Tag: aidan hutchinson

Michigan football DE Aidan Hutchinson: OSU talk ‘bulletin board material that we’re gonna use in the future’

The Wolverines have struggled against OSU, but the constant chatter coming out of Columbus has the U-M DE fuming.

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ANN ARBOR, Mich. — On Marty Smith’s podcast on ESPN, Michigan defensive end Aidan Hutchinson advocated that he just wants to play rival Ohio State ‘one more time.’ But it’s not just because he hasn’t taken down his arch-rival.

This offseason, there’s been a lot of chatter out of Columbus. First, it was quarterback Justin Fields who stated he just wants ‘to beat the brakes’ off Michigan the next time he sees it on the opposing sideline. More recently, OSU head coach Ryan Day reportedly told his team that the Wolverines better hope the Big Ten institutes a mercy rule, because the Buckeyes intended to run up the score to 100.

Neither of those things are sitting right with the junior defensive lineman.

“Seeing that stuff that they said, that’s just bulletin board material that we’re gonna use in the future,” Hutchinson said via a Zoom press conference. “They can do all the talking they want. It’s kind of out of my control. It’s definitely a little bit frustrating – I want to play them. But just looking forward to the next time that we play them.”

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According to PFF’s advanced college stats, Hutchinson had his second-worst game in both overall defensive grade as well as in run defense against the Buckeyes.

As far as what went wrong, it’s quite simple in his eyes: execution.

The Wolverines continuously field one of the nation’s top defenses. Yet, against OSU, for whatever reason, the wheels tend to fall off. If he gets one more shot at his rival, Hutchinson is vowing that he and his teammates won’t make that mistake again.

“I’ve said this multiple times – we’ve just gotta execute better against Ohio State,” Hutchinson said. “We do so good all year defensively, and then these past couple years we’ve dropped the ball on that second-to-last game. But we’ve just gotta be better with our execution and things will turn out a little bit better.”

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Aidan Hutchinson on Michigan football future: ‘Decisions will have to be made’

The Michigan football DE contemplates his future college career, with the unsurety of whether or not he’ll wear maize and blue again.

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Aidan Hutchinson was just getting started.

Though he got some early playing time his freshman year in 2018, it wasn’t until 2019 that he really started to get the hang of this college football thing. Starting opposite Kwity Paye, the sophomore was the 37th-best edge rusher last season, according to PFF. While he was looking to build on that in 2020, he won’t get a chance this fall with the Big Ten postponing the season presumptively to either the winter or the spring.

But, given the uncertainty that that will happen — especially considering his dad, an ER doctor at Beaumont Royal Oak, is skeptical about what the conference will do in the future — the younger Hutchinson isn’t sure when, or even if, he’ll get to strap on the winged helmet once again.

Appearing on ESPN personality Marty Smith’s podcast last week, Hutchinson seems intent to play if there’s a winter or spring season in the conference. But if that gets canceled? Well, he’s not so sure whether or not he’ll wear maize and blue ever again.

“There are a lot of factors,” Hutchinson said. “I’ve talked to my parents multiple times. If this fall season really falls through, I’m gonna keep training, keep working out. If the spring season falls through, that’s when decisions will have to be made. I’m gonna have to weigh all my options at that point, because from now until next fall – what’s gonna change from now until next fall in terms of COVID? My dad doesn’t think much is gonna change. He thinks Michigan will stay at this low-COVID state for another year. He thinks the same outcome could happen next fall.

“That could mean – if I were to stay at Michigan for next fall and that season would be canceled, I wouldn’t have played football for three years. I’d enter the league without playing football for three years. So it puts me at a big disadvantage at that level. That’s another factor I have to weigh in. I’m just trying to play football as soon as I can. But I have to go about it in a smart way.

“There will be decisions made in the next few months.”

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For now, Hutchinson is focused on getting better, gearing up for a Michigan-specific player-combine that the team is hosting this fall.

With that taking place on Oct. 24 at The Big House — the date that the Wolverines were set to play rival Ohio State in the revamped Big Ten-only schedule — Hutchinson is making the most of his current situation.

“When we got the news – Harbaugh’s a guy that when he gets information, bad news something like that, he’s gonna take it and he’s gonna move on,” Hutchinson said. “So it took me about a day to process the whole thing. The next day, we move on.

“Now we’re preparing for our own combine in October. We’re preparing for 10 weeks, so we’re training for 10 weeks. Right now, I’m just focused on running the fastest 40, running the fastest 5-10-5, bench pressing the most weight I can. My focus has kind of shifted. I feel like I am more driven now. I felt a little lost for a minute there without a season. Now I feel like I have more goals to achieve. I’m ready to move on and attack this combine.”

Riled up Aidan Hutchinson craves ‘one more shot’ at Ohio State

The Wolverines edge rusher doesn’t want to end his career without getting one more chance to take down the Buckeyes.

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Right now, Aidan Hutchinson doesn’t know what the future holds — whether or not he’ll get the opportunity to wear the winged helmet again.

With the fall football season on hold, Hutchinson isn’t confident that there will be a winter/spring season — or that COVID-19 will relent enough for the Big Ten to feel it’s safe enough to resume play next fall, given his skepticism over the current season postponement.

So when it comes to the specter of his rival, Ohio State, a team he’s lost two both times he’s gone up against them, he’s just begging for the opportunity to get another chance to prove he and his teammates are up to the task.

Appearing on ESPN personality Marty Smith’s podcast last week to discuss the state of the Big Ten given the coronavirus postponement, the Michigan football defensive end finished by saying there’s just one thing that he craves in his Ann Arbor football career: one more opportunity to prove his mettle against the Buckeyes — especially given all of the chirping that’s been going on down in Columbus.

“One more, one more,” Hutchinson said. “I just want one more shot at them. Ryan Day, Justin Fields – I saw all their quotes on Twitter about knocking the brakes off of us. You don’t know how much that riles me up. I need to play them one more time, man.

“It’s out of my hands whether I can or not. I’m hoping and praying that I get one more shot at them.”

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At the moment, it appears that the Big Ten is eyeing a winter season starting in January, which would be comprised of eight games before a March championship game.

However, no matter who wins that game, they will not be in the national championship conversation, as the College Football Playoff intends to move forward as planned with a championship game held on Jan. 11.

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Michigan defensive lineman Aidan Hutchinson wants “one more shot” at Ohio State

While appearing on the Marty Smith podcast, Michigan defensive lineman Aidan Hutchinson says he’d love to get “one more shot” at Ohio State.

We don’t know when, or even if, Big Ten football will begin play. Whether it gets off the ground in January or sometime later in the spring remains to be seen. At the very least, there’s still a glimmer of hope that we’ll see some college football before next fall — for now.

And that means The Game between Ohio State and Michigan is still going to be plugged somewhere on everyone’s calendar at some point hopefully. And yeah — we don’t have to tell you or any college football fan that the Buckeyes have dominated the series over the last fifteen years or so, winning the last eight, and fifteen of the last sixteen.

If you think that has gotten under the crawl of the Michigan faithful, you’d be right. In fact, it’s almost become a foregone conclusion that the Wolverines will get smoked whenever the two traditional powers stand toe-to-toe.

But don’t tell Michigan defensive lineman Aidan Hutchinson that. He still wants another opportunity to get the Scarlet and Gray monkey off his and every other Wolverine’s back.

He appeared on the Marty Smith podcast last week and the topic of Ohio State came up (of course it did).

“One more. One more. I just want one more shot at them. You know, Ryan Day, Justin Fields — I saw their quotes on Twitter about not knocking the brakes off of us. You don’t know how much that riles me up and I’m just, I want to, I need to play them one more time. But, you know, it’s out of my hands whether I can or not. So, I’m just I’m hoping and praying that I got one more shot at them.”

If you’re keeping score — and we know you are, Hutchinson is 0-2 against Ohio State so far in his career and it hasn’t been close. The Buckeyes have won the two meetings by a combined score of 118-66.

So yeah, beating the brakes off of them was accurate by Justin Fields. Look, there’s many Ohio State fans and players that hope there’s one more shot at Michigan too.

In other words, bring it on.

‘Infuriated’ Aidan Hutchinson calls out hypocrisy by Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren

The Wolverines football star didn’t mince words about the Big Ten’s commissioner or University of Michigan president Dr. Mark Schlissel.

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In the words of Samuel L. Jackson in the acclaimed 1993 blockbuster Jurassic Park, ‘Hold onto your butts.’

While former Michigan team captain and All-American Chris Hutchinson — father of current DE Aidan Hutchinson — has been outspoken as an ER doctor about the Big Ten’s decision-making in terms of postponing or effectively canceling the 2020 fall football season, his son is now speaking out.

Appearing on ESPN personality Marty Smith’s podcast, the younger Hutchinson didn’t mince words when it came to the Big Ten and Michigan president Dr. Mark Schlissel’s involvement in the changes that have happened to college football this season — or the result in a lack thereof, rather.

“I would say my emotions are just frustration. I’m just infuriated,” Hutchinson said on the show. “They made this decision without talking to us. The commissioner, our president — there were no words exchanged asking our thoughts on whether we wanna play. Because, at the end of the day, we’re the ones playing the game and they didn’t ask us for our opinion and it’s super frustrating to find out one day that our president voted for us not to have a season when I’ve never seen that guy in my three years here at Michigan. So, you know, it was definitely frustrating and felt kinda helpless because there’s nothing I can do and us players don’t have a voice.”

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But that’s not all.

Powers Warren is a tight end at Mississippi State. That’s important for a handful of reasons: Mississippi State is in a conference — the SEC — which fully intends to play the season in a conference-only slate; and Powers is the son of Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren.

None of that is lost on Hutchinson.

“I think it’s unfair that Kevin Warren, the B1G commissioner, is canceling the B1G season yet his son will be playing football at Mississippi State this year. That doesn’t quite make sense.”

Aidan’s father, Chris, appeared on Jon Jansen’s Conqu’ring Heroes podcast on Tuesday and further explained why he feels concerned about the Big Ten’s lack of communication to go along with its lack of transparency.

“Zero. I’m outside right now and I can hear the crickets in my backyard and it’s the same thing from them,” “I have a friend who has a player at Iowa and they’re hearing the same thing – nothing. Complete silence. That’s not the way to tackle this sort of thing. I don’t know why they’re not getting out in front of this. It’s as if they think they can just shut the doors and let the winds blow by and then they’re gonna open up the doors and we’re gonna say, ‘Oh, great! One big happy family again!’ I don’t know what sort of leadership academy teaches that, but I don’t think it’s the right way. You need to get out in front of this, you need to be transparent, you need to be forward. We can accept the fact that you didn’t like whatever you interpreted was too much of a risk for our kids. But you didn’t share that with us, you didn’t get our input, and now you made a decision on our behalf and a lot of people don’t like it.”

Meanwhile, the Big Ten’s Warren did make a media appearance — on Sports Business Journal — where he reportedly only got one question on the conference’s decision, and did little to help the fervor or firestorm currently surrounding him and his cohort.

Stay tuned. The inferno is only now starting to heat up.

2021 NFL Draft: 11 Big Ten prospects the Eagles should target after the conference cancels season

11 Big-Ten prospect the Eagles should target in the 2021 NFL Draft

The Big Ten will be without college football this fall after conference presidents and chancellors voted Tuesday to postpone all fall sports seasons, including football, amid the coronavirus pandemic with the hopes of playing in the spring.

With the college football season now in doubt and in the NFL Draft in the spring, here are 11 Big Ten standouts the should Eagles target:

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1. Rondale Moore, WR, Purdue

A 5-foot-9 dynamo, Moore committed to Purdue during the U.S. Army All-American Bowl after changing his mind about Texas.

Moore recorded 1,164 receiving yards and 203 rushing yards to go along with thirteen combined touchdowns. Moore’s 2,048 all-purpose yards were the most since Dorien Bryant recorded 2,121 in 2007, and the second-most in Purdue history.

Moore only played in four games last season but is still projected to be a first-round pick.

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ER doc/former player/football father Chris Hutchinson: ‘I support them playing’

A former Wolverine who’s also an ER doctor at a hard-hit COVID-19 hotspot shares why he believes his son and the team should play in 2020.

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While we clearly don’t know just yet whether or not the Big Ten season is canceled, postponed or whatnot, we also don’t know with certainty the level of safety if the season were to go on as planned.

However, while it’s being bandied about that the medical voices in the Big Ten’s member institutions aren’t confident that football could or should be played, there’s a prominent voice in Michigan athletics who would have a pretty good idea.

Former All-American defensive end Chris Hutchinson knows what it’s like to wear the winged helmet and play at a high level in the conference. That said, as the father of current Michigan defensive end Aidan Hutchinson, he would certainly be protective, given that he’s an ER doctor at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak — one of the areas hit hardest in the country by the coronavirus pandemic. So, at this juncture, if he felt like there were legitimate concerns, given his expertise and having his son on the team, he’d likely speak out about the dangers of him suiting up this fall.

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On the contrary, with the #WeWantToPlay movement gaining ground, and his son making a passionate plea to the Big Ten to allow the players to do so this fall, the elder Hutchinson is backing his progeny.

The question, though, would be: while Michigan seems to have a good handle on it all — like head coach Jim Harbaugh did with his itemized list of reasons to play — would the other Big Ten member institutions? That’s the question that would need to be answered, as Rutgers, Maryland, MSU, Ohio State, Indiana and Northwestern have all seen stoppages of training or COVID-19 problems at some point in the past two months.

The Big Ten presidents will reportedly meet Monday night at 6 p.m. EST to make a final decision.

Two Michigan linemen make PFF’s ‘Top 50 Prospects in 2021 NFL Draft’

Two Wolverines made Pro Football Focus’ list of the top 50 players in college football for the 2021 NFL Draft.

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While there’s a mixture of very few sports going on as well as a ramp up to the 2020 college football season, there’s a lot of speculation going on from various reputable sites.

Whether it’s players who could be breakout stars this upcoming season to those who could find themselves drafted early to the NFL in 2021, there are various prognostications that feature the Michigan contingent.

Take The Athletic, who put out Bruce Feldman’s annual ‘athletic freaks’ list on Tuesday. The subscription-based online publication included Wolverines defensive end Kwity Paye — a former three-star recruit from Rhode Island — as its biggest college football freak.

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So when it came time for scouting website Pro Football Focus to put together its list for the 50 best college football players eligible for the 2021 NFL Draft, it was a no-brainer for Paye to make the list.

39. EDGE KWITY PAYE, MICHIGAN

The No. 1 freak on Bruce Feldman’s list, Paye is only scratching the surface of what he could become. With no polished pass-rushing moves to speak of, he still earned a 77.8 pass-rushing grade in 2019.

But he wasn’t even the highest Wolverine included on the list. Nor was he the sole defensive end.

No, that honor went to the ‘salt’ to Paye’s ‘pepper’ on the defensive line in junior Aidan Hutchinson. There’s no telling whether or not Hutchinson — the son of a former Michigan team captain — would depart Ann Arbor with a year of eligibility left on the table, but if he did, PFF notes, he has the talent to contend with the top offensive linemen in the NFL already, based off what he was able to do as a sophomore.

37. EDGE AIDAN HUTCHINSON, MICHIGAN

Hutchinson holds the crown of being the only defender to give Tristan Wirfs fits last season when he racked up seven pressures against Iowa. The rising junior’s versatile body allows him to also kick inside and still produce.

Notably absent from the list are players such as senior wide receiver Nico Collins — who was on The Athletic’s ‘freak’ list — and right tackle Jalen Mayfield — who’s made some early first-round NFL draft projections this offseason.

Regardless, with two players to make PFF’s top 50, Michigan defensive coordinator Don Brown and defensive line coach Shaun Nua certainly have some talent to work with when it comes to pressuring quarterbacks.