Previously: Last year’s profiles, K Adam Samaha, K James Turner (Tr), S Brandyn Hillman, CB DJ Waller, CB Cameron Calhoun, CB Jyaire Hill, HSP/LB Jason Hewlett, LB Hayden Moore, LB Semaj Bridgeman, LB Ernest Hausmann (Tr), OLB Breeon Ishmail, DE Aymeric Koumba, DE Enow Etta, DE Josaiah Stewart (Tr), DT Brooks Bahr, DT Cameron Brandt, DT Trey Pierce, OT Evan Link

Stanford Transfer (Hometown: Norcross, GA) – 6'7"/320
		247: 6'6/308                          4.01*	AS TRANSFER: 4*, 90 #12 tr-OT, #140 Ovr
		On3: 6'6/308                          3.86*	AS TRANSFER: 3*, 89 #14 tr-OT, 180 Ovr
		Rivals: 6'7/320                          4.03*	AS TRANSER: 4*, 5.8 #20 tr-OT, #122 Ovr
		Transfer Avg                          3.96*	4*, #464/790 since '90 #36/54 OTs
		HS Composite             4.66* / 4.64*	4*/5*, #74/#33 Ovr #6/#3 OT, #9/#5 GA
		MGoAverage                          4.61*	4.5*, #72/790 Ovr #3/54 OTs since '90
		YMRMFSPA	Grant Newsome
Other Suitors	Ohio State mentioned, only in portal 5 days.
Previously On MGoBlog	Portal In by Alex Drain
Notes	AA Bowl. Brother of Chris Hinton.
Film:
Film: 2022 vs USC:2022 vs ASU: Hudl. Good play vs ASU '21.

Not that we needed them to prove it, but a two-year study recently published by the Michigan State secondary conclusively demonstrated hype based on years-old recruiting rankings is less valuable than the arc of a guy's college career. Chris Hinton Sr.'s five-star younger son's first three years of college were less than five-starry, but he was starting.

This is why the announcement that Stanford refugee Myles Hinton had chosen Michigan was as bewildering as it was welcome. I mean, has he seen the depth chart? Is he planning to step ahead of LaDarius Henderson? Karsen Barnhart? Trente Jones? Jeff Persi? It's not the first time a Hinton, at least on the surface, has made a head-scratching career decision.

But here's the thing about the whole 5-star transfers down approach: How well has it worked out for those guys? The young portal era has already produced a hundred stories of hyped high schoolers who transferred down to move up the depth chart when they weren't playing enough. How many guys transfer up because they were playing too much? What does it tell you about a guy when he moves to a more competitive situation because of their record for development? What kind of guy says stuff like this?

If I work harder, I’ll grow more. Putting myself in positions where I might be a little bit behind or a little bit disadvantaged, in the long run it’ll work out to my advantage.

Maybe there's more to Myles than his underclassman tape.

[After THE JUMP: How do you tell?]

---------------------------

What's His Story?

As three-year Power 5 starters go, Hinton certainly makes it hard to get a bead on what he's going to be. Chris Hinton Jr.'s younger brother was a major Michigan target for 2020, but Stanford's academic program won out without any of the five-star drama. On In the Trenches he explained this was because he didn't really take football as seriously.

“I wasn’t sold on the sport going into college, it kind of surprises people,” Hinton said on In the Trenches with Jon Jansen. “My dad and brother played, it was part of the family. Once I got to college, I learned more about football and how it was a vehicle for future success, so I was trying to put myself in a position to where I could have that.”

His freshman year was spent contributing on special teams and four appearances as the Jim Harbaugh Memorial 6th offensive lineman. Stanford awarded him "Most Outstanding Freshman." He also began majoring in Human Biology.

Hinton had nine starts as a true sophomore, and played in all 12 games, all at right tackle, but he was clearly not ready to be out there. PFF scores are often less helpful than nothing, but it probably means something that Hinton was graded "the worst ever offensive lineman in David Shaw’s 11-year Stanford tenure." Oof.

After seven weeks of drowning, Shaw used a bye week to bench Hinton, move their good RG Branson Bragg to RT, and play backup Jake Hornibrook, who had filled in for Bragg (not well) for a game earlier in the season. The first game of that experiment cost them QB Tanner McKee, who hurt his wrist at the end of a 20-13 loss to Washington. Utah's ends then took turns going around Bragg to pulverize McKee's backups. Bragg was back at RT the following week at Oregon State but only lasted six snaps before shutting it down for the season, with Hinton returning to the lineup for that and blowout losses to Cal and Notre Dame. PFF thought the second half of the season went far better than the atrocious first half. The fans thought it would be wise to give Hinton a redshirt in 2022.

Maybe that was the plan until Bragg sustained yet another concussion late in the summer, and had to retire from football in early September. Hinton started the first two games at right tackle, not particularly well, before it was his turn to be injured. Two more RTs got injured trying to fill in for him, pass protection ceased to exist, and the Cardinal dropped to 1-5. Hinton made it back for their tilt with Notre Dame four weeks later, but Stanford had just lost longtime LT Walter Rouse (and given up 8 sacks), so Myles had to play the blindside. Also by this time the program was having Hinton regularly speak to the media. Incredibly, Stanford won (#lolND), and then beat Arizona State the following week. Rouse returned for UCLA, but Hinton had a terrible game. The next week was a bounce-back performance, but Hinton reaggravated his shoulder injury against Utah in Week 11 and shut it down.

Somewhere in there he decided he wasn't developing at Stanford, and that he indeed wanted to see how far this football thing could go:

I think the biggest thing was me really realizing my ability. Because for a while, I really didn’t understand, like, I’m kind of quick, I was kind of like strong, (but) it took a while for me to really like grasp what I could do on the field and off the field, physically. Growing up, my brother was the athletic one. He was the the sport player, and I was kind of just like the brother tagging along to AAU games or whatever he was playing. And I really saw myself as a big-time athlete, I really didn’t. Until like midway last year, I forget what I was doing but (it was) starting to click.

I know what it was. We were doing a drill on the field, it was an agility drill, a little challenge we did at Stanford, it was like a little relay race. We would get a med ball — it's complicated to explain —but we had to like, put my balls down, cut, change direction. It felt so smooth. And I was like, maybe I can, you know, work on this, you know?

He was enrolled at Michigan but still recovering this spring. We know all of that because he was one of the first guests this season on Jansen's In the Trenches podcast.

THE FILM

I watched the 2022 USC (mostly vs 2nd rounder Tuli Tuipulotu, who is #49, and Nick Figueroa, who is #99) and ASU games and bits of ND. Note he was playing left tackle vs Notre Dame so look for him there when you pull up a clip. USC was early in the season when he was still mostly healthy, Notre Dame was the first game back after his injury. Side note: maaaaaan try to find someone who will love and support you like Pac12 refs hold up USC.

Run Blocking:

It's a bit frustrating to watch Hinton's play because sometimes he overwhelms guys and sometimes he's just standing around like a spectator. He has plenty of speed and agility in space but rarely gets more than a bump—for the record, often that's enough to earn a +1 the way we grade. That agility wasn't enough to reach a DL on 4th & 2 but YMMV whether you think a guy should be able to make this block or the RB should cut off his back (I'd fall in the latter, a coach I talk to disagrees):

LT #78:

The feet can be a major asset when he figures out what he wants to do with a guy. Combine that with his reach and sometimes he's just pass blocking edge into kicked'dom. Just watch him dance this dude completely out the play without the guy realizing he might as well be at the numbers.

Stanford's running game was super left-handed Stanford was healthy—they obvious preferred to run behind Rouse. In the USC game I counted 14 runs to the left versus 4 to the right of center. The first run right was a 4th and 1 conversion that Hinton pried open.

RT#78:

The second run right I guarantee will be on Nugent's writeup (preview: he's boss). That was one of a few times when Hinton got out in space and couldn't hit anyone, or finish his block. To some degree, the passivity might be a consequence of practicing the "slow mesh" RPOs, which is where the RB hangs on a draw while the QB reads multiple pass options, because the OL don't want to get caught too far downfield. Most of my frustration however—and yes, I am spoiled by Michigan linemen—was from a lack of adjustment mid-play. Hinton tends to stay focused on his initial block instead of seeing the whole picture, which results in lots of running past the kinds of heads-up plays that Trevor Keegan has never missed in his lifetime:

And then he turns around. Never turn around!

The bend is incredible. He gets way under dudes who are already putting their backs parallel to the ground, which means as soon as Hinton's legs start moving they're about to be:

As we'll see in the pass protection, his quick feet allow him to recover from some pretty bad mistakes.

Pass Pro:

A lot of it was irrelevant because Stanford was running a lot of their slow mesh RPOs; I don't know if PFF was downgrading Hinton for letting loopers free but that's what you're supposed to do in that scenario. Hinton was excellent at halting bull-rushes in their tracks. He tends to get caught flat-footed at the snap, and loses concentration, but with his punch and length and quick feet and bend (stay for the replay) he can get routinely turn a loss into a win. Weaker guys get in range of those arms and then go boing!

I think it's mostly a development thing with him. When he gets beat it's usually because he overreacted to a move or someone got him off balance and his technique abandons him and he gets overpowered.

…which is weird because sometimes he arms a guy and the physics are happening on a totally different level than you're used to. The freaky thing is he can get bent back and still anchor and be fine. Drake Nugent had a very similar takeaway he shared on Jansen's pod:

“The dude is a physical freak. … He can do it naturally, and as soon as he realizes he can do it naturally and then he puts even more work in, it’s just terrifying what he can do. “I’ve seen plays with him where he barely touches someone and they fly like 10 yards. You’re like, ‘Oh my God, do that every play. You’ll be a first-team All-American. When I look at him, he’s just a monster of a human being, and as soon as he’s able to harness that and be explosive on the field and apply it to everything he does and the small minute details, then playing offensive line will be [easy].”

He's often slow out of his stance, taking as much as half a second to move, though it works for him because he has the athleticism to be reactive to the DL. As a result stunts against his side are often uneventful since Hinton can afford to get a little deeper and wait.

A lot of OTs will punch way to early but with Hinton it's the opposite—you're waiting for him to commit to a move and it doesn't come.

The Grading

Isn't pretty. PFF is on a 100 scale where 80 is very good, 70 is a solid player, 60 is meh, and under 50 is bad. Hinton's grades for 2021 and 2022 were 36.9 and 51.7, respectively. I have no idea how much his shoulder was bothering him last year, but "not bad" would be the most charitable reading of that.

I should explain our issue with PFF: They grade on a pass/fail/win system that doesn't take the difficulty of the block into consideration. The greatest offensive lineman in the world isn't the guy making highlight pancakes though; he's the guy who can make reach blocks and not lose to an array of moves. The pass pro grades mean more than the run grades, however.

Other People Scouting

Touch the Banner notes good footwork, a long wingspan, and the ability to "mash down one side of the line on run blocks." Hinton didn't make any noise about leaving for the draft, but NFL Draft Buzz looked at him anyways and rated him their #61 offensive tackle and #319 overall (UDFA range). Strengths included patience, violent hands, wide base with good feet, effective pulling (I didn't catch any) and agility. Basically a 5-star OT:

If a scout were to draw up a starting NFL left tackle, the picture may look like a lot like [Hinton]. His height, length and athletic build are prototypical for the position that helps protect the blind side of ultra-important starting quarterbacks.

They also noticed the slow get-off:

• He’ll have trouble with elite quickness at the next level.
• Can be a tick slow at the snap when asked to pass protect, and at times Hinton looks hesitant when facing stunts and twists.
• Hinton often plays too high, allowing speed-to-power rushers to knock him back and off balance. Hinton needs to get much better with his hand use.

They also provided some testing numbers. He was 76th percentile in height among draft-eligible tackles, 63rd percentile in weight, 27th percentile in vertical, 10th percentile in his forty time (5.50), and most discouragingly, 1st percentile in the shuttle, with a listed time of 5.38. They also noted those shuttle and 40 times were from high school, though ESPN's are different.

Hinton also provided a scouting report of himself on the podcast.

My strengths would be that I have pretty quick feet. On the contrary to that, I need to work on balance, in the run game especially. Solid balance pass-pro wise but just like in the run game, I feel like I get tossed off late more than I should just because I block kind of heavy, bend the waist more than I knee bend. I take really big steps. I need to shorten my steps up, play with more knee bend and strike with my hands instead of hands then head. Pass-pro, up until midway last year, I didn't punch very well. Like, at all. I'd kind of punch disjointed or I would miss. Midway through last year, I started to do independent hand punches, punching with my post-hand first.

Man, I waited until after my film review to get this but he hit on all the same points.

A Mountain of Potential

This was so long ago it's not very relevant anymore, but there was lots of it, as you might imagine, for a 5-star from Georgia from a well-known athletic family. Bart Simmons, now the recruiting coordinator of Vandy, wrote up Hinton's scouting report on 247, making a comparison to Germain Ifedi.

Big jointed, long, broad-shouldered offensive lineman that plays big. Bends well with light feet despite heavy frame. Nimble with the ability to pull and locate second level defenders. Plays with balance on contact. Engages hips effectively. Polished technically with a clean pass set and advanced hand placement. Possesses natural strength and looks like he is still maturing. Has NFL pedigree. Missed most of junior season with injury. Competition rarely tests him. Needs to be careful not to get too heavy.

The top athletes would get numeric ratings on a 10 scale. Hinton received…

• 9s in Pass Blocking and Frame
• 8s in Strength, Punch, Feet, Body Quickness, and Run Blocking, and
• a 7 in Athleticism.

Simmons noted Hinton also competed in track and field. Hinton's high school coach hit on all the positives we saw above, including how much of his upside was not going to be evident as a freshman or sophomore.

"Myles is just a mountain of potential," Greater Atlanta Christian coach Tim Hardy said. "Obviously tremendous size, basic measurables for the position and he's like a big cat, really light footed and surprisingly explosive. I think his best football is ahead of him. He's one of these guys that has room to physically mature and fill out his frame and just continue to add strength. He's so broad and long you have some serious tools to work with."

Adam Gorney of Rivals comped Hinton to a 6'5" guy, though at least he picked one with freaky athleticism with questionable physicality.

Farrell’s take: Dillard is arguably the most athletic offensive tackle in the NFL Draft and has great feet and Hinton has the potential to be that same guy in a few years. Hinton has light feet, is very smart and uses his hands well but needs to get more physical. If there’s one question about both of them it’s their ability to handle bull rushes, but you can’t teach their size and agility.

Chad Simmons noted the shoulder injury and that staying healthy would be a big deal, and Farrell had second thoughts about that 5th star until an impressive showing at the All-American Bowl solidified things, with Hinton earning "physical freak" honorable mention.

Tom Luginbill of ESPN also used a future NFL tackle, but emphasis on the future. Unfortunately Luginbill will use the worst SEC player before he admits there's another conference, so his comp to Prince Tega Wanogho requires translation.

Hinton leads a talented class of offensive tackles, and his raw size and athleticism are reminiscent of Wanogho coming out of high school. Like Wanogho back then, Hinton is far from a finished product, but his natural length, flexibility and overall athleticism make for a high ceiling. Wanogho played early at Auburn, and though he had some bright moments, his lack of strength and technique would get him in trouble. Fast forward two years and he's an entirely different player. We see the same upside with Hinton, especially given the offense and level of importance placed on the offensive line at Stanford.

Wanogho is a 6'5" guy who played basketball until college, and came in as a DT. He got one shining moment when the Chiefs elevated him from the practice squad during their 2021 run. Luginbill isn't saying that's what Hinton will be; he's saying Hinton was really raw and shouldn't be starting as a true freshman or true sophomore. And so.

The Injury:

It's a right shoulder:

“I had surgery in high school on my left shoulder—same kind of issue—so I know the process rehab-wise. But I like challenges, personally. I like being challenged. I don’t like comfort, because when you feel comfortable, you get complacent like, ‘Oh, I can do this,’ but that’s just not the case. I like having something to strive for, so being behind the 8-ball, I guess you could say, makes me want to work harder.

Not as Football Guy as Other Hintons

I've never seen a Harbaugh recruit be this blasé about football.

“I wasn’t sold on the sport going into college, it kind of surprises people,” Hinton said on In the Trenches with Jon Jansen. “My dad and brother played, it was part of the family. Once I got to college, I learned more about football and how it was a vehicle for future success, so I was trying to put myself in a position to where I could have that.”

I think that explains why Michigan finished second the first time. Harbaugh's whole thing is football talking. The story he's told more than any other was the day he put on his football gear the first time then tackled Ralph in an Oklahoma drill. It is fine to come to football later in life.

Etc. You know the family. Christopher Hinton's brother. Their dad was an All-American at Northwestern and 7-time Pro Bowler who's in the Colts Ring of Honor. Their mom Mya (Whitmore) was a star basketball player at Northwestern. The parents had a hard-to-miss tailgate near the Crisler entrance while Chris Jr. was here, and also organized the national parents group to advocate for the safety of athletes during COVID.

Myles won a state title in discus as a HS junior. Going into bio-engineering. A DaVinci.

I call him a renaissance man," Hardy continued. "He's a highly-accomplished artist. He's had pieces displayed at the museum of civil rights in downtown Atlanta. He's an avid fisherman. He loves to fish. Very passionate about that.

Why Grant Newsome? Sophomore issues aside, I see a super intelligent, super educated, super ideal left tackle here. Newsome was…different than other football recruits. He committed to Michigan when everyone but Dave Brandon knew Brady Hoke was toast. He was also a natural pass blocker who needed to be taught to be meaner. Newsome also had to play early, though his sophomore year was going better than Hinton's when the injury happened.

Guru Reliability: Very high? Other than PFF.

Variance: Vast. Hinton has two years left to play and you've seen the depth chart. He could end up never seeing the field. He could also reset and pop into a 1st rounder next year.

Ceiling: Very high. I think "vast" might be pushing it only because Hinton only has two years of eligibility left. He also has a redshirt year he could take to push that out. If Ben Herbert can get that shoulder right, and Sherrone Moore can put some coaching into this guy, the five-star is definitely still in there.

Flight Risk Level: Low. He's already transferred once, and he's got to be coming here for at least a 5th year. I don't think he's a grad transfer either, so he'll need a few extra semesters beyond other 2020 guys to get his degree. You don't think he's leaving without that, right?

General Excitement Level: High Minus or Very High. Baseline 5, +1 for the five-star left tackle is still in there, –1 for Stanford's coaching isn't so bad they wouldn't have gotten more out of him, right?, +1 for Stanford's injury situation was such they didn't have a choice to play him so yeah, –1 for that shoulder might never heal, +1 for that is insane length, +1 for and agility, +1 for and bend, +1 for and all the stuff you need to be a star left tackle, –1 for except nastiness, –1 for and balance, –1 for the worst pass pro season in 11 years of Shaw was his only full year of starting, +1 for as a true sophomore, –1 for wow he really does need a lot of development, +1 for he'll get a year of it at Michigan at least, +1 conditional if he takes a redshirt this year, -1 conditional if he doesn't.

Projection: I came in expecting this to be a way bigger salvage job. It would have been really easy for Hinton to go somewhere that needs an immediate left tackle and extract all kinds of concessions. A lot of kids are doing that. It also--as long as your financial circumstances aren't desperate--shown to be a short-term and ultimately bad bet.

If Hinton is coming to redshirt this year--and I kind of think that's what he's doing--it might be the smartest move in the history of the portal. Michigan has three guys who've started at tackle for them already, and added an already draftable one-and-done in LaDarius Henderson who's coming to Oluwatimi his way up draft boards. Hinton isn't going to get healthy and get all the bad habits out of his game in time to bump 5th year Karsen Barnhart or 5th year Trente Jones. There's no reason to play Hinton more than four games this season.

After that, Hinton's the most likely guy not on the current two-deep to win Henderson's left tackle job.

This is a big upgrade from my projection before I went through this exercise. A true sophomore year after a COVID year can only be taken so seriously, and Hinton's true junior year looks better on film than it did in the grading. I don't know what's up with PFF, but the USC game wouldn't have looked out of place on Ryan Hayes's resume last year. If Hinton only had fall camp to get right, I'd still wonder what he's doing here. If can wash a year and come back with two to play, well now there are possibilities indeed.

There's plenty to clean up, but a LOT to like here. Give him a year with Herbert to get that shoulder right, and a year of working with Moore, and I think Hinton is able to hit a higher ceiling than the competition. We'll assume Henderson isn't using his 6th year. The competition to replace him includes potential 6th years from Barnhart and Trente Jones, and the program can't shut up about future RT Andrew Gentry. But more likely the plan for 2024 pre-Hinton was for Tristan Bounds or Jeff Persi to be ready to assume the blind side. That's quite a logjam, and who can't say how things will shake out. But give Hinton the same eligibility as Bounds/Persi next year and who wins that battle?