The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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MAY 2024 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 29 during spring ball. He's gotten a few in- terceptions every day. You can tell he definitely put the work in this offseason so far; still got a long way to go, obvi- ously, still got a lot of offseason left. But he's been putting the work in." "Makari has been good," junior wide receiver Tyler Morris said. "I think we all know how good he is, and he's continuing to show that, continuing to prove that. Just being one of the older guys, it seems like he's always where he's supposed to be as a long, rangy safety. He's definitely been standing out, making plays." An expanded role could be coming, too. New defensive coordinator Wink Martindale is known for running exotic blitzes, including bringing his safeties. Michigan has a long way to go until the entire defense is installed, but Paige — who blitzed on only 8 passing downs a year ago — may become even more of a weapon near the line of scrimmage. "That's his plan, I think. But every- thing's not in yet. I don't know what he has planned for us, honestly," Paige re- marked. "But hopefully, we blitz more." Michigan lost all six of its captains from the 2023 national championship- winning team, meaning others have had to step up. Paige isn't as loud and bois- terous as, say, nickel back Mike Sainris- til, but he's been more vocal and taken on a bigger leadership role, along with several of his teammates. "I'll say [senior safety] Rod Moore has stepped up big time," Paige said. "[Senior running back] Donovan Edwards, [junior tight end] Colston Loveland, KG [junior defensive tackle Kenneth Grant], [junior defensive tackle] Mason [Graham], [se- nior edge] Josaiah Stewart, [junior edge] Derrick Moore. A lot of guys, honestly. I feel like this team is going to have a lot of player leaders. That's what we need." Paige is surely one of them, too. "He's been more vocal than he has been in years prior and just being that leader that he needs to be," Johnson ex- plained. "It's been taking us to the next level so far." STANDARD IS HIGH, U-M REACHING HIGHER The offseason departure of Michi- gan's head coach, strength coach and entire defensive staff to the NFL has been well chronicled. Sherrone Moore is now in charge of the team in Year 1 as head coach, and Martindale came from the NFL to run the U-M defense. "It's definitely different — different coaches, different people," Paige noted. "But it's still the same culture in the building, as a defense and as a team over- all. It's different, but it's kinda the same." What's not going to change, Mich- igan players say, is the standard. The Wolverines are 40-3 over the last three seasons, winning a trio of Big Ten titles and a national championship. Typically, a new staff tries to establish a differ- ent culture, but that's not the case here. Paige and other team leaders are plug- ging away to make sure they reach the high bar they've set for themselves. "There's definitely a standard here, and as players it's our job to hold ev- erybody accountable," Paige said. "We can't have a player not do something and not have accountability with it." In particular, the defense is striving to reach even higher. In 2023, the Wol- verines led the nation in points (10.4) and yards (247) allowed per contest and points given up per drive (0.96). Yet, the Wolverines have even loftier goals. "It's going really well, honestly," the West Bloomfield, Mich., native said. "Guys are hungry still — not compla- cent. I feel like that's what we need as a defense to keep achieving what we need to achieve. We want to be better than last year's defense, so that's our goal right now." Paige was the first one to make that declaration publicly this spring, and other teammates have since echoed his comments about raising the bar. "There are a lot of things we didn't do last year that we can improve on this year, so it's just the principle of stack- ing days and trying to get better every day, because nobody is perfect," junior defensive tackle Kenneth Grant said. "We're just all trying to get better and go to the same place." Grant pointed out that there were categories that the insatiable Michigan defense didn't finish first in last season, such as ranking 28th in the country with 0.93 forced fumbles per game. "There are a lot of categories that we can improve on," Grant said. ❏ ❱ Junior cornerback Will Johnson, on Paige "He's been more vocal than he has been in years prior and just being that leader that he needs to be. It's been taking us to the next level so far." Last season, Paige ranked fifth on the team and second among the defensive backfield with 41 tackles, adding 2 pass breakups, 1 quarterback hurr y and a fumble recovery from his strong safety position. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL