ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan football has no shortage of game-wreckers up front on the defense. It may be the best defensive front the Wolverines have ever had, if it plays up to its potential.
You can look at it two ways when it comes to those up front on offense — they either have the misfortune of having to go up against the likes of Mason Graham, Kenneth Grant, and the myriad edge rushers, or they have the pleasure of getting better due to the high-level competition.
As junior tight end Marlin Klein sees it, it’s the latter. As a result of facing high-end talent in practice every day, the games are easier than the brutality of facing off against his own teammates.
“I don’t recall like, a specific ‘Welcome to College’ moment, but I think it helps us a lot just going against the best defense in the country every single day,” Klein said. “That makes it easier on Saturdays. Guys like TJ (Guy), Derrick (Moore), like all those guys — Josaiah (Stewart), those guys are the best in the country. So going against them is going to help us a lot and make our job easier on the weekends.”
While those guys will be game-wreckers (and most of who he mentioned are starters), Michigan will need depth in order to continue the high-level of execution that we’ve seen the past couple of years.
Playing right guard, senior Giovanni El-Hadi has to face off against the interior defensive line all of the time, so who are the tougher players who come in via the rotation — outside of Graham, Grant, and Rayshaun Benny?
“Enow (Etta)’s been really good. Trey (Pierce),” El-Hadi said. “They’re both strong, quick, Enow’s got a lot moves in this bag. Trey, more bull with power, and he’ll do a nice counter.
“So the guys behind (Grant, Graham, and Benny), we have a really good D-line. They all could go out there and play, obviously. You know how (Grant) and Mason and Rayshaun are — they got everything in their bag.”
It sounds like Michigan has five defensive tackles that could rotate (as it did a year ago) and multiple on the edge — though that might be more of a mystery leading up into the season.
Regardless, there are a lot of players on the front who could start at just about any school in the nation. And the Wolverines, assuming all or most play up to their potential, could be much better for it, even after losing the two starting edge rushers and DT Kris Jenkins from a year ago.