Michigan football’s 5 most important players on defense in 2026

Michigan football writer Tony Garcia ranks the five most important players on the Wolverines‘ defense in 2026.
(safety)

Michigan had to replace a pair of starters in the secondary last season when Will Johnson and Makari Paige left for the 2025 NFL Draft and while it brought in veterans like TJ Metcalf and Wesley Walker to fill in as experienced pieces, the DBs clearly missed their leader.

Shortly after former defensive coordinator Wink Martindale arrived in 2024, he compared Rod Moore to NFL All-Pro Eric Weddle in terms of his cognitive ability. While he doesn’t wear the “green dot” with the headset to the defensive coordinator, Moore is the quarterback of the back end and ensures his running mates are on the same page and in the right positions.

It was sorely missed the past two seasons, but he’s said to be on track for a full return this year. While it remains to be seen where he is athletically after he comes back from multiple knee procedures, Moore’s impact on the defense will be felt if he’s even able to return to 80% of what he was when he was an All-Big Ten secondary piece in 2023.
(linebacker)

An argument could be made for either Nathaniel Owusu-Boateng or Chase Taylor, but linebackers coach Alex Whittingham told the Free Press that Bowles is the likely candidate to be U-M’s starting MIKE linebacker, so he feels like the pick in the the linebacking group.

Michigan lost as much production from the unit as any team in the country with Cole Sullivan (Oklahoma), Jimmy Rolder (NFL Draft), Jaishawn Barham (NFL Draft) and former captain Ernest Hausmann (personal reasons) all stepping away from the program, which has left a gaping hole to be filled by talented, yet unproven commodities.

Bowles, a senior, who spent two years at Georgia prior to transferring to Michigan, played in 12 games at linebacker last season where he recorded 27 tackles, including two for loss with a sack in the season-opener against New Mexico. If U-M’s defense is going to be in the upper-echelon, its linebackers will need to step up in a major way and Bowles is perhaps the leader of the pack.

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(cornerback)

Michigan’s secondary has a number of pieces who are expected to be key contributors − Zeke Berry, Chris Bracy, Smith Snowden and Moore among them − but it’s Jyaire Hill who Michigan is counting on the most.

Without Johnson last season, U-M sorely needed a shutdown corner and Hill was quite good, but he wasn’t truly elite. While he only allowed 230 yards through the air all season, he proved to be most susceptible to double-moves, allowing three touchdowns while only coming away with one interception. He also needs to improve his tackling, where he graded out at 45.5 on the season per Pro Football Focus.

But his overall grade (77.6) was the highest among U-M’s returning defenders for a reason. He is top-tier in coverage, particularly in man where PFF had him graded out at 83.4. At 6-foot-2 and 190 pounds with elite speed, the junior has all the tools needed to be an elite corner, if he’s able to take yet another step, that would be a massive boost for the Wolverines.

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While it wasn’t a vintage U-M defense last season, its run defense remained elite. The Wolverines were No. 19 in the country in rushing defense (111.9 yards per game) and that starts in the middle of the defensive line. Michigan saw a number of veteran defensive linemen leave the program in Rayshaun Benny, Tre Williams, Damon Payne Jr. and Derrick Moore (throw in Barham, too, who switched from linebacker to edge early in the season) and now needs to replace them.

A name that’s come up more often than any other in terms of the leader of the defensive tackle group is senior Trey Pierce, who will be one of three representatives for U-M next week in Chicago for Big Ten Media Days − a sign of both his leadership and the belief in him by the coaching staff.

Pierce started all 13 regular season games last season and while his numbers − 30 tackles including one for loss − weren’t eye-popping, he was a force in the run game and named an All-Big Ten honorable mention.
(edge)

There’s no question about the top rated player U-M brought in via the transfer portal this offseason, edge John Henry Daley.

The redshirt sophomore had 48 tackles, including 17½ for loss (tied for best in the country), 11½ sacks, two forced fumbles and a pass breakup in 11 games before a season-ending injury/ Daley is on the mend from his Achilles issues and coach Kyle Whittingham told the Free Press last month his rehab was “right on schedule.”

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While he couldn’t do much lower-body work in the spring, a few months back he said he felt as though his upper body shape was “probably the best I’ve ever been in my life.” If he is able to return to form, Michigan will be adding one of the top edge rushers in the nation and someone who would project as an early selection whenever he entered the NFL draft.

Cameron Brandt, Carter Meadows, Nate Marshall and Dominic Nichols, U-M’s other edge rushers, are in position to play key roles but are unproven to this point. Daley, meanwhile, has been there and done that before. Michigan’s success on defense will likely be tied to his production in 2026.

Tony Garcia is the Michigan beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan football’s 5 most important players on defense in 2026