Michigan defensive back Brandyn Hillman will not have trouble adjusting to the speed of a live game when the Wolverines hit the field Saturday for their season opener against New Mexico. While the starting safety said he took things easy on his offensive teammates during fall camp, he will not hold anything back when he squares off against the Lobos. Besides the excitement of suiting up for a game for the first time in nine months, Hillman has an additional source of motivation: New Mexico’s color scheme.
The Lobos’ primary colors are Cherry and Silver, which are eerily similar to those of Ohio State, whose Scarlet and Gray are engrained in the minds of Michigan football players from the moment they step onto campus.
“It’s pretty easy just seeing a different color,” Hillman said of his ability to play with an edge. “How I look at it is, they got the same colors as f—-ing Ohio State, so I just play it like that, to be honest.”
Playing with the same motivation for a nonconference game against a Group of Five opponent as a heated rivalry with the Buckeyes should be a surefire way to prevent an upset. After all, the Wolverines have not lost to their hated foe since 2019, and just last year they knocked off the Buckeyes — then No. 2 in the CFP Rankings — in one of the most emotionally charged and shocking games of the entire college football season.
Hillman himself only made a marginal impact against the Buckeyes with one tackle off the bench. He is set to take a significant step forward as a junior, though, climbing the depth chart as the projected top safety on the Michigan roster. The former four-star recruit has 21 games of experience under his belt as a reserve and factored into the defensive backfield rotation last year with 21 tackles, two tackles for loss, a sack and a pair of pass breakups.
On paper, Michigan’s opener against New Mexico should be nothing short of a blowout. The Wolverines are five-touchdown favorites, with FanDuel Sportsbook setting the line at -34.5 in their favor.
How Hillman and the defense perform against the Lobos is important, though, because the unit lost a bevy of nationally renowned contributors to the NFL. Getting off to a strong start with a new-look lineup is key if the Wolverines are to compete for a College Football Playoff berth. The offense will garner the most attention, though, with true freshman quarterback and prized No. 1 overall recruit Bryce Underwood set to make his college football debut.
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