19 days until Michigan football: Who will lead Wolverines in turnovers, keep 'Turnover Buffs' this season?

There’s much anticipation heading into the Michigan Wolverines football season, and TheWolverine.com is counting down the days until the Sept. 2 opener against East Carolina. We’ll discuss current Michigan events, the upcoming season and/or take a look at a significant number that correlates with how many days remain until kickoff, whether it be a player’s jersey number, a year, a date, a score, etc.

Michigan junior safety Rod Moore changed his jersey number from 19 to 9 for this season, but for the purposes of today’s countdown post, with 19 days until kickoff, we’ll discuss Moore leading the Wolverines in turnovers last season and getting to take home the first-annual version of the ‘Turnover Buffs.’ Moore had 4 interceptions on the season — the most by a Michigan player since cornerback Channing Stribling in 2016 and most by a U-M safety since Dewayne Patmon in 1998. Both Stribling and Patmon notched 4 in those respective seasons.

Michigan sophomore cornerback Will Johnson provided the team with the Turnover Buffs. He had 3 picks last season, coming up one takeaway short, and he’s intent on making sure he retains them this fall.

“It’s going to be the same thing as last year,” Johnson said this summer. “Rod — he had the most interceptions. Whoever has the most turnovers gets to keep them. They’re his now. All his.

“They’re mine, so I gotta keep them this year. I was close to keeping them last year. I made that deal with them, that whoever had the most would get them, so I stayed true to it.”

When assessing the top contenders to keep the flashy Cartier shades this fall, it’s Johnson and Moore right at the top of the list once again.

Moore is a ballhawk, always seeming to find himself around the football whether it’s in the run game or the pass game. Moore has notched interceptions when it’s the man he’s covering who is targeted, and he’s also come over to pick the ball off in zone coverage. Alike, when Michigan was struggling to cover wideout Keon Coleman against MSU last fall, the Wolverines bracketed him. Moore baited quarterback Payton Thorne into throwing it Coleman’s way over the middle and wound up with the football.

Johnson is a lockdown coverage man, grading out the best in the nation in man coverage among cornerbacks last season, per Pro Football Focus. Michigan will rely on Johnson to cover the opposition’s best wide receiver, and he’s proven adept enough at shutting them down. The former five-star recruit will only be better in his second year as a college football player, too.

But Johnson actually might be at a disadvantage in a certain way, in that he may be targeted less because of the tight coverage he plays. Opposing quarterbacks will naturally look elsewhere, or when they do look his way move on to the next read if his man is blanketed.

Think about Stribling in 2016, when he led Michigan in interceptions, as mentioned above. The best cornerback on that team was Jourdan Lewis, who did miss three games with injury and finished with 2 interceptions. Lewis was one of the best Michigan coverage men in recent history, if not the best, and he had 2 picks per season from 2014-16. The fact is, he just wasn’t targeted all that often at times — a true sign of a great defensive back.

That’s why picking Moore to repeat as Michigan’s leader in interceptions — and subsequently to pace the team in turnovers gained — is a safe one. Though betting on Johnson would be smart, as well.

Here’s a look at Michigan’s top returning defenders and the amount of turnovers they forced last season. The Wolverines were middle of the pack nationally, ranking tied for 66th with 18 turnovers forced — 14 interceptions (tied 22nd) and 4 fumble recoveries (119th).

Player	Turnovers	Interceptions	Fumble Recoveries
Rod Moore	4	4	0
Will Johnson	3	3	0
Michael Barrett	2	2	0
Mike Sainristil	1	1	0
Makari Paige	1	1	0

Michigan football countdown to kickoff

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