Michigan defensive coordinator Wink Martindale: 'It takes complementary football to help you improve'

Michigan Wolverines football was a combined 33.5-point underdog against Ohio State and Alabama last season, and held those two teams to 23 points total (10 for Ohio State and 13 for Alabama).

In the 19-13 victory over Alabama in the ReliaQuest Bowl, the Wolverines were without many key players, including top-13 NFL Draft pick defensive tackles Mason Graham (No. 5, Cleveland Browns) and Kenneth Grant (No. 13, Miami Dolphins). Others stepped up and put forth a masterpiece of a performance, injecting some confidence into the returning players on coordinator Wink Martindale‘s defense.

“Meaningful, game-on-the-line reps,” Martindale said of what those players experienced. “I think it builds confidence in all of them.”

But Michigan has started the cycle over, beginning fall camp last week as they prepare for the 2025 season.

“The thing as a coach now is you’re saying not to rest on that, because that’s over with,” Martindale pointed out.

“I’m gonna get a maize and blue hat [that says] ‘have a day,’ because with [Michigan head] Coach [Sherrone] Moore we talked about our goals in the first meeting, but we’re not talking about them anymore because tomorrow’s not promised. Let’s have the best day we can have.

“I also like the show, ‘Bob Does Sports,’ golf creators, all those guys, Grant [Horvat], the Bryan brothers [George IV and Wesley Bryan] and all that. And I saw those hats, and I’m like, ‘Really, that’s what it’s about,’ just having the best day you can have today. We have a long football day today with our walkthroughs and meetings and all those things of that nature, and then we finish it with a practice this evening.

“It’s been fun. It’s early. I’m glad I’m not [speaking with the media] next week because I probably wouldn’t be in as good of a mood as I am right now.”

But Martindale is fired up, seemingly confident on what Michigan’s defense can be this season. Despite playing alongside a dismal offense and inconsistent punting game, the Wolverines finished 10th nationally in total defense, allowing only 307 yards per game, and 19th in scoring defense, giving up 19.9 points per contest.

Martindale was asked what specifically he wants Michigan’s defense to improve on this season, and he offered that the Wolverines are looking to get better everywhere. Having help around them would be important, too.

“You want to improve on everything, and you’re playing a lot of different teams,” Martindale said. “It takes complementary football to help you improve.

“One of the things wherever I’ve been and we’ve played good defense, you know one thing we’ve had that no one’s going to talk about? We had a damn good punter. In Baltimore, we had Sam Koch. To play good defense, you need a good punter, to pin them back, to flip the field and all that, for example. That’s complementary football. It all works together with that.”

Having an improved and more dynamic offense will be crucial to the Michigan defense’s success. The Wolverines are expected to be much better at quarterback this season, with freshman Bryce Underwood — the No. 1 overall recruit in the 2025 class — the projected starter.

“It’s way too early to even [say],” Martindale said when asked if his defense is being tested more with the pass game this camp. “You got a really good quarterback, and you got some other guys that are battling for it. That’s different. It’s not schematically anything that we haven’t seen.

“It’s good stuff. I’m not evaluating the offense. I’m evaluating our stuff. It’s good stuff, but we work together. If he says, ‘Hey, I need to see this,’ I’ll call it, and he’ll do the same thing, vice versa, for me.”

Practices allow for the Michigan offense and defense to help each other develop.

“Right now, we’re scripting practices, and I just want to know the down and distance, personnel and hash,” Martindale said. “We have that, and then there might be a period that he [offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey] wants [a specific situation].

“Right now, we’re doing the ‘fundamental four’ [practices]. We did five in the spring, if you remember, where we just did front and coverage, four-man rush and coverage. We’re doing that for four practices, and then we’ll start using our pressures and different things and get more into the stuff that we do all the time. This is great for us, though, because it gets back to what I was telling you — we’re teaching tackling and takeaways and all that stuff right now. It’ll be fun as it goes.”