Makari Paige has had to adjust to the styles of multiple coordinators during his time at Michigan. He is now starting to learn from Co-DC/ DB coach Steve Clinkscale per Aaron McMann of Mlive.

In Paige’s first year at Michigan, the DC was Don Brown, who used a lot of man coverage. Then in 2021, he had to transition to Mike Macdonald’s scheme before he left for the NFL. Paige said it has been difficult at times with so many different scheme changes.

“It’s been difficult,” Paige said this week. “I couldn’t really learn the playbook because I was so used to playing man-to-man my whole career. Being able to learn the zones and understand fully the defense, it’s been hard. But now I understand that more.”

Clinkscale believes that Paige has gotten to understand a lot of different defensive concepts during his time at Michigan. He has seen a lot of growth from him because of it.

The defense he ran in high school was a lot of man coverage, so last year was kind of understanding more of the principals of zone, how to communicate, how we adjust based on formations, etc. You saw him grow a lot this spring. He’s carried it over into the summer, and he’s done a good job right now in the fall.

Paige is not a starter at Michigan yet, but he is on his way to becoming one in the future.