josaiah stewart

This morning we covered the fall football bits on the offensive side of the ball, now in the afternoon we pivot to the defense. As a whole there's more real buzz in this piece than offense, but not a dramatic difference. It's been a relatively quiet camp so far. 

Defensive tackle 

What we want to hear: Kris Jenkins is approaching Mo Hurst territory (*gasp*), Mason Graham is making a mighty leap towards superstar status, Kenneth Grant is our beefy behemoth that cannot be moved, while Rayshaun Benny and Cam Goode help round out the deepest DT position in the B1G.  

What we're hearing: Of all the positional groups across these two fall football bits pieces, defensive tackle may be the one where "what we want to hear" is mostly closely matching "what we're hearing". Kris Jenkins has been the focus of nonstop praise throughout camp, often in association with a term like "the best player in fall camp" ($). Other reports have had a baby-like amazement at the reps in practice that pit Jenkins against the likes of Keegan and Zinter, with the two sides being described as equals to each other ($). Jesse Minter echoed that wonder in his media availability last week and then spoke about Jenkins' strides as a pass-rusher: 

Kris [Jenkins] has been obsessed with being better as a pass rusher since the day he stepped back here on campus. And it’s showing up. And so he’s moving really well, he’s still the same player against the run with 20 extra pounds

The Jenkins praise is also likely a function of his status as a veteran leader on this team, something he has that Mason Graham does not, which may be the only reason for the little bit more praise Jenkins is getting relative to Graham. Otherwise, though, the sources have been pouring the hype on Graham too. One source recognized Graham as one of the best players in this past weekend's scrimmage ($), also noting improvements he's made in pass-rushing. A different source echoed Graham's conquests at the scrimmage and used the term "fricking beast" to describe his destruction of the Michigan OL ($). 

Those two have gotten most of the praise in camp, with only small mentions of Kenneth Grant and Rayshaun Benny. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing either; when they pop up, it's mostly with the framing of "oh, those guys are good too", as a footnote after 758 lines of KRIS JENKINS IS GOD chatter. Grant did get mentioned in the same breath as the starters in a delectable line from JJ McCarthy: "Those three up front -- Mason, KG and Kris -- they're gonna be not fun for my fellow quarterback friends, that's for sure". Finally, Harbaugh gave perhaps another obligatory shoutout to players working hard in camp by mentioning two true freshmen at DT, Trey Pierce and Cameron Brandt, saying they "have been outstanding and came in right on time". 

What it means: Jenkins and Graham are your starters and there's a lot of reason to be HYPE about it. Benny and Grant are the backups and are probably fine. Cam Goode and maybe one of the freshmen round out the three-deep at DT.

[AFTER THE JUMP: positions where the starters probably aren't both going to be All-B1G]

Michigan remains hot in the transfer portal, adding Coastal Carolina edge Josaiah Stewart to go with OLs LaDarius Henderson and Myles Hinton and LB Ernest Hausmann:

Stewart had a monster freshman year at Coastal with 12.5 sacks and 40 pressures en route to being named first-team All Sun Belt.

His topline stats fell in his sophomore year to 10 TFLs and 3.5 sacks but his level of play did not drop much per PFF; in both years they graded his pass rush in the high 80s or above.

[After the JUMP: some recruiting rankings that no longer matter and some draft hype]