Where will Michigan football’s 2022 pass rush come from?

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The big narrative for Michigan football all offseason has been: how will the defense perform now that it’s without Aidan Hutchinson and David Ojabo? Of course, there were other players that helped move the defense along, such as Dax Hill, Josh Ross, and Brad Hawkins, but the edge rushing duo was paramount to what the Wolverines were able to accomplish en route to a Big Ten championship and College Football Playoff inclusion.

Chances are, considering Ojabo tied the previous sack record while Hutchinson shattered it — apropos, given that it was his father, Chris, who held it — the Wolverines won’t have a single player who matches up to what we saw a year ago, statistically. However, as far as first-year Michigan defensive coordinator Jesse Minter — who is running Mike Macdonald’s scheme from a year ago — sees it, the defense doesn’t need one guy to step up in pass rushing, it needs the entire team to take some accountability in that area.

“One of the things we’ve talked about is we’re not worried about replacing whoever,” Minter said. “There are certainly some really, really good players. We want to have the best 11 players on the field for the given situation that’s occurring. When our guys buy into that, and they play really hard, they’re not worried about who makes the play, when somebody makes the play, we all make a play. I’ve been very, very pleased with just the mentality in that regard. And then they also know that we’re going to move people around, we’re going to try to create matchups, given the opponent. And I look at it like this, whatever it looks like going into the year, I hope we have a bunch of stars at the end of the season.”

That said, who could play a major role when it comes to rushing the passer? Generally speaking, Michigan has relied on, at least in the Jim Harbaugh era, the edge rushers more than the interior line to get to the quarterback. Mo Hurst in 2017 was the exception to that rule, and Minter is hoping that it will be a group effort from the entire defensive front this year.

“I hope that it’s multiple guys,” Minter said. “I think we have some edge players — Mike Morris, Braiden McGregor, Taylor Upshaw, Jaylen Harrell — that have the capabilities of being good rushers. I think Kris Jenkins, Mazi Smith have the ability to push from inside. I think Mason Graham, Cam Goode — new guy — all these guys have capabilities of being good rushers. It’ll fall into, situationally, who we have out there. But they’re all capable of taking advantage of opportunities. I think it’s our job to just make sure we try to put each guy in the best position to have that success.

“And then, the other thing is, because it might not be one guy, it’s given us the ability to maybe move people around more, maybe a guy that rushes a lot one week, drops the next week, and it sort of changes our tendency. So I think the guys are really bought into that. We want to have a high total at the end of the year. But we’d love it for it to be a lot of different people with multiple sacks.”

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Not only will the defensive front be counted on, but so, too, will the linebacking corps.

With Josh Ross now gone, the only household name comes in the form of freshman All-American Junior Colson, who was outstanding in his first year. But Nikhai Hill-Green has also started games, as has Michael Barrett. Kalel Mullings is splitting his duties between linebacker and running back, but also figures into the equation with the season forthcoming.

That said, Minter likes what he’s seen from all of the above, as he has from the two freshmen at the position.

“I think Junior’s having a really good camp so far — growing, understanding what we expect,” Minter said. “I think Nikhai is having a really good camp. I think Michael Barrett is having a really good camp. Kalel is, as you guys have heard, splitting a little bit of time. But he’s doing well at linebacker. So he’s a guy that can probably play, have roles on both sides.

“And then, the two freshmen, neither one were early enrollees — Jimmy Rolder and Deuce Spurlock. I think they have flashed, and you can tell why they were recruited here. They certainly have a lot on their plate of learning. But I’m pretty pleased with that group right now.”

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Story originally appeared on Wolverines Wire