Brew Briefs: "Confident" Jourdan Lewis gets familiarized with the first team defense

Throughout his short time at Michigan, sophomore cornerback Jourdan Lewis has tried to make his playing time count. Playing as an early freshman last season, he could gain the necessary experience and get a feel for the collegiate level.

As a returning sophomore on a defense full of youth, Lewis has been able to go through the growing pains that comes with youth. However, the biggest difference between this season and last for Lewis?

Confidence. It's all about confidence.

"I feel very confident," Lewis said. "That's probably what it was, just confidence, settling down and making sure I know the defense."

With his new found confidence, Lewis is ready for an expanded role. By having an excellent spring and by all accounts a fantastic summer, he could see an increased role in the defense.

However, it appears that expanded role isn't something that will happen the first week of the season. According to Lewis, his time during the first defense was not a sign that he's won the starting job, it was more about getting experience with the first team defense.

"It was just coach trying to get me out there with the ones," Lewis said. "It wasn't really anything that indicated where I was on the depth chart, it was just getting me out there with the ones."

With a new position coach in Roy Manning -- who coached the linebackers last season -- the defense has preached that it wants to be more aggressive now that it has the depth to do so. Although Manning has never coached cornerbacks in his career, Lewis feels comfortable with having him as his coach.

"I don't want to say gain, I guess it was just everybody preaching about being physical," Lewis said. "Coach (Roy Manning) knows what he's doing out there."

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