CBS Sports: Michigan football's spring game reveals strong defense

Yahoo Sports3h ago19 min readOriginal source →

TL;DR

Michigan football's spring game in 2026 ended with the Maize team defeating the Blue team 7-6, showcasing the team's defensive strength and depth. The event featured limited playtime for starters.

Key points

Michigan football's spring game took place in 2026
Maize team defeated Blue team 7-6
The game showcased the team's defensive strength
Starters had limited playtime
Focus was on team depth

Michigan Wolverines

CBS Sports: Michigan football's spring game reveals strong defense

Michigan football's spring practice epoch in 2026 came to a close with the annual spring game on Saturday, which saw the Maize team beat the Blue team, 7-6.

It wasn't exactly a spectacular display, with essentially no fireworks to speak of. There weren't a lot of starters who played much beyond the first quarter -- if that. It was, essentially, a light showcase of the depth that the Wolverines have.

And that's also how CBS Sports saw it.

National writer Brad Crawford broke down some of the bigger spring games that took place across the country on Saturday, and his evaluation of Michigan was that the defense is strong, but the team also didn't really show much of anything.

For now -- and this is only from a brief scrimmage glimpse with vanilla game-planning and plenty of depth players -- new Michigan defensive coordinator Jay Hill has early bragging rights over offensive play-caller Jason Beck as the Wolverines prepare for the 2026 season under Kyle Whittingham.

Hill, who played under Whittingham at Utah, inherits a unit that replaces several key starters and contributors from last year's squad and has spent 15 practices trying to install a complicated scheme. He said last month it would look a lot like Michigan's defense from 2023, an aggressive, constantly attacking unit.

During Saturday's 40-minute scrimmage -- a controlled practice of sorts with basic defensive fronts and two-high coverages -- Michigan's defense kept chunk plays to a minimum and tackled well in space, leading to only three first-half points between alternating snaps from quarterbacks and .