Michigan's Jesse Minter a 'rising star,' ranked among nation's top defensive coordinators
Michigan Wolverines football defensive coordinator Jesse Minter stepped in seamlessly ahead of the 2022 campaign, helped lead his unit to the Big Ten title and is back for another season in 2023. Minter interviewed with the Philadelphia Eagles for the same role, but it’s Michigan’s gain that the NFL team went in another direction.
Pro Football Focus ranked Minter the second-best defensive coordinator in the country in a recent top 10 list, calling him a “rising star.”
“In his first season as the Wolverines’ defensive coordinator, Minter was a finalist for the Broyles Award for the best assistant coach in college football,” the site’s Max Chadwick wrote.
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Minter, who turned 40 years old May 9, trails Iowa’s Phil Parker, who PFF believes is the best coordinator in the country. Iowa statistically had the worst offense in the Power Five last season and still had the nation’s second-best defense in terms of points per game. Chadwick called Parker a “miracle worker.”
Chadwick pointed to the job Minter did last season in replacing three top-100 NFL Draft picks as a big reason why he’s ranked so high.
“He’s one of two [Broyles Award] finalists who remain a college coordinator in 2023 — the other being the winner Garrett Riley, who’s our top returning offensive coordinator in college football,” Chadwick wrote.
“Even after losing stars like [EDGEs] Aidan Hutchinson, David Ojabo and [defensive back] Daxton Hill, the Wolverines’ 93.7 team defense grade this past season trailed only Iowa. They were also fourth in the Power Five in terms of EPA [expected points added] allowed per play.
“Michigan allowed a scoring drive on only 22 percent of opposing drives, the fourth-lowest rate in the FBS in 2022.”
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Hutchinson (14; single-season program record)) and Ojabo (11) combined for 25 sacks. And while Michigan didn’t have any individuals who matched their numbers, the Wolverines as a collective had more sacks in 2022 (37) than 2021 (34), due in part to Minter’s creative blitz packages.
Michigan ranked higher than the previous season in the national ranks in scoring defense, total defense, rushing defense and passing defense in 2022.
Minter came to Michigan from Vanderbilt, where he spent one season after four with the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens.
The top three defensive coordinators in the country hail from the Big Ten, actually, according to Chadwick. Ohio State’s Jim Knowles checked in No. 3. The Buckeyes went from 56th in the country to seventh in EPA allowed per play, Chadwick noted. However, Knowles’ defense was shredded by Michigan in a 45-23 blowout loss in Columbus, the Wolverines’ first road win in the rivalry since 2000.
FOX analyst Joel Klatt famously said on the broadcast that Knowles had to call the best series of his career, before Michigan running back Donovan Edwards ran 75 yards for a touchdown to give the Wolverines a 38-23 edge in the fourth quarter. Edwards then popped an 85-yard scoring run on the next drive.
Here’s a look at PFF’s top 10 defensive coordinators entering the 2023 season:
1. Phil Parker, Iowa
2. Jesse Minter, Michigan
4. Glenn Schumann/Will Muschamp, Georgia
5. Manny Diaz, Penn State
6. Matt House, LSU
8. Tony Gibson, NC State
9. Pete Golding, Ole Miss
10. Bryan Brown, Cincinnati
