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

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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 Bryce Underwood and Tommy Carr.

He continued beyond that, but his evaluation was correct.

Though many have thoughts on Bryce Underwood vs. Tommy Carr at quarterback, Kyle Whittingham was emphatic in the aftermath that Underwood has a firm grip on the QB1 position, and that he's seen improvement over the course of 15 practices.

Now the Wolverines will be off until June, when they'll return for summer conditioning with an eye on fall camp.

This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Michigan football spring game takeaways

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