Michigan
‘He’s been phenomenal’: Michigan Football has its second starting cornerback opposite Will Johnson
Michigan has arguably the best cornerback in all of college football in first team All-American Will Johnson, but one of the few question mark on the Wolverines’ defense heading into 2024 was who would start opposite Johnson at the second corner spot.
It appears we have our answer with ‘game week’ underway ahead of Michigan’s season-opener against Fresno State this upcoming Saturday. At his weekly press conference on Monday, head coach Sherrone Moore said redshirt freshman Jyaire Hill, nicknamed “Sugar” for his affinity for candy, is expected to start for the Wolverines in the opener.
“Yeah, right now it would be Jyaire,” Moore said. “Jyaire’s really taking hold of that position and doing a really good job. Sug, he’s been phenomenal, tough, just a gritty dude. One of Kankakee’s finest. And he’s been great. So I think it would be him on Saturday that would line up across from Will Johnson.”
Hill appeared in four games for the Wolverines in 2023 to preserve a redshirt year, totaling eight tackles, including 1.5 tackles for loss in limited action. A former four-star prospect and Top 175 recruit, the native of Kankakee, Ill. was one of Michigan’s most coveted prospects in the 2023 recruiting class. The Wolverines beat out the homestate Illinois Fighting Illini to earn Hill’s commitment in that cycle. If Hill starts and performs well for Michigan this season, that will prove to be one of the program’s biggest recruiting wins of the past several years.
This offseason, Michigan brought in two transfer cornerbacks out of the portal, 2023 FCS All-American Aamir Hall (Albany) and UNLV starter Ricky Johnson. It appears that duo will provide depth at the position behind Johnson and Hill, at least to begin the season.
Moore also gave insight on how the Wolverines’ outlook at the safety position. Michigan returns one half of its starting duo at the position in senior Makari Paige, but lost fellow senior Rod Moore to an ACL injury during spring practice. The Wolverines return rotational safety Quinton Johnson from last year’s squad, but also added Tennessee’s Wesley Walker and Michigan State’s Jaden Mangham at the position, each of whom were starters at their previous schools. Redshirt sophomore Zeke Berry is expected to start at nickelback.
“Right now, obviously, Makari’s been phenomenal,” Moore said. “Quinten Johnson’s been great. But you’ve got Zeke Berry in there. You’ve got Wes Walker in there. You’ve got Jaden Mangham. You’ve got Brandyn Hillman, who’s really, really taken his level of play to the next level because he’s got some elite traits and ability that people haven’t seen yet, and we’re super excited. It’s finally getting there for him. But him and a guy like Zeke Berry, who’s really all he needed was the confidence. And, you know, it would be funny because I’m talking to Rod, I’m talking to Will. I was like, who’s the guy in the background? And this was in the spring. Like, who are you guys most excited about? They said, Zeke. Zeke. And to watch his evolution as a player, he’s made some plays in camp, just wild plays. And they’re like, yeah, that’s routine of his skill set. So he’s really stepped up. So that room’s super deep and ready for it.”
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The supreme court on Wednesday sided with Michigan in ruling that the state’s lawsuit seeking to shut down a section of an ageing pipeline beneath a Great Lakes channel will stay in state court.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote for a unanimous court that the Enbridge energy company waited too long to try to move the case to federal court.
The case is part of a messy legal dispute about a pipeline that has moved crude oil and natural gas liquids between Superior, Wisconsin, and Sarnia, Ontario, since 1953.
Dana Nessel, Michigan’s attorney general, sued in state court in June 2019 seeking to void the easement that allows Enbridge to operate a 4.5-mile (6.4km) section of pipeline under the straits of Mackinac, which link Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Nessel, a Democrat, won a restraining order shutting down the pipeline from Ingham county judge James Jamo in June 2020, although Enbridge was allowed to continue operations after meeting safety requirements.
Enbridge moved the lawsuit into federal court in 2021, arguing it affects US and Canadian trade. But a three-judge panel from the sixth US circuit court of appeals sent the case back to Jamo in June 2024, finding that the company missed a 30-day deadline to change jurisdictions.
The pipeline at issue is called Line 5. Concerns over the section beneath the straits rupturing and causing a catastrophic spill have been growing since 2017, when Enbridge engineers revealed they had known about gaps in the section’s protective coating since 2014. A boat anchor damaged the section in 2018, intensifying fears of a spill.
The Michigan department of natural resources under Gretchen Whitmer, the state’s governor, revoked the straits easement for Line 5 in 2020. Enbridge filed a separate federal lawsuit challenging the revocation.
Enbridge won a ruling from a federal judge blocking the move, but Whitmer, a Democrat, has appealed to the sixth US circuit court of appeals. In March, the supreme court rejected Whitmer’s appeal claiming that she couldn’t be sued in federal court.
It was unclear how the federal ruling blocking Whitmer’s revocation attempt would affect Nessel’s case in state court. The company said in a statement that the judge in the Whitmer case had already decided federal regulators, not the state, are responsible for Line 5 safety and they had found no issues that would warrant shutting it down.
Enbridge also is seeking permits to encase the section of pipeline beneath the straits in a protective tunnel. The Michigan public service commission granted the relevant permits in 2023, but a coalition of environmental groups and Michigan tribes has filed a lawsuit seeking to void state permits for the tunnel. The state supreme court is weighing that case.
Enbridge also needs approval from the US army corps of engineers and the Michigan department of environment, Great Lakes and energy.
The pipeline is at the center of a separate legal dispute in Wisconsin as well. A federal judge in Madison last summer gave Enbridge three years to shut down part of Line 5 that runs across the Bad River Band of Lake Superior’s reservation. The company has appealed against the shutdown order to the seventh US circuit court of appeals, but it started work in February to reroute the line around the reservation.
The Bad River Band and environmental groups have filed a state lawsuit seeking to halt the work, arguing regulators have underestimated the damage the reroute construction will cause. That case also is pending.
Porter Martone becomes first teenager to score game-winning goals in his first two NHL playoff games.
Porter Martone becomes first teenager to score game-winning goals in his first two NHL playoff games.
Three Michigan State recruits will represent Team USA at the world U18 hockey championships in Bratislava and Trencin, Slovakia.
The U.S. opens against Czechia on Wednesday (10 a.m., The Hockey Network).
The future Spartans are: defenseman Nick Bogas (Royal Oak), defenseman Tyler Martyniuk (Washington Township) and forward Brooks Rogowski (Brighton).
Other local commits include: defenseman Abe Barnett (University of Michigan) and goalie Luke Carrithers (Western Michigan).
Team USA’s head coach is Nick Fohr (Dexter) with Kevin Porter (Northville) and Dan Darrow (Livonia) among the assistant coaches.
The tournament features 10 countries with the final scheduled for May 2.
Bruins tie series with Sabres
The visiting Boston Bruins scored three second-period goals and held off a late Buffalo Sabres rally to post a 4-2 win on Tuesday and even their Eastern Conference quarterfinal playoff series at one victory apiece.
Viktor Arvidsson scored in the last two periods, giving the Bruins 1-0 and 4-0 leads. Morgan Geekie and Pavel Zacha also lit the lamp for Boston, which heads home for Game 3 of the best-of-seven series on Thursday.
Jonathan Aspirot, Casey Mittelstadt and David Pastrnak each dished out two assists for the Bruins, and Jeremy Swayman made 34 saves.
Bowen Byram and Peyton Krebs scored as Buffalo climbed within 4-2 in the closing minutes.
Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen allowed four goals on 19 shots before Alex Lyon entered in relief following Arvidsson’s second marker, which came just 16 seconds into the third period.
Buffalo had a 36-26 shot advantage, including 20-8 in the third period, but its power play went 0-for-5. Boston finished 1-for-6 on the man advantage.
The physical contest featured 47 penalty minutes for each team.
Following a scoreless opening period, the Bruins took over in the second, scoring on three of their 11 shots against Luukkonen.
Arvidsson broke the deadlock 4:54 into the middle frame, taking Aspirot’s lob pass in ahead of the defense and beating Luukkonen five-hole with a backhander from the left circle.
A gaffe by Luukkonen helped Boston double its lead with 3:31 left in the period, as Geekie’s high backhanded dump from the far side of center ice eluded him over the glove.
The Bruins’ power play got in on the action 1:41 later. After Geekie’s one- handed keep-in at the blue line extended the play, Zacha tipped in Pastrnak’s shot from the top of the right circle while stationed in the bumper position.
Arvidsson made it 4-0 early in the third, prompting Sabres coach Lindy Ruff to change goaltenders. Aspirot banked a long feed off the boards to set up the play, leading Arvidsson down the left wing to score on a 2-on-1 rush with Zacha.
The Sabres struck twice in a 1:14 span to make things interesting. Byram accepted Beck Malenstyn’s back pass for a wrister from the top of the right circle to break Swayman’s shutout bid with 6:06 left.
Krebs soon made it 4-2, batting down and scoring the rebound of a Rasmus Dahlin point shot that caromed off the post and back into the crease.
Detroit Red Wings received six A’s in The Detroit News’ final grades for the 2025-2026 season.
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