After an injury to Will Johnson in 2024, the Michigan secondary was forced to play some younger guys at corner. That valuable experience for a player like Jyaire Hill should prepare him for the next step in 2025.
Charles Woodson. Ty Law. Jourdan Lewis. Mike Sainristil. Will Johnson.
Michigan has a history of producing elite talent at the cornerback position, and it is always looking for its next great player. It’s unclear if the Wolverines will have that in 2025, but one guy that has the best shot at being CB1 this fall is Jyaire Hill.
Today, we’ll detail Hill’s path to the Michigan Wolverines and his outlook for the season.
The journey so far
In Michigan’s 2023 National Championship run, Hill saw the field in the first four games as a true freshman. But after that, he didn’t play the rest of the season and preserved his redshirt status.
Hill saw the field a lot more in 2024, especially once Johnson suffered an injury mid-way through the year and missed the rest of the season. As any young player would in this situation, Hill went through some growing pains.
“Just being able to get more reps, continue to see how the ebbs and flow of a game is, a season is,” said defensive back coach LaMar Morgan in October . “When you’re not feeling the best with your body, being able to refocus … you’re never going to feel 100 percent. Just working through some of the growing pains of being a starter here at Michigan as a young player.”
Veteran transfer Aamir Hall took over some of those responsibilities towards the end of the season, and Hill even fell back into a rotational role down the stretch after those struggles.
In total, Hill compiled 35 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, one sack, eight pass breakups and one interception a season ago.
Outlook for 2025
Even with his struggles towards the end of the year, the hype train has hit Hill in a variety of areas. In way-too-early 2026 NFL Draft previews, some outlets were calling for Hill to be one of the top corners off the board in the first round.
Undoubtedly, Hill is the most experienced returning cornerback on the team. At the same time, let’s not go off the rails here. He has a lot to prove just to be considered a strong starter at the Power 4 level.
But this moment is not getting away from Hill, nor his coaching staff. In his spring media session, Morgan highlighted just how important this season is for Hill.
Jyaire is growing up because I think he knows the time is now, right? You can – I mean, every kid develops at their own pace. I think sometimes you want your kids to do something better. Like you want your kid to go walk a little faster, but they’re going to walk when they need to walk. So I think that’s kind of what Jyaire is. He’s just growing up, trying to be a leader, trying to be focused. He’s playing some nickel as well. I just think it’s his time to take it to the next step. You know, I think last year he played pretty solid besides some of the, you know, double moves. I mean, you’re on the other side of the wheel. You’re going to get challenged a little bit. And I think he’s moving in the right direction. I’ve been really pleased with him.
The Wolverines are banking on Hill having a more consistent third season of college football. If Michigan is to compete for the Big Ten and a spot in the postseason, Hill will have to take a huge step forward and lock down the CB1 spot in 2025.