. There’s guys behind them pushing hard right now. So I like where they’re going to be. I see potential, and I see a lot of talent in that group. We’ve just got to get some experience. But the best part about spring ball and fall camp is we have 40 practices or so to get those guys ready.
On the defensive line he’s able to ID as potential contributors
So, Jonah, we brought him from the University of Utah. He’s got a ton of ability, super athletic. I love Cam Brandt, who you guys have seen play here. Dom Nichols has played a bunch here. John Henry, that you guys don’t know much of, was a first-team All-American last year. We add him to the mix. The defensive line should definitely be one of our strong suits, one of our strong points for the year. And I expect those guys to play great.
On whether Smith Snowden will be nickel corner
Well, time will tell because I like Zeke Berry at nickel. I like Smith Snowden at nickel. Both of those guys have had experience in there. We’ll put those guys in the best position to be successful and try to find the matchup that we can get the best three or four corners on the field, depending on what the matchups are on the opponent that we’re playing. But, yeah, I see Smith playing some nickel and I see Zeke playing some nickel right now.
On the winning now trend versus building a culture
Well, I think it’s both. I mean, you’re building a culture. You’re building an identity that we want to have. I’m not saying that anything really had to be fixed, but we’re building our own identity. So is it a rebuild in that? Yes. Do we expect to be good in year one? Absolutely. Do we expect to be competing for championships, all that? That’s why we came here. So I don’t think it’s fair for anyone to say they’re in a rebuild. In college football, no one puts up with that in today’s world. But there are definitely things that we’re building.
On how much he’s looked at Jesse Minter’s defenses
Like I say, that’s probably the year I’ve seen the most of that. And last year’s 2025 team, just trying to understand what the personnel was coming back. But I would say we resemble a lot more of that 23 team. We do run simulated pressures. We run all-out pressures. We run two high pressures.
We run one high pressures, man pressures. So you’re going to see it coming from different directions. I just don’t want quarterbacks to ever just sit back and know exactly what’s coming. So we’re going to give them a bunch of looks.
On the adjustment of facing Big Ten offenses compared to those he saw at BYU
Well, I mean, definitely offensive coordinators are different. The style of play could be different. But even in the Big Ten, you’ve got teams that will pack in and try to pound you. You’ve got teams that will spread you out and try to chuck it. You’ve got teams that will spread you out and try to run it. We saw the same thing in the Big 12, where the Big 12 has a bunch of high-powered get-after-you offenses.
I know the Big Ten’s the same way. I’m excited about getting to know this league. I’ve had so much respect for it over my career. And just having played against Michigan a couple times, having played against other Big Ten teams, we’ve got tons of respect for what these coaches do in this league and how well coached they are.
On the biggest differences recruiting at Michigan vs. BYU
Well, I mean, ultimately, you pick a target on a guy that you want, and you go after him, and you do everything you can to get those guys. So nothing really changes between BYU and Michigan. That’s the same. I will say from coast to coast in the nation, I would say more people know about the Michigan brand, what Michigan represents, the national championships they’ve won here, the Big Ten championships. So it’s more of a national, well-known brand. But at BYU, it was still a national brand. We were recruiting high-level, five-star guys there, too. So recruiting is recruiting. It’s a battle. It’s about relationships, and it’s about getting the right players in the right positions.
On how to describe his coaching style
Well, we are. I mean, coaching’s about relationships and getting players to trust you, and then I’ve got to be able to trust them. Trust goes both ways, right? And so I’m putting my arm around these guys and saying, hey, I want you to do this to see if they’ll really do it. And then there’s times out on the field where, like today, it happened where I yelled at the free safety and I said, hey, I want you to cheat this way. He cheats this way and gets an interception.
And I need those players to be able to trust what I see, and it’s through those interactions and those opportunities that you actually gain the trust of those players. I was once a player a long time ago, but I understand how important that relationship was with my coaches and with Coach Whittingham, who was the defensive coordinator at that time. Those relationships last a lifetime, and I’m trying to build those with these young men. That’s my philosophy. I’ll treat these guys like they’re my own sons, and I’ll push them, but I’ll be the first one to kick them in the butt, and I’ll be the first one there to give them knuckles when they do the right things.
On where he wants to be with the depth chart and personnel at the end of spring
Okay, ideally a really good three deep, but you have to be great in your two deep in the Big Ten. There’s going to be injuries that occur. There’s going to be guys that have to go in the game. You have to rely on backups the way college football is, so that’s the first and foremost. We’ve got to develop depth, and then we’ve got to own this defense. We’ve got to know the scheme inside and out.
We’ve got to know what I’m saying. Like today, what I told you, if I’m bumping the free safety to the boundary, they’ve got to know why, and that comes with time. That comes with trust, but I would say that just ownership of the scheme and what we’re trying to get accomplished, and then building a great three deep is a big deal to me.
On Taylor Tatum working with the safeties
He is. Yep, he is, and he’s been running with the safety group right now. There’s a lot of ability there. It is a position change for him, so he’s doing that fight right now on trying to transition from running back to a safety.
On what allows his defenses to create so many takeaways
Well, so we’ve had as many interceptions as any team in the country for the last two years combined. I think a lot of that goes with how we disguise. A lot of it goes with the multiplicity of what we’re doing to quarterbacks and just never really letting them just set their feet and feel comfortable. I think that’s a lot of it. Yeah, we try to be super physical, and it’s something that we stress. We practice turnovers.
We fight like crazy to be good at getting turnovers in the last couple of years we have. And it’s something that Coach Kalani stressed at BYU, that he and I were super familiar with one another. We were both together on Coach Whittingham’s staff at Utah. This system has been in place for a long time. It works. It’s time-tested, and we believe emphatically that it’s the best system in the country.
On having BYU’s leading tackler being a second-year linebacker
Well, that’s a big deal because we’re not necessarily going to have that this year in Michigan. We need some backers to step up and to be experienced in the defense even though it’s going to be their first year starting in it. But I would say this. In general, I think linebackers just get better and better and better the more they play. And you’ll see the same thing with our guys, and that’s what happened at BYU is our guys, the first year they were good, the next year they were better, and then last year Jack Kelly and Isaiah Glask were two of the best in the country. So you’ll see the same progression in the guys here.
On what makes John Henry Daley a good player
Well, so some guys just have that it factor on how to get home, how to get after the quarterback. He’s got the it factor. Sometimes you don’t even know why he’s getting after the quarterback, but he is. I mean, he’ll make a move that somebody else will do the same thing. He gets home, the other guys don’t. He’s just got that true knack to get home.
He is tenacious. He’s got as good a motor as anyone out there. He plays very physical. That’s part of the reason why he’s really good is because he can bull rush you. He can beat you with speed. What that injury looks like, time will tell. I do know this, he’s progressed very well to this point and is just getting better and better. So we expect him to be with us.
On why he’s found multiple fronts being successful
Well, so everything we do is sound. We’re not guessing. I’m not just throwing, hey, this front looks like something cool that we drew up on a napkin. We’re not doing that stuff. This stuff is sound. It’s balanced as far as we’re not putting six guys to the field and one to the boundary and just hoping it hits.
We’re not doing that stuff. It’s sound. It’s evenly spaced, but it’s coming from different directions. And it’s tough to pick up. One of the blessings I had when I was assistant coach, I got to coach six years on offense, and I got to know how we protected things, and I got to know how we tried to beat certain coverages or certain defenses. I know how we slid protections to pick up blitzes. Well, now I can take the flip of that and just try to beat the offensive mind on the other side of the ball. That has been a huge thing in my career is just knowing the offensive side of the ball and trying to create havoc.
On the importance of having a good offensive scheme to help the defense
Well, I’m lucky. I get to coach with the best offensive coordinator in the country right now. Jason Beck does phenomenal things. His offenses are explosive. They take care of the ball. They’re physical. And Jim Harding does an amazing job with the offensive line. So when you face this offense, you’ve got to be ready to dig in and be physical, and then you’ve got to handle all the zigging and zagging emotions and stuff that’s going on because they really test your eye discipline, which is something that correlates in the season when you’re playing other teams. And then, you know, they’re going to test you low. They’re going to test you high. They’re going to test you in the run game. So it is a true test every day when we step out against those guys.
On how much the staff thinks about the whole operation when discussing scheme
Okay, so Coach Witt has a program where we work together well. And so Jason and I plan practices. We’ve got to be ready to stop tempo. They run tempo. We’ve got to be ready to stop the kind of offenses they run. It’s great work for us, and we get it from all different directions from this offense.
Like I say, they’ll pack it in and pound you, and they’ll spread you out and throw it. They’ll spread you out and run it. So everything you see in college football today, basically you’re getting in one offense, and we’re seeing the hardest stuff from our own offense.
On whether he had a sense that the culture needed to be rebuilt
Well, it’s not my place to speak on anything that went on here because I wasn’t here. All I know is what we believe in. We believe in toughness. We believe in discipline. We believe in having guys go to class and handle their business off the field. It’s always a work in progress, but we believe in what we do, and that’s kind of what we’re looking to build. I can’t comment on anything that’s gone on here. I wasn’t here.
On what he sees from the corners and whether the team will hit in the spring game
Oh, yeah, yeah. I mean, football is about blocking and tackling and getting better at the fundamentals. We have to do those things. So we’ll be physical at times this spring for sure. Now, we’ve got to be smart. We’ve got to stay healthy. You talked about the corners. Like that group, Shug is an elite player in my opinion. Zeke Berry is an all-Big Ten player.
We’re getting Smith Snowden from the University of Utah, who I believe is one of the better corners in the country. And there’s Shamari Earls, who shows big-time ability. So I really believe this. When we get to the season, we’re going to have four or five of the better corners out there. And I love the way Coach Guilford coaches those guys. They’ll be ready to go.
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