Despite injury issues, Michigan football defense shines in key area

Today’s injury report was not the best for the Michigan football defense, especially when it came to the defensive backfield. Against UNLV, the Wolverines were without Makari Paige and only saw limited work from other top defensive backs, such as Rod Moore and Will Johnson, who were listed as questionable ahead of the matchup. Still, despite injuries, the Wolverines’ defensive secondary managed to shine en route to an incredible Week 2 performance.

Despite injury issues, Michigan football defense shines against UNLV

The Michigan football defense is working through some injury issues right now, as I said, the worst of which is at defensive back. Heading into the season, cornerbacks were a major area of concern for the Wolverines, who are currently trying to keep the secondaries’ top-3 players healthy. Makari Paige, Will Johnson, and Rod Moore are all limited right now, though against UNLV, Michigan’s defensive backfield was as good as ever.

Even when the backups came in, the Michigan football defense looked incredible — the Wolverines limited UNLV to seven points throughout the afternoon, which is solid considering the Rebels scored over 40 points last weekend.

Wolverines keep the Rebels in check through the air

All said and done, the UNLV offense only threw for 168 yards (completing 15 of their 26 passes). Again, considering the fact that the Wolverines’ top defensive backs are all banged up — not to mention UNLV’s previous offensive success — these are incredible numbers for Jesse Minter’s defense heading into the final weekend of the non-conference slate.

Today’s top Michigan football defensive back was senior captain Mike Sainristil — who shined last weekend against ECU as well. He recorded 5 tackles and had an impressive pass breakup during today’s victory and has arguably been Michigan’s top defensive player throughout the year thus far.

Next weekend, when Bowling Green comes to town, expect more of the same from the 2023 Michigan football defense, which has been nothing short of elite thus far despite working through constant major injuries throughout the first two weekends of the season.