New Michigan football DC says he’s ‘more aggressive’ than Jesse Minter

In an interview earlier this week on the Michigan football podcast, “In the Trenches” new defensive coordinator Wink Martindale called himself the “OG” of the U-M defensive system.

Martindale is right. He coordinated the defense in Baltimore that had Jesse Minter and Mike Macdonald on staff as assistants. Both of those guys eventually became Michigan football defensive coordinator. They are now in the NFL and Martindale, following a two-year stint with the Giants, is the Wolverines’ new DC.

Wink Martindale jokes that he felt like a “proud parent” watching his former assistants coordinate Michigan’s defense the last three years pic.twitter.com/pfA0AEFjt9

— Zach Shaw (@_ZachShaw) March 15, 2024

Martindale met with reporters for the first time on Friday and said the past few seasons, he has felt like a “proud parent” watching Michigan football play defense under Minter and Macdonald. He also said that things are going to be different. They are every year and he said, “I’m not going to tell Ryan Day what I’m going to do.”

Martindale: “Every year is different. I’m not going to tell Ryan Day what I’m going to do.” Says that he is by nature more aggressive than Jesse Minter was.

— Anthony Broome (@anthonytbroome) March 15, 2024

Expect Michigan football to be even more “aggressive”

Martindale did say that was “more aggressive in nature” than Jesse Minter, which is interesting because Minter was not afraid at all to bring pressure. The Wolverines are also blessed with one of the best defensive fronts in college football. They were last season and will be again in 2024, so the blitz won’t be needed to get pressure, but it will be used to wreak havoc and cause confusion among college quarterbacks.

How close are Wink Martindale and Jesse Minter, his predecessor as Michigan’s DC?

“We’ve watched every Michigan game the last three years. We even watched Vanderbilt-UConn in ‘21, that was a real barn-burner.”

— Zach Shaw (@_ZachShaw) March 15, 2024

Wink is certainly close to Minter. He said he watched every Michigan football game over the past three seasons with Minter. They even watched some Vanderbilt film dating back to the 2021 season. Martindale is invested in the system and he’s right about being the “OG.”

The Michigan football defense is in good hands. At least it feels that way with Martindale calling the plays.

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