'You've got to catch the ones that go to you': Michigan is one of nation's best at forcing turnovers but could have more

Michigan Wolverines football‘s famed ‘Turnover Buffs’ have gotten a lot of use on the sideline this season, with the Maize and Blue ranking tied 12th in the FBS and second in the Big Ten with 15 turnovers (11 interceptions, 4 fumble recoveries) forced through eight games.

The Wolverines have notched at least 1 turnover in every contest, including forcing multiple against New Mexico (3), Oklahoma (2), Central Michigan (2), USC (2) and Washington (3).

SMU is atop the country with 20, and Michigan could actually be closer to that number if it would’ve come down with some interceptions that were dropped, including at least 3 by junior cornerback Jyaire Hill (versus Oklahoma, Washington, Michigan State).

“The thing with ‘Sug,’ I always tell guys the opportunities that you have change the narrative and the rankings and accolades that you get,” Michigan defensive backs coach LaMar Morgan said. “You’ve got to catch the ones that go to you.”

“Sometimes in a season, if you’re a corner or a safety, you only get 4 or 5 opportunities where they actually throw the ball to you and you can get your hands on it. He’s been fortunate this year, he’s had his hands on a lot of them. We’ve just got to continue to work on catching them, so we’re doing jugs, in the open field doing them, up close on receivers. But we’ve been doing that a lot the last couple weeks. Every day, just trying to get focused of seeing it through.

“But you are right, he has a lot of opportunities, and that’s the difference between being a first-team All-American and just being honorable mention. So, you’ve got to catch the ones. Stats, if they throw 5 Hail Marys and you catch all 5 Hail Marys at the end of the game, you still finished with 5 INTs in a year. There’s no asterisk of how you got the INTs.

“That’s something we’ve got to work on as a unit, trying to get the ball back to our offense, especially across the 50, so they can have a short field. I think if we do that one or two times a game, that should be points with our offense.”

Hill forced a fumble that was recovered by the Wolverines against USC, a big play in the first quarter, but hasn’t had an interception this season. He recorded 1 pick last year, which came in September against Minnesota.

Michigan’s defense has been successful at it overall, but one thing that’s evident year after year — defensive coaches always want more.

The Wolverines’ defense as a whole has gotten the job done with interceptions, not just the defensive backs. In fact, sophomore linebacker Cole Sullivan leads the team with 3 picks, and he’s the only player with multiple. Senior linebacker Jimmy Rolder, junior nickel back TJ Metcalf, junior safety Brandyn Hillman, senior cornerback Zeke Berry, freshman cornerback Elijah Dotson, graduate EDGE TJ Guy, graduate safety Rod Moore and sophomore safety Jacob Oden all have 1.

“We always talk about the pillars here, and one of those is ball disruption, so we try to show the guys good and bad — opportunities that they missed and ones that they did,” the Michigan coach said. “I just think takeaways and turnovers and all that are contagious. Once a couple of them come in a game, usually you get 2 or 3 in a game, not just 1. The games that we do get turnovers, we have a great chance to give us an opportunity to win. 

“Every position group can get one. The D-linemen, TJ with the one-handed one he had earlier in the year. The linebackers have done a heck of a job there. Safeties have been doing really well. But I do think in the secondary, we’ve got to continue to, whenever we get our opportunities, come up with those.”