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Michigan football: Rod Moore wants to see more turnovers

Anthony Broomeby:Anthony Broome•09/27/22•

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(Photo by Nic Antaya/Getty Images)

Michigan football’s secondary has been one of the strengths thus far for the defensive side of the ball, but they are still searching for improvement in a key area. Defensive backs coach is preaching more turnovers from the back end of the defense.

The Wolverines answered the call with a pair of interceptions in the 34-27 win over the Maryland Terrapins. A job well done for one week, but more is expected for the Wolverine defense.

“That’s the goal,” sophomore safety Rod Moore, who had his first interception in the season opener vs. Colorado State, said this week. “We’ve had a lot of missed opportunities throughout the season. We just gotta capitalize on those. We’ve emphasized turnovers since the beginning of camp and we just hope to keep doing that, especially as a secondary. We want to be the best secondary in the country, so that’ll help do that.”

The Maryland game was the first time this season that Michigan was challenged by an opponent that could give them a legitimate challenge. The Wolverines took their punches and hope to learn from it moving forward.

“Many mistakes that were made and you just always have to go like next play mentality,” Moore told the media. “You can’t dwell on the play that just happened because if you do, it’ll affect the way you play on the next play and you can make another mistake that could cost, you know, a touchdown or another big game.”

Three-safety look paying dividends for Michigan

Modern offenses trot out extra pass catchers, which take the traditional 3rd linebacker off the field in exchange for an extra defensive back. One of Michigan’s looks is a 3-safety lineup with Moore and juniors RJ Moten and Makari Paige.

“It just allows us to rotate,” Moore explained. “We have 3 good safeties. It allows us to move around. Especially RJ because sometimes he goes down [into the box] in dime packages because hes a bigger body-type and Makari and I stay in the back. It allows us to expand and have more DBs on the field than we would like to have.”

Another extra defensive back that has made his way onto the field this year is converted senior wide receiver Mike Sainristil. The team captain has acquitted himself nicely on the back end and has raised the level of play of everyone back there.

“Just watch the film,” Moore said. “You watch number zero and e’s making plays all over the field. With him being a leader like he just brings the defense – not only the defense – but the whole team to another level. He asserts himself and you can feel his presence on the defense.”

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