Nikhai Hill-Green is ready to show Michigan fans who he really is

Depth proved to be a huge issue for the Michigan linebacker corps last year when Nikhai Hill-Green struggled with a preseason injury. It was one from which he wouldn’t recover, and it put a lot on his teammates’ shoulders — too much, in fact, listening to them talk. 

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Then-sophomore Junior Colson said there were games in which he was physically and mentally exhausted, but the coaches couldn’t afford to take him off the field. 

Hill-Green couldn’t do anything but watch, and it killed him inside. Head coach Jim Harbaugh spent much of last offseason singing his praises — he put him up there athletically with Colson, excited about the 1-2 punch at inside linebacker — but no matter how much he rested or rehabbed, Hill-Green couldn’t get healthy enough to play. 

“It was a soft tissue injury, and it was just like something you couldn’t see,” Hill-Green said. “So … I could still run; I could still do everything. It was hard, because I was always pushing through it, and the coaches they were like, ‘are you good?’ I’m never going to say, ‘I can’t go.’”

So he told them he could, but it was clear something was off. The coaches saw it, too. 

“They just didn’t want me to make it worse,” Hill-Green added. “I don’t really even know how to explain it. You really couldn’t see it.

“It was one of the hardest things in my life. I just feel like I did what I’m supposed to do, put in the work. I outworked everyone. I overdo during my process. It was hard. I didn’t deserve it, but it made me better as a person and a football player. I’m just glad. It just makes me appreciate the journey just way more.”

Ready to leave his mark at Michigan

In hindsight, he said, it might have been something he needed. He tried to rationalize it in his mind, he said — maybe he was getting a little complacent (thought he knew better. “No one’s going to say that,” he said). 

But it was “just a knock on my door,” Hill-Green added. 

“I practiced and I just kept trying to push through it. I would push through it during the week, prepare for the game,” Hill-Green said. “That’s why some games I dressed, because I was actually trying to play, but it wasn’t worth it. They didn’t want something that was temporary to be long lasting. And we learned that because I ended up missing my whole season. This [injury] happened in training camp. 

“I had to answer [the knock], and I did. Now I feel like I’m back, and I’m better. I’m just ready to prove it.”

It still kills him, though, to think about what might have been … especially since he was back to full strength within a week or two after the season ended. 

“This makes me made to even talk about, but a little bit after the TCU game, I felt like I was 100 percent,” Hill-Green said. “It hurts. My family would tell you it hurts me to my core. Because I was like, ‘dang bro, if I’m 100 percent now, I definitely could have helped us in the TCU game [a 51-45 loss] some type of way.’ 

“But everything happens for reason. I just had to push through it. I feel like I’m good to go now.”

And ready to contribute to a potential national champion in 2023. There are always outliers on title teams — guys who come out of nowhere to help make the difference. He could be that guy, and it’s clear his leadership will be a factor in addition to his play.

“Little things,” Hill-Green said when asked what it would take. “Attention to detail. Just little things like cleaning up the locker room, being on time every day where you need to be. Everyone.

“Our weakest link is going to be the person that in a sense wins us a national championship, because once we get to late November and December, those teams already know who our best players are. It’s going to be our weakest players on the field that are going to win us games. So attention to detail, being on the small things … progressing throughout the season, getting better week by week. By the end of the season, we have to be a better team than we were starting the season.”

That’s the plan, and Hill-Green expects to be a huge part of it … this year, from start to finish.