Previously: Last year’s profiles, K Adam Samaha, K James Turner (Tr), S Brandyn Hillman, CB DJ Waller, CB Cameron Calhoun, CB Jyaire Hill.

Youngstown (Chaney), OH – 6'3"/215
		247: 6'4/220                  3.98*	4*, 90, NR overall #21 ATH, #12 OH
		Rivals: 6'3/215                  3.68*	3*, 5.6, NR overall #34 ATH, #24 OH
		ESPN: 6'3/210                  3.87*	3*, 79, #42 MW #34 OLB, #14 OH
		On3: 6'3/215                  4.01*	4*, 90, NR overall #31 LB, #12 OH
		Composites:    3.86* / 3.82*	3*, #526/#549 overall #32 ATH/#57 LB, #16 OH
		MGo Avg:                  3.88*	3.5*, #465/783 Ovr, #41/77 LBs since 1990
		YMRMFSPA	Malik Harrison
Other Suitors	Kentucky, Cincy (decommit)
Previously On MGoBlog	Hello.
Notes	Teammate of DJ Waller.
Film:
Senior Highlights: Hudl. Basketball vs Buchtel (#1 in black, steal/dunk at 3:28)

If you had to pick one guy to embody this class, it's not a trick question. Of all the unprojectable athletes to dump on Ben Herbert until it's time to make Bruce Feldman's freaks list, Jason Hewlett is the freakiest, boom-or-bustiest, athletiest, and the Ohioest "I dunno" of them all. At least ATH Breeon Ishmail, another of the four Ohioans to commit in the immediate aftermath of 45-23, projects to a certain position. Hewlett's a hybrid safety/linebacker/quarterback/wide receiver/kick returner/small forward who projects to Viper/Rover/Will/Mike/Joker/Sam/WDE in college.

People who cover Michigan recruiting didn't even know about the pursuit until the week of the Michigan-PSU game last year. Hewlett was a Cincinnati commit coming off a vagabond and ultimately lost to injury junior season who suddenly started having one of the best senior campaigns in Ohio. Area recruiter Steve Clinkscale already had his antennae up for Ohioans, and would have been one of the first to know about a breakout at his alma mater. As oblivious to the needs of bloggers trying to make accurate projections as Ohio State was to developments on their eastern marches, Michigan moved in, capturing less heralded teammate DJ Waller as well. It was over before Sainristil denied Cade Stover. Let's see what else they don't get.

[After THE JUMP: Did someone tell Juwan?]

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Athletic Athlete who Athletes

Stick this guy on any intramural team and it's going to be unfair to the frat boys is what they're saying. He also might be an unfair addition to Juwan's guard depth, says Harbaugh:

He’s one of the best all-around athletes in the state of Ohio. He was recruited for football and basketball, multi-sport player. He missed his entire junior year but came back from that with a very productive senior season and will only continue to get better.

Sam Webb's hearing Hewlett's the "best athlete in the Wolverines' 2023 class" due to the combination of size and speed, or at least he was before Brandyn Hillman joined late. Allen Trieu thinks Hewlett has "the most upside of anybody in this class."

You just don’t see 6-4, 220 pounds doing the things that he does. He returns punts, kicks, he’s played quarterback, he also played receiver… he could play anything. … You just take the biggest, strongest, fastest athletes you can find, and figure out what to do with them. I think he was clearly a guy that needed to move into the four-star range for us as we watched his senior film.

Trieu's been listing things Hewlett can do since he committed to Cincinnati.

Has a track background and can get moving and pursue well for a player of his size. Offensive tape and special teams return ability further speak to that and his overall athleticism. In college, the main piece for his development will be finding the right positional home and refining his skills at that spot. A generally raw prospect but talented with big upside.

Vance Bedford called him the "steal of the class."

The kid to me is still a raw talent, but I think they done stole one. I think once they develop him, he could be the steal of the whole class. If he develops the way I think he can (based on) what I saw on video with his athleticism and his size, in two years if he keeps going how he's going, potentially he could be that ‘GUY.’ The biggest thing is how does he learn?

EJ Holland notes that Michigan literally recruited Hewlett as a "defensive athlete."

He's a really intriguing prospect at 6-foot-3, 215 pounds. He can go a lot of different directions. He could add some weight and stay at linebacker, playing either the Mike or the Will spots. They just really like his intangibles, his athleticism, and his upside.

I also had Matt D, our in-house basketball scouting expert, take a look.

Not enough shooting displayed for me to accurately project him without the benefit of a live eval, but he can handle the ball a bit with good playmaking/passing ability in tandem with legit size. He's a scholarship level player on the hardwood for sure. Whether its D1/D2 or low D1 would really depend on his ability to make perimeter shots.

The closeout here at the 2:52 mark definitely popped out to me. A kid that big shouldn't be able to haul ass like that, particularly when he's basically just fucking around with basketball.

What do you do with this guy?

Despite the label, or non-label, the distribution of Hewlett's possibilities centers on WILL linebacker. This was Allen Trieu's assertion when Hewlett committed, though that might have changed with the addition of Hayden Moore. Maize & Blue Review's Lukas Reimink was so fritzed out on Hewlett that he put "Versatility" and "Good Athleticism" as strengths then canceled them out with "Lacks a Clearly Defined Role" and "Agility" as weaknesses.

Via Trieu, Michigan was talking to him about a hybrid safety position they had in the defense in 2021 for teams with running QBs, but shelved last year as Barrett was forced to be a full-time WILL:

They’ll play me as a safety, linebacker hybrid, something like that rover for me to showcase my abilities, my pass coverage, my tackling and my explosiveness every day.

Most of the talk however sees Hewlett growing into the box; I did a frequency search of all the scouting articles I pulled for Hewlett and LINEBACKER led with 45 instances, seven of those specifically WILL versus four standalone uses of MIKE. The next-most used word was ATHLETE (41 references), with a big drop from there to SAFETY (19), WIDE RECEIVER (18), EDGE (13), HYBRID (10) and QUARTERBACK (9).

Trieu's been moving his mind down the hefty slider since last fall.

With that size he can be a hybrid safety. I think at Cincinnati that's what they were planning on when he was committed there. Now you look at Michigan, and he's also grown bigger in the last couple of years. That projection has now changed to more of a true linebacker. I can’t tell you he won't play some edge.

Bedford thinks the plan should be to start him outside and shift him in as he grows.

He's going to probably be 240 before it's over with, so he's going to be a linebacker. He has great ball skills, he loves contact. You can see he's going to put on weight.

247's Zach Libby reported Partridge was spending time getting to know the Hewlett family this spring, and suggested the safety-ish role might not make it out of fall camp.

How is he as a linebacker?

Well, uh, pretty new to it. Harbaugh said Hewlett had the getting off the bus part down.

Another guy, when he walks through the door, you see him in person, it’s like, ‘Yeah, he plays linebacker for sure.’ And he would not be out of place in any locker room, whether it’s a college locker room, pro locker room. Just a great, great looking athlete.

Trieu called him a "Striker" who "shows that he can run through a ball carrier and hit with pop and explosion," making a comparison to former Ohio State linebacker Malik Harrison. He also described Hewlett as the "Diamond in the Rough" of the Big Ten.

It's on defense, as a linebacker, where the vicious hitter will likely have an impact in college.

Reimink's breakdown of Hewlett against the run brings out the good and bad of Hewlett's game, and again the heavy hitting comes out:

…shows good mental processing to read run quickly and react accordingly. Has solid COD to be able to redirect to the proper spot when fitting the run. He’s marginal at getting off blocks, but when he is kept free he is a very physical and aggressive tackler. He likes to lay the wood and make the ball carrier feel his presence when possible, but also shows good technique to ensure quality tackling. Shows good range as a tackler as well, using his good foot speed and good mental processing speed to have good overall range vs. the run.

Holland too noted the wood…

He can also get physical — the first clip of his senior reel shows him absolutely destroying a kid.

and reiterated the low floor at a position that Hewlett's mostly learning from scratch but…

Personally I like him as a standard linebacker, whether that's the Will or the Mike, where he could use his coverage ability to get him sideline to sideline. That's what you want in Michigan's defensive scheme under Jesse Minter; you want guys that can run. You already have a big thumper in Semaj Bridgeman, and they landed a raw athlete in Breeon Ishmail who is more of a project. And even though Hewlett seems as much of a project because he can go in so many different directions, I actually think he has a little bit of a higher floor as a linebacker than Ishmael. … I think he has the size, the sideline-to-sideline speed, and the coverage ability you want at that position.

That's also where Chaney head coach Seth Antram sees Hewlett ending up.

I think Jason can get in the weight room and end up playing in the box more, if need be, but he’s just a great athlete. If (Michigan) wants him to play more in space and roll him down at defensive back, he definitely fits that mold too. He has the frame and body to add 15-20 pounds and still be able to move. He wouldn’t loss his athleticism even with putting on that much weight. He’s a fast, twitchy, and explosive player who can add that weight and no one would even notice.

How is he is a Viper?

When Hewlett was a Cincy commit Trieu was fully on board with the Bearcats' plans to make him their "Slot LB."

All of that versatility and size make him a great candidate to be a hybrid 'backer in college. He fits the profile of other players who have been good college players and draft picks at that spot.

…and used former Clemson HSP Jayron Kearse (NFL profile) as the comp, with a caveat.

It is really tough to comp Hewlett without knowing what his future growth and position development holds. In high school, Kearse was similarly hard to peg. Some sites had him as an ATH, others as an outside linebacker. He was not as filled in as Hewlett, but the projectional ambiguity and his production on both sides of the ball are similar. Kearse ultimately settled in as a safety and big NICKEL, which Hewlett may do but he also has a stockier frame which could help him transition to other spots.

M&BR's Reimink was evaluating Hewlett as a safety for his Chalk Talk report, but also projected him to Clemson-like HSP.

…would probably be best utilized in some sort of hybrid role (Think Isaiah Simmons-type role at Clemson). As a safety, he has good foot speed, solid agility, solid COD, solid ball skills, and solid hip fluidity. … He’s best utilized in a box safety-type role where he could slide down to play LB on third downs. Overall, he has good mental processing speed to read pass and react accordingly. He is big enough and fast enough to be able to cover TE’s in 1 on 1 coverage, and could also stick with most RB’s as well. When matched up against the quicker slot WR’s at the next level, he will be outmatched in the Agility/COD aspects of man coverage in the middle of the field. He is a good blitzer … solid zone coverage … solid awareness to feel which routes are entering/exiting his zone.

Might he be an EDGE?

I mean, Jake Ryan was 6'3"/220 coming out of Westlake, so it's not out of the question. Kentucky was thinking more Jevon Kearse than Jayron. Holland also entertained the idea.

He also has good length and quickness so he could come off the edge. Maybe be an edge guy in like an Eyabi Okie role. Not necessarily a bigger edge like Mike Morris, but like a Jaylen Harrell or Okie. He has kind of a similar build to what Jaylen Harrell had coming out of high school, so that's definitely a possibility as well.

The Michigan person advocating the OLB/DE role most is Touch the Banner.

Personally, I would put him at Jaylen Harrell’s outside linebacker position, let him work on some pass rush moves, drop him in coverage occasionally, and let him do his thing.

* [Side note: Michigan did violence to Kentucky's class this cycle. Of the 17 guys they were targeting in November, five (Hewlett, Waller, Cam Calhoun, Karmello English, and Brandyn Hillman) signed with Michigan, versus four with UK.]

Versatility

M&BR editor Josh Henschke used "versatile" or "versatile" at a rate of once per sentence. His guy Reimink listed "Versatility" in the strengths category right before calling Hewlett a "versatile chess piece." Touch the Banner made "versatility to do a variety of tasks" that the crux of his pitch for EDGE. When Allen Trieu felt exposed as the only site ranking Hewlett a 4-star, he held to the v-word.

247 was alone in having Jason Hewlett as a four-star for a bit and we still feel confident in his upside and versatility.

Holland was also cautioning against labels other than the one.

Hewlett is a versatile player that can fill various holes. Michigan isn’t pigeonholing him to just one spot, and neither should you. A lot will depend on how Hewlett develops in Michigan’s strength and conditioning program. His body can go in a lot of different directions, and it will be up to the staff and Ben Herbert to decide which route to take.

For the sake of plotting everyone somewhere, Hewlett is the "Viper" of the class, with Hayden Moore at WLB (Barrett's spot last year), Semaj Bridgeman at MIKE (Colson's spot), and Breeon Ishmail at SAM (Harrell's spot). These distinctions have enough overlap that most players should be able to move seamlessly up or down a rung. The appeal of a fully realized Hewlett in a Ravens-style defense isn't that he could play any one thing from HSP to WDE, but that he could be any of those things on any given snap.

Late riser

One of the metrics we look for is a guy whose rankings rose late in the process. This should be contextual—simply getting a Michigan offer can raise a 3-star out of the 1,000s—but in Hewlett's case it seems it was a lack of junior film. That 4th star from 247 came in November.

Hewlett, a Cincinnati commit, has outstanding senior tape. He was already rated as a high three-star 87 and well thought of based on his junior year, but he looked even better this year after recovering from an injury that happened in Fall 2021.

For the record, an 87 is just a plain 3-star in a Michigan context; in this class Brooks Bahr is an 87, DJ Waller is an 88, and Kendrick Bell is an 86. Like onetime 2-star Braylon Edwards, part of the reason was Hewlett also missed the window when most of his class was being evaluated because his team needed him to go under center. Anthram:

we had to throw Jason in as quarterback as a sophomore week six … and he was hurt last season.

On3 moved Hewlett up from #57 to to #31 among linebackers in On3's final re-rank, clearing the 4-star line with room to spare, and on the fringe of top-300, but never explained why nor published a review by a national analyst. ESPN had a late bump in January, which didn't get Hewlett out of the three-star range but ESPN reevaluations that late are rare unless they're shunting a borderline SEC recruit into the next star tier.

Rivals was the lone site to leave him in. He didn't go to their camps, and I can't find any instance when one of their national analysts took a look, which suggests they never got a reevaluation on him.

Gonna Be Awhile

As good as people think Hewlett can be, they all agree it'll be a few years before he gets there. Bedford said two years before we know anything. Cincy's 247 guy thought it "would take a great spring" to even make the two-deep at the defensive position Hewlett played in high school. Touch the Banner said Hewlett is held back by both physical maturity and the need to focus on a position. Holland used both the ceiling metaphor and the alliteration.

Even though I said his floor is a little higher than Breeon Ishmail, he is very much a low-floor, high-ceiling type of kid. I think he's a boom or bust. A lot will depend on his development. The good news is Michigan is great at developing diamonds in the rough like Hewlett. … I'm really interested to see what Herbert does with Hewlett. That 6-foot, 215-pound frame will be fun for him to kind of work with, and see what he can turn him into, see what direction they go. So Hewlett will need some time to develop. I think he's a redshirt guy, maybe spends another couple of years just developing, learning, finding his position fit, and developing in that strength and conditioning program, and then he could be a guy that just pops up and becomes a key contributor to the Michigan defense.

Hewlett in on board with the wait to find out if he's a hybrid or a linebacker.

I know that Michigan will put me in the right position. (The coaches) have said that it all depends on how my body weight fills out in the weight room. They said I don’t even look 220 right now and look more like 190. So it depends on how my body turns out.

Via The Wolverine's Zach Libby, the "220" reported was weight Hewlett gained while injured as a junior; he might have been playing under 210 as a senior, and then got into basketball shape.

Sleeper of the Year?

I can't, because 247 in their late wisdom decided to disqualify him by a hair.

RATINGS BY SITE
247: 6'4/220	On3: 6'3/215	Rivals: 6'3/215	ESPN: 6'3/210
4*, 90, NR Ovr #21 ATH, #12 OH	3*, 89, NR Ovr #31 LB, #12 OH	3*, 5.6, NR Ovr #34 ATH, #24 OH	3*, 79, #42 MW #34 OLB, #14 OH
3.98	3.97	3.68	3.87
COMPOSITE RANKINGS
247 Composite	On3 Consensus	MGoBlog
3*, 0.8847, #526 Ovr #32 ATH, #16 OH	3*, 88.15, #549 Ovr #57 LB, #15 OH	3.5*, #473/783 Ovr #42/77 ILBs since 1990
3.85	3.82	3.87

Their 23rd Athlete and their 13th Ohian are 3-stars so Hewlett is hovering just over the 4-star line. Bastards did the same thing to me with Kenneth Grant last year. But rules are rules; nobody with a 4th star is eligible for SoY. Not that this class lacks for candidates.

Etc. Also a legit MAC-level basketball recruit, and track star. Gonna be a crowded bulletin board this year:

“When Michigan won last year, they had all of those excuses. But this year, there weren’t any excuses. There isn't anything that they can say about losing again.”

Hewlett is also reportedly close with 2024 Edge target Brian Robinson, whose dad (Denard's first cousin) grew up one street over from Clink.

Why Malik Harrison? Because that's probably more accurate than "Jake Ryan or Prescott Burgess" or "Cam Gordon+++" or whatever else I could come up from Michigan's rosters of yore. Harrison was a 6'3/228 3-star ATH out of Columbus in 2016 who played basketball, QB and receiver in high school. In that era Ohio State was using hybrid safety types to either side of the MIKE, and Harrison was the "STAR" or WLB in that setup, working his way onto the field as a situational sophomore. Harrison's mistake-prone junior year contributed to the heavy criticism of OSU's linebacking—Tuf Borland's athletic limitations were really the problem—but Michigan lost several 2018 possessions to Harrison's speed and agility as a blitzer. By 2019 the guy was a playmaking menace who earned a "dangerman" star on our preview diagram. He measured 6'3/247 at the combine, went in the 3rd round, and was the Ravens' starter at WLB last year until they traded for Roquan Smith.

Note that Hewlett is ranked much higher than Harrison to every site but Rivals, the service that does the least amount of projection. Prescott Burgess, who was a five-star safety coming out of the Youngstown suburb of Warren, is a pretty fair comparison as well if you're going with a WLB. If Hewlett grows into an athletic SAM, we're talking Jake Ryan (from the West side of Cleveland). For a break from Seth giving geographic lessons of Ohio, just wait a few cycles.

Guru Reliability: Low. They have camps and film, and Youngstown isn't as out of the way of the scouting circuit as they make it out to be, but they're all going off of "is such an athlete!" and slotting Hewlett to a number of positions. Most haven't seen more than the receiver-laden highlights.

Variance: Very high. Could be anything from Isaiah Bell to an All-American WLB.

Ceiling: Very high. We're talking an inside linebacker who can move like a safety, rush like an edge, and still play linebacker in a system that makes maximal use of versatility.

Flight Risk Level: Medium-low. Hewlett is coming in with a teammate and has an alum on the coaching staff, so the main thing to worry about is if he's taking awhile to develop and someone steps permanently in front of him. It's less of an issue because he's an obvious asset on special teams, and is coming in aware that he's got a lot of development in his future. With all the linebackers this year there's the added factor of their unfamiliarity with Chris Partridge, but Hewlett was more of a Clink recruitment than Helow, and it's Chris Partridge.

General Excitement Level: High-minus. Baseline 5, +1 for Athleticism, +1 for No seriously he could be a D1 scholarship player in basketball, +1 for the player he could become would be especially awesome at WLB in the Ravens system, +1 for guys who rise a star level plus late in the cycle usually didn't rise high enough, –1 for needs to develop his college body, +1 for Herbert, –1 for oh right he has to learn how to play linebacker first, –1 for and linebacker is hard so it'll take some time.

Projection:

What Harrison's doing in the Ravens system is the reason to be excited for what Hewlett could become in Michigan's college facsimile. Since Macdonald arrived they've been making calf-eyes at tall, safety-speedy athletic linebacking savants with "could grow into an edge rusher" in their profiles. When those guys show up ready to do it at the college-level they're called "Five-Stars." Another route to that player is to take a D-I basketball prospect, carefully add 25 pounds, and put him in intensive training for three years.

Projecting a guy the "hybrid" position in Michigan's defense begs the question "What hybrid position?" since we didn't actually have one last year. Here's where I point out that the Michigan WLB is *supposed* to be more of a hybrid do-everything guy who can come off the edge, blitz inside, flow to the ball, or buzz Julian Fleming's release and track down Miyan Williams at the sideline.

#23 the top LB on the 30 yard line

Michael Barrett is sort of that guy, but without the hugeness, which is a pretty big factor considering he still has to play linebacker. Hewlett is a shot at that ideal Swiss Army Knife WLB that they've been trying to recruit since Macdonald arrived. Since everyone wants those guys, a shot at building our own has a lot of appeal.