Michigan has 'super deep' defense, but DT Trey Pierce is no longer just depth

Michigan Wolverines football junior defensive tackle Trey Pierce was the biggest breakout player of fall camp, head coach Sherrone Moore alluded during his New Mexico week press conference. A potential starter in Saturday’s season-opener against the Lobos, Pierce has definitely taken the next step in his game.

“Just working on being more consistent every day, getting better every day,” Pierce said. “It was gradual over time, but this camp is when I started to kind of turn that corner. Just focusing on getting better every day.

“I had a great offseason. I had a healthy offseason. I got to get everything out of the weight room, as well as in the film room being around good coaches. Mentally and physically, I feel my game has just kind of progressed a lot this last year.”

Pierce logged 153 defensive snaps last season, but throughout the regular season he and most of the Wolverines’ defensive tackle backups really only saw the field to give stars Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant a blow. Those two went No. 5 and No. 13 overall in the 2025 NFL Draft, respectively.

Pierce saw 38 of his 153 snaps come in his first career start, a 19-13 win over Alabama in the ReliaQuest Bowl, and that gave him plenty of confidence heading into the offseason.

“That was my first time starting and playing that many snaps,” Pierce said. “It gave me a benchmark of, OK, this is what it looks like at this level. It gave me something to go off of and what to get better at to play at that high of a level.”

Where Pierce has improved from last year at this time to now: “Pass rush, formation recognition and block recognition.”

He learned a lot from playing behind Graham and Grant, too.

“Him and KG, I’d call myself friends with them,” Pierce said. “Any time I need something to work on, I’ll look back at their film or I’ll shoot them a text, because those guys’ IQ is so high.

Added Pierce, of what he observed about them that helped him: “Just knowing reads, block recognition, the little subtle queues to play as fast as you can.”

Moore said Monday that he believes Pierce can reach his stated goal of becoming an All-Big Ten player this season. The 6-foot-2, 310-pound Chicago native knows it’s his daily routine that will get him there if he does.

“Execution, preparation, all that,” Pierce said of how to garner those accolades. “Obviously, you got to make plays on the field, but that’s what we’re working on every day in practice.”

Michigan’s defensive tackles were elite pass rushers last season, but there are question marks as to how they’ll do in that area in 2025. Pierce lit up when he was asked about how good the group can be.

“I’d say we’re pretty good,” he said with a smile. “We’ve got some guys that can go. [Graduate] Rayshaun [Benny], obviously — elite. [Junior] Enow Etta, [grauate] Tré ‘Groovy’ [Williams]. [Sophomore] Manuel Beigel — sleeper. He’s pretty good in the pass. He’s a freak.”

The defense overall may not have the four top-90 NFL Draft picks it lost, but Michigan believes it can be better than last season. At the very least, there are a bevy of capable players at each position.

“We’re deep. We’re super deep. We’re really deep,” Pierce said. “We have a lot of guys who can play, so we’re going to be rotating a lot more. We’re going to be a lot more fresh.”