[jwplayer IMnNaJZr-XNcErKyb]
Pro Football Focus has only been around since 2014, but the scouting site has gained significant popularity over the past three or so years.
PFF has been mighty high on some current and former Wolverines, with players like David Long and Lavert Hill drawing accolades for their abilities in coverage.
But if there was one player that PFF truly hyped up, it’s former Michigan defensive tackle Maurice Hurst.
In his final season, week-in and week-out, PFF declares Hurst among the elite prospects in college football. As the 2018 NFL Draft neared, the site proclaimed Hurst to be the most dominant defensive player available.
So when Pro Football Focus put together a list of the best NFL prospects since the site has been active, it’s no surprise that Hurst made the cut of 32.
17. DI MAURICE HURST, MICHIGAN (2018)
Maurice Hurst is up there with some of the most refined pass-rushing of any interior defensive line prospect we have seen. He posted PFF pass-rush grades of 89.7, 90.3 and 91.0 in his last three years at Michigan and owned an impressive 16.1% pressure rate over that stretch. For perspective, that’s over 1.5 percentage points more than the highest interior defensive linemen pressure rate of the 2019 season. He posted one of the highest grades we have seen at 94.4 in his final season in 2017, which paved the way to the third most valuable interior defensive linemen season in the PFF College era.
Despite Hurst being widely seen as a sure fire first round NFL Draft pick, due to an unforeseen and essentially uncaught heart condition, which was discovered at the outset of the 2018 NFL Scouting Combine, Hurst’s draft stock plummeted, and he ended up being a fifth-round selection.
[lawrence-related id=18008,13581,2733]
However, given that the Raiders picked him up, they have to be rather happy about the move Hurst has played in 29 NFL games, having started in 14. He has accumulated 49 tackles, 7 tackles for loss, 7.5 sacks, one forced fumble, two fumble recoveries and one interception, which he returned for 55 yards.