Wink Martindale excited for competition in Michigan secondary, says it's like one transfer has 'been here for two years'

Michigan Wolverines football has a long way to go in fall camp, with Saturday being the first day in full pads as the team ramps up. As the Wolverines get going, defensive coordinator Wink Martindale is excited to watch the competition in the secondary unfold.

Michigan is moving players around different positions — many safeties and corners also playing nickel, for example — in order to find the right combination of starters.

“We’re still mixing and matching,” Martindale said Saturday. “Youth, experience, everything else … it’s a great competition. I love the talent that [defensive backs coaches] LaMar [Morgan] and [Lionel] Stokes, B-Hawk [Brad Hawkins] have brought in. There’s gonna be great competition in that room, and to be honest with you, we need to get some of these younger guys ready to go, because of our lack of depth there at corner, especially.

“It’s always exciting as a coach to see where it all comes out. And you know everybody’s got the same chance. We haven’t even posted a depth chart yet because we haven’t needed to. You divide them maize and blue because of the bridge program and all that stuff. But there’s gonna be great competition, really, at every position everywhere on the defense.”

Michigan senior Zeke Berry was a nickel back at the start of last season but shifted outside to cornerback and excelled. Head coach Sherrone Moore said he likes him on the outside, but Martindale said it’s too early to guarantee he’ll play at one spot or the other.

“I think you just find out as you go,” Martindale said. “It could be one guy one day, and then all of the sudden somebody that you’re thinking he might be a year away or six months away or two months away or whatever, and all of the sudden he runs off four practices in a row and you’re like …

“It’s just like I tell the players, I’ve never coached with any assistant coach that didn’t want to play the best players. That’s what training camp is about. That’s what’s so exciting if you’re an old school football coach. That’s what’s so exciting — you just see these guys go. So, nobody’s crowned.”

Michigan has integrated two defensive back transfers, two on the defensive line and one at linebacker. Martindale has been impressed with the way they’ve made seamless transitions into the program, crediting returning players for being so welcoming.

“It’s like they aren’t even transfers anymore,” Martindale said when asked about graduate defensive tackle transfers Tré Williams and Damon Payne, but responding to include all of the transfers. “The players here and the kids here, it is a family atmosphere, and they take in everybody, the transfers, and it’s fun to watch that part. There’s a thing that anywhere you go when you get a transfer in, if he’s a really good player, they bring him in a lot faster. It’s a lot of fun to see those guys, the way they handle it as teammates.”

Junior TJ Metcalf can play both safety and cornerback. He was a starter at Arkansas last season, totaling 56 tackles and 3 interceptions, and he could play a big role on the Michigan defense this year.

“I think he’s gonna be very good, and he is versatile,” Martindale said. “We’ll probably play more personnels, different types of things this fall.

“But he’s like he’s been here for two years. Having seen the kid, and I know you guys have already interviewed him and been impressed with his maturity. So am I. He’s gonna do a lot of things that are gonna be fun to watch.”