Joel Klatt breaks down what Sherrone Moore must do with Michigan defense

The Sherrone Moore era at Michigan has begun following the departure of former head coach Jim Harbaugh, who left the program last week for the Los Angeles Chargers after nine seasons, three Big Ten titles, and a national championship win with the program.

Moore will look to maintain the culture and success of the program as he now takes center stage, spending the last six seasons with the team in various roles on the offensive staff. But according to college football analyst Joel Klatt, one of Moore’s biggest priorities will be making sure the Wolverines’ can continue being one of the strongest defensive units in the country.

“The defense in a large way is just as much a part of the identity of this program as the run game, and because of that you’ve got to hold on to both,” Klatt said. “That’ll be difficult for Sherrone, because he’s gonna have to find someone.”

Harbaugh took former Michigan defensive coordinator Jesse Minter with him to Los Angeles to be the Chargers’ defensive playcaller, leaving a vacancy at the position for the Wolverines.

Michigan’s defense reached historic heights in their last two seasons under Minter, ranking No. 5 in the country in opponent scoring after holding teams to just 13.4 points per game in 2022 and holding opponents to a nation-leading 9.5 points per game last season en route to a national championship win.

“You can’t run a different defense,” Klatt said. “I think those players would look at you with their eyes crossed and think, ‘What? We’re not running a different defense, look at what this defense just did. We just beat Ohio State three straight times right?’ Like they’re not gonna want to change defense.”

There’s no question that Michigan’s defensive success had an enormous impact on their undefeated season last year and their success in the past three seasons. But maintaining that success will be a lot easier said than done for Moore as he’ll look to not just replace a multitude of key impact players on the Wolverines’ defense, but the masterminds behind their effective defensive scheme as well.

“So they’re gonna need to find who’s the extension of Mike Macdonald or Jesse Minter that you can bring in and coordinate the defense and keep it on the rails in terms of how dominant they’ve been in the last couple of years. Specially this last year their defense was just incredible,” Klatt concluded.