Don Brown paused and planned his answer.

It was Thursday, the first time the defensive coordinator had spoken to media since the Michigan football team opened fall camp last Monday, and the natural questions were asked:

Would he dial it back with such a young defense? What was the most interesting position battle? How were the young pass rushers doing?

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Then came a question that Brown treated like an affront to his personal creed: Could an aggressive approach help his young cornerbacks cover up their inexperience?

“Let me ask you this question,” he responded. “So, I’m going to cover you. And I’m going to go back here, and you’re going to go run all over the place, and I’m going to go cover you.”

Brown gestured in all directions, then scratched the side of his head and continued: “Do you think that’s easy? With all that space on a football field?

“Or,” he said, stamping his feet and pointing as he moved toward another reporter, “I’m covering you.”

In other words, ‘yes, aggression helps.’

Theatrics aside, this deciphers how Michigan’s defensive coordinator will approach the natural challenges of this fall camp.

When Brown arrived last season, his “Dr. Blitz” moniker seemed like a perfect fit for Michigan’s veteran defense. Every starter was fundamentally sound enough to excel in Brown’s system, and they did, becoming the nation’s second-best defense.

But as we examined Friday, Michigan is facing a tall task this season. The Wolverines must replace 10 of those starters, including the entire secondary. That puts the onus on Brown to decide just how fast he can bring his young group along.

With an extra week of practice this year, thanks to a new NCAA rule eliminating two-a-days, Michigan got an early start. That helps Brown here. He can afford to take extra time before pulling out the full playbook.

But aggression is going to be a constant.

“That’s just the way we play defense,” Brown said. “Now, we may do that different ways. We may play different concepts. Obviously, you have a system. It needs to be flexible enough so that speed can get on the field, and based on where that speed comes from — positionally — that your package is flexible enough so that you can utilize those talents.”

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That seems like a lot to unpack, but it boils down to this: Brown wants to be aggressive, wants to be fast, but he can’t gauge what that means until he knows what he’s working with.

Last year, for example, Michigan had a secondary that could cover up for the risks of aggression. Brown could send the house, and, with few exceptions, trust the secondary would hold up if the front seven didn’t get a sack.

Here, late in Brown’s first game with the Wolverines, he unleashed an all-out blitz that didn’t result in a sack. Hawaii receiver Dylan Collie was one-on-one with safety Delano Hill, but, even with a step, it wasn’t enough. Hill knocked the ball away and no harm was done.

On that play, Brown was able to bet on an aggressive blitz because he had a 56-point lead and a reliable defender in coverage. But when the Wolverines open the season against Florida, he likely won’t have the former. That means he has to figure out fast whether he has the latter.

When Brown spoke Thursday, the Wolverines had completed just one padded practice. He answered — fairly — that he didn’t know whether he would have to dial it back. But he summed up his conundrum well.

“You obviously want to get the guys all this information,” Brown explained, “but you don’t want to jam it at them too fast if they can’t retain. And you actually have a little more time to install, get prepared, and so forth, but you don’t want them bored with it either. So you’ve got to kind of keep it going at a reasonable clip so that they stay engaged, and they learn and participate with great energy.”

As Brown said, much of the way his system is deployed depends on personnel. That’s where his comments about getting speed on the field come in. That’s also where it’s hard to predict outcomes because no outsiders can see what Brown is seeing.

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Michigan might well have a more athletic linebacking corps than last year with Devin Bush and likely “Viper” Khaleke Hudson in line to join Mike McCray. Its front four, led by Maurice Hurst and Rashan Gary, has had little trouble being disruptive.

It’s the secondary where Brown really has to assess his options. Last season, the Wolverines had the No. 1 pass defense in the country. Even that group paid the price for aggression sometimes.

On this play against Colorado in Week 3, Michigan rushed seven men, only to see Devin Ross get free deep against two safeties — Dymonte Thomas and Jabrill Peppers — and score. While that play looks more like a mental error than anything, that’s sort of the point here.

Brown needs to know he can deploy the pressure he wants without getting burned. That will likely dictate the way he approaches and paces camp.

In that sense, it’s possible Brown will be patient as he installs his defense. But that doesn’t mean he’s not going to be aggressive.