Ojabo’s Numbers before 2021
While it is not going to be easy to replace Hutchinson and Ojabo, I don’t think anyone was predicting either of them to have double digit sacks this year. I imagine that if most heard going into the season they were going to combine for 10 sacks this year they would have been happy.
Before 2021, Ojabo had 1 career tackle (not sack, tackle). Hutchinson had 4.5 career sacks. Doubling that number would have been great. Instead Hutchinson more than tripled it (note that one place in his bio credits him with 13, another with 14 - not sure which is right).
I am not suggesting that there are two players who are going to have double digit sacks next year, but I do think we are going to have edge rushers step up and surprise us.
January 2nd, 2022 at 6:21 PM ^
Unless he's leaving to be an analyst, no he's not. Mora already filled his staff.
January 3rd, 2022 at 11:40 AM ^
Thats from November 28th. It says Ryan Osborne is going to be the dline coach. Well unless Ryan Osborne changed his name to Kenny McClendon, Mora didn't want to wait for Osborne to be done with the playoff. Note the date.
January 2nd, 2022 at 3:56 PM ^
I'm not counting on a freshmen but Moore now has two sacks in the UA game with a 3rd that didn't stand because of defensive holding.
January 2nd, 2022 at 4:05 PM ^
Hutchinson was the highest graded returning B1G edge defender in 2020 and recorded scored of +17, +22 (both higher than Paye) in the two games he participated in that year. As a true sophmore he generated pass rush against Tristan Wirf. You are really stretching acting like he was some kind of surprise.
Ojabo was more of a "surprise" but IIRC there were articles written him about how he was a prototypical modern edge prospect and he was in his third year with the program. When Brown was asked how we would replace Uche he mention Ojabo specifically. One or more of the writers here predicted him having a break about year. Alex.drain even said he would get B1G votes.
Our returning production includes Upshaw, Morris, Harrell, and McGregor. This should be a solid platoon and does have a decent ceiling but it would be a miracle if we are even close to this years production.
January 2nd, 2022 at 6:46 PM ^
Hutchinson set the Michigan single season sack record. It was not a surprise that he was good. I would argue that it was a surprise he was that good.
Similarly, Ojabo was poised for a good season, did you really think he was poised for an 11 sack season? The last time Michigan had one player with more than 10 sacks was Brandon Graham in 2009.
You really saw them combining for 25 sacks this year? Further, what was unique this year is that two guys generated most of our pass rush. That can be made up for by multiple players. Players will step up and we will find a way to apply pressure on the quarterback.
2017 - 42 sacks
2018 - 34 sacks
2019 - 36 sacks
2021 - 34 sacks
January 3rd, 2022 at 1:05 AM ^
Good research..even with TWO great edge rushers the team overall was pretty much inline with recent performance. That makes the road ahead look a lot less of an issue...MacDonald have lots of tools to work with to get back to similar numbers next year but almost certainly spread out more and that can be beneficial to the team.
January 3rd, 2022 at 2:42 PM ^
The flip side of that is, with so little of our sack numbers coming from anyone other than Ojabo/Hutchinson, there’s still a big improvement needed from the guys who didn’t produce much this year to replace those 25 sacks.
Another issue is that we’re comparing to Don Brown defenses, which are known for bringing extra rushers and exotic blitz packages. We don’t really have a point of reference as to what a typical MacDonald defense’s sack numbers look like without the #1 overall pick and another first rounder at the edge positions.
I don’t have the data, but does a MacDonald defense blitz less than a Brown defense? Are the blitz packages more or less exotic? All things that would contribute to sack numbers.
January 2nd, 2022 at 9:56 PM ^
Ojabo did come out of nowhere, but he also played opposite of Hutchinson. It's hard to imagine Ojabo having the season he did if Hutchinson went pro last year. I'm a Bears fan, and you see it a lot with Khalil Mack (when healthy). He'll have somewhat pedestrian numbers, but the opposite DE and backup/situational pass rushers opposite of him will get solid numbers. Then you think Mack is having a bad year and these other guys are on the rise. Then Mack gets injured and those guys have minimal production. Maybe Ojabo could have done it either way, I don't know -- just my theory. What I really would've loved to see, is a season of Hutch and Paye on each end, with Ojabo rotating in and pushing Paye inside on pass downs. That would've been fun.