PFF ranks EDGE: Hutchinson #1, Karlaftis #3, Ojabo #8
1. AIDAN HUTCHINSON, MICHIGAN WOLVERINES
Hutchinson is in the midst of the second-most dominant season by a pass-rusher in the PFF College era — behind only former Ohio State Buckeye Chase Young in 2019. He owns a 93.3 pass-rush grade through eight games, and over half of his single-game grades have finished above 85.0. Hutchinson is generating pressure at the highest rate in college football (21.9%) and is winning most of his one-on-one true pass-rush opportunities. And he is doing this after suffering a season-ending fracture in his leg in the COVID-shortened 2020 season. With his power and get-off, Hutchinson has been virtually unblockable this season and should probably be thrown into the Heisman conversation.
2. KAYVON THIBODEAUX, OREGON DUCKS
3. GEORGE KARLAFTIS, PURDUE BOILERMAKERS
4. KINGSLEY ENAGBARE, SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS
5. NIK BONITTO, OKLAHOMA SOONERS
6. ARNOLD EBIKETIE, PENN STATE NITTANY LIONS
7. JACUB PANASIUK, MICHIGAN STATE SPARTANS
8. DAVID OJABO, MICHIGAN WOLVERINES
Ojabo has one of the best backgrounds in all of college football.
The 6-foot-5, 240-pound edge defender grew up in Scotland, where he played soccer and basketball before moving to the United States and becoming a track and basketball star. He didn't pick up football until his junior year of high school after the Rutgers head football coach called him and told him to do so. Ojabo did, and he received 35 offers after his first season while learning alongside former Penn State Nittany Lion and now Baltimore Raven Odafe Oweh.
Ojabo ended up at Michigan and hardly played in his first two years, but he now has a featured role in the Wolverines’ defense and is destroying the offensive linemen in front of him. Ojabo owns a 90.8 pass-rush grade for the 2021 season and has posted a single-game mark above 90.0 in two of the last four weeks. He was just a raw athlete playing the position his first couple of seasons on campus but not anymore.
9. DRAKE JACKSON, USC TROJANS
10. WILL ANDERSON JR., ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE
November 4th, 2021 at 1:07 AM ^
No Georgia DE huh?!
November 4th, 2021 at 2:29 AM ^
Georgia's good D Lineman is the NT, Jordan Davis.
November 4th, 2021 at 6:21 AM ^
The rest of their DL is really good too.
November 4th, 2021 at 7:13 AM ^
Believe he’s referring to Adam Anderson
November 4th, 2021 at 9:43 AM ^
No Georgia made the top 10 EDGE list. But I'm sure Jordan Davis on the DL top 10.
I didn't specify. I was lazy I guess.
November 4th, 2021 at 1:09 AM ^
Fuck the officials.
November 4th, 2021 at 2:04 AM ^
Hopefully Thibodeaux is in a Lions uniform and Ojabo in Wolverines gear next year.
Either way want to see our boys pound Stroud into oblivion.
November 4th, 2021 at 2:16 AM ^
Honestly I wasn't as upset when we missed out on Harrison because I felt we had our own freak coming in Ojabo. Glad I was correct.
November 4th, 2021 at 3:05 AM ^
Yup. Remember the comps, they're basically identical physically. This is exactly the type of insane upside recruit you need to shoot for to improve the program's ceiling. Andrel Anthony might be the offensive version of Ojabo.
November 4th, 2021 at 6:45 AM ^
Wouldn't mind seeing Karlaftis having a signature game this weekend.
November 4th, 2021 at 8:04 AM ^
As bad as MSU's tackles looked last week, this is a distinct possibility
November 4th, 2021 at 8:13 AM ^
All depends if the refs will have the balls to call offensive holding which they didn't last week when it appeared that Hutchinson was being held on just about every play. I have a bad feeling the Big 10 has let the refs know they would like to keep MSU high in the CFP rankings.
November 4th, 2021 at 8:27 AM ^
I would have believed that with the previous regime at B1G but I think the current regime is just incompetent. Unless the Leaders and Best lead and push for a change, I don't expect that to change. Having said that, the biggest trouble is incompetence and refs having personal connections to teams. There may be some personal things going on, if any.
November 4th, 2021 at 8:29 AM ^
Stop with the conspiracy bullshit.
Holding is only called when the DE is tackled or arm strangled from behind in an egregious fashion with a clear path to the ball carrier and directly in front of the official. It is this way across the B1G, with all ref crews. If there is any doubt whatsoever, it goes to the offensive player.
And yet - Hutch still gets no calls...
November 4th, 2021 at 2:11 PM ^
I mean the problem like you said is he can't draw any calls despite alot of them being the egregious variety when he has clearly beat someone. I am sure Ojabo has been held his fair share as well.
November 4th, 2021 at 11:39 AM ^
I’m hoping the refs prop up Purdue so that the Big10 West doesn’t appear to be a complete tire fire.
I don’t think the refs knowingly tried to help MSU win the game. I think the replay official sided with the losing team to keep the score close to set up a classic finish. As the one anonymous official, he has complete authority to steer the game towards a dramatic finish that TV networks crave. Follow the money.
I really don’t care about “classic” finishes. Just call the game properly and let the chips fall where they may.
November 4th, 2021 at 4:41 PM ^
The game is in W. Lafayette. They should have a little more gumption.
November 4th, 2021 at 8:43 PM ^
Promise you that if there was a conspiracy, the BIG would much rather have M in the CFP than MSU. M has worldwide fans, imagine the headlines, Harbaugh, etc. I can assure you there is much more money to be made if M made it.
November 4th, 2021 at 2:00 PM ^
I think there is still a pretty good chance of a Purdue upset. Would've been a lock if the committee ranked msu #2, but still a good chance.
November 5th, 2021 at 12:49 AM ^
I’d hardly even call it an upset. They’re built just right to give us fits, and the spread reflects that
November 4th, 2021 at 7:34 AM ^
There's been a few guys over the years we've missed out on that were memorable. Karlaftis is clearly one.
I like this recent pipeline of defensive ends/olbs we've put out. Hope some recruits take notice!
November 4th, 2021 at 9:10 AM ^
Don Brown was good at recruting talent to this area here.
November 4th, 2021 at 7:58 AM ^
That’s a whole lotta B1G on the list.
November 4th, 2021 at 7:59 AM ^
Well, get paid my dude. Agree with another poster, recruits please take note on what's going on at UM. Some posters might bitch about a 6-1 defense, but their current crop of coaches are getting the best out of their players.
November 4th, 2021 at 8:06 AM ^
Ojabo looks bigger than 240lbs
November 4th, 2021 at 7:44 PM ^
Site I looked at has him listed at 250. That would be more than 240. I'm not sure about all of the listings of his height. The site I looked at listed him at 6'5".
November 4th, 2021 at 8:24 AM ^
I try and watch every defensive snap and Hutchinson is special. I’ve not witnessed one play where he’s been blocked to success unless he over peruses and is simply pushed beyond the qb and the o lineman breathes a sigh of relief. You can see the fear in the blockers eyes when the balls snapped.
November 4th, 2021 at 8:28 AM ^
I concur
November 4th, 2021 at 8:30 AM ^
And the good news is that next year McGregor is going to step in and we will hardly miss a beat...he is Hutch 1B. Hinton and Smith and the rest of the DL up-and-comers will be a year older, more mature and better. The LBs will be stellar. Dax and Hawkins will need to be replaced but the secondary should be at least serviceable. I believe that, overall, the D will be better next year.
November 4th, 2021 at 10:00 AM ^
Is he actually Hutch 1B? I would imagine he'd be getting a lot more snaps if he were.
November 4th, 2021 at 1:09 PM ^
And who would he be taking snaps from? He is both a physical and mental prototype of Hutch...the kid can really run! He is simply a year younger.
November 4th, 2021 at 11:23 AM ^
good news is that next year McGregor is going to step in and we will hardly miss a beat...he is Hutch 1B
He's supposed to be, but I would pump the breaks on calling him "Hutch 1B."
November 4th, 2021 at 3:01 PM ^
Physically he is extremely similar to Hutch and has looked good all be in it very very limited. But yeah let's pump the brakes a little bit. More likely scenero is Ojabo becomes the new Hutch next year and Mcgregor kinda takes the Ojabo spot from this year, physically gifted and a good player but still raw.
November 4th, 2021 at 1:13 PM ^
If McGregor becomes a starter next season, what's the over/under on the number of times Gus Johnson will call Braiden McGregor "Conor"?
November 4th, 2021 at 8:33 AM ^
But he's not good enough to get some holding calls thrown his way when there is some doubt...
Whatever.
November 4th, 2021 at 8:52 AM ^
How far back does the PFF College era go? I’m wondering if they are grading him higher than the Bosas. If so, I can see that.
November 4th, 2021 at 10:21 AM ^
He’s awful. Horrible. You don’t want him in the NFL. Needs another year in college
November 4th, 2021 at 10:43 AM ^
Awesome to see PFF agreeing with what we see every week!
If there's a recipe to take down OSU at the end of the year, it begins and ends with those two wrecking the Buckeye tackles and keeping Stroud off-rhythm, just like the Bucs did to Patrick Mahomes in the super bowl last year.
November 4th, 2021 at 11:32 AM ^
Ojabo is definitely getting some help from opposing OL's putting a lot of focus on Aidan, but hey, the guy is making plays and that's all you can ask him to do. Will be very, very curious to see how he progresses next season. He's going to be the guy on the line next season.
November 4th, 2021 at 11:49 AM ^
It's sort of crazy that Hutchinson went from a guy that a lot of people figured would top out at "pretty good college end" to being one of the better ones we've seen around these parts. And Ojabo looks like he's rounding into a similarly-great form.
I don't quite get the Panasiuk love. He seems...fine as an end but Michigan handled him pretty well and he seems a bit weak in coverage. He just looks like a typical 12th-year MSU end who has just been in college so long his tricks work. I also don't get how he went from 39th on PFF's current DE ranking to top-10 based on the 4 games he just played, especially since most of his damage seems to have been done against Nebraska and WKU.
November 4th, 2021 at 12:47 PM ^
Ojabo is our latest, "pro scouts please look a different direction," player isn't he?
November 4th, 2021 at 2:10 PM ^
Saw a mock draft last week on CBSsports with Hutchinson going #2
November 4th, 2021 at 2:31 PM ^
Michigan may have missed out on Karlaftis recruiting wise but hopefully he can provide some help this weekend. Good chance he does against MSU'S tackles.