Jim Harbaugh addresses availability of Dax Hill for Orange Bowl
Ahead of a Friday night Orange Bowl game against Georgia, the speculation continues around the status of Michigan safety Daxton “Dax” Hill.
Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh briefly addressed the topic during a press conference on Thursday morning.
“His status is questionable,” Harbaugh told the media. “He’s working through something right now. We’ll know more today.”
On Tuesday, it was reported that Michigan was without a defensive starter due to COVID-19. The Detroit News reported Hill did not head to South Florida with the rest of the Michigan team on Christmas Day, and Harbaugh confirmed on Thursday that he is not currently in Florida.
Hill is an All-Big Ten player who has accumulated 65 tackles, seven pass breakups, two interceptions and 0.5 sacks this season.
Losing Hill would be a big blow to a star-studded Michigan defense headlined by Heisman finalist and defensive end Aidan Hutchinson and outside linebacker David Ojabo.
Brock Bowers is a matchup nightmare
While the Georgia offense doesn’t get as much love as the defense, the offense can certainly score. Freshman tight end Brock Bowers is likely their biggest threat.
During a pre-bowl press conference, defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald addressed what makes Bowers such a difficult player to guard and explained how the defense must respond to limit his production.
“Yeah, Brock is a heck of a player, man,” Macdonald told reporters. “He’s really dynamic. The thing that they do with him is he can play. He really plays every position. He’ll play the Z, the Y, the X, the move guy, the down guy. They’ll give it to him on reverses, screens. It’s pretty impressive. A tribute to their coaching staff for putting him in positions to affect the game.”
Bowers has 47 catches for 791 yards and 11 touchdowns in his freshman year, adding four carries for 56 yards and a touchdown on the ground. He won SEC Freshman of the Year and was named First Team All-SEC in the regular season.
After complimenting the player, he then moved on to Michigan’s gameplan. Although he spoke vaguely — not giving away anything — the response paints a picture of the first steps.
“He’s a heck of a player,” Macdonald added. “I think the first thing you have to have is an awareness on where he’s at, and if he’s out of place you have to understand that. And then just understand the things that he likes to do from certain positions so we can help try to slow him down as best we can.”
On3’s James Fletcher contributed to this report.