Josh Uche credits Khaleke Hudson’s selflessness for first Michigan opportunity

The former Wolverine got his first real opportunity because of a teammate’s selflessness, he says at the NFL Scouting Combine.

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For Michigan fans, SAM linebacker Josh Uche is a household name. But his on-field impact has only come over the past two seasons.

However, Uche has been on campus since 2016. He redshirted his freshman year, but even when that class started making the starting lineup in 2017 — among the sophomore starters, there was Devin Bush Jr., Lavert Hill, David Long, Josh Metellus, Rashan Gary and Khaleke Hudson — Uche felt like an afterthought, even though he was making plays in practice.

Fast forward to 2018, and slowly, but surely, Uche started finding his way into the rotation. But, how did that happen?

He shed more light on it at the NFL Scouting Combine on Thursday, noting that one of his teammates enabled him to go in when he wasn’t scheduled to. From there, he came into his own, but he’s not sure what would have happened had he not gotten that first opportunity.

“My favorite guy to play with — Khaleke Hudson,” Uche said. “Just because — sophomore year, I wasn’t getting a lot of playing time. I was frustrated, I was making the plays in practice. That’s my roommate, so we talk about it all the time, right? Khaleke was starting, Khaleke was making a splash that year.

“And then, he was like, ‘You know what?’ He come out of his package and let me go in. So just (took) himself out and was like, ‘Josh — go in!’ And from there, I just started making plays, and from there, I just started rolling.

“So that’s my boy there, man.”

Uche truly became a household name in Week Five of the 2018 season, when he made two sacks at Northwestern, with his final sack of QB Clayton Thorson sealing the contested game for the Wolverines on the road.

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