Following the 2021 season, the Michigan defense lost several key contributers to the NFL, the most impactful among them was the triumvirate of Aidan Hutchinson, David Ojabo and Dax Hill. Instead of inevitably falling short of replacing these three players, new defensive coordinator Jesse Minter and the defense took a different approach.
Michigan’s defense embraced the slightly dubious “no-star defense” tag and used it as a cohesive blue-collar calling card. When speaking on In The Trenches ahead of the 2022 season, head coach Jim Harbaugh addressed his new no-star defense.
“When you lose players like Ojabo and Aidan Hutchinson, Dax Hill, Josh Ross, that’s gonna be the first question: How are you going to replace those guys?