Michigan linebacker Obi Ezeh hauls down UConn running back Robbie Frey just short of the first-down marker on a crucial fourth down play. Lon Horwedel | AnnArbor.com

Obi Ezeh considers himself his toughest critic and seldom requires external motivation. If he does need any help, the Michigan football team's career active leading tackler need only rewind to last season.

For the first time in three years, he didn't finish the season as the Wolverines' leading tackler and lost his starting job at outside linebacker to Kevin Leach.

He struggled with basic demands of his job, leading him to characterize his 69-tackle output as mediocre. The fifth-year senior wants to use his final season to prove himself.

"Maybe I had to prove to myself that I could go out and play at the same level that in my mind I thought I could," Ezeh said. "It was just a matter of waiting all summer and waiting all camp to show everybody the work I had put in."

"Maybe I had to prove to myself that I could go out and play at the same level that in my mind I thought I could," Ezeh said. "It was just a matter of waiting all summer and waiting all camp to show everybody the work I had put in."

Ezeh will make his second start of the season at middle linebacker at Notre Dame (3:30 p.m., NBC) He had a team-high nine tackles in Michigan's 30-10 win over UConn in the season-opener.

Ezeh also recovered a fumble inside the Wolverines' 5-yard line that extinguished a Huskies' scoring drive that could have cut Michigan's lead to seven points. Yet, Ezeh isn’t convinced he has completed his journey of again being a defensive difference maker.

"I always strive to get better at everything I do," Ezeh said Monday. "So I really nit-pick at things sometimes, and I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing. But I had to show (in the opener) that throughout the summer, throughout the spring, throughout camp that for me to be on the field, I knew going into the season that there were a lot of things I had to work on."

Ezeh was slowed by a nagging back injury last season when he had five tackles for loss, two pass break-ups and a fumble recovery. As frustrating as the injury was, Ezeh could tell he wasn't playing at the same level he had in the past. Michigan coaches noticed, leading them to strip Ezeh of his starting job.

"I know he has worked real hard to kind of challenge himself to physically become the best player he can be out there on that field," Michigan defensive coordinator Greg Robinson said. "I'm glad I've been able to work with him, because I think he absorbs the information. I know this: He's very intent and competing very hard to get back in there and feel good about the way he can play."

After one game, Ezeh is moving in the right direction.

"Coming back, I felt like I had a lot more to prove," Ezeh said. "I just came back knowing I had to work for that and, hopefully, I can come out every week and put out similar performances. But I'm going to stay hungry, and I think everyone's going to stay hungry, because I don't think one win is going to satisfy us."

Ezeh is slow to openly critique his performances, leaning more toward praising the defense as a whole rather than focus on his own accomplishments.

But after an off-season of hard work, teammates see a different player.

"One thing about Obi is he is just really resilient," junior defensive end Ryan Van Bergen said this week. "He's going to come back just as hard if not harder on the next play if he messed up. His leadership never faded even though sometimes he might have slipped up a little bit on the field.

"He's coming back with a very good attitude. He's very motivated - him and Jonas (Mouton), both - and it rubs off on the defense. The things they do out on the field that you guys can't see. They are really doing a good job of keeping the defensive line and secondary and all the young guys connected."

Jeff Arnold covers sports for AnnArbor.com and can be reached at (734) 623-2554 or by email at jeffarnold@annarbor.com. Follow him on Twitter @jeffreyparnold.