Everything Jesse Minter said about the Michigan football defense before Maryland
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan football is about to embark on the tougher part of the 2022 season journey, as Big Ten play starts on Saturday when the Wolverines host the Maryland Terrapins.
The Terps bring a high-flying offense to Ann Arbor, which should certainly test the defensive side of the ball for the maize and blue. Although defensive coordinator Jesse Minter appears up for the challenge.
Minter spoke to reporters on Wednesday and shared his thoughts about how his defense has performed through three games, what he’s looking forward to about Big Ten season, what’s went well, and what could go better. Here is everything that the Michigan defensive coordinator had to say.
What he's seeing from Maryland's offense
Seeing a very productive offense, about 500 yards a game, 40 points a game. Really good quarterback, really good skill, a lot of speed. Good offensive line with a couple of really talented NFL prospects. So great challenge, really good scheme. I think they play to the quarterback’s strengths and kind of what he does well. So it’ll be a great challenge for us.
Will Maryland tell him more about the defense?
I do. I think anytime, regard like, just conference game, first and foremost, definitely have some better pro players probably than what we’ve seen so far. Yeah, I’m excited to see how we play against this team.
Thoughts on the pass rush. Any concerns?
You know, pass rush — it’s a funny thing. I mean, I think a lot of the second and third game was based on what happened in the first game and sort of the other team’s way to try to combat that. So, I’m not overly concerned. I think pass rush and coverage always work together. I like where we’re at. I certainly think guys know that there’s opportunities to win one on ones that we still want to take advantage of. So I’m excited to see how we go.
And, when I look at the first couple of games, first game, lots of pressure, that team now I think has given up tons of sacks over their first three games. So, take it for what it is. The second game, I think the ball was out really, really fast. I think the third game, honestly, we were preparing for a lot of screens and quick throws, which we did get early, especially on third down. I think it may have slowed our guys down a little bit. So we’ve just got to have some answers to combat that and let him turn it loose when it turns into more of a drop-back game.
Gemon Green's growth.
Yeah, I’m super happy and pleased with where Gemon’s at. I think just mentality-wise, like, I’ve always been a DB guy. And so I think especially high-level elite corners, it’s a down after down mentality that you have to have. Because, we do a point of attack grade on our DBs and you could go the whole game and maybe grade out really well, play the right technique, but the one time they threw your guy the ball, he caught it. So, I think it’s just that competitive, dog mentality that every snap, I gotta lineup and be at my best. Over training camp, just his ability to go against some really good receivers every day, the guys that we have, that he gets to go against, they’re going to make some catches. It’s just understanding the next play’s the most important play and very happy with how he’s played, performed. And excited to see him. He’ll get more of a challenge this week, too. And excited to see how he does.
Mike Sainristil's play
Yeah, really happy with Mikey. I think it’s like anything, I’ve seen it honestly, since spring ball. So you’re hoping that when the games start that he plays that way, and it wasn’t just like, we’ve got a lot of the some of the offensive guys give him like, ‘Oh, he knows that our plays. And so he’s making plays against us in practice.’ Well, he’s made a lot of plays in the games.
And honestly, the thing I enjoy most about Mikey is just his mentality, his leadership, the attitude that he brings to our defense. I think in an offseason where there was a lot of newness and lost some really good leaders off last year’s defense that alone is brought a tremendous amount to us as a defense. Happy for him. I hope he keeps playing well, and I think he’s enjoying it and having fun and it’s been great to see.
Comparing Dax Hill and Mike Sainristil
Not to really compare the two, honestly, I think the thing that most excited me about Mikey was his physicality. I think playing in the slot, especially with what we asked that guy to do, whether it’s make tackles on the perimeter or blitz off the edge, I thought his skill set from a physical standpoint would translate well. Quickness of being a slot receiver, so kind of knowing those movements. But I think mostly just the speed and physicality that he showed on offense, you sort of hoped that it would translate. And then it certainly has up to this point.
Is he looking to have two or three safeties going forward?
I think it’s always competition. But I think all three of those guys have proven capable, proven trustworthy. And in my mind, all three of those guys are starters. At times, are all three on the field together. But, if you said pick two of the three, I don’t even know that I could. I think they’re all three playing really well. They all three kind of bring a couple different things to the table. So, as we play more diverse offensive and different things, I think there’s different things we can do with each of them. But really happy with those three guys currently.
Is Nikhai Hill-Green expected back this week?
I’m not sure, honestly. I’m not really going to speak on injury. So hopefully when he comes back and be ready to play, but I’m not sure exactly when that’s going to be.
I’m happy with the linebackers. I think, with Nikhai being out, it’s given Kalel, Mike Barrett tremendous opportunity. And I think both of them have taken advantage of it. I think Junior’s playing really, really well. We ask a lot of him, he plays a couple different positions for us in different packages. Very happy with how he does. I think Coach Helow does a great job getting those guys ready to play. And, I think for us now it’s like, who’s the fourth guy who’s the fifth guy? Which still trying to unleash that pecking order with a couple of young guys and see if they can’t help us more as the season goes on.
Does the team go good-on-good and how does it help for Big Ten season?
It’s something we do a little bit every day. So I think Coach Harbaugh has a great plan for both sides of the ball, just to see — I think when you when you focus so much on another opponent, you got to also give them the benefit of the doubt that they’re going to put in some new stuff there. So I really enjoy getting a chance a little bit each day to go against the offense and just run our normal calls against their stuff and kind of see how it adjusts, even stuff that we have in for that game plan. So, it’s — one, it’s tremendous work that way, tremendous work on the skill players that we have and the quarterback that we have — defending the guy that can run around.
And then really this offense, especially — they’re kind of out of the same — there’s some similar backgrounds in this stuff that we run. So great, tremendous opportunity going good-on-good and enjoy that part of it.
On other teams now being familiar with the system
I definitely think that’s a piece of it. They have a year and three games worth of our system now. And maybe that now they have three games worth of me calling it, the kind of stuff I like to do. But, it’s versatile and we can change up things week to week and just look forward to the challenge of the Big Ten schedule.
Growing up with his dad as a coach
I think as a kid, what I enjoyed the most is seeing the impact that coaches could have on players and sort of the relationships that you could build. Not even just football, but off the field. Like, I remember as a little kid, dad coaching at Ball State and the linebackers coming over. I looked forward to Thursdays because the linebackers would come over and hang out and play.
And so it’s stuff like that, that just — and then as I was growing up, coaches that I had that impacted me both on and off the field. And then when I was, I think 11, from the time I was 11 through college, my dad was a D-I head coach. And so the access that I had to a Division I program was maybe different than a lot of other kids, even that grew up and maybe assistants or whatever. So kind of just saw a lot of ins and outs, saw a lot of really good coaches. And, I think just kind of that all-access pass to that type of stuff was really cool.
How can Mazi Smith influence a game even when he faces double teams?
Yeah, I think he’s a guy that people have circled, especially in the run game. I mean, he’s a force, he’s an immovable object at times. So I think for him, it’s just continuing to play within the framework of the defense, know that at times, he sets it up for other people to make plays. And a lot of times, that’s what really good nose tackles do. And, we want to continue to involve him in some of our pass rush stuff. And I do think he still has some strengths there that can help us. And so I’m looking forward to — he probably would have liked to play more snaps over the first three games. But he’s also, I think, primed and fresh and ready to go. And I look forward to seeing him on Saturday.
How his dad helps him prepare on Saturdays
Yeah, he’s just a tremendous resource, not only for me, but for the other coaches as well. Been a head coach, been a coordinator for a long, long time, coached in the NFL. You hate to say like a ‘seen everything’ but 40-something years of coaching, there’s not a play that we’re going to see or scheme or, ‘Hey, they’re lining up like this,’ that he probably hasn’t experienced at some point.
So he does a lot of head work for us as an analyst. So, he’ll start working, he’ll start looking at our next opponent towards the end of the week. But just a resource — watch tape with them, ask him his thoughts, his ideas, kind of a behind-the-scenes type guy. But a tremendous resource for me and the rest of our coaches on defense.
What Makari Paige brings to the defense
Makari is tall, fast, physical, all the traits that you want. It’s been fun to see his confidence grow. And sort of put it all together so — he can match up on people, he can cover people. He has great range in the post. And then he’s proven to be an extremely physical tackler. He’s made a couple of really nice plays in man coverage. So I just think the more he plays, the higher his confidence will continue to grow. Just like all three of those guys. They’re different chess pieces you can move around and so excited to deploy him in different scenarios.
Is the awareness of the defense improving?
I just think our coaches, Coach Clink, Jay, Mike, George — they do a really good job coaching these guys. I always say this: when you play good defense, you anticipate what’s coming, you don’t guess, you don’t say they’re for sure gonna run this play. But when you can anticipate things based on, ‘They’re lined up like this,’ or, ‘They’re lined up like that,’ you eliminate some of the thought process.
And so I think our guys are just keying into what these teams are running and what they’re doing. Doesn’t always mean that they’re going to run that, maybe the play they think is coming. But I think when you can anticipate and try to get ahead of plays, you play really fast and these guys have proven to be a really, really smart group that’s willing to really study, really willing to work really hard, and shows up in how they prepare every week.
How well has the defense leveraged against offenses?
How often have we leveraged? I would say pretty well. I remember a play or two from the first game that we lost leverage on the crossing route.
Lost leverage on a screen on the first drive of the season, crossing route that game. Overall, I would say pretty pleased with the way that’s looked.
