New Mexico has the same colors as Ohio State, so Michigan DB Brandyn Hillman is ready to bring the boom

There’s something about red that junior safety Brandyn Hillman doesn’t like. Take the Michigan Wolverines football game at Indiana last year, for example. Hillman made two big, clean hits on Indiana players that knocked both out of the game for the time being.

Red — or scarlet — is Ohio State’s primary color, of course. That’s enough to fire Hillman up. New Mexico has a similar color scheme, and that’ll help give the 6-foot-0, 200-pounder a nice cue on Saturday night to bring his all-out effort.

“It’s pretty easy — just seeing a different color,” Hillman said of knowing when to flip the switch from practice to a game. “How I look at it is they’ve got the same colors as fucking Ohio State, so I just think of it like that, to be honest.”

Michigan DB Brandyn Hillman on flipping the switch from practice, where he protects his teammates, to games, where he looks to light up opponents: pic.twitter.com/3gs2jl2Q8N

— Clayton Sayfie (@CSayf23) August 26, 2025

Hillman was a key contributor as a backup last season, but now he’s a projected starter. As a result, the excitement for this season is off the charts.

“Football is really my thing,” the Portsmouth, Va., native said. “It keeps me going. It keeps me clocking like that. As we get closer to the season, yeah, I get really excited. I’m really working on myself to not get too excited, too crazy, because y’all know how I am on the field.

“I’m going to go out there and have a ball and hit somebody. But yeah, we’re all excited. Everybody’s excited. Just take it one game at a time. We’re just taking it New Mexico, and then next week too.”

Hillman posted 21 tackles with 1.5 for loss and 1 sack last year, especially playing well down the stretch, including with 4 tackles, 1 sack and a pass breakup in the 19-13 ReliaQuest Bowl victory over Alabama.

Michigan’s defense lost four top-90 NFL Draft picks, but there’s a belief inside Schembechler Hall that it’ll be even better than a season ago, when it finished 19th nationally in scoring and 10th in total defense.

“We got four days. Y’all will see,” Hillman said when asked if the Wolverines’ defense can be improved from the 2024 campaign.

“But yeah, of course. I don’t think any drop-off happened, any shit happened like that. Excuse my language, but nothing has changed.

“Everybody is out there balling. Yeah, I get it, first-rounders, we lost them and everything, but I don’t really think of it like that. If you all came out and watched practice, know football, it’s the same 11. We try to keep it the same 11 on and off, so that’s how it is.”

The defense is also playing for the same exact staff, from coordinator Wink Martindale — who’s in his second season — on down.

“We’re pretty comfortable,” Hillman said. “I go to Wink’s office every day. Whenever I get off of school, I come in, make sure everybody’s good. I say hey to everybody on the defensive staff pretty much every morning, so I can see our bond between each other is good.

“The players feel comfortable. It’s not like bad camaraderie between people. Whatever Wink calls, we trust it. We got it, and we’re going to go execute it. Everybody is on the same page.”

Michigan finished last season with an 8-5 mark, and players are motivated to not let it happen again.

“It’s just the fact that the players just understood that last year is not what we wanted,” Hillman said of the team’s confidence. “I think it’s just making sure that this year we actually do what we got to do — and not just say it, but actually do it on the field, off the field. I think that confidence that we’re giving off is showing that work that we put in throughout the fall.”

Four days until Michigan can begin to right those wrongs from 2024 and make a new impression.