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It’ll either be around four months or a year before we finally get to see them, but there are high expectations for Michigan football’s 2020 recruiting class.
It has a little bit of everything: dynamic skill position players, speed on defense as well as maulers up front on both sides of the ball. The Wolverines started fall training camp just days before the Big Ten season-rug was pulled out from underneath them, but the team has gained some semblance of practice in as the conference continued to let the team work for 20 hours weekly — though that number is being reduced to 12, per week.
Michigan defensive tackle Carlo Kemp has been around a long time as a fifth-year senior, and from what he’s seen, this class is the most impressive. He shared last week on a Zoom call why he believes the 2020 freshmen will be something to behold once they’re finally able to take the field — whenever that may be.
“This freshman class that we have – I don’t wanna sound – I could name specific players – but I think it’s a good thing to just give this whole freshman (class) credit, the praise that they deserve,” Kemp said. “Just because there’s so many players in this freshman class that – when we were going, we were going. You could just see it. These guys, they get this stuff early. One big thing about them is they’ve taken this whole thing, this whole process, everything that’s going on and they’ve just attacked it. They’ve bought into our whole culture, our whole system here and you can see that. Those guys just want to learn.
“One of the biggest things that was exciting was just watching. We only got to do a few competitive team periods – 7-on-7s, 11-on-11s. But you could just see it early. There’s so many players in this freshman class that they’re gonna be very good players for Michigan. Probably even early on. You can just see it. These guys are phenomenal players. But they’re just good people, and that translates so fast onto the field and I’m excited for these guys. And they get this extra opportunity to get better. It’s gonna be unfair. These guys get the extra training time from the point they’re already at. It’s gonna be ridiculous.”
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Some players are more instant impact than others, though. On the defensive line, it seems Braiden McGregor and Kris Jenkins could see early time once the team can resume play. The trio of safeties, Makari Paige, Jordan Morant and R.J. Moten, also seem ready to see the field.
On offense, receivers Roman Wilson, A.J. Henning and running back Blake Corum seem destined to play the moment the Big Ten resumes its football schedule, as well.