Young Wolverines in the NFL Getting to the QB
Like many of you, I watched a lot of football this past weekend....And I was happy to see our young Wolverines getting to the QB. Paye, Danna, Ojabo and Uche all recorded a sack, and of course Hutchinson was a man possessed on TNF even without a sack.
Going to be fun to see how many sacks our Wolverines get this season!
Paye: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQT3Qu51t5E
Ojabo: https://www.nfl.com/videos/david-ojabo-strip-sacks-c-j-stroud-to-force-crucial-turnover
Danna: https://www.nfl.com/videos/mike-danna-corrals-goff-for-chiefs-first-sack-of-2023
Uche: Can't seem to find this video!
Hutchinson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlKrhUfOPxU
September 11th, 2023 at 9:10 AM ^
Aiden Hutchinson got the best possible deal for a guy who didn’t rack up the counting stats: he got basically an entire broadcast about how the OL he was matched up against was cheating on every single play.
The announcers spent a lot of time dissecting how he was dominating an OL who was lining up in the backfield, false starting, and holding him every single play. He got elite-level attention
September 11th, 2023 at 9:28 AM ^
That game hopefully should've been good for Michigan recruiting given Danna and Hutchinson were like main guys getting pressure on both teams
September 11th, 2023 at 9:35 AM ^
Yes, and Danna said “Michigan” during his intro segment!
September 11th, 2023 at 9:48 AM ^
I thought there was talk that the Lions probably let it go because the Lineman was inadvertently tipping the plays, run vs pass.
September 11th, 2023 at 9:14 AM ^
It amazes me how Michigan really hasn’t landed any flashy or star edge rushers in recruiting in the last few classes. We have put in 4 first round pick edge rushers since 2016, and a total of 10 edge rushers.
September 11th, 2023 at 9:17 AM ^
It's because we are way behind in NIL.
September 11th, 2023 at 9:20 AM ^
This makes sense. I appreciate that Michigan pushes opportunities for the established players on the team. But if they don't figure out a way to get NIL to incoming recruits on the front end they will continue to miss on these guys. Hard to get an 18 year old kid to understand the long term benefit of development when another school is offering 6 figures before he steps a foot on campus.
September 11th, 2023 at 9:30 AM ^
+1, but a reluctant +1
NIL is a factor, but this isn’t the end-all-be-all of problems nor solutions.
There are a certain number of top level football players for whom Michigan isn’t even an option. Academics matter, and there’s only so far that Michigan will stretch.
There’s also recruits who are basically committed to a school from the moment of their birth. Michigan gets a few of these. Other schools get a few of these. The portion of the country which is hyper-regional also tends to produce the most top-level athletes, so we’re missing out there too.
Michigan loses out on the “core memory” portion of high school athletes. An 18 year old today was born in 2005 (god I’m old) and their first sports memories would come around…2009-11 maybe? Exactly what was Michigan up to those days??
NIL *should* not mean “pay the player any amount to get them to come here” IMO. But that’s the reality for a lot of high level recruits who are basically their family’s ticket out of poverty. If anything, NIL is *helping* us, because now Michigan can offer SOMETHING for the recruits who may previously have wanted to come here but *needed* SEC bagman money.
I don’t know what the right NIL model is, but “back up a dump truck full of money to a recruit’s driveway” doesn’t sound right.
September 11th, 2023 at 9:35 AM ^
Don’t look now, but a recruit was 8 when Harbaugh joined Michigan. His first few years are now these kids core memories, they grew up watching Peppers, Hurst, Bush, Winovich, and Gary.
September 11th, 2023 at 9:39 AM ^
Yes, which means that if my “core memory” theory is correct, then recruiting should start to get easier for Harbaugh, because …
1) he won’t have to overcome any “but Michigan sucked until recently” unconscious bias (thanks RichRod and Hoke, nice fucking legacy…), and
2) *he* will be the coach on the sidelines in these kids’ core memories!
Continuity in a top-level football program matters a LOT
September 11th, 2023 at 9:27 AM ^
Point taken, but counter-point is both Braiden McGregor and Derrick Moore were fairly highly rated.
September 11th, 2023 at 9:34 AM ^
2 in the last 4 cycles. Still seems lacking. I get our NIL is not on par, but wouldn’t a first round pick signing bonus equate a good enough NIL? Like these guys still can get NIL here at Michigan.
September 11th, 2023 at 9:17 AM ^
Hutch was great on Thursday. Even with the OT, let's call it "fudging" his stance and first step.
He keeps up that effort it is going to be a special season for him.
September 11th, 2023 at 9:17 AM ^
Username ✔s out!
September 11th, 2023 at 9:17 AM ^
On the flip side of that, its awesome that our coaches are evaluating talent and potential in recruiting and developing those players once they get on the roster.
September 11th, 2023 at 11:42 AM ^
For my money, Harbaugh & his staff are near the top of the chart for player development.
If you look at the talent composites for Top 5 teams (Georgia, Ohio State, Bama, etc), they're all loaded with 4 and 5 stars. Michigan is the huge outlier in terms of results with a ranking in the low to mid teens.
Just look at the 3 stars we've repeatedly put into the NFL (DJ Turner, Ronnie Bell, Schoonmaker, Kwity Paye, Mike Danna, Chase Winovich, etc. etc.) And we're gonna add Rod Moore, Mikey Sainristil, and more after this year
September 11th, 2023 at 9:20 AM ^
Rashan Gary also flattened Justin Fields on a sack that was called back for a penalty (on someone else) and came a whisper away from a strip sack (hand was ruled to be going forward). I know many despise Frank Clark but he is still out there as is Brandon Graham (who had a great year last season). So many guys!
September 11th, 2023 at 9:44 AM ^
That Gary play was the apex of Bears-dom. Even when they do something well (hurry to the line to get a "free play" because of 12 men on the field), they still manage to have it be a negative (as Gary thundersacked Fields).
September 11th, 2023 at 9:26 AM ^
Can't forget Peppers' forced fumble on Jalen Hurts!
September 11th, 2023 at 1:43 PM ^
Yeah, that one definitely Hurt.
September 11th, 2023 at 9:39 AM ^
O-JA-BO!!!!!
September 11th, 2023 at 9:47 AM ^
Dax Hill had a pick on Watson too. I thought DJ Turner did pretty well in his first game too. Had some great coverage and contested some balls nicely
September 11th, 2023 at 1:37 PM ^
That's DJ Turner pointing to Dax Hill during the latter's INT return, with Brad Robbins in the background pointing up.
Unfortunately for the Bengals, DPJ and the Browns clocked the Bengals 20-3.
September 11th, 2023 at 10:19 AM ^
Here's the box score from Cle - Cin. Robbins and DPJ must have had a laugh about all the times this scenario happened in practice.
Also, it wasn't all good news. I watched bits and pieces of Dal - NY and heard Ben Bredeson get mentioned a couple times for poor play. Granted one of those was Collinsworth calling out the Giants coaching staff for asking him to pull and pick up Micah Parsons coming around the end. "I don't care who it is, no lineman is fast enough to make that block." Bredeson wasn't getting singled out, though, because the entire Giants offense played like doggie doo.
September 11th, 2023 at 11:13 AM ^
I think Bredeson was less of a problem than the other side. I remember watching one block replay and seeing a guard get burned crispy and thinking it was Bredeson, but then seeing it was the other guard.
But, yeah, the Giants got absolutely destroyed up front. Hard to have a good game in that situation.
September 11th, 2023 at 11:49 AM ^
The Giants could have pulled out a win at the end if they could have scored 41 more points.
September 11th, 2023 at 12:28 PM ^
There was one play where Bredeson pulled(probably the one you mentioned) where by the time Bredeson was clearing the far side of the Center, the DE was nearly to the QB. It looked like he lined up where Jawaan Taylor does.
September 11th, 2023 at 1:07 PM ^
Evan Neal was brutalized all night.
September 11th, 2023 at 12:43 PM ^
I think between….
Uche
Hutch
Gary (assuming g he gets healthy)
Ojabo
Clark (I know no one likes him)
Graham (still in the league!)
Winovich
Taco (if he breaks into some playing time with someone)
Hurst
Wormley
Danna
Morris
Paye
and any others I may have forgot
…. Former Michigan d linemen and edge rushers could have more collective sacks than any other alumni.
Not even to mention possible sacks from former linebackers, safety’s etc.