Wink Martindale discusses Zeke Berry role, 'really good' Michigan freshman, Metcalf brothers, transfer DTs

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan Wolverines football defensive coordinator Wink Martindale held a 20-minute press conference ahead of the team’s start to spring practices. There was one common theme he kept coming back to: Michigan has more depth across the defense than it did a year ago.

The Wolverines had high-end talent and projected first-round draft picks in defensive tackles Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant and cornerback Will Johnson, along with a day two selection in EDGE Josaiah Stewart. They’re all headed to the next level, but Michigan may be able to offset some of those losses by rotating more fresh bodies in and having more versatility at different positions.

Martindale and Co. are still very much in the evaluation phase, with the second-year Michigan coach and former longtime NFL assistant not ready to name leaders for position battles or the like. One guy who’s almost guaranteed to be in the mix, though, is senior defensive back Zeke Berry. The 5-foot-11, 196-pounder started last season at nickel but moved outside to corner once Johnson went down with an injury, and he thrived at the latter position despite possessing limited experience. His versatility will once again prove valuable this season.

“The [move to] corner was out of necessity, and I thought he did very well there,” Martindale said. “The thing that’s unique about Zeke is we can put him basically wherever we need him. He’ll have some reps inside at nickel and some outside at corner.

“And in the end, if he’s one of the top three corners … for example — I’m just giving you an example — if the other two are primarily outside guys, then we’ll move him inside. If one of the guys is an inside guy, then we’ll keep him on the outside.

“That’s the value of Zeke Berry is that he can play both inside and outside, and that’s rare when you talk about coaching corners. He’s done a nice job in the offseason of getting his body right, so it’s gonna be some fun times for us.”

Martindale didn’t want to name all the corner and nickel contenders, choosing to wait until seeing them once Michigan gets on the practice field.

“There are a bunch of them,” he noted. “I don’t even want to get into that. At a later date, I’ll be able to tell you. We got some guys that we got out of the portal that look good, and we’ve got some young guys.”

He did name one name, though, and that’s significant: freshman early enrollee Shamari Earls, a 6-foot-2, 203-pounder who was the No. 89 overall player in the 2025 recruiting class, per On3.

“Obviously, Shamari Earls is a freshman that looks really good, as well,” Martindale continued. “We gotta wait and see when we actually practice football, because the only way you get better at football is to practice football.”

Michigan brought some defensive back transfers, including brothers and Arkansas imports TJ Metcalf and Tevis Metcalf. TJ, a junior, is considered a safety, while Tevis, a sophomore, played nickel for the Razorbacks last season. However, Martindale will wait to see exactly which spots they play at.

“The youngest one has got really good feet,” the Michigan coach said. “He just doesn’t’ have a lot of experience compared to his brother. It’s gonna be fun to watch them to see exactly where they fit. You can move people in and out at nickel for bigger packages, maybe tiger or whatever.”

Defensive tackle is a question mark with the losses of Graham and Grant, but Martindale is confident. Michigan bolstered the position by bringing in Damon Payne Jr. (Alabama) and Tré Williams (Clemson), two graduate transfers with a lot of experience.

“I really like the portal guys we added,” Martindale explained. “I think we have more depth than we had last year at this time, so we’ll wait and see when we get through it, through the spring. There’s gonna be somebody that jumps out and surprises all of us. We just have to see who it’s gonna be. I know they’ve all had a good offseason.”