Just a few months ago, Jayden Sanders was intent on standing out.
The freshman defensive back didn’t know how many snaps he was going to play when he started practice with the No. 21 Michigan football team in the summer.
Most freshmen don’t know, and most freshmen don’t play. But that didn’t stop Sanders — a four-star defensive back prospect in high school who was determined to excel — from trying. He stayed late at Schembechler Hall, watched as much film as he could and dedicated hours to poring over the playbook.
A summer enrollee, Sanders came in at the bottom of the depth chart, below some of his fellow freshmen who officially joined the program in the spring. Soon enough, his play in practice became hard to ignore.
“I seen it from the start of fall camp, when he got here,” junior defensive back TJ Metcalf said Sept. 23. “He was eager to learn, catch up to speed. Then when fall camp came around, he was making plays, catching pick sixes and doing stuff like that. We knew that he was going to have an important role for the team, just continue to show coach (he) could trust him.”
The athleticism necessary for a good defensive back wasn’t the hard part for the former basketball and track athlete. Sanders’ father Nick being an All-Mountain West First Team defensive back at Texas Christian years ago didn’t hurt, either.
For Jayden — as it is for many of the Wolverines’ younger defensive players — it was the nuances of defensive coordinator Wink Martindale’s pro-style defense that took the longest to adjust to.
“I don’t usually talk much, and to play coach Martindale’s defense is just constant communication,” Jayden said Tuesday. “You can’t be on the field without communication.”
Yet even after he made a good impression and dedicated the time to learning Michigan’s defense in practice, naturally, there were still players ahead of him. It was only once senior Zeke Berry sustained an injury against now-No. 5 Oklahoma that Jayden played his first significant snaps.
As usual with defensive backs, the raw stats don’t tell the whole story. In Norman, Jayden recorded four total tackles, two solo. His PFF grade of 69.6 isn’t eye-popping, though, and he didn’t make any highlight-reel plays. But stepping into the shoes of a leader on the defense in a rowdy SEC stadium, Jayden did his job. And that game against the Sooners was just the beginning.
Since then, Jayden has continued to earn the start at cornerback, recording ten total tackles, seven solo tackles and a pass breakup over the last two games. Against Nebraska, on third down in the third quarter, Jayden made a crucial tackle in front of the line to gain, stifling the Cornhuskers’ drive shortly after it started.
Ask Jayden’s teammates why he’s emerged as a consistent starter as a true freshman, and they’ll talk about the intangibles. Rod Moore, the senior defensive back and team captain, knew Jayden had potential long before he stepped on the field.
“He’s just a smart football player,” Moore said Monday. “Especially as being a freshman and playing at the University of Michigan, especially, our defense is complicated as a corner. And he asks his questions in the meeting room that maybe I didn’t even ask as a freshman, and he listens. Some freshmen think they know it all. They’re kind of hardheaded. But he goes out there and plays hard, listens and just makes plays.”
As a program, the Wolverines preach ‘next man up’. Through three games and two starts, Jayden is proving that mantra.
“I credit the staff on what they’ve done with a bunch of young players,” Michigan coach Sherrone Moore said Sept. 22. “To watch a guy like Jayden Sanders, who’s a true freshman, you don’t even notice him.”
It’s almost always a negative thing when a defensive player stands out, often due to blown coverage or a missed tackle. After working for months to catch the attention of coaches in practice, Jayden is blending in on the field.
